Chapter 3 Improving Memory and Reading

1
Chapter 3Improving Memory and Reading
2
How does the memory work?

• Three Stages
• Sensory Register
• Short Term Memory (STM)
• Long Term Memory (LTM)

3
Sensory Register

• Lasts less than a second
• Records sensory experience
• Allows the brain to process info
• Helps us to focus on relevant info

4
The Sensory Register is like a quickly fading
photo of your sensory experience
5
Short Term Memory

• Lasts about a half a minute
• Temporary and limited
• Records what we see, hear, do, taste, touch
• Purpose is to ponder significance and decide if
  it is important enough to remember

6
Magical Number 7

• It is easier to remember material grouped in
  chunks of seven ( or 2)

7
Common 7s

• Telephone Number
• License Plate
• Days of the Week
• Colors of the Rainbow
• Deadly Sins
• 7 Dwarfs (Snow White)
• Can You Name Some Others?

8
Long Term Memory

• Large capacity
• Permanent storage
• Use it to store important information for future
  use
• Use it to store information for college success

9
Is It True that We Never Forget?

• We remember what is stored in
• Long Term Memory (LTM)
• This is the goal of college study

10
How Long Do We Remember?

• Sensory Register less than one second
• Short Term less than one minute
• Long Term permanent

11
To Store Information in Long Term Memory

• Requires rehearsal
• Apply memory techniques

12
We
Forget

• Unpleasant things
• Names of people, places, things
• What is barely learned
• What we do not understand
• Under pressure or stress
• Material we learn by cramming
• Ideas in conflict with our beliefs

13
We
Remember

• Pleasant Experiences
• Material important to us
• What we put in effort to learn
• What we have reviewed
• What is interesting
• What we use frequently
• Muscular skills such as riding a bike

14
Theories of Forgetting

• I Forgot
• Mental Blur
• Decay
• Interference
• Reactive Interference
• Motivated Forgetting

15
Rate of Forgetting (or losing access)

• AFTER 20 MINUTES 47
• AFTER 1 DAY 62
• AFTER 2 DAYS 69
• AFTER 15 DAYS 75
• AFTER 31 DAYS 78

Hermann Ebbinghaus
16
Super LearningAverage IQ 100Genius 160
17
The average human only uses 4 of their brainIf
we could use 7, we could all be a genius!
18
Brain cell of a rat
Without Stimulation
With Stimulation
19
Ready for a memory test?
20
How did you remember?
21
Memory Techniques
22
Meaningful Organization
23
Memory is like a library
24
If you miss-file a book, You cannot find it.
It is still there and you may stumble across
it one day.
25
File your books correctly.
Organize those thoughts!
26
Organize it.

• Learn from the general to the
• specific
• Make it meaningful

27
Remember the Magical Number 7?
Organize in Groups of 7 or Less
28
Visualization

• Make a mental picture of what you want to
  remember
• Commercials make good use of this technique

29
Recitation

• One of the most powerful techniques
• Memories exist in the form of a chemical neural
  trace
• Some researchers think it takes 5 seconds to
  establish this trace
• Repeat it 5 times or keep it in your mind for 5
  seconds

30
READY FOR THE TEST AGAIN? YOULL DO BETTER
THIS TIME
31
More Memory Techniques
32
Develop an Interest

• We tend to remember what interests us

33
Can You Remember?

• Music
• Sports
• Hobbies
• Styles

34
Find Something Interesting in Your College Studies
35
See the Big Picture

• Understand the main points first and the details
  second

36
Imagine trying to see a painting one inch at a
time! It is difficult to appreciate or
understand.
37
The essence of genius is knowing what to
overlook. William James
38
Intend to Remember

• Tell yourself that you are going to remember.

