Transcript Study Skills - Cloudfront.net

Memory Skills
Memory
 How often do you find yourself being
introduced to someone and a few
moments later, you can’t remember
the name?
• Even more distressing…have you ever studied several
hours the night before a test and not remember many
important facts?
• Why do you think that happens?
Today, you’re going answer that question by finding out
how your memory works, and you’re going to learn how
to remember things over a long period of time.
How Memory Works
Let’s think of memory in four layers:
LAYER 1 – SHORT TERM MEMORY
If a teacher gives you a definition in class and
you can repeat it immediately, then Layer 1 is
as work.
Short-term memory is exactly as it
sounds…useful for many daily routines such
as dialing a telephone number immediately
after you hear the number.
HEARING SOMETHING ONCE DOES NOT
RECREATE LONG-TERM RECALL UNLESS
SOMETHING ELSE IS HAPPENS…which
we’ll discuss later.
How Memory works
LAYER 2 – ADEQUETE RETENTION
If your teacher reminds you that you are having a test a few times
throughout the week, the memory goes from Layer 1 to Layer 2.
Layer 2 is associated with cramming – Trying to memorize the night
before a test. This form of studying is highly unreliable.
During the test, some – if not many– of the answers will escape you.
How Memory Works
LAYER 3 – GOOD RETENTION
 In this layer, you have repeated the information several
times and have written it down
 Your writing has created a visual image for your mind to
remember.
 You have forced that information into Level 3.
 You should expect fairly good recall for your test.
 Your muscles will help you remember as your write.
How Memory Works
LAYER 4 – EXCELLENT RETENTION
 To get to Layer 4, you must repeat the information over
period of time and write it down.
 What information is in your long-term memory?
 Phone numbers that you’ve repeated many times
 Birth dates of special people
 Your address, etc.
 Smart test-takers study a few times during a day for at least
three or four days.
 By the time test day arrives, you will know the information.
 TRY IT!
How Memory Works
So why do you sometimes remember something that happened
only once.
 Think of your first memory. What is it?
Class
Discussion
 What is similar about everyone’s first memory?
 They are all associated with emotion or an unusual event.
 If something unusual or emotion happens, it can be stored in
your long-term memory.
 School work does not usually fall into this category, so you need
to use the other methods we are going to discuss
Laws of Memory
Memories are created three ways:
1.
Law of Recency – things that happened recently
2.
Law of Vividness – spectacular or unusual
events rather than ordinary
3.
Law of Frequency – things that we experience
over and over.
We’re going to be looking at several techniques to
help your memory. Try them and see which works
best for you.
Memory Quiz
 Before we start to learn some techniques, let’s take a
memory quiz to see how many words you can
remember in one minute.
 Take out a paper and pen or pencil to be used later.
 Do not write your list until instructed.
 When you see the list, try to remember as many words
as you can.
 Are you ready?
Memory
Test 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Rice
10. Eggs
Spaghetti
10. Chicken
Paper Towels
10. Yogurt
Dog Food
10. Detergent
Apples
10. Grapes
Bananas
10. Mushrooms
Cereal
10. Salt
Bread
10. Cereal
Waffles
10. Pepsi
 Do not write your list quite yet.
 Let’s see how much you remember after a one minute
discussion.
 Who will time this discussion for one minute?
 Who can tell me when gold was discovered in California?
 How did you remember that?
 If you think of the 49ers and go back one year, you’ll have the
answer.
1848
 Now write as many words as you can remember from the
memory test.
How many did you get correct?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Rice
10. Eggs
Spaghetti
10. Chicken
Paper Towels
10. Yogurt
Dog Food
10. Detergent
Apples
10. Grapes
Bananas
10. Mushrooms
Cereal
10. Salt
Bread
10. Cereal
Waffles
10. Pepsi
Visualization
Research tells us that we can enhance our memory by actually drawing a picture or
visualizing something that we want to recall at a later time.

To visualize information in a textbook, or notes, close your eyes and form a picture
of what you want to remember.

