#effortful processing strategies

[problemstarchild]

Making Information Personally Meaningful

Memorize the following words:

bold truck temper green run drama glue chips knob hard vent rope

We can memorize a set of instructions more easily if we figure out what they mean rather than seeing them as a set of words.

Memorizing meaningful material takes one tenth the effort of memorizing nonsense syllables.

Actors memorize lines (and students memorize poems) more easily by deciding on the feelings and meanings behind the words, so one line flows naturally to the next.

The self-reference effect, relating material to ourselves, aids encoding and retention.

Now, try to memorize the words again, but this time, consider how each word relates to you.

[problemstarchild]

Deep/Semantic Processing

When encoding information, we are more likely to retain it if we deeply process even a simple word list by focusing on the semantics (meaning) of the words.

Types of processing:

Deep: semantically (the meaning of the word), "type of..."; about 90% of people can recognize words this way

Shallower: (the sound of the word), "rhymes with..."; about 60% of people can recognize words this way

Most shallow: structural (the appearance of the letters), "Written in capitals?"; about 12% of people can recognize words this way

"Shallow," unsuccessful processing refers to memorizing the appearance or sound of words.

[problemstarchild]

Rehearsal and Distributed Practice

Massed Practice refers to cramming information all at once. It is not time-effective.

The spacing effect was first noted by Hermann Ebbinghaus in the late 1800s. You will develop better retention and recall, especially in the long run, if you use the same amount of study time spread out over many shorter sessions.

This doesn't mean you have to study every day. Memory researcher Harry Bahrick noted that the longer the time between study sessions, the better the long-term retention, and the fewer sessions you need!

The best way to practice? Consider the testing effect. Henry Roediger (b. 1947) found that if your distributed practice includes testing (having to answer questions about the material), you will learn more and retain more than if you merely reread.

[problemstarchild]

Hierarchies/Categories

We are more likely to recall a concept if we encode it in a hierarchy, a branching/nested set of categories and sub-categories. Below is an example of a hierarchy, using some of the concepts we have just seen.

> Encoding and effortful processing

Sensory memory

Capacity of short-term and working memory

Effortful processing strategies

Chunking

Mnemonics

Hierarchies

[problemstarchild]

Mnemonics

A mnemonic is a memory trick that connects information to existing memory strengths such as imagery or structure.

A peg word system refers to the technique of visually associating new words with an existing list that is already memorized along with numbers. For example, "due" can be pictured written on a door, and door = 4.

Read: Plane, cigar, due, shall, candy, vague, pizza, seem, fire, pencil

Which words might be easier to remember?

Write down the words you can recall.

We encode better with the help of images.

[problemstarchild]

Chunking

Why are credit card numbers broken into groups of four digits? Four "chunks" are easier to encode (memorize) and recall than 16 individual digits.

Memorize: ACPCVSSUVROFLNBAQ XIDKKFCFBIANA

Chunking: organizing data into manageable units

> XID KKF CFB IAN AAC PCV S SU VRO FNB AQ

Chunking works even better if we can assemble information into meaningful groups:

> X IDK KFC FBI BA NAACP CVS SUV ROFL NBA Q

[problemstarchild]

Encoding: Effortful Processing Strategies

If we have short-term recall of only 7 letters, but can remember 5 words, doesn't that mean we could remember more than 7 letters if we group them into words?

This is an example of an effortful processing strategy, a way to encode information into memory to keep it from decaying and make it easier to retrieve.

Effortful processing is also known as studying.

Examples:

Chunking (grouping)

Mnemonics: images, maps, and peg-words

Hierarchies/categories

Rehearsal, especially distributed practice

Deep/Semantic processing

Making information personally meaningful