39
Intend to remember where you put your keys!
40
Distribute the Practice

• Learn small amounts at a time
• Review frequently

41
EXAMPLESAFMEDSSAYALLFASTONE
MINUTEEACHDAYSHUFFLE
42
Create a Basic Background

• We remember by making connections to what we
  already know
• At first college is difficult because you are
  establishing the basic background

43
Relax While Studying
44
You cant remember if you are embarrassed
45
Frustrated
46
Tired
47
Memory Tricks
48
Acrostics

• Creative rhymes, songs or poems

Musical Notes Every Good Boy Does Fine
49
Acronyms

• Create New Words as Memory Aids

NASA
LASER
SCUBA
50
Exercise Practice with Mnemonics
51
Peg Systems

• One Bun Six Sticks
• Two Shoe Seven Heaven
• Three Tree Eight Gate
• Four Door Nine Wine
• Five Hive Ten Hen

52
Picture the Peg
Bun
53
Connect what you want to remember. Use a picture.
Bun
Milk
54
Exercise Remember a Grocery List
55
Peg Systems

• One Bun Six Sticks
• Two Shoe Seven Heaven
• Three Tree Eight Gate
• Four Door Nine Wine
• Five Hive Ten Hen

56
Loci Systems

• Use places to remember
• A House
• A Hallway

57
Can you strengthen your mind?
58
Exercises to Strengthen the Mind

• Puzzles
• Music
• Fix Something
• Art
• Dance
• Aerobic Exercise
• Interesting People

59
Keeping Your Mind Healthy

• Exercise
• Rest
• Balanced, low-fat diet
• Eat proteins and carbohydrates
• Drink caffeine in moderation
• Dont abuse drugs or alcohol
• Use safety gear

60
You can remember!
61
Part II Read to Remember
62
Warm Up Your BrainCan You Remember the Grocery
List?
63
Peg Systems

• One Bun Six Sticks
• Two Shoe Seven Heaven
• Three Tree Eight Gate
• Four Door Nine Wine
• Five Hive Ten Hen

64
Sum Apply these super learning techniques

• Meaningful Organization
• Visualization
• Recitation
• Develop an Interest
• See the Big Picture First
• Intend to Remember
• Distribute the Practice
• Create a Basic Background
• Relax

65
Myths About Reading

• If I read, I should remember what I read.

66
Generally people cannot remember 50 of of the
material they have just read!
67
Myths About Reading

• If I read, I should remember what I read.
• I do not need to read if I go to class.
• Practice makes perfect.

68
Thumb Exercise
69
Get Started with Skimming

• Quickly read preface or intro
• Look at Table of Contents
• Spend 5-15 minutes quickly looking over the book
• Notice the items at the back of the book

70
Exercise Textbook Skimming
71
SQ4RA shortcut to college reading
72
Read onceInstead of Re-reading.Recite for
memory improvement
73
Step 1SurveyQuestion
FAST
74
Why?

• Beginning of speed reading
• Improves comprehension

75
How?

• Quickly look over the chapter
• Turn the subtitles into questions

76
Survey

• See the big picture
• Ease into studying
• Warm up
• Create a basic background
• Get started

77
Question

• Read to find answers
• Improves reading comprehension
• Forces you to concentrate

??
78
Keeps you awake
79
Become an Active Reader
80
Exercise Survey and Question a Chapter
81
Step 2
SLOW
Read Recite
FAST
82
This step is most important for Memory
83
How?
Read to identify the topic sentence or main idea
84
Underline or highlight the idea if it is
important.
85
When reading is tough

• Read it again
• Look up new words
• Read it aloud
• Ask the instructor
• Stand up and read
• Use tutoring
• Pretend you understand
• Take a break and come back later

86
Read with a Dictionary

• Use 3X5 cards to learn new words

87
Recite

• Most powerful memory technique
• Converts information from short term to long term
  memory
• Keeps you alert

FAST
88
Step 3
Review Reflect
FAST
89
Why?
Reinforces memory
90
When?
Within 20 Minutes!
Most of the forgetting occurs in the first 20
minutes.
91
How to Review

• After each main section, review the main points
• At the end of the chapter, quickly review the
  main points one more time
• Do your review quickly

92
Reflection is the creative step
93
Reflection

• How can I use this?
• What is important?
• How does it relate?
• How can I use it
• in my career?
• Is it true?

