The general concept of
memory is a faithful storage of exact recordings of experiences. However, studies have shown memory is fallible
and can lead to biases and errors in events.
In the first memory game I played, I had to look at 20 objects for
two minutes and write down how many I actually remembered. As much as I tried
to remember all objects, I only wrote
10 down. Huffman (2007) states” the levels of
processing model suggests that memory relies on how deeply we process initial information. During shallow processing,
we’re only aware of basic incoming sensory information” (Huffman, 2007).
In the second memory task, I have to look at 20 objects. But this
time, I have to connect the objects with a story, using what scientists call elaborative encoding that “lets you
connect new information to memories that you already have, and that helps you
remember the new information” (Exploratorium, 1998). I told a story to myself with these objects and I remembered 16 of them. A technique that
helped me remember the objects in the memory task, was chunking the objects in units of three.
The third memory task instructed me to put the objects in ten
places in my house, in order to connect
them to each other. For example, I went to the bathroom and I imagined I tower
of toilette paper and a poster of my favorite body lotion. I always forget my
grocery store list and I can never remember what I needed until I come back
home. After trying this exercise, I was able to remember all objects with no
difficulty. This memory exercise is very useful to study for exams because I
tend to have a hard time remembering concepts and specific words. In fact, the only way former teachers taught
me to study, was to memorize the words and concepts instead of connecting them
to stories to use them as a hint.
Before trying the three memory exercises, I believed memory was as
simple as remembering events for a long time. In addition, I did not understand
the reason why I forgot concepts and words at the time of an exam, if I studied
for three days.
In conclusion, the three memory tasks show information has to be transferred
to short-term memory, otherwise it is assumed to be lost. The information sent
and stored to long-term memory can be retrieved and sent back to short-term
memory for use.
References
·
Huffman, K. (2007). Psychology in Action
(8th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
·
Playing Games With
Memory. (1998). Retrieved from
http://www.exploratorium.edu/memory/dont_forget/index.html
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