Benjamin Keep, PhD, JD | The Principles Behind Every Memory Technique @benjaminkeep | Uploaded August 2021 | Updated October 2024, 12 minutes ago.
If you want to remember something, it helps to keep in mind the basic principles at work; not just the specific memorization techniques. We have to get stuff in our heads and then pull it back out.
Elaboration is about putting memories in our heads in a way that makes them easier to get out again. Retrieval is about getting practice pulling that memory out at the right time.
00:00 Two steps to remembering
01:15 Elaboration is about connections
01:31 Forms of elaboration
02:33 Retrieval is strengthening paths
04:05 Forms of retrieval
04:54 Repetition is not retrieval
The testing effect video I mentioned: youtu.be/g0rg2xdnRPc
Sign up to my email newsletter, Avoiding Folly, here: benjaminkeep.com
References:
On the relationship between the testing effect and retrieval, see:
Halamish, V., & Bjork, R. A. (2011). When does testing enhance retention? A distribution-based interpretation of retrieval as a memory modifier. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(4), 801.
(currently at https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1033.8690&rep=rep1&type=pdf)
"Retrieval is a memory modifier" is an old phrase of Bjork's that I kind of love.
On "retrieval beating elaboration" see (specifically on concept-mapping; thought to be one of the better elaboration strategies for conceptual learning):
Karpicke, J. D., & Blunt, J. R. (2011). Retrieval practice produces more learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping. Science, 331(6018), 772-775.
(currently at mrbartonmaths.com/resourcesnew/8.%20Research/Memory%20and%20Revision/Retrieval%20practice%20more%20effective%20than%20studying.pdf)
Lechuga, M. T., Ortega-Tudela, J. M., & Gómez-Ariza, C. J. (2015). Further evidence that concept mapping is not better than repeated retrieval as a tool for learning from texts. Learning and Instruction, 40, 61-68.
(currently at sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959475215300232)
The "how economic a word is" reference comes from a very old study:
Tresselt, M. E., & Mayzner, M. S. (1960). A study of incidental learning. The journal of psychology, 50(2), 339-347.
(currently at https://people.southwestern.edu/~giuliant/LOP_PDF/Tresselt1960.pdf).
I initially came across the reference from "The ABCs of How We Learn" - a book I heartily recommend for a working knowledge of learning mechanisms.
If you want to remember something, it helps to keep in mind the basic principles at work; not just the specific memorization techniques. We have to get stuff in our heads and then pull it back out.
Elaboration is about putting memories in our heads in a way that makes them easier to get out again. Retrieval is about getting practice pulling that memory out at the right time.
00:00 Two steps to remembering
01:15 Elaboration is about connections
01:31 Forms of elaboration
02:33 Retrieval is strengthening paths
04:05 Forms of retrieval
04:54 Repetition is not retrieval
The testing effect video I mentioned: youtu.be/g0rg2xdnRPc
Sign up to my email newsletter, Avoiding Folly, here: benjaminkeep.com
References:
On the relationship between the testing effect and retrieval, see:
Halamish, V., & Bjork, R. A. (2011). When does testing enhance retention? A distribution-based interpretation of retrieval as a memory modifier. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(4), 801.
(currently at https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1033.8690&rep=rep1&type=pdf)
"Retrieval is a memory modifier" is an old phrase of Bjork's that I kind of love.
On "retrieval beating elaboration" see (specifically on concept-mapping; thought to be one of the better elaboration strategies for conceptual learning):
Karpicke, J. D., & Blunt, J. R. (2011). Retrieval practice produces more learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping. Science, 331(6018), 772-775.
(currently at mrbartonmaths.com/resourcesnew/8.%20Research/Memory%20and%20Revision/Retrieval%20practice%20more%20effective%20than%20studying.pdf)
Lechuga, M. T., Ortega-Tudela, J. M., & Gómez-Ariza, C. J. (2015). Further evidence that concept mapping is not better than repeated retrieval as a tool for learning from texts. Learning and Instruction, 40, 61-68.
(currently at sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959475215300232)
The "how economic a word is" reference comes from a very old study:
Tresselt, M. E., & Mayzner, M. S. (1960). A study of incidental learning. The journal of psychology, 50(2), 339-347.
(currently at https://people.southwestern.edu/~giuliant/LOP_PDF/Tresselt1960.pdf).
I initially came across the reference from "The ABCs of How We Learn" - a book I heartily recommend for a working knowledge of learning mechanisms.
