Selection 4: Improving Your Memory
(psychology)

College students, in particular, have a great deal of information to memorize. Of course you must first read and comprehend the material, but once you have done that, how can you go about memorizing the information as efficiently as possible? This psychology textbook selection presents some effective ways.

1. Apart from the advantages of forgetting, say, a bad date, most of us still would like to find ways to improve our memories. Is it possible to find practical ways to increase our recall of information? Most definitely. Research has revealed a number of strategies that can be used to help us develop better memories. Among the best:
2. The keyword technique. Suppose you are taking a foreign language class and need to learn vocabulary words. You can try using the keyword technique, in which a foreign word is paired with a common English word that has a similar sound. This English word is known as the keyword. For example, to remember the Spanish word for duck (pato, pronounced pot-o), you might choose the keyword pot; for the Spanish word for horse (caballo, pronounced cob-eye-yo), the keyword might be eye.
3. Once you have thought of a keyword, imagine the Spanish word "interacting" with the English keyword. For instance, you might envision a duck taking a bath in a pot to remember the word pato, or a horse with a large, bulging eye in the center of its head to recall caballo. This technique has produced considerably superior results in learning foreign language vocabulary than more traditional techniques involving memorization of the words themselves.
4. Encoding specificity. Encoding refers to the process by which information is initially recorded in a form usable to memory. Some research suggests that we remember information best in an environment that is the same as or similar to where we initially learned it. This phenomenon is known as encoding specificity. You might do better on a test, then, if you study in the classroom where the test will be given. On the other hand, if you must take a test in a different room from the one in which you studied, don't despair: The features of the test itself, such as the wording of the test questions, are sometimes so powerful that they overwhelm the subtler cues relating to the original encoding of the material.
5. Organization cues. Many of life's important recall tasks involve texts that you have read. One proven technique for improving recall of written material is to organize the material in memory as you read it for the first time—one of the rationales for using a "prepare-organize-work-evaluate-rethink" system to approaching your college assignments.
6. Organize your reading by using any advance information you have about the content of the material (use it to create some questions about the material you are preparing to read) and about its organization (look through the material to see how it is organized). This activity will enable you to make connections and see relationships among the various facts, and to process the material at a deeper level, which in turn will later aid recall.
7. Effective note-taking. "Less is more" is perhaps the best advice for taking lecture notes that facilitate recall. Rather than trying to jot down every detail of a lecture, it is better to listen and think about the material, and take down the main points. In effective note taking, thinking about the material initially is more important than writing it down. This is one reason borrowing someone else's notes is a bad proposition, because you will have no framework in memory that you can use to understand them.
8. Practice and rehearse. By studying and rehearsing material past initial mastery—a process called overlearning—people are able to show better long-term recall than if they stop practicing after their initial learning of the material. Keep in mind that, as research clearly demonstrates, fatigue and other factors prevent long practice sessions from being as effective as distributed practice.
9. Don't believe claims about drugs that improve memory. Advertisements for One-A-Day vitamins with ginkgo biloba or Quanterra Mental Sharpness Product would have you believe that taking a drug could improve your memory. Not so, according to results of studies. No research has shown that commercial memory enhancers are effective. Save your money!

Source: Adapted from Robert Feldman, Essentials of Understanding Psychology, 5th ed. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003, pp. 204-05.

Directions: Questions 1-5 are objective questions that are based on the information in the selection. Answer them by clicking on the correct answer. You may refer to the selection as you answer the questions.

1	According to research studies about the effect of vitamins and drugs on memory,
	A)	vitamins improve memory, but drugs do not.
	B)	drugs improve memory, but vitamins do not.
	C)	both vitamins and drugs improve memory.
	D)	neither vitamins nor drugs improve memory.
2	Overlearning refers to
	A)	studying and rehearsing material past initial mastery.
	B)	using distributed practice to memorize information.
	C)	improving short-term memory.
	D)	a process for achieving perfect recall of material.
3	When taking notes, you should
	A)	listen selectively and record the main points.
	B)	jot down every possible detail of the lecture.
	C)	borrow someone else's notes to compare them with your own.
	D)	concentrate on listening rather than writing anything down.
4	It may help you score higher on a test if you study
	A)	in the same place every day.
	B)	at the same time every day.
	C)	in the same room where you will take the test.
	D)	in a different room from the one in which you will take the test.
5	An effective memory technique for learning foreign language vocabulary is
	A)	the keyword technique.
	B)	encoding specificity.
	C)	organizational cues.
	D)	rehearsal.