To visualize vocabulary works and their definitions, look at the word you are trying
to memorize.
 Ask yourself if there is a part of the work that looks or sounds familiar to you, that you can


‘see.”
Use that association to draw (or imagine) as silly a picture as you can.
Then make your picture do something that directly relates to the meaning of the word.
Here’s an example: Brussels is the capital of Belgium. Form a visual picture in your
mind brussel sprouts on top of a Belgium waffle. Do you see the picture in your
head??
Memory Floor Plan
 Now let’s learn a visualization technique to help you
learn a list that many of the top memory experts use.
 We are going to take a walk around a house and place
two objects at each stop.
 Remember, we need to make it silly which will make it
memorable.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Cheese
Bacon
Milk
Salt
Bread
Butter
Tuna
Paper
Towels
Sugar
Memory Floor Plan
Laundry
Kitchen
Dining
Room
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Ham
Tomatoes
Hot Dogs
Waffles
Sponge
Napkins
Gum
Potato Ch
Popcorn
Bathroom
Bedroom
Entry
Living
Room
Front Door
Starting on the “Path.” Picture the bacon as the
path with cheese steps to the front door.
The front door could be a milk carton with a salt
shaker for a door knob…
 Do not write your list quite yet.
 Let’s see how much you remember after a one minute
discussion.
 Who will time this discussion for one minute?
 Who can tell me when Columbus discovered America?
 What technique did you use to remember that?
 Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492
Now write as many words as you can remember from the
memory test.
How did you do?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Cheese
Bacon
Milk
Salt
Bread
Butter
Tuna
Paper Towels
Sugar
10.Ham
11.Tomatoes
12.Hot Dogs
13.Waffles
14.Sponge
15.Napkins
16.Gum
17.Potato Chips
18.Popcorn
Memorizing Using Story Linking
If the information you need to learn is long, break up the
information to be learned into smaller chunks and then link
them together in a story. Here is an example of how to
memorize the first 10 presidents:
When Washington -1 cut down the cherry tree, he also cut his
Adams - 2 apple. Blood gushed all over his Son, Jeff
(Jefferson -3). Jeff was Mad (Madison – 4) at the Money
(Monroe – 5) fixing an Adams (another Adam – 6) apple would
cost. Along came the nicer Son, Jack (Jackson – 7) to help,
but his Van Burned (Van Buren – 8) while Hurrying (Harrison –
9) to the hospital, so they just temporarily Tied (Tyler – 10) a
bandage around the wound.
Memorizing Using Association
When you need to memorize separate facts, find a way to associate them and
use that association in a phrase, a sentence, or a story.
Here are some examples:
To learn capitals of the U.S. state:
Juneau, Alaska…too cold to go to Alaska except in June.
Hartford Connecticut…connected hearts
Springfield, Illinois…You can’t spring out of bed if your ill.
 Now you try a few:
Baton Rouge , Lousiana
Augusta, Maine
Columbus, Ohio
Tallahassee, Florida
Memorizing Lists
Using peg words
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Sun
Shoe
Tree
Door
Dive
6. Sticks
7. Heaven
8. Gate
9. Line
10.Hen
Memorizing Numbers
Convert a number into a word
1.
t, d
2.
N n has two downstrokes
3.
M m has three downstrokes
4.
R “four” ends in r
5.
L Roman numeral for 50 is “L”
6.
j, sh, chJ reversed looks like 6
7.
k, g Visualize K drawn with two 7’s
8.
f, vCursive f has two loops like an 8
9.
p, b P reversed looks like 9
10.
z, s
t has one downstroke
“zero” starts with z
Memorizing using Acrostics
 Silly Sentences – It’s easier to memorize a long list
if it makes sense the way a sentence does.
 EXAMPLE: To memorize the planets in their order to
the sun:
 Mercury – Venus – Earth – Mars – Jupiter – Saturn –
Uranus – Neptune
 USE: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us
Nachos
Memorizing Using Acronyms
 Sometimes you will not need to memorize a whole
sentence. The acronym is a shorter version of the
acrostic.
 EXAMPLE: To memorize the Great Lakes
 Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
 USE: HOMES
Memorizing Using Charts
 To classify vertebrates according to common
attributes, use a chart to see comparisons
and contrasts.
Fish
Amphibians
Reptiles
Birds
Mammals
VERTEBRATES
Blooded Breathing
Cold
Gills
Gills, Lungs
Cold
Cold
Lungs
Warm
Lungs
Warm
Lungs
Reproduction
External
External
External
External
Internal
Review
 So, how can we learn to remember things?




Create an association
Be clever and creative
Make it visual and silly
Repeat the information over time.