Improving Memory and Study Skills: Advances in Theory and Practice

Improving Memory and Study Skills: Advances in Theory and Practice

Douglas Herrmann Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN Douglas Raybeck Hamilton College, Clinton, NY Michael Gruneberg University of Wales, Swansea, Wales Improving Memory and Study Skills: Advances in Theory and Practice Hogrefe & Huber Publishers Seattle Toronto Bern Göttingen

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available via the Library of Congress Marc Database under the LC Control Number 2001099463. National Library of Canada Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Main entry under title: Herrmann, Douglas J. Improving memory and study skills: advances in theory and practice Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-88937-235-7 1. Study skills. 2. Memory. 3. Mnemonics. I. Raybeck, Douglas. II. Gruneberg, Michael M. III. Title BF385.H468 2002 371.3 028 1 C2002-900023-8 Copyright 2002 by Hogrefe & Huber Publishers Hogrefe & Huber Publishers USA: P.O. Box 2487, Kirkland, WA 98083-2487 Phone (425) 820-1500, Fax (425) 823-8324 CANADA: 12 Bruce Park Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2S3 Phone (416) 482-6339 SWITZERLAND: Länggass-Strasse 76, CH-3000 Bern 9 Phone (031) 300-4500, Fax (031) 300-4590 GERMANY: Rohnsweg 25, D-37085 Göttingen Phone (0551) 496090, Fax (0551) 4960988 No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, micro-filming, recording or otherwise, without the written permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in Germany ISBN 0-88937-235-7

Table of Contents Preface for Students.................................. vii Preface for Teachers................................... ix Acknowledgment..................................... xiii Section I. Fundamentals............................... 1 1. Scientific Theory of Studying and Academic Success................................. 3 2. The Memory System...................... 14 3. Self Assessment of Memory and Study Skills.. 30 Section II. How You Feel When You Study and When You Are Tested..................... 49 4. Physical State........................... 51 5. Emotional State.......................... 66 Section III. Storing Information and Remembering It........ 81 6. Memory Manipulations and Study Skills...... 83 7. Technical Memory Manipulations.......... 118 8. Task Specific Manipulations............... 127 9. Course and Task Specific Skills............ 161 Section IV. Help from the World Around Us............... 201 10. The Physical Environment and External Aids.. 203 11. Social Context.......................... 226

vi Table of Contents Section V. Integration of the Fundamentals with How you Feel, Store and Remember, and Get Help from the Environment........................... 239 12. Study Savvy........................... 241 Epilogue............................................ 253 Glossary............................................. 256 References.......................................... 280 Author Index......................................... 297 Subject Index........................................ 303

Preface for Students This book presents the latest and most advanced approach to the improvement of memory and study skills. It is based in part on a revision and extension of a prior book, Improving Student Memory, written by D. Herrmann, D. Raybeck, and Dan Gutman and published by Hogrefe and Huber in 1993. Improving Memory and Study Skills: Advances in Theory and Practice presents a new multimodal framework to improving cognitive functioning. Some aspects of this framework were introduced in Improving Student Memory. However, a number of investigations were conducted in the 1990 s that both supported the multimodal approach and, at the same time, increased understanding of the many factors that affect memory and academic performance. The multimodal framework rests on three assumptions. First, the improvement of memory and study skills requires consideration of a person s powers for learning, remembering, and reasoning. In addition, memory and skill improvement is influenced by all modes of psychological functioning, such as a person s physiological state, emotive state, and states elicited by the physical environment and social context. Second, memory and skill improvement requires practice with the use of procedures that particularly address the content covered in an educational course. Third, students benefit the most from learning new procedures if they understand the reasons why these procedures are effective. This book presents both the methods and the rationale that has led to the new approach. Students who make a serious effort to learn the theory and techniques covered in this book will be prepared to improve their memory and study skills for those courses that previously challenged them most.

Preface for Teachers Improving Memory and Study Skills was written to serve as a primary text for a course on study skills. It may also be useful for courses designed to orient students to college life and its expectations. This book offers many recommendations to improve academic performance (Rego & Sousa, 1999). It also explains the scientific reasons for the procedures it recommends. It describes the manner in which memory performance depends on a person s total psychological functioning, including how a person manages their lifestyle. We have endeavored to ground each explanation in concrete examples, and we have supplied evidence why particular procedures are effective. The authors hope that this book will assist teachers in applying its recommendations to the classroom. Many students today are stretched in trying to meet all their goals. If the students are not extremely active in campus affairs, they are busy holding a second job or assisting in family responsibilities. Improvements in memory and study skills help them get more out of the limited time they can invest in studying. For those students who hold ambitions that require high grades, memory and skill improvements make the attainment of those goals much more likely. Students today need education in improving their memory and study skills more than ever before. The students in this generation are predicted to encounter jobs that are more technical than any previous generation. Because technology is continually spiraling upward, today s student is expected to experience several job shifts throughout his or her career. Thus, students not only need better memory and study skills to cope with the current demands of college life, they also need to acquire as many memory and study skills as possible so that they will be able to learn the information pertinent to the many jobs they will hold throughout their careers. In addition to preparing for a challenging professional life, they will need mental skills for their personal lives more than any previous generation. In the past three decades there has been considerable growth of laws and

x Preface for Teachers court decisions that affect everyday life. Like it or not, as a person s life progresses they will need to learn about many of these changes in the law. For example, laws have been changing as they pertain to: marriage - divorce - annulment - having children - adopting children - buying and owning property - paying taxes - inheriting money - buying insurance - making a will - being sued - and suing someone. To keep abreast of these aspects of modern life, and to avoid being misled, students will want to have excellent learning and remembering skills. Fortunately, numerous researchers in several different fields have investigated aspects of memory, learning, studying, and remembering that simply were not subjected to scientific scrutiny in the past. As a result, we now have a much better sense of the advantages of certain study practices, and we have greater appreciation of the interrelationships between physical/emotional health and mental powers. Learning and remembering is now seen as being affected by a person s entire psychology. Consequently, because the brain is a biological entity, it is important to understand that the execution of cognitive processing depends on both physiological and psychological factors. We are much better able today to supply students with recommendations that may actually improve their academic performance. If students come to appreciate the interrelationship between academic performance and physical/emotional well being, they will adopt habits that promote academic success. Finally, you may be interested in having your students obtain and study the CD-Rom, The Nature of Memory, which can be ordered with Improving Memory and Study Skills. This CD-Rom, made by the Practical Memory Institute, presents compelling graphics and information that are pertinent to the content of this book. It familiarizes students with the multimodal theory of memory, the philosophy of memory, how to monitor one s memory performance, the history of scholarship on memory, and external aids to memory. If your students study this CD-Rom, it will make your job and their jobs easier.

TO DONNA, KAREN, and RHONA

Acknowledgment We are grateful to everyone who has encouraged us in writing this book. We thank our families for their support during the project. In addition, we thank the numerous students who studied Improving Student Memory and for their comments about that book. Finally, thanks are due to Steve Andrzejewski, Robert Beck, Rob Dimbleby, Jared Jobe, Cathy McEvoy, Paul Mullin, Rick Parente, David Payne, Dana Plude, Alan Searleman, Judy Swez and Carol Yoder for a variety of kinds of help.