L10 - Improving Memory

Question 1

What is the first step in improving our memory and why? Or, more, knowing whether it needs improving at all?

Answer 1

Comparing it to others’/average memory to see how bad our own is. We might have the best memory in the country, but there’s no way of knowing before you compare with someone else.

Question 2

What are mnemonics?

Answer 2

Any learning technique that helps us remember information

Question 3

What are external aids?

Answer 3

A type of written down mnemonic - shopping lists, calendars, etc.

Question 4

What are internal memory aids?

Answer 4

A type of mnemonic devised in your head - a rhyme, story, or method of loci (visual story) about the information to be remembered.

Question 5

What is synaethesia?

Answer 5

A condition in which the activation of one sensory modality automatically activates information on another sensory modality. Someone with the condition may see sound, or hear colour.

Question 6

How does synaethesia aid memory?

Answer 6

It means that most information is automatically encoded into more than one sensory modalities, which as we know, increases the ability to later retrieve the information.

Question 7

What is the most common form of synaesthesia?

Answer 7

Grapheme-colour synaesthesia - seeing each letter in a different colour

Question 8

Which two famous memory experts had synaesthesia?

Answer 8

Daniel Tammet and Solomon Shereshevsky

Question 9

What would 5-fold synaesthesia mean?

Answer 9

Encoding something in one modality automatically stimulates all other modalities/senses

Question 10

Individuals with some of the best memories ever studied often do what to remember information? What is the downside of this strategy?

Answer 10

Very good at visualising information. However, when it comes to remembering abstract concepts, it was difficult to apply the strategy, and visual memory for faces was so strong that some individuals could not recognise faces that they knew, because they were seeing them in a different light, context or angle than the initial visual memory.

Question 11

AJ had hypermnesia - what did MRI find which might explain this?

Answer 11

Atypical neural development - specifically, enlarged temporal lobe and caudate nucleus.

Question 12

What was found about skills other than memory in AJ, who had hypermnesia?

Answer 12

Executive function processes were impaired because of heightened ability to retain information.

Question 13

What did Wilding and Valentine (1994) find about differences between those competing in memory world championships and ‘normal’ individuals in the audience?

Answer 13

It may be possible to distinguish between those who are naturally exceptional memorisers, and those who are strategically exceptional memorisers.

Natural memorisers are more likely to have natural early memory ability, superior performance in close relatives, superior incidental long term retention and high performance on memory tasks, regardless of their suitability for memory strategies (mnemonics)

It is more likely to be the case that memory world champion contenders are natural memorisers, rather than strategisers.

Question 14

What did Hunter et al., (1990) find about the cause of remarkable feats of memory?

Answer 14

Exceptional accomplishments in memory cannot be explained by some simple, single cause

Question 15

What was the interaction between naturalists and strategists found in Wilding and Valentine’s (1994) study of world championship contenders?

Answer 15

For non-strategic tasks, naturalists performed far better, but for strategic tasks, strategists performed far better.

Question 16

How did Maguire et al., (2003) study the neural differences between memory experts and controls?

Answer 16

Got memory experts and controls to learn 3-digit numbers, faces, and snowflakes while their brains were scanned.

Question 17

What did Maguire et al., (2003) find about the neural differences between memory experts and controls?

Answer 17

Experts performed far better than controls. Differences in neural activity show that the experts had more acitivty in areas representing spatial processing, suggesting that their increased performance could be due to a greater use of their method of loci (visual imagery/visual stories)

Question 18

What is the method of loci and how does it work?

Answer 18

Associate to-be-remembered items with locations of a well-known spatial layout (i.e. store a particular playing card in the corner of a living room, and another card associated with the fridge)

Question 19

How did Andi Bell use the method of Loci to memorise whole packs of cards?

Answer 19

Associated each card into a particular picture on his route into London, and then imagined himself walking along the landmarks, acting as a visual cue for the cards he associated that landmark with (remembered 520 playing cards, in order, with this strategy)

Question 20

What is the problem with the method of loci?