Directions: Questions 6-10 give you the opportunity to use context clues to deduce the meaning of certain words from the selection. The first sentence for each item comes from the selection and contains a vocabulary word, which appears in italics. The second sentence is not from the selection, but it uses the vocabulary word in the same sense as in the first sentence, and it contains additional context clues. Answer each question by clicking on the answer choice that makes sense in both sentences.

6	"For instance, you might envision a duck taking a bath in a pot to remember the word 'pato,' or a horse with a large, bulging eye in the center of its head to recall 'caballo.'" It's pleasant to close your eyes and envision yourself walking across the stage and receiving your college diploma. envision
	A)	ridicule; make fun of
	B)	draw an illustration or sketch of
	C)	form a mental picture of
	D)	commit to memory; memorize
7	"On the other hand, if you must take a test in a different room from the one in which you studied, don't despair: The features of the test itself, such as the wording of the test questions, are sometimes so powerful that they overwhelm the subtler cues relating to the original encoding of the material." After several hours of searching in vain for their missing child, the parents began to despair. despair
	A)	feel that there is no joy
	B)	feel that there is no hope
	C)	feel that there is no peace
	D)	feel that there is no reason
8	"On the other hand, if you must take a test in a different room from the one in which you studied, don't despair: The features of the test itself, such as the wording of the test questions, are sometimes so powerful that they overwhelm the subtler cues relating to the original encoding of the material." A wine expert is able to taste subtler differences in wine that the average person cannot taste. subtler
	A)	less obvious
	B)	less understandable
	C)	less interesting
	D)	less useful
9	"'Less is more' is perhaps the best advice for taking lecture notes that facilitate recall." Thinking about which courses to take and filling out all of the forms ahead of time will facilitate your registration process. facilitate
	A)	make something harder to do
	B)	make something easier to do
	C)	make something more interesting to do
	D)	make something more pleasant to do
10	"This is one reason borrowing someone else's notes is a bad proposition, because you will have no framework in memory that you can use to understand them." The labor union's proposition to the management was that workers would accept a smaller pay increase if the number of their vacation days was increased. proposition
	A)	a formal agreement entered into by both sides
	B)	an idea that gains wide acceptance
	C)	an idea or plan put forward for consideration or discussion
	D)	a plan agreed upon in advance

Applied Reading Skills Questions

Directions: Questions 11-15 test your ability to apply certain reading skills. Answer each question by clicking on the correct answer. You may refer to the selection as you answer the questions.

11	The author's primary purpose for writing the selection is to
	A)	persuade readers to develop more memory techniques.
	B)	present strategies for developing a better memory.
	C)	explain how memory works.
	D)	compare the effectiveness of various memory techniques.
12	It can be logically inferred from information in the selection that the author
	A)	uses vitamins to enhance his memory.
	B)	uses drugs to enhance his memory.
	C)	does not use vitamins or drugs to enhance his memory.
	D)	uses both vitamins and drugs to enhance his memory.
13	As used in the last paragraph, commercial means
	A)	pertaining to advertising or marketing.
	B)	pertaining to something that is expensive.
	C)	pertaining to selling and making money.
	D)	pertaining to something highly addictive.
14	Which of the following is the overall pattern used to organize the information in the selection?
	A)	list
	B)	sequence
	C)	comparison-contrast
	D)	cause-effect
15	The overall main idea of the selection is best expressed by which of the following?
	A)	Most of us still would like to find ways to improve our memories.
	B)	One proven technique for improving recall of written material is to organize the material in memory as you read it for the first time—one of the rationales for using a "prepare-organize-work-evaluate-rethink" system to approaching your college assignments.
	C)	When it comes to memory, practice does not necessarily make perfect, but it helps.
	D)	Although commercial memory enhancers are not effective, research has revealed a number of strategies that can be used to help us develop better memories.