memory improvement

memory improvement

1. verbal mnemonics

   • acrostic
     • poem is made from the 1st letter of each word
       • My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets= Mercury Venus Mars ect
   • rhymes
     • groups of words with an identity and rhyme
       • 30 days has September April June and November...
   • acronym
     • a word or sentence is formed from the initials of each thing you need to remember
       • ROY G BIV= colors of the rainbow
   • chunking
     • dividing a long string on info into small memorable chunks
       • telephone numbers

2. visual imagery mnemonics

   • method of loci
     • creating a picture in your mind of a place/route you know well and place items along it, the place becomes a retrieval cue
   • key word method (Atkinson and Raugh)
     • using images to link 2 bits of information
       • horse in Spanish is "caballo" said 'cob eye yo' so you could imagine a horse with a eye on its back to associate the image with the words
   • mind mapping=interesting visual cues

3. research evidence

   • Gruneberge
     • 30% of students used mnemonics in revision most popular was acronyms and acrostics
   • Gildden
     • verbal, good for children with learning difficulties
     • however over a control group was no longer affective 12 months later
   • O'Hara
     • loci had long term memory benefits for adults

4. limitations

   • all studies are lab experiments using materials deigned for the memory strategies
   • even though verbal has helped people 'learn' a language vocab it hasn't been proved to actually help them speak it

5. how it works

   • organization
     • establish links that help us recall info
     • if information is not organized it cant be found as easily
   • elaborate rehearsal
     • memory research has shown that rehearsal move info into LTM
       • doing mnemonics make us elaborate the info
   • dual coding hypothesis
     • words and images are stored differently so by using both will increase likelihood that info will be retreated