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CHAPTER 6 Memory
A P P L I C AT I O N
Chapter Review
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word, and so on. To recall the list, use each successive peg word to help retrieve the mental image. 8. Explain it to a friend. After you read a section of material, stop and summarize what you have read in your own words. When you think you understand it, try explaining the information to a friend or family member. As youll quickly discover, its hard to explain material that you dont really understand! Memory research has shown that explaining new material in your own words forces you to integrate the new information into your existing knowledge base an excellent way to solidify new information in your memory (Kornell, 2008). 9. Reduce interference within a topic. If you occasionally confuse related terms and concepts, it may be because youre experiencing interference in your memories for similar information. To minimize memory interference for related information, first break the chapter into manageable sections, then learn the key information one section at a time. As you encounter new concepts, compare them with previously learned concepts, looking for differences and similarities. By building distinct memories for important information as you progress through a topic, youre more likely to distinguish between concepts so they dont get confused in your memory. 10. Counteract the serial position effect. The serial position effect is our tendency to remember information at the beginning and end of a sequence. To counteract it,
spend extra time with the information that falls in the middle. Once youve mastered a sequence of material, start at a different point each time you review the information. 11. Use contextual cues to jog memories. Ideally, study in the setting in which youre going to be tested. If thats not possible, when youre taking a test and a specific memory gets blocked, imagine that your books and notes are in front of you and that youre sitting where you normally study. Simply imagining the surroundings where you learned the material can help jog those memories. 12. Sleep on it to help consolidate those memories. Its been shown that sleep helps consolidate new memories. (Dont try this as an excuse in class.) Non-REM sleep (nondreaming) seems to help consolidate declarative memories, while dreaming REM sleep seems to help consolidate procedural memories (Marshall & Born, 2007; Wixted, 2004). All-night cram sessions just before an exam are one of the least effective ways to learn new material. 13. Forget the ginkgo biloba. Think you can supercharge the memory banks by taking the herb ginkgo biloba? If only it were that easy! Researcher Paul R. Solomon and his colleagues (2002) pitted ginkgo against a placebo in a randomized, double-blind study for six weeks involving over 200 participants who were mentally healthy. The bottom line? No effect. The ginkgo biloba did not improve performance on tests of learning, memory, attention, or concentration.
CHAPTER REVIEW
MEMORY
Key Points
Introduction: What Is Memory? The Stage Model of Memory
Memory refers to the mental processes that enable us to acquire, retain, and retrieve information. Key memory processes are encoding, storage, and retrieval.
The stage model of memory describes human memory as the process of transferring information from one memory stage to another. The three stages of memory are sensory memory, shortterm memory, and long-term memory.
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