Studyingtosucceed:exploringeffectivestudyinghabitsneededtostoreinformationinlong-termmemory.KellenRobertsonUniversityofIdaho,MoscowIDChemistry,Pre-MedOption

Presentedto:PacificUniversityClassof2016,NewGradOptometry.com

BackgroundSemanticmemoryisdefinedasknowledgeabouttheworldstoredasfactsthatmakelittleornoreferencetoone’spersonalexperiences(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008).Creatinglongtermsemanticmemoriesinvolvesthreeseparateprocesses:1)encoding,ortheprocessesthatdetermineandcontrolhowmemoriesareformed,2)storage,ortheprocessesthatdetermineandcontrolhowmemoriesarestoredandkeptovertime,and3)retrieval,ortheprocessesthatdetermineandcontrolhowmemoriesarerecoveredandtranslatedintoperformance(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008).Collegesmeasureperformanceofsemanticmemoriesbywayofexamsandtests.Gradepointaverageisastandardizedwaytomeasureandassesshowwellstudentssucceedinschool.Whilesemanticmemoryisnottheonlyfactoreffectingsemanticmemory;factorssuchastheprofessor,learningability,motivationandworkloadmayaffectastudent’sGPA,itisthemaincomponentmeasuredincollegeexamsandisreflectedinastudent’sGPA.Inordertoprogressyoureducationtoaprofessionorgraduateschoolandthenacareer,itiscrucialtohaveahighGPA.Forexample,theaverageoverallGPAforastudentadmittedtoHarvardMedicalschoolis3.87(“Medicalschoolaverage,”2008).

SecondaryResearchThesecondaryresearchusedinthispaperwasgatheredfrompeer-reviewedjournalsfoundusingEbso-hostsearchengine.Othersecondarysourcesconsistedofpsychologytextbooks.Informationwasextracted,summarized,andanalyzedinordertounderstandsemanticmemoryandcreatedmethodsofimprovingmemory.

ElaborationEncodingandstoringmemoriescanbeachievedmosteffectivelybyelaboration,orconnectingmaterialstoexistingknowledge.NairneandLloydidentify6commonwaystopromoteelaboration:(1)Thinkaboutmeaning,(2)Noticerelationships,(3)Noticedifferences,(4)Formmentalpictures,(5)Spaceyourrepetitions,and(6)Considersequenceposition.

Thinkaboutmeaning.Whenstudentsarelisteningtoaprofessorlecture,theyareoftenlisteningtothesoundsofthewordsspokeninordertotakenotes.Itisimportanttoconcentrateontheactualmeaningofthewordsratherthanhowtheysound.Whenitcomestotesttime,youarenotpayingattentiontothesoundsofthewords,butthemeaningofthewordsstudiedinyournotes.Itisimperativeforstudentstotakethetimetoreadovertheirnotesafterlectureforthisreason.Connectanynewinformationfromonelecturetopreviouslecturesorfromrelatedlecturesinotherclasses.Relatingnewinformationtooldknowledgeisthedefinitionofelaboration.Theonlytimelisteningtothesoundsofwordsratherthanmeaningisusefuliswhenlearningasecondlanguage.ThinkingaboutanEnglishwordthatsoundssimilartoaforeignvocabularywordandthenrelatingbothtoavisualimageisausefulmemorytechniquethathasbeenshowntodoubletherateoflearningvocabulary(Rough,&Atkinson,1975).

Itisalsoimportanttothinkaboutmeaningsofwordswhenreadingatextbook.Acommonproblemwithreadingtextbooksisthatstudentsbelievetheyarelearningbyreading,whenoftentimestheyarejustpracticingtheirreadingskills.Pausingafterreadingeachsectionandconcentratingonmeaningofwhatwasjustreadcanpromoteelaboration.Manystudentsdonotreadoranswerthecriticalthinking

questionsorendofchapters’questions.Thesequestionsaretoolsthataremeanttohelpstudentsthinkdeeplyaboutinformationandtoforcestudentstothinkaboutthesameknowledgeindifferentways.“Thedeeperandmoreelaborativetheprocessing,themorelikelythatmemorywillimprove”(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008).

Noticerelationships.Thisisonereasonwhycollegesanduniversitieshavepre-requisitecourses.ItiseasiertounderstandCalculusIIIbynoticingsimilaritiesbetweenCalculusIIandpriorcalculusclasses.Noticingrelationshipsbetweenthingsthatneedtoberememberedhelpsstudentslaterwhentryingtoretrievethatnewinformation.Anothercommonareawhereitiseasytonoticerelationshipsisiflecturecourseshaveaccompanyinglabs.Labscommonlybuildoninformationpresentedinlectureandforcestudentstouseinformationinrealworldapplications.Thiscausesstudentstomakedeeperconnectionstotheinformationlearned.

