Efficient Learning

Efficient Learning I.

Functions of Remembering • Mnemonics – techniques for increasing the likelihood of remembering Examples: • Conversion of a sequence of symbols into a sentence • Method of loci (places) - an orderly spatial arrangement contributed to actual remembering - useful only for series that need to be remembered temporarily • Pegword – translates numbers into a sequence that can be visualized • Coding – providing code for translating numbers into letters, basing on learners ingenuity •

Storage – how the item is retained over a period of time  Encoding – a learner’s behavior with respect to the stimulus to be remembered - entirely selective Semantic encoding – a reader’s response is affected more by semantic properties of the text rather than by typeface or size Properties of Encoding:  Semantic properties – defining technical terms  Visual or phonological – learning spellings or pronunciations  Tonal or temporal – following the score of a musical work Dimensions of Encoding  Maintenance rehearsal – repetition of an item  Coding rehearsal – extensive mnemonic system Classes of Encoding  Simple substitution – most straightforward and corresponds to familiar examples of codes  Elaborative encoding – a sequence of consonants is transformed into a sequence of Words (e.g. visual imagery)

•

 Level or depth of processing – descriptive and not explanatory, describes relations between types of encoding and the likelihood of remembering. Retention – opportunity for recall  Reproductive process – events are recalled directly or reproduced  Reconstructive process – aspects of the past events are derived or reconstructed from what had been encoded  Theories of consolidation – argues that what’s learned becomes fixed in memory over some time following learning  Theories of incubation – argues that remembered events and relations are spontaneously reorganized over time  Subliminal learning – learning without awareness (e.g. sleeping)

•

Retrieval – recall of an item o An item that is stored is said to be available in memory. The item, however, may or may not be remembered. When you can remember, we say it’s accessible, when you can’t, we say it’s inaccessible.  Cue dependency – the influence of the stimuli or cues present at the moment of recall  State dependent learning – recall is affected by the similarity of the learner’s condition at retrieval to that at storage.

•

Metamemory – differentiation and discrimination of our own remembering

 Running or Working Memory – continually updating what’s remembered by dropping some items and adding others  Discriminated remembering II.

Structure of Remembering • Autobiographical – involves remembering events in the learner’s past • Semantic memory – involves remembering the properties of the learner’s language •

Ionic Memory – the relatively brief persistence of stimulus effects  Icons – persisting after effects of visual stimuli  Span of immediate memory – the limit in the number of items we can rehearse or remember after a single brief presentation  Echoic memory – the auditory case, involves the persisting effects of auditory stimuli  Echoic verbal behavior – correspondences between auditory stimuli and the listener’s vocal responses

•

Short-Term Memory – The maintenance of responding occasioned by a stimulus; the limit on the span of immediate memory

•

Long-Term Memory – remembering after some time elapses without rehearsal  Trace theories – theories based upon the passive decay of memories that assumed correspondences between remembering and hypothetical processes in the nervous system  Interference theories – theories based upon competition that are more likely to rely on stimulus and response variables  Memory consolidation – argued that memory is impermanent immediately after learning and that time is required for it to become fixed or consolidated  Reminiscence – increase in recall probability as time passes since the end of learning and occurs under certain conditions

•

The Structure of Memory  Procedural memory – remembering how many things are done Example: motor memory  Discrete skills – easily forgotten  Continuous skills – rarely forgotten  Declarative memory – contrasted with procedural memory and which is verbal remembering or the remembering of facts  Implicit memory  Explicit memory  Aphasias – certain types of verbal deficits  Autobiographical or episodic memory – everyday remembering concerning particular incidents that occurred at certain times and places  Flashbulb memory – involves remembering details of where we were at the time of hearing about a significant event    

Semantic memory – contrasted with episodic memory Spatial memory – remembering paths and things located on them Retrospective memory – remembering tasks on the basis of past events Prospective memory – remembering tasks on the basis what’s to be done in the future

Rhacel Amistas Rachel Ramos

Catania, Charles,“Learning”, Fourth edition, Simon and Schuster/A Viacom Company, Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 USA, 1998