Activity 4.5: Short-Term Memory

Activity 4.5: Short-Term Memory

Some of these items were frustrating and made me wonder if I am just getting old and forgetful, but I realized that remembering random objects, words, or numbers, is more difficult than items with some patterns, associations or meaning. The list I had for item #14, Meaningfulness in recall had no meaning, so I remembered zero names, but if I had received the other list, it would have been easy since it had meaning, as in the case of Bill Clinton losing his job, which is a cinch to remember.  I had the most trouble with numbers and random shape/color patterns. I was good at item # 11, Melody recall (I am a musician), item #2, Paired word recall, and #13, Serial position effect, although I put the names in different locations.

As far as teaching goes, if we want our students to remember a series of items, we need to help them develop patterns, associations and /or meanings for those items. When I go to the store without a list, I create a mnemonic device for the items I need, such as BEAM for bread, eggs, apples, and milk.