To go along with my previous post, something else caught my attention while in class. Not only focusing your attention on a certain task or subject while help to increase ability to remember it, but also becoming more engaged with the material at hand will strengthen the memory. What I mean by this is writing down additional information that makes for a two-way street. You encode the information, retrieve it, and send it back out, in your own interpretation. Or, asking questions to show that you are taking in the information but you need a little clarification to solidify the information.
My English teachers always used to say to write in the margins of books. It didn't have to be something extremely deep, but it would engage you in the reading so that you could remember and understand easier. Even writing down something it reminds you of is good because you are associating new information with old information. Interacting with what you read or hear will help the message sink in so that you can remember it for later. Sensory memory is very brief and is prior to conscious awareness, but working memory requires repetition and mental awareness in order to become long-term memory. By interacting with the information, you are already repeating the encoding of the message which increases the chances of you remembering it later.
Where my teacher said today that people say cramming before a test is bad. Well, that is both true and false depending on the way you look at it. If you are looking to keep the information in storage to remember it later, cramming is not a good idea because it is only fresh on the mind. So cramming can be good right before a test because that information is easily accessible right away, but will be forgotten easily. Repetition of the information over a longer period of time is the key way to ensure that it is stored in your long-term memory. Using simple techniques such as being involved during class can lead to better memory right from the beginning, instead of hardly taking in what the teacher is saying, and only cramming the night before the test. The first might seem more tedious and time-consuming, but in the long run it will be more beneficial to you and your brain. Anyway for me, cramming will make me more anxious about the upcoming test and will decrease my chances of doing well in that respect, so I'm learning to become more "friendly" to open interaction with my studying.
Research in education for years have noticed the difference from "active learning" compared to "passive learning." Like you say, memory is encoded better when the person has to actively "engage" with the new information. By you blogging the information you will remember the information you are engaging with. Asking questions, facilating discussion about the information, elaborating on the topic, comparing and contrasting with older information, etc. all help the brain assimilate the new information, with older information, to create new awareness. By acting on the information it requires the brain to not just recognize the information but process it into meaning so it can adaptively respond to it. This process of input, processing, and output creates an encoding loop that strengths the memory.
ReplyDeleteAs far as cramming for a test, memory is a biochemical process. If you cram just before going to bed, and getting a good night sleep, your memory of the material will be better when you wake up than before you went to sleep. Memory is a chemical process. By taking in the information just before going to bed, the brain is processing the new information while in a resting state (not having other information coming in to disrupt the memory process). Of course it will do little to transfer this information into long term memory.