Activity 5.2: Long-Term Memory and Retrieval

Activity 5.2: Long-Term Memory and Retrieval

Question:
James talks about that if you really wish for something, with exclusiveness, your wish will come true. He is saying that one must have passion in order to achieve a goal. How accurate is the suggestion by James that “In almost any subject your passion for that subject will save you. If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it.” (p. 67)?

Quotations:
The quotation I chose, simplifies the process of memory making. In the chapter on memory, James states, “The ‘secret of a good memory’ is thus the secret of forming diverse and multiple associations with every fact we care to retain” (p. 61).

Personal Connection:
James discusses Mr. Romanes’ study of the “elementary rate of apperception” (p. 67), where he asked his subjects to read a paragraph and write it on paper as fast as possible.  He found that those who read the fastest, were the fastest at immediate recollection, but these subjects were not the most “intellectually capable subjects” (p. 67). He did discover that slowest readers were “several highly distinguished men in science and literature” (p. 67). Prior to getting into graduate school, for my master’s degree, I was a poor performer on any timed test, due to not completing the tests. I was a slow and careful reader and double-checked my answers for accuracy. I thought I was stupid, since my scores were in the average range while my siblings ranked consistently in the 99th percentile. Before I took the GRE, I trained myself to read quickly, answer the question, then move on, not look back. I actually finished the math and reading sections. The education department did, not require the logic section, so I did not worry about completing that. As teachers, we need to recognize that our slower students may be more thoughtful, which may require more time to think about and process ideas/knowledge.

Outside Connection:
James (1899/2001), Carr (2010), and Roediger & Butler (2010) all agree that cramming, as a learning process, is not effective for forming LTM schema.  James feels that cramming is problematic because “a thing thus learned can form but few associations … the same thing recurring on different days, in different contexts, read, recited on, referred to again and again, related to other things and reviewed, gets well-wrought into mental structure” (p. 64).  James and Carr talk about two types of memory, primary (STM) and secondary (LTM), and believe that time is required for memory to be transformed from the  fleeting, short-term, to long-term, which may remain there forever, while continuously being redefined. Roediger & Butler conclude after doing research on testing or retrieval, practice in long-term memory, that frequent testing, “with relatively long intervals between retrieval attempts … followed by feedback after each attempt … provides a highly effective means of learning” (p. 6).  Various forms of retrieval that students can use, alone, in pairs, or in groups, including flash cards, or review questions, at the end of a chapter or unit, are as effective as quizzes or tests.