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MEMORY SKILLS. An essential tool for all life stages Prepared by: Zeenat Osman Registered Counsellor and Psychometrist.
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MEMORY SKILLS An essential tool for all life stages Prepared by: Zeenat Osman Registered Counsellor and Psychometrist
Memory plays a crucial role in the learning process and life in general. Everything learnt must be memorized to some degree for some activity such as tests, assessment of sorts or for an important task that needs completion. In essence, MEMORY SKILLS assists the ability to memorize information required in order to be successful within the education environment or the working world. The following sections will focus on specific areas of memory and memorizing by drawing on simple memory aids to get one started in the process of enhancing one’s current memory abilities.
Your Memory and Learning Learning is memory, and thus memory is important to learners and professionals alike, since it is a vital part of the learning process as well as the working world. The truth is most people, when they put their minds to it, can significantly increase what they remember. Through enhanced memory skills, one could have a powerful study tool at your disposal. However, to gain this one must develop a new approach to ‘thinking about what you are memorizing’. Remembering is a complex process therefore breaking material down into smaller sections can simplify the process of remembering. According to Spanos (1986), ‘Scientist are almost certain that new human memories produce chemical changes in the brain’s nerve cells and changes in their physical structure. But the changes are subtle. No one knows the location of our memories, and it seems we can’t retrieve them all. Some human memory is lost with time, but we are capable of storing an indefinite amount of information’.
Memory in relation Memory abilities are linked to various aspects of an individuals development. These aspects are sub-divided into language development, ego and mental landmarks. Memory and Language Development: Memory development commences around the age of 4-5, and it appears to be linked to one’s language development. Language is required to label and stock up one’s experiences in such a manner that one can easily remember them. Some of the language memory abilities are: • Words and their meanings, • Phrases, • Grammatical constructions, and • Mathematical relationships.
Memory in relation continued… Memory and Ego: It is important to note that some memories changes through time and ultimately one’s memory is self-serving and self-centred. Through our memories, we often tend to remember some events in a brighter light, this depends on the importance we place on the memory thus we remember what we want to. When developing memory for study purposes, it is vital to remember information accurately and resist one’s innate tendency to transform the memory. Therefore, one needs to review the information as there is no room to alter this when the memory centres on hard facts.
Memory in relation continued… Mental Landmarks: A mental landmark can be perceived as, something (a name, event, situation or detail) that has wedged itself into your mind for some specific reason. Landmarks are established through keen interest and to some degree emotions. Think about why you remember a friend’s birthday or the lyrics to a song? Surely you will find a landmark attached to it such as the emotion attached to the friendship or the memories a song brings to the fore. In developing your memory skills, remember that, one is most likely to remember something that one has rehearsed and has a genuine interest in.
Memory concepts The key to a better developed memory, is to create a system for one’s memory tasks. At times we can remember events in great detail without understanding why, therefore we need to gain insight into the stages of memory. There are three stages namely: • Sensory Register, • Short-Term Memory, and • Long-Term Memory.
The three stages of memory: The three stages of memory forms part of the memory process as follows: • Memory starts with information from the environment also known as the stimulus. The stimulus enters into the sensory memory. • A portion of the information in the sensory memory travels to one’s short-term memory. • After which, a fraction enters into long-term memory. Lastly, how far the stimulus travels depends on how you handle the information/stimulus. Information that is not transferred from one stage to the next, is consider to be forgotten information, therefore rehearsal of information is vital.
Diagram for the three stages of memory (Stimulus)
Stage 1: Sensory Memory Images that stays in your mind for an instant is known as Sensory Memory. In order for the image to be transferred into the short-term memory, it must be shifted quickly through the process of concentration. If this process is not initiated the information will be lost or forgotten! Regarding the school environment, how learners engages the sensory memory is important. For example, when a teacher shows a visual image (map) of South Africa, it may not be remembered at the first glance and the information will be lost. To avoid permanent loss of information, rehearsal and concentration should be given within the classroom setting so that the information provided is transferred from the sensory memory to the following stage, Short-term memory.
Stage 2: Short-term Memory Short-Term memory involves concentration and distraction. The former allows information to gain access to the short-term memory whereas the latter sidetracks this process. Data only remains in the short-term memory for approximately 20 seconds unless however we remain to concentrate on the given information. Distraction, on the other hand, deletes the information and is therefore forgotten. An individual’s short term memory has the ability to embrace a few pieces of information at the same time. The longer you concentrate on an item, the greater the probability is for the transformation from short to long-term memory. So how does the data gain access to the long term memory? This is done through repetition. While repeating information such as a loved one’s phone number, the data fosters itself permanently into the long term memory and can be retrieved on demand.
Stage 3: Long- term Memory The biggest aspect of your memory is the Long-Term Memory, and the amount of information that can be stored in this part of your memory is infinite. Long-Term memory has the ability to hold information that is either a few minutes old or many years. Mental Landmarks are stored in the individual’s long term memory. Within the school environment, most of the information entered into the long term memory are those that the learner deliberately memorized through rehearsal and concentration. According to Spanos (1986), “The way and enthusiasm with which you respond to a memorization task determines what you will remember and the extent to which you will remember it. You can probably improve your long-term memory if you respond to it in an effective way”.
Storing and Retrieving Information The main tasks of an individual’s memory are storing and retrievinginformation which can be done systematically. Retrieving information is more anxiety provoking than storing, as retrieving information involves your performance. For example, within the classroom setting retrieving involves bring information to the fore and the information is displayed through your performance in tests or class activities. An individual can easily store information through concentration, rehearsing and subsequently memorising the information but retrieving it involves searching the mind for where it was stored.
