We often refer to memory as if it were a unitary entity.
However, we are aware that some people are terrible at recognising familiar faces, but have an outstanding ability to acquire a language.
Or that there are people with an extraordinary ability to remember events from the past, even though they are unable to retain a telephone number for a short period.
These apparent contradictions in the manifestations of memory are due to the fact that it is not unidimensional, but rather there are different memory systems, supported by partially different neurobiological substrates and mechanisms.
Types of memory for types of knowledge
At school, the knowledge and skills to be acquired are of different types and, therefore, are supported by different memory systems.
The acquisition of a new language, for example, does not require the same mechanisms and processes as the acquisition of semantic knowledge necessary in natural sciences.
Because learning different subjects and skills does not use memory in the same way, it is difficult to generalize about what makes a memory strategy more or less effective in the educational environment.
In this article we will focus only on the acquisition of declarative knowledge, supported by a type of memory that is explicit, and which we can access consciously.
Data, dates, names, past events, concepts, and other similar elements are the usual content of declarative memory.
Memory strategies and mnemonics
From studies with expert memorizers (people capable of remembering huge amounts of information) we know that, although genetics explain a large part of our differences when it comes to being better or worse at remembering data, there are people who develop an exceptional ability to remember by using strategies that they have practiced for long periods.
The most commonly used mnemonic techniques are based on the creation of mental images or verbal strategies that normally require a lot of training.
The places method, for example, consists of associating the elements you want to remember with specific places.
For example, when remembering the shopping list, we can mentally map out the route to work, leaving the items on the list in different places along the way.
This way, when we want to remember them, we would only have to mentally retrace our route to work.
This method is commonly used by expert memorizers, and neuroimaging data show that during memorization tasks, experts have greater activation in the brain areas responsible for processing our visuospatial environment.
Relationship, route and practice
The effectiveness of the different mnemonic strategies is based on three fundamental principles:
* It is necessary to relate the information we want to learn with our previous knowledge.
* For the information retrieval process to be effective, we must store the access path to the information along with the information we want to learn.
* The effectiveness and agility with which we carry out the two previous processes will depend on the repeated practice of the strategy.
Limited use in school
Research with expert memorizers suggests that if someone can train memory strategies to remember 67,890 digits of pi, it will also be possible to develop more effective strategies to increase knowledge acquisition in school.
Although the high effectiveness of mnemonic techniques based on the creation of mental images or verbal mnemonics has been demonstrated, the actual use we can make of them in everyday life is limited.
In school, it is possible to use these methods to learn lists, such as planets or chemical elements, but it is very difficult to do so with more complex materials or knowledge.
Coding and knowledge networks
Because of these limitations, it seems more reasonable to try to improve memory by other means, focusing on working on some of the elements involved in memory processes.
By applying the same principles that determine the effectiveness of mnemonic strategies, we can influence the way new knowledge is created in the school environment.
The creation of a memory trace begins with the encoding of the information, which would be its input record.
We know that the most important factor in learning new information, much more than the intention to learn itself, is what we do with the content we want to learn.
The in-depth processing of information, relating it to prior knowledge, is the best way to facilitate its memorization.
Therefore, when reviewing content with the intention of memorizing it, it is much more effective to relate it to things we already know rather than simply repeating that information mentally.
It is therefore essential to create rich knowledge networks in which to integrate and organize new knowledge.
Remembering the year in which the first American president was elected will thus be much easier if we integrate and organize it around the knowledge we already have about the French Revolution, thereby generating what researchers call meaningful codification.
The importance of the access route
Just as important as the encoding process is the retrieval process.
Many times we have information stored that we cannot access, for example, when we know that we know a person’s name, but it stays on the tip of our tongue and we cannot retrieve it.
For this reason, for memory to be effective, we must store, along with the information we want to learn, the keys with which we will access it later.
Your access route, your recovery structure.
Finally, repeated practice of these strategies is essential for memorization to occur more efficiently and quickly.
Knowing one’s own memory
The most effective intervention in school is not one that is limited to teaching memorization techniques, but one that helps students understand how their own memory works.
As a general rule, the more knowledge we have and the more time we spend practicing effective memorization strategies, the less difficult it will be for us to acquire new knowledge.
It is essential to teach students which study strategies are most effective for each type of content and assessment, and to set as a main objective that they are able to apply them flexibly.
* Claudia Poch She is the coordinator of the PhD in Education and Cognitive Processes at Nebrija University, in Spain, and Jorge Gonzalez Alonso is a senior researcher at the Nebrija Research Center on Cognition (CINC) of the Faculty of Languages and Education of Nebrija University.
This article was published on The Conversation and reproduced here under the Creative Commons license. Click here here to read the original post.
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