Noticedifferences.Thisisequallyasimportantasnoticingrelationships.Whereasnoticingcommonalitiesbetweenthingstoberememberedpromotesrelationalprocessing,noticingdifferencesiswhatmakesdistinctanduniquememories(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008).Grams,liters,andcubiccentimetersareallunitsofmeasurements,butstudentsmustbeabletodifferentiatewhateachunitmeasures:mass,volume,andarea.Ifyoulookinadictionary,youmaynoticethatwordsarecommonlydefinedaswhattheyarenot.Knowingantonymsofwordsandinformationallowsustonoticedifferencesbetweenwords.

Formmentalpictures.Thismethodofproducinganelaboratememorycorrespondswithacommonretrievaldevicecalledmethodofloci.Wewillanalyzethebenefitsofthismethodlater.Precautionsmustbetakenwhenusingthistypeofmethodbecausesomepeoplearenotvisuallearners(seeSurveyResults,VARKforexactnumbers).Evenifastudentisavisuallearner,thistypeofelaborationhasdrawbacks.“Visualimageryleadstoexcellentmemory,butthememoriesthemselvesarenotphotographic-instead,they’resurprisinglyabstract,andimportantdetailsareoftenmissingorinaccurate”(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008).Asmentionedearlier,thedeeperandmoreelaboratetheprocess,themorelikelymemorywillimprove.So,whenformingamentalpicture,itisimportanttotrytofocusonsmalldetailsandhitonallfiveofthehumansenses.Asananatomystudent,youarefortunatetohavearealhumancadavertoobserveandstudy.Iwasabletoformmentalpicturesofthecadaversdaysafterlabbycloselyobservinglocationofmuscles,differencesinshapesandlengthsofmuscles,andtheirrelationshipswithbonesandothermusclesduringlab.Noticingandbreathinginthesmellofaldehydeonthecadaversonlydeepenstheelaborationprocessandhelpsmemoryformationandretrieval.

Spaceyourrepetitions.Repetitionaloneisnotwhatimprovesmemory.Spacingyourrepetitionsoutoveraperiodoftimeimproveselaborationandthereforememory.Studyonesubjectforawhilethentakeashortbreak.Comebacktothestudyinglaterandyouwillseethesamematerialinnewways.Ifyoujustreadoveryournotesrepeatedly,Itisnotlikelythat(1)youwilllearnsomethingnewor(2)youwillimprovememory(Nainre,&Lloyd,2008).Thisiswhyuseofflashcardsshouldbelimitedtolearningonlydefinitionsofterms.

Considersequenceposition.

Figure1SerialPosition(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008)

ByanalyzingtheserialpositioncurveascreatedthroughastudydonebyI.Neath,wediscoverbothaprimacyeffectandrecencyeffect.Primacyeffectisthebettermemoryofitemsnearthebeginningofalistandrecencyisthebettermemoryofitemsneartheendofalist.Ifyouwantedtocreatealistofthingstobememorized,youwouldputthemostimportantthingfirst,thensecondmostimportantlast,thenthethirdmostimportantinpositiontwoetc.Thetablebelowshowstheimportanceofanitemandtherecommendedpositionforalistof6things.

Importance 1st 3rd 5th 6th 4th 2ndListPosition 1 2 3 4 5 6Figure2SequencePositionTable

Westartwiththemostimportantthingfirstbecauseweseethatitisrememberedcorrectlyover90%ofthetime,whereastherecencyeffectislessatunder90%ofthetime.Itwouldbeevenmorefavorabletothestudieriftheitemsonthelistwereorganizeddifferenteverytimealistwasstudied.Thiscomplimentswiththespaceyourrepetitionsprocess.Eachnewtimeyoustudyalist,puttheitemsindifferentpositionsinthelist.Forexample,ifyouwantedtolearntheflowofbloodthroughthecardiovascularsystem,startfromadifferentlocationeachtime.Forstandardlearning,textbooksgenerallystartattherightatrium:thisdecreasestheelaborationprocess.Thecardiovascularsystemisacircuitandthereisnoreasontostartfromonlyonelocationeverytimeyoucoverbloodflow.