Memory aids Memory aids assists the retrieval of information and can be acquired automatically. It helps you to nudge your memory. There are two types of memory aids namely; Inside- and Outside- Memory Aids: • Inside Memory Aids: these aids go everywhere with you. However they take time and work. They demand creativity and attention. Inside aids includes; rhymes, acronyms, mental pictures and a combination thereof. • Outside Memory Aids includes: outlines, flashcards, notes and other props with written cues. These are excellent for memorizing and assist inside memory aids.
Memorizing methods Over-learning: Over-learning involves memorizing information over and over again, even after you can recall it perfectly. Time plays an important role, as over-learning allows the individual to assess whether the information can be recalled 2 hours, 2 days or even 2 weeks after it was memorized. Memorizing on location: It is known that individuals tends to recall information better within locations where the information was originally memorized or stored. Therefore, within the schooling environment it is essential that learners take time to memorize information within the classroom setting. Building memory on memory: Make sense of what you are trying to memorize. The more familiar the information is, the easier it is to memorize. Therefore, one needs to create associations between what you already know and what you need to memorize.
Customizing your Memory methods As was mentioned previously, individuals need to take in information accurately in order to remember it effectively. It is essential to incorporate your own originality, interests, and techniques to any memory assignment. • Originality: This alludes to the fact that an individual is prone to remember items that he/she reacts to in a novel manner and that the individual is comfortable with. Therefore, we should strive towards creating original solutions to the memory task at hand. However, the memory aid should never be more complex than the task itself. • Interest: These are aids that appeal to our interests and in turn grasps the individuals attention. Within the school environment, an individual often has to create their own interest within a subject matter as we have a natural tendency to gravitate towards some subjects and away from others. Interest indicators can be anything from bright coloured flash cards to anime. Whatever works to spark an interest within the subject matter.
Customizing your memory methods Continued… Expand or Contract: There are two basic ways to develop memory aids namely; expanding or contracting information that’s required for memorization. Expanding and contracting has to do with the mental pictures we create to aid us in remembering certain items. Therefore, mental pictures can be expanded or contracted by either expanding a certain element of the picture that provides important details that needs to be remembered or contracting the elements of the picture that holds less valuable information.
Matching Aid to Task The right memory task for an individual depends on the manner in which he/she reasons or thinks and the given task at hand. If we take the example of writing an essay; one individual might summarize all the headings relevant to the task at hand and thus formulate the essay on this basis, someone else might group similar ideas of the essay together and then formulate their essay on these groups of information. However, the individual decides how to formulize their response to the essay and this depends on the subject matter and the way the individual understands and thinks about the information provided on the said topic.
Understanding - the Key memory aid The essential component of learning is understanding. The best memory aid one can acquire is understanding, therefore when one attempts to memorize one should never leave out the understanding.
Rote Learning and Memory Rote learning occurs when one memorizes word for word or number by number. Rehearsing by repetition is an important part of rote learning. Rote learning is essential for instances where information has to be recited, however avoid studying large amounts of material by rote unless you are expected to recite the information. Always bear in mind that once you understand the material, rote learning becomes easier.
Memory Tricks Memory tricks make an individual less dependent on rote learning. It furthermore, increases the individuals recall and recognition abilities and aids their confidence and motivation. Generating tricks includes planning, as you will have to organise the material, provide them with memory aids and then add a trick that will jog your memory to remember the aids put in place. When formulating the memory tricks and through using them, you are paying attention which is another vital aspect of good memorization. Also, the more interesting the trick, the willingness to memorize increases. Memory tricks includes, but are not limited to, word association and mental images.
Memory Measures: the 3 R’s There are 3 ways to measure how much an individual can remember: • Recall: the ability to remember information ‘off the top of your head’. For example when you are writing a written test and the answers are not supplied, the learner has to make use of their recall ability to complete the task. • Recognition: the ability to identify through recognizing information in an assortment of ways. For example, within multiple choice questions, a learner has the ability to identify and link the correct response to the item through recognition. • Relearning: simply means to learn again after one has forgotten, as our memories at times tend to drop details, however it is easier to relearn information that has been memorized before. For example, if you have been actively involved in your studies but feel like some details are fuzzy – relearning should occur through the process of reviewing the information.
Motivation and Memory Motivation is an important memory aid, if motivation is not instilled by the subject matter itself, the individual has to find personal motivation that feeds into the need for oneself to succeed. Setting Goals: • Goals depends on one’s motivation. • Lasting memory involves interest. • Therefore, if one fails to view the memory task as an important part of the overall learning goals, the information might not sink deeply into the mind.
Motivation and Memory Continued Having a Plan: According to Spanos (1986), “when you face any task, the first and perhaps most important step is to draw up a plan to achieve it. Here is a basic plan for all memory tasks:” • Understand what you are to memorize, even if you have to do extra research. • Make up a schedule. Give yourself plenty of time. • For each memory session, get in the right frame of mind. Think only of the memory task at hand. • Select your memory aids. Don’t try to memorize while you do so. Figure out the best strategies first, memorize later. • When you begin to memorize, concentrate. • Don’t rush. Memory takes time. • Over-learn, review the information and the aids again and again, never assuming your memory is perfect.
References • Spanos, S (1986). Learning Library: Memory Skills. Chicago: World Book Inc. • http://memoreeskills.wordpress.com/ • http://www.diyplanner.com/node/5663 • http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/memory-skills.html