Answer 20

• You have to retrace the entire sequence to get to a specific item. Thus not effective in real life situations.
• Only effective for verbal information. Using it for visual information won’t work as well, as its associations with another piece of visual imagery.

Question 21

What is the pegword method?

Answer 21

Used when you want to memorise a shopping list. Each item is associated with a visual image of a word that rhymes with it. E.g. the first item is item number ‘one’. Bun rhymes with one, and the first item is a carrot, so the visual image could be a carrot holding/underneath a bun.

Question 22

What are the advantages of the pegword method, and what is the evidence to support this?

Answer 22

It can lead to improvements in memory performance

Morris and Reid (1970) found that it can increase recall by 50%

Question 23

What are the limitations of the pegword method?

Answer 23

• Limited use in real life; much effort required when there are easy smartphone alternatives etc
• Does not work well for abstract material
• Requires training for maximum efficacy

Question 24

How can visual imagery be used to remember names and faces?

Answer 24

Create an imageable substitute for a name (e.g. Eysenck -> Ice Sink)

Choose a prominent or unusual facial feature (nose)

Associate the nose with an ice sink by imagining a nose over a sink

–> enables you to look at Eysenck, recgonise the nose and subsequently recall that his name is Ice-Sink –> Eysenck.

Question 25

What did Morris et al., (2005) find about memory performance when using visual imagery vs expanded retrieval practice to remember names?

Answer 25

Memory performance for people’s names was far better when the names themselves were practiced and rehearsed, rather than using visual imagery.

Question 26

Give an example of a verbal mnemonic strategy.

Answer 26

Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vein
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

Taking the first letter of each word you want to remember in a sequence, and creating a sentence with those initial letters.

Other examples: story method, associating numbers with letters etc.

Question 27

Why do memory techniques work, in terms of the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 27

Information should be processed meaningfully, relating it to pre-existing knowledge (Ericsson, 1988)

Question 28

Why do memory techniques work, in terms of the retrieval structure principle?

Answer 28

Cues should be stored with the information to aid subsequent retrieval (Ericsson, 1988)

Question 29

Why do memory techniques work, in terms of the speed-up principle?

Answer 29

Extensive practice increases the speed of encoding and retrieval (Ericsson, 1988)

Question 30

What is the emphasis of surface learning styles, and how do they predict exam performance?

Answer 30

• Rote learning of ideas and facts
• Little motivation
• Similar to shallow level of processing

Predicts poor exam performance

Question 31

What is the emphasis of deep learning styles, and how do they predict exam performance?

Answer 31

• Learning to understand
• Relating ideas to evidence
• High motivation
• Similar to deep level of processing

Predicts good exam performance

Question 32

What is the emphasis of strategic learning styles and how do they predict exam performance?

Answer 32

• Seeking the study techniques which elicit the best grades
• High motivation to be efficient

Predicts great exam performance

Question 33

What does SQ3R stand for?

Answer 33

Survey
Question
Read 
Recite
Review

Question 34

What does the S part of SQ3R mean?

Answer 34

Survey:

Understand/scan how the information in the chapter is organised before properly reading it. Sets the context, informed what the aim is.

Question 35

What does the Q part of SQ3R mean?

Answer 35

Question:

Thinking of relevant questions for which each section should answer

Question 36

What does the first R part of SQ3R mean?

Answer 36

Read:

Reading through each chunk in order to:

• answer the questions formulated in the Q section
• integrate information to pre-existing knowledge

Question 37

What does the second R of SQ3R mean?

Answer 37

Recite:

Trying to remember the key ideas from each chunk of text. If forgotten, repeat the first R stage.

Question 38

What does the final R of SQ3R mean?

Answer 38

Review:

• Remembering the key ideas from each chapter and combining the chunks after finishing all sections.

Question 39

What does the SQ3R detail/what does it aim to do?

Answer 39

Outline the stages for effective reading (Morris, 1979)

Question 40

What is the testing effect?