94
A step beyond memorization isWisdom
REFLECT
95
SumSQ4R

• 1. Survey and Question
• 2. Read and Recite
• 3. Review and Reflect

96
Reading is a habitStart good habits!
97
Reading Speed
98
4 Gears of Reading

• Skimming (2000-3000 WPM)
• Rapid Reading (300-800 WPM)
• Slow Reading (150-300 WPM)
• Studying (200 WPM)

99
Guidelines for Marking a Text
100
A Mind Map for Marking a Text
THE ESSENCE OF GENIUS IS KNOWING WHAT TO
OVERLOOK
BE SELECTIVE
20
101
Marking
WHY?
MEMORY SAVE TIME
THE ESSENCE OF GENIUS IS KNOWING WHAT TO
OVERLOOK
BE SELECTIVE
20
102
Marking
WHY?
MEMORY SAVE TIME
THE ESSENCE OF GENIUS IS KNOWING WHAT TO
OVERLOOK
BE SELECTIVE
20
GUIDELINES
READ FIRST
ORGANIZE
NOTES IN MARGIN
BRIEF
FAST AND NEAT
103
Marking
WHY?
MEMORY SAVE TIME
THE ESSENCE OF GENIUS IS KNOWING WHAT TO
OVERLOOK
BE SELECTIVE
SYMBOLS
20
GUIDELINES

READ FIRST
1 2 3
ORGANIZE

NOTES IN MARGIN
BRIEF
FAST AND NEAT
104
Marking
WHY?
MEMORY SAVE TIME
THE ESSENCE OF GENIUS IS KNOWING WHAT TO
OVERLOOK
BE SELECTIVE
SYMBOLS
20
GUIDELINES

READ FIRST
1 2 3
ORGANIZE

NOTES IN MARGIN
BRIEF
FAST AND NEAT
105
Marking
DOUBLE SYSTEM
WHY?
1. UNDERLINE IN PENCIL 2. HIGHLIGHT AS PART OF
REVIEW
MEMORY SAVE TIME
THE ESSENCE OF GENIUS IS KNOWING WHAT TO
OVERLOOK
BE SELECTIVE
SYMBOLS
20
GUIDELINES

READ FIRST
1 2 3
ORGANIZE

NOTES IN MARGIN
BRIEF
FAST AND NEAT
106
More Ideas on Text Marking

• Point out definitions by writing DEF in the
  margin. Circle the word being defined.
• Point out examples by writing EX in the margin
• Write SUM in the margin to point out useful
  summaries to reread.

107
Group ActivityMake a Mind Map Use How Does the
Memory Work?
108
An Example of a Mind Map
109
Patterns of Organization are Keys to
Understanding the Main Idea

• Listing Pattern
• Sequence Pattern
• Definition Pattern
• Comparison/Contrast Pattern
• Cause/Effect Pattern

110
Understanding the main ideas Success on tests
111
The Listing Pattern Presents a List of Items

• Your task as a reader is to identify all items
  listed
• Watch for clues such as numbers or letters

First Second Third
1, 2, 3
A B C D
112
Sequence Pattern

• Presents a list of items in a specific order.
  The order is important.
• As a reader, identify and mark all items in the
  series and note their order.
• Again clues are numbers or letters.
• Notice words such as then, next, finally

113
Definition Pattern

• Presents an explanation of a term
• As the reader, understand all parts of the
  definition
• Watch for words such as is, is defined, this
  term means, is known as, refers to

114
Comparison/Contrast Pattern

• Presents similarities or differences
• As a reader, recognize these similarities or
  differences
• For comparisons, notice these words similarly,
  likewise, also
• For differences, notice these words however, in
  contrast, on the other hand, nevertheless

115
Cause/Effect Pattern

• Presents the reasons things happen (causes) and
  their results (effects)
• As a reader understand the cause and effect
• For cause notice these words causes, produces,
  leads to, results in
• For effect notice these words results from, was
  caused by, due to, consequently, therefore

116
Improve Reading Concentration

• Have a regular place to study and get in the
  habit of studying in this place
• Do not do anything else in this place
• Eat, rest or watch TV some other place

117
Deal with Mental Distractions

• Become an active reader
• Be here now
• Remind yourself of your purpose for reading
• Deal with worry
• Break the task into small parts

118
Keys to Success Positive Thinking

• You can improve your reading and your life with
  positive thinking!

119
If you think you are beaten, you are. If you
think you dare not, you dont. If you like to win
but think you cant, Its almost certain that you
wont. Lifes battles dont always go To the
stronger woman or man, But sooner or later, those
who win Are those who think they can.
120
ExercisesTest Your College Reading
SkillsBecoming An Efficient College Reader