LEARNING NEW INFORMATION

Week 5 Application

Cindy Bailey

PSYC 8237-2 Cognitive Psychology

Dr. Michael Durnman

 LEARNING NEW INFORMATION

Having a good memory is truly important for anyone to posses. Your memory is
composed of complication neural connections in your brain which are believed to be capable of
holding million of data.
Every individual sees a learning situation from a different viewpoint. Each individual may learn
quickly and be able to competently present the assigned material. For instead, individual learn
best when they are ready to learn well if they see no reason for learning; memory is an integral
part of the learning process. Although there are several theories on how the memory works, a
widely accepted view is the multi-stage concept which states that memory includes three parts:
sensory, working or short-term, and long-term systems.
Scientist who studies thought processes believe that we remember in stages and that our memory
is not simply a huge storage tank filled with information.
Your ability of your mind to retain past experiences in a highly organized manner gives you the
potential to learn and about create different ideas. The three memory chosen are: learn from the
general to the specific-start by looking at a broad outline of the material before you concentrate
on the details, make it meaningful-relate what you’re goals; you will learn more effectively if it
has meaning, and recite, repeat, rewrite to prove to yourself you can remember something, recite
it aloud, repeat, it often and keep writing it, using multiple senses to learn with different parts of
the brain.
A good way to understand and remember ideas is to read for awhile, stop and think, read more,
stop and think, read, stop, and so on.  What should you do when you stop?  Think, recite, write.
Read for awhile, then do one or more of the thought-activities described earlier.  Try to
comprehend what the book is saying, do critical thinking, and let the author's ideas inspire your
When you find something worth remembering, look away from the book and say the idea to
yourself, either mentally or aloud.  Recitation provides original awareness with intention to
remember and makes you practice the active recall you'll need for answering questions and
solving problems on exams.  Timing is important, because you must capture ideas while they're
still in your short-term memory (Lorayne, H. & Lucas, J. (1986).
 Higbee, K. & Kenneth, L. (2001), author of "Your Memory -- How It Works and How to
Improve It", summarizes the scientific research on recitation: "The effectiveness of recitation
does not depend on whether the learners are dull or bright, whether the material is long or short,
whether the material is meaningful or not -- in virtually every case it is more efficient to read and
 LEARNING NEW INFORMATION

recite than to just read.

Use a pencil to underline, circle or bracket the most important parts as shown in these three
paragraphs, or highlight them with a translucent marker.  You can also write your own notes
(comments or summaries) in the book's margin or on a separate piece of paper.  If you will stop-
and-go reading slow you down?  Yes, but that can be good.  If original awareness is minimal and
you don't understand-and-remember what you read, it would be more appropriate to call it
"wasting time" than "reading".  Activity breaks may help you understand and remember; because
of increased learning efficiency, frequent brief stops will save you time in the long run.
Students do not soak up knowledge like a sponge absorbs water. The instructor cannot assume
that students remember something just because they were in the classroom, shop, or airplane
when the instructor presented the material. Neither can the instructor assume that the students
can apply what they know because they can quote the correct answer verbatim. For students to
learn, they need to react and respond, perhaps outwardly, perhaps only inwardly, emotionally, or
intellectually. But if learning is a process of changing behavior, clearly that process must be an
active one (Gregorc, A.F. (2003).
 LEARNING NEW INFORMATION

Reference
Gregorc, A.F. (2003). Style as a symptom: A phenomenological perspective. EBSCO Publishing.

Higbee, K. & Kenneth, L. (2001). Your memory: It works and how to improve it (2nd ed.). Da
Capo Press

Lorayne, H. & Lucas, J. (1986). The memory book: Classic guide to improving your memory at
work, at school and a play. Random Publishing Group.

Sternberg, R (2009). Cognitive Psychology (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning