Chapter 6: Life Tips for

Memory
Paige Perkins, Daxon Gale, Aspen Balzly, Ian Smith, Taylor Ferguson
Organization
● Organization alone can help increase memory.
● Aside from making sure you have correct information
organizing is one of the most important tips to help you
study more efficiently.
Tips for organizing
● Review your notes to make
sure they are correct.
● Organize in a way that
makes sense to you.
● Try different organizing
techniques out, just because
one way works for someone
else doesn’t mean it will work for you.
Examples
● Using grouping in your notes.
● Consistency in your notes.
● Our phones
● Squirrels use “chunking” when they hoard
Encoding:

● First step in creating memories!

● Occurs when we use

selective/prolonged attention.

● Does not occur when using divided

attention or multitasking
How does it work?
Encoding “Pro-tips”

● Focus:
○ Avoid Divided attention/
Multitasking.
● Elaborate:
○ Self- referencing, Specific
use of association and
imagery techniques.
Rehearsing Information
Rehearsal is repeating information over and over in order to learn
and memorize it.
Rehearsing information is excellent for storing memories if you do
it in the right ways.
● Relate
● Rewrite
● Share
● Test
● Maintain Don’t get
stuck here
Rehearsing by Relating
● When looking to retain
information, relate it to
your own life and
experiences.
○ Create mental images
for yourself
○ Make a story out of it
Rewrite to Rehearse
● Put things into your own
words!
○ Rewrite your notes
○ Use acronyms
Share What You Know!
● Have discussions about
newly obtained
information
○ Understand it
○ Give it meaning
○ Elaborate on it
○ Personalize it
Maintain Your Brain
● Test yourself regularly
enough that you are able
to recall the information
faster and easier.
● Eat healthy, get plenty of
rest, and keep away from
mind altering substances
when trying to retain
data!
Retrieving
● Retrieval is how we
access information
● Many variables affect how
we can retrieve
information
● Encoding affects retrieval
Retrieval Cues
● Serial Position effect
○ Primacy effect
○ Recency effect

● Cues
○ Imagery
Recall and Recognition
● Context Dependant
Memory

● Recall
○ More info

● Recognition
○ Less info
Autobiographical Memory
★ A person’s recollection of their life
experiences
★ Allows us to understand ourselves
★ Provides a source of identity
★ Has a huge role in social bonding
Keeping Memory Sharp

★ Memory is an important
indicator of brain
functionality
★ As we age, preserving
memory is vitally
important
★ “Use it or lose it.”

The story of Richard Weatherill

Keeping Memory Sharp, cont
Individuals who lead active intellectual
lives:
★ Are protected against mental
decline that comes with age
★ Cope better with assaults to the
brain
○ Alzheimer’s
○ Stroke
○ Etc.
★ Accumulate a “cognitive store”
Keeping Memory Sharp, cont
Yakov Stern

★ Studied individuals with similar

outward symptoms of Alzheimer’s
★ Educated people suffered from more
brain damage but didn’t show it
because of the use of their brain
Keeping Memory Sharp, cont
★ A lifetime of mental activity and engagement
produces a cognitive reserve
★ This allows the brain to maintain the ability to
create neural networks
★ Such brains are better able to adopt a backup
plan for brain function
★ People who rely on GPS may fail to exercise
the hippocampus