MnemonicDevicesMethodofLoci.Ifyouhaveeverleftyourcarkeysnearthedoortothegarage,you’repracticingpartofthemethodofloci.Themethodoflociisavisualimageprocess.Likementionedearlier,ifastudentisnotavisuallearner,thismethodmayfail.Itworksbyplacingimagesofthingstoberememberedonafamiliar,commontraveledpath.Forexample,thewalktoschoolmightbeafamiliarpathforauniversitystudent.Ifthestudentwantedtoremembertoprintoffapaperbeforeaclass,heorshecouldvisualplaceanimageofaprinteronthesidewalkalonghispath.“Themethodoflociisaneffectivememory

aidbecauseitforcesyoutouseimagery—creatinganelaborateanddistinctiverecord—andthestoredrecordsareeasytorecoverbecausethestoragelocationsareeasytoaccess(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008).

Peg-wordmethod.“Thepeg-wordmethodresemblesthemethodoflociinthatitrequiresyoutolinkmaterialstospecificmemorycues,butthecuesareusuallywordsratherthanmentalpathways(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008).ACommonexampleofthismethodisrhymingwordswithnumbers.Amentalpictureisthenformedassociatingthethingtoberememberedwiththerhymedword.Youthensimplycounttoremembertheitems.Anexamplewouldgoasfollows:oneisagun,twoisashoe,etc.Thestudentwouldthenvisualizealaundrybasketnexttoaguncaseandapaperandnotebookinashoe.Thestudentwouldthenonlyhavetocountandhe/shewouldrecallthathe/sheneedstodo;laundryandwriteapaperforclass.Anotherexampleofapeg-wordmemorymethodisacronyms.Theseuselettersinsteadofwordstohelpmemorizetheentireword.Youcanusethebeginningletterofeachwordinaphrasetodenotethefirstletterofthewordtoberemembered.Whenlearningthecarpalbonesofthewristinhumananatomythephrase‘SomeLoversTryPositionsThatTheyCan’tHandle’wasusedtomemorizetheeightcarpalbonesofthehand:Scaphoid,Lunate,Triquetrum,Pisiform,Trapezium,Trapeziod,CapitateandHamate.Anotherversionofacronymsistousethefirstletterofwordstomakeanotherword.VARKisanacronymwhereeachlettermeansanotherword:Visual,Auditory,Read/Write,andKinesthetic.Thisversionessentiallyallowsyoutoremembermanywordsbymemorizingoneword.

RetrievalTransfer-appropriateprocessing.Thisis“theideathatthelikelihoodofcorrectretrievalisincreasedifastudentusesthesamekindofmentalprocessingduringtestingthathe/sheusedduringencoding(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008).Thissimplymeansstudythesamewayyoutakeatest.Ifyouarepreparingtotakeamultiplechoicetest,practicewritingmultiplechoicequestionsfromyournotesandansweringthem.Answeringessayquestionsisnotgoingtoprepareyoufortakingamultiplechoicetestandviceversa.Thisidesoftransfer-appropriateprocessingiswhychewinggumormintwhilestudyingandchewingthesameflavoredmint/gumduringthetesthasbeensuggested.Thesmellandtasteofmintisdistinctandincreasestheelaborationprocessduringstudying.Thesmellandtasteactasaretrievalcueduringthetesting.Lastly,itworksinconjunctionwithtransfer-appropriateprocessingbecauseyouaredoingthesameactivityduringstudyingasduringtesting.Thisincreasesthechanceofeffectiveretrievalofmemories.

InterferenceRetroactiveinterferenceisdefinedastheprocessinwhichtheformationofnewmemorieshurtstherecoveryofoldmemories(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008).Thismeansthatwhatevermemoriesyoumakeduringacertainperiodafterstudyingwillinterferewiththememoriesoftheinformationyoustudied.Awaytoavoidthisistostudybeforeyousleep.JenkinsandDallenbach(1924)conductedatestthatmeasuredtwostudentsmemoryatCornellUniversity.Thegraphbelowshowsthatthestudentwhosleptaftermemorizingmeaninglesssyllablesrememberedmoresyllableswhentestedlaterthanthatofthestudentthatstayedawake.

Figure3RetroactiveInterference(Nairne,&Lloyd,2008)

ConclusionElaborationisanimportantprocessforencodingmemoriesintolongtermmemoryforlaterretrieval.Therearesixbasicwaystopromoteelaboration:

1. Thinkaboutmeaning.2. Noticerelationships.3. Noticedifferences.4. Formmentalpictures.5. Spaceyourrepetitions.6. Considersequenceposition.

Mnemonicdevicesaregoodmemoryaidsthathelpinrecollection.Studyingforatestinanenvironmentandstylethatissimilartothetestandtestconditionspromotestransfer-appropriateprocessing.

References

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Raugh,M.R.,&Atkinson,R.C.(1975).Amnemonicmethodforlearningasecond-languagevocabulary.JournalofEducationalPsychology,67,1-16.