Memory Concepts and Games
Introduction
Memory is a mental ability in living animals to record, store and recall information collected from their day-to-day experiences that are gained through audio-visual and tactile means. The memory engages in three basic tasks namely encoding, storing and retrieving information. Studies in cognitive psychology and neuroscience recognize the fact that there are various categories of memory which include working memory, sensory memory and short term memory or long term memory (Haberlandt, 1999). The ability of the memory has limitations that depend on various factors such as the memory type under storage use, the clarity of encoding and storage capacity. A number of experiments have indicated that memory is limited in most instances in terms of how much it can retrieve store and process at one go. In order to understand the dynamics and functioning of the memory I took up various memories test games at Exploratorium.edu and recorded the scores for analysis (Haberlandt, 1999).
Memory solitaire was the first game in which I viewed 20 pictures for a period of two minutes. After two minutes I exited the site and recorded the names of all the pictures that I could recall. After assessing my recording I realized that I was only able to recall 14 out of 20 pictures. The second memory game-“Tell yourself a story”- entailed taking a look at twenty pictures and thereafter creating a story within which all pictures would feature in a connected manner (Exploratorium, 1998). After composing the story in two minutes I exited the site and wrote down the story and picked out the items identified in the pictures. Surprisingly, the recall rate improved from 14 to 19 items.
As a result, I concluded that the creation of the story that linked the items made recalling easier and simpler because of the connection established between items. The composition of the story actually improves the processing capacity of the memory, thus helping the recalling process. The memory’s capacity to recall is enhanced by processing, and this is exemplified through the comparison of the two exercises. In the first exercise the processing involved mere recording of pictures, which is a shallow form of processing whereas; in the second one the composition of the story enabled deeper meaning processing that enhanced storage and prevented loss of information. In these two processes I noticed that the primacy and recency effects took effect.
This was portrayed by my ability to recall many of the items that occurred first and last within the series compared to those in the middle of the series. On re-checking the list I also noticed that most of the items that I missed out occurred in the middle of most series, thus implying that there was a strong effect of the ‘serial position effect’ in which most middle placed items are easily forgotten than those encountered first or last (Haberlandt, 1999). The results imply that stimuli received first or last are easily remembered than those which occur in the middle of the sequence. The serial position effect was still observable even in the second game despite the fact that the story telling had been introduced to counter the effect.
However, despite the serial position effect, overall memory’s ability recall was improved. This knowledge may actually find good applicability in teaching, especially when dealing with the young children. The incorporation of graphics within learning materials and pictures can help enhance their ability to recall to great extent and thus improve the memorizing capacity and learning. The incorporation of animations and graphics could also be done within text-book materials to enhance learning through creation of mental picture connections between concepts and content.
The third game that I played is known as “wander around your house,” in this game I was able to place various items presented in picture forms in various positions within the house (Exploratorium, 1998). Thereafter, I tried recalling each item in relation to its position in the house. The score from this exercise was 9 items out of 10 items. The creation of a spatial relation between an item and a location helped in improving the ability to recall tremendously. However, I noticed that if a spatial position was forgotten the item on that space was most likely to be forgotten. Additionally, any spaces in close proximity would enhance high chances to forget.
This technique may actually be important in teaching. In its application related concepts in one subject or different subjects could be taught side-by-side as a way to enhance the ability to recall. If concepts are taught side-by-side there is ability that if students can recall one item, they will definitely be able to recall the other (Haberlandt, 1999).
References:
Exploratorium (1998),. Playing games with memory, retrieved on 25th March, 2011 from http://www.exploratorium.edu/memory/dont_forget/playing_games_2.htm
Haberlandt, K. (1999),. Human memory: exploration and application. Allyn and Bacon Publishers
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