Answer 40

Testing leads to a massive improvement in long term retention.

Question 41

What did Karpicke and Roediger (2006) find about evidence for the testing effect?

Answer 41

Karpicke and Roediger (2006) asked students to learn complex passages of prose. The passage was read 3 times by all PPS and then they either were tested or weren’t.

Found that long term memory performance was far greater for the group that were tested after repeated study.

Question 42

What did Karpicke and Roediger (2008) find about evidence for the testing effect?

Answer 42

Karpicke and Roediger (2008): studied learning of 40 Swahili-English word pairs and were either tested on all the items, or only incorrect items. Or, there was no test and continued learning of all items, and no test and learning only of incorrect items. Cued recall after 1 week.

The two testing conditions lead to far superior recall despite equal learning rates between continued learning and retrieval. (no differences between the two testing groups, and between the two continued learning groups)

Question 43

What did Lipton (1975) find about the probability of forgetting and its dependence on the instances of retrieval?

Answer 43

The probability of forgetting depends on the number of times the material has been retrieved before, with fewer instances of retrieval leading to increased probability of forgetting.

Question 44

What does storage strength refer to?

Answer 44

Reflects the relative permanence of a memory trace

Question 45

What does retrieval strength refer to?

Answer 45

Reflect the momentary accessibility of a memory trace

Question 46

Who coined the theory of disuse and how does it explain the increased forgetting of memories that the learner doesn’t subject to retrieval practice.

Answer 46

Bjork and Bjork (1992) created the theory, which assumes that easy retrieval practice will not increase storage strength and that effortful retrieval practice does - it promotes more permanent, long term learning

• said to be a negative correlation, in that material that is easily retrieved will have a high retrieval strength - but this retrieval practice will not lead to an increase in storage strength. This means that, although the memory is currently easily accessed, it will not last.
• -> low retrieval strength means that the memory trace is not very accessible, but that its likely the trace is permanent and is stored long term - just may require relevant cues, etc. Effortful retrieval practice will occur for items that have low retrieval strength, hence the negative correlation.

Therefore, increased retrieval practice leads to greater ability to recall the information later on as the memory trace will be greater in storage strength, and because the practice was effortful

Question 47

What are alternative explanations for the testing effect?

Answer 47

Transfer appropriate processing: Retrieval practice makes the information that you’re trying to memorise in the same format as required for later retrieval e.g. in an exam, etc.

Semantic mediator hypothesis: prediction that retrieval practice lads tot he activation of additional semantic cues which later facilitate access to the memory.

Question 48

What did Pashler et al., (2005) find about feedback and testing effects?

Answer 48

Providing feedback with testing is even better than testing on its own.

Recall for words initially forgotten was increased by 5 times through adding feedback.

Question 49

What are the presumed benefits of mind maps?

Answer 49

• encourages active learning
• more natural than linear note taking
• ideas are stripped down so that only the relevant, core details are revised.
• visual images may be easier to remember

Question 50

What are the empirical benefits of mind maps?

Answer 50

Mind mapping group learned 10% more than controls when compared to a group using standard study techniques, according to research by Farrand, Hussaine and Hennessy (2002)

Question 51

What is the keyword technique?

Answer 51

Used when studying a foreign language. Use an English sound-a-like word for the foreign word being learned, and form a visual image for the English meaning and the sound-a-like word.

Question 52

What’s the effectiveness of the keyword technique?

Answer 52

Has been shown to improve memory for Russian words by 50%.

only in a sutation where you’re producing an English word to a foreign word. Good for receptive learning, because the foreign word contains the English sound-a-like, but not good for productive learning because the English meaning doesn’t sound like the Russian word or the English sound-a-like.

Question 53

How does interest and knowledge relate to memory?

Answer 53

Increased interest improves memory in that area, which leads to greater knowledge. Learning of new information can then be integrated/related more easily and efficiently into pre-existing information, leading to better memory than someone without an interest..