Why do we need MEMORY?
How to improve your Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us. memory: Mnemonic Devices ~Oscar Wilde Memory is the primary and fundamental power, without Chapter 8 which there could be no other intellectual operation. pp 255-259 ~Samuel Johnson What if you couldn’t create new memories? Amnesia patient: Clive Wearing How do you use your memory everyday? “National Memory Championship” – “Memoriad” http://www.usamemorychampionship.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyVxD1zE7H4
How can I improve my memory? Mnemonics Tricks and strategies to help memory!
Repetition Chunking First letter technique Rhyming Visualization Most popular answer: Mnemonic devices Keyword Link Method of Loci Pegword
Learn the following list by ONLY reading; Recall as many as possible go through list as many times as possible Horse – Table Basket – Cloud Horse – Basket – Island – Hat Ring – Ship Island – Ring – Door – Note Snow – Window Door – Snow – Bear – Apple Pencil – Hammer Bear – Pencil – Clock – Moon Bread – Car Clock – Bread – Building – Dog Meat – Envelope Building – Meat – River – Table Box – Garden River – Box – Road - Paper Book - Cup Road - Book –
1 Answers Repetition technique
Horse – Table Basket – Cloud Repetition Island – Hat Ring – Ship Forces you to pay attention Visual and verbal memory for material Door – Note Snow – Window Bear – Apple Pencil – Hammer Spacing effect Clock – Moon Bread – Car Distributed practice is best for delayed test Building – Dog Meat – Envelope Massed practice ok for immediate test River – Table Box – Garden Why? Road - Paper Book - Cup Time to consolidate info Only concentrate for so long Study under different conditions/settings
First-letter technique Chunking Acronym: Short-term memory capacity limit ROY G BIV: colors of the rainbow Magic number 7 +/- 2 HOMES: great lakes Memory span PRICE: Injury Remember: 7 0 4 8 6 4 2 3 2 1 8 9 Acrostic: first letter of each word of sentence is cue Or remember: 704 864 23 21 89 Music notes: Every Good Boy Deserves Fun Remember 7 +/- 2 CHUNKS 12 cranial nerves: OOO To Touch And Feel… Why helpful? Why helpful? Increase capacity by grouping information Letters act as cue Gives meaning to random information Chunking
Rhyming technique Dual-coding hypothesis
When did Columbus discover America? Dual-coding “In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed 2 cues: verbal and visual the ocean blue” “HOMES” Visualization “i before e except after c; or when sounded like a, as in neighbor and weigh” Picture superiority effect “Thirty days has September, April, June, and Effective visualization November” Interaction ABC’s song (rhyming and chunking) Vividness Why helpful? Bizzareness
2 Learn the following list by creating a mental Recall image of two items in vivid interaction
Bird – Fruit Ice – Train Bird – Ice – Rain – Rock Fence – Letter Rain – Fence – Dress – Money Egg – Chair Dress – Egg – House – Mountain Book – Water House – Book – Cow – Flower Coat – Glass Cow – Coat – Corn – Gate Candy – Sign Corn – Candy – Roof – Nest Rabbit – Paint Roof – Rabbit – Baby – Hair Hammer - Book Baby – Hammer -
Answers Keyword mnemonic
Bird – Fruit Ice – Train Use to learn foreign language vocabulary Rain – Rock Fence – Letter Spanish example: Pato = Duck Dress – Money Egg – Chair First step: House – Mountain Book – Water Concrete keyword that sounds like foreign word = Pot Cow – Flower Coat – Glass Second step: Form visual image connecting keyword with meaning Corn – Gate Candy – Sign Picture: Duck wearing a pot on its head Roof – Nest Rabbit – Paint Use for any vocabulary words Baby – Hair Hammer - Book Try: “Skulk”: To hide or sneak around for evil reasons”
Link mnemonic Image–name mnemonic Chaining or Link system Use to remember name with face First: form visual image for each item Second: associate image with next image Think of vivid word that sounds like name Important to SEE associations Link word with person’s appearance Example Narrative technique Form a story using items you want to remember Rodney Flanery
Image: Football player with rod in his knee, so Appropriate for serial learning benched and wearing flannel to stay warm Problem: if forget one item then next items may be Create one for your own name! inaccessible too
3 Method of Loci: Campus Map Method of Loci
“In the first place”
1. Memorize familiar locations in natural order 2. Create visual image of word with each location 3. Recall: take a “mental walk”
Begin to write only after I have given the signal, “Go”. Method of Loci: Answers
Olin, DuPre, Main, Snyder, Library, Carlisle, Daniel, Milliken, Burwell Apple Locations serve as a cue Piano Helpful for serial learning Apple Hammer Piano Cake Locations should be distinct Hammer Planet Need strong association between Cake Pizza location and item Planet Kite Problem: using same locations Pizza Bus over again can lead to confusion Kite Butterfly Bus Scissors Butterfly Scissors
Peg-word technique Thought paper
First: use memorized concrete What tricks and strategies do you use to nouns memorize information? Rhyming words with numbers helps to remember words Second: create visual image of You go to a party and meet lots of new people. target word with peg-word You would like to be able to remember their Similar to Loci: objects instead of locations face and name. How do you do it? Problem: limited # peg-words
4 Why mnemonics work Thought paper continued… Attention Ensure encoding Why do these techniques work to improve Repetition memory? What do they share in common? Retrieval cues Dual-coding cues Verbal and visual representations Which of these techniques could you realistically Organization use to help you study for exams? “chunks” Why wouldn’t you use some of them? Notice relationships and differences Use existing knowledge Elaboration Think about meaning and make distinctive Generation Your ideas makes it personal
Limitations of Mnemonics
Time How to deal with abstract material? Learning vs. retention Creative ability Interference Doesn’t help memory in general Does not help understanding of material Need to practice mnemonics!
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