Strategies for memory improvement Cognitive Psychology How can

Strategies for memory improvement Cognitive Psychology

How can we improve our memory This is one of the most applicable parts of memory research; Techniques learned in these lessons can be applied to your own revision! We will be looking specifically at meaning, organisation and imagery

Meaning & Memory We are more likely to remember something if it has meaning to us; Remember chunking and Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts story? The levels of processing model of memory by Craik and Lockhart (1975) provides useful information on this

1. Spend 30 seconds looking at each doodle. Blish Rist Cend Teaf 2. Try to remember the doodle and the title that goes with it. • Try to draw the doodle that goes with each title Memory 13 January 2022 Blish Rist Cognitive Psychology Cend Teaf 4

1. Spend 30 seconds looking at each doodle. 2. Try to remember the doodle and the title that goes with it. Elephant waffle Fried eggs side down Titanic steps hittingoniceberg Worm on sunny roller-skates • Try to draw the doodle that goes with each title Elephant steps on waffle Fried eggs sunny side down Titanic hitting 13 January 2022 iceberg Worm on roller-skates Cognitive Psychology Memory 5

Cognitive psychology – memory and meaning If you're like most people, you did better drawing the doodles when the title made the picture into a joke. Without these titles, the doodles are just meaningless squiggles. Memorizing meaningless stuff is hard. And giving meaningless squiggles nonsense titles like "teaf" and "rist" doesn't make them any easier to remember! It's easiest to remember stuff that makes sense to you and connects with other stuff you know. The doodle labelled "Inchworm on roller skates" is pretty silly, but it does fit with things you know. You know inchworms can bend in the shape of an arch and what roller skates are used for. Knowing these things helps you make sense of the picture and remember it better. You'll be more likely to remember something --whether it's a date in history class or the colour of your friend's favourite nail polish--if you can add meaning and tie this information to something you already know. 13 January 2022 Cognitive Psychology 6

Levels of Processing Theory Listening Reading Writing Doing Understanding Remembering 13 January 2022 Cognitive Psychology The deeper we understand information the more we retain. Different ways of processing will aid recall 7

Craik & Tulving (1975) They used a series of words and got participants to process each word on a different levels • table Is the word in capital letters? • HOUSE Does the word rhyme with mouse? • Fence Does the word fit with the following statement; The man fixed the ____ because the wind blew it over • CHAIR Is the word in capital letters? • SPOON Does the word sound like fish? 13 January 2022 Cognitive Psychology 8

Levels of Processing Model 13 January 2022 Cognitive Psychology 9

Levels of Processing Model 13 January 2022 Cognitive Psychology 10

Class Experiment You are about to be presented with a list of words and a statement. Your task is to decide if the statement about the word is true or false. Any 13 January 2022 Questions? Cognitive Psychology 11

Are these statements true or false? 13 January 2022 House has five letters Scissors are used for cutting Drum is a musical instrument Clocks tell the time CHAIR is printed in capitals Kettle has four letters Chips go with fish Honey is what spiders make Knife is spelled correctly Cold is the opposite of hot Book has four letters BLACK is written in capitals Horse has five letters Purple is not a colour Green is spelled correctly Mother is always female Find has three letters Table may be made of wood Lake has six letters Shoes come in pairs June is printed in capitals Fruit can be eaten Cognitive Psychology T T T F T T T T T F F F F F F 12

Which words were remembered? Semantic /deep processing Shallow processing Shoes come in pairs House has five letters CHAIR is printed in capitals Table may be made of wood Mother is always female Kettle has four letters Knife is spelled correctly Purple is not a colour Cold is the opposite of hot Book has four letters can be eaten BLACK is written in capitals. Fruit Chips go with fish Horse has five letters Honey is what spiders make Green is spelled correctly Drum is a musical instrument Find has three letters Clocks tell the time Lake has six letters Scissors are used for cutting June is printed in capitals 13 January 2022 Cognitive Psychology 13

General Evaluation: The problem with external validity? Is there anything wrong with using words to recall? Separate memory stores? Emotional factors? 13 January 2022 Cognitive Psychology 14