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Encoding affects retention (storage) and retrieval of information from memory
Two kinds of learning:
- Simple – involves associating terms and acquiring them through rehearsal (e.g. memorizing grocery list, name of capital cities, etc.)
- Complex – involves understanding, reasoning, and critical thinking (e.g. digestive processes, chemical reactions, etc.)
*according to research in cognitive psychology, encoding is enhanced when we combine andthoughtfully use strategies to learn simple information (imagery, linking, mnemonics, etc.) with strategies to learn complex information (understanding, reasoning, problem-solving, attaching meaning, etc.)!
Encoding Simple Information
Two types of Rehearsal:
- Maintenance rehearsal – shallow encoding; direct recycling of information in order to keep it active in STM (verbal repetition); retention is limited in this kind of encoding; highly efficient for a short-while; e.g. taking down someone’s telephone number; seldom last longL
- Elaborative rehearsal – information to-be-remembered is related to other information; deeper or more elaborate encoding activity; leads to high level of recall; sometimes, information can be broken into component parts and related to what one already knows
* Different types of rehearsal are appropriate for different type of tasks
Q: Give examples of the type of tasks (in your own life) that would require you to use
– Maintenance rehearsal strategies
– Elaborative rehearsal strategies
Strategies
Mediation – tying difficult-to-be-remember items to something more meaningful; results in deeper, more elaborate encoding than simple repetition of new content
Imagery – encoding using images/pictures (non-verbal); leads to better memory performance; easily imagined words (more concrete in nature, like ‘car’, ‘pencil’, etc.) tend to be remembered more readily than hard-to-imagine words (more abstract in nature, like ‘freedom’, ‘truth’, etc.); this activity can be extended to encode complex CONCEPTS too; consider individual differences among students in tier ability to image information; some students are better able to employ imagery than others and these differences seem to lead to differences in memory performance; best images (that enhance memory) are bizarre (vs. mundane), colorful, and strange.
Mnemonics:
The Peg Method – students memorize a series of ‘pegs’ on which to-be-learned information can be ‘hug’ one item at a time; e.g.
One for bun
Two for shoe
Three for tree
Four for door
Five for hive
Six for sticks
Seven for heaven
Eight for gate
Nine for pine
Ten for hen
Construct a visual image of the first thing on the to-be-learned list interacting with the object named in the first line of the rhyme
The Method of Loci – mentally walking through a ‘location’ (that one is extremely familiar with); each item (sofa, table, window, television, etc.) in the ‘location’ is linked to particular to-be-learned information
The Link Method – no need for a previously learned set of materials like the rhyme or ‘location’; used when learning list of things; student forms an image for each item in a list of things to be learned; each image is pictured as INTERACTIING with the next item on the list; all of the items are linked in imagination
Stories – stories can be constructed from a list of words to be remembered, the to-be-learned words in a list are put together in a story such that the to-be-learned words are highlighted; at recall, the story is remembered and the to-be-remembered words are plucked from the story
The First-Letter Method – using the first letters of to-be-learned words to construct acronyms or words
The Keyword Method – to facilitate vocabulary acquisition; used in connection with imagery; two stages (illustrated with an example of learning the word, ‘captivate’)
- Acoustic link – search for a ‘keyword’ within the to-be-learned word, let’s say ‘cap’
- Imagery link – link this keyword, ‘cap’ with an image (image from real-life connected to one’s experiences)
Copyright September 2006 by Dr. Edward Roy Krishnan, www.affectiveteaching.com
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