PSYC 3320 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE
Role of attention
- Stay focused and avoid distractions
- take your attention span into account
-when attention is divided between two tasks, one or both will suffer (ex: homework and
tv)
- limit to amount of time a person can sustain attention--usu. 20-25 minutes but depends
on interest too
-avoid distractions/dividing attention
-quiet place to study (no tv)
-think of questions if bored
Interpretation and elaboration (study techniques)
-interpretation= really understanding what you're trying to learn
- understand what you are learning, what it means
-elaboration=breadth of processing (relate info to your own life experiences or other
knowledge)
-compare and contrast
varied practice (study techniques)
- think about the material in different ways
-think about concepts or phenomena using different examples
- use the information in different situation
study in different locations
-consider different examples
spaced repetition (study techniques)
-study material more than once
-space study sessions--keep up with reading, go over notes as you go then more
beneficial before in days before exam
- space materials within study sessions (change topics or cover specific info at spaced
intervals)
-start early to maximize spacing
- alternate among different topics
organize and structure
,- read outline and summary first
- look and graphs and illustrations
-preview section headings and read summaries before whole chapter
-pay attention to the organization or structure inherent in the information (cues to
organization from book, notes well org, org info is easier to remember)
visualization (study technique)
-reinstate the context during a test
- visualization of the content (diagrams, graphs, maps)
- visualization performing a skill
-visualization of test taking context
-mental reinstatement of learning context
generation
-generate answers to questions and missing information before looking them up
-generation= trying to generate info before it is given (works even if wrong, highlighting
helps only to find info, generate notes or summaries after every couple of paragraphs,
think of answers to instructor questions)
retrieval practice
- practice retrieving the information
-retrieval practice: look at keywords and generate all the related information you can
remember, produce from mem ALL info in notes , flashcards or list of key terms
-retrieval practice makes info more likely to be remembered later and leads to good
long-term retention
-more effective than re-reading over and over
-good way to monitor learning, whether you know material well enough
-very effective technique
Wundt (1880s)
introspection
- think carefully about processing to recall, careful procedure but very limited, no longer
used
-the capacity to reflect and transport our ongoing thoughts
-not reliable because people differ in what they appear to experience in a given situation
and we are consciously aware of a relatively small proportion of the mechanisms
underpinning our mental life - good to generate ideas and the ideas are tested with
different techniques
Herman Ebbinghaus(1880s)
, -List of nonsense syllables
- 3 letters consonant-vowel-consonant (zug, pij, and tev)
-would learn the lists then test only himself
-used nonsense to take meaning out of it to make it equal across words - was a
philosopher but his research was more empirical -discovered memory principles
(Sir Francis) Galton (1883)
-Image of Breakfast Table
-wanted to get idea of how images affected memory - was interested in how people
visualize their experience and how they remember that image -purpose: obtain an idea
about the role of imagery in memory -would send letters to friends to have to answer
(Sir Frederick) Bartlett (1932)
-Recalling stories
- opposed ebbinghaus
-meaning is important to memory
-had subject recall stories either from their own cultures or others
-harder with other cultures where there are little meaning
How psychologists study memory
-conditions that lead to better performance
-types of error people make (ppl tend to remember different from how it actually was;
tells us how memory is stored, encoded and retrieved)
-factors that interfere with memory performance (divided attention)
-patients with brain disorders affecting memory (amnesia, Alzheimer's)
- brain activity during memory processes (how activity changes with different tasks)
why do we use verbal materials or word lists?
-easy to control characteristics (frequency and length)
- words can be presented in visual (read) or auditory modality
- words can be recalled in written or spoken form
- early research involved lists
Nature of human memory
-NOT like an audio recorder, DVR or computer
- NOT perfectly accurate
-we interpret content
-NOT a unitary system
-multiple systems or processes
-can add in things like false memories
Role of attention
- Stay focused and avoid distractions
- take your attention span into account
-when attention is divided between two tasks, one or both will suffer (ex: homework and
tv)
- limit to amount of time a person can sustain attention--usu. 20-25 minutes but depends
on interest too
-avoid distractions/dividing attention
-quiet place to study (no tv)
-think of questions if bored
Interpretation and elaboration (study techniques)
-interpretation= really understanding what you're trying to learn
- understand what you are learning, what it means
-elaboration=breadth of processing (relate info to your own life experiences or other
knowledge)
-compare and contrast
varied practice (study techniques)
- think about the material in different ways
-think about concepts or phenomena using different examples
- use the information in different situation
study in different locations
-consider different examples
spaced repetition (study techniques)
-study material more than once
-space study sessions--keep up with reading, go over notes as you go then more
beneficial before in days before exam
- space materials within study sessions (change topics or cover specific info at spaced
intervals)
-start early to maximize spacing
- alternate among different topics
organize and structure
,- read outline and summary first
- look and graphs and illustrations
-preview section headings and read summaries before whole chapter
-pay attention to the organization or structure inherent in the information (cues to
organization from book, notes well org, org info is easier to remember)
visualization (study technique)
-reinstate the context during a test
- visualization of the content (diagrams, graphs, maps)
- visualization performing a skill
-visualization of test taking context
-mental reinstatement of learning context
generation
-generate answers to questions and missing information before looking them up
-generation= trying to generate info before it is given (works even if wrong, highlighting
helps only to find info, generate notes or summaries after every couple of paragraphs,
think of answers to instructor questions)
retrieval practice
- practice retrieving the information
-retrieval practice: look at keywords and generate all the related information you can
remember, produce from mem ALL info in notes , flashcards or list of key terms
-retrieval practice makes info more likely to be remembered later and leads to good
long-term retention
-more effective than re-reading over and over
-good way to monitor learning, whether you know material well enough
-very effective technique
Wundt (1880s)
introspection
- think carefully about processing to recall, careful procedure but very limited, no longer
used
-the capacity to reflect and transport our ongoing thoughts
-not reliable because people differ in what they appear to experience in a given situation
and we are consciously aware of a relatively small proportion of the mechanisms
underpinning our mental life - good to generate ideas and the ideas are tested with
different techniques
Herman Ebbinghaus(1880s)
, -List of nonsense syllables
- 3 letters consonant-vowel-consonant (zug, pij, and tev)
-would learn the lists then test only himself
-used nonsense to take meaning out of it to make it equal across words - was a
philosopher but his research was more empirical -discovered memory principles
(Sir Francis) Galton (1883)
-Image of Breakfast Table
-wanted to get idea of how images affected memory - was interested in how people
visualize their experience and how they remember that image -purpose: obtain an idea
about the role of imagery in memory -would send letters to friends to have to answer
(Sir Frederick) Bartlett (1932)
-Recalling stories
- opposed ebbinghaus
-meaning is important to memory
-had subject recall stories either from their own cultures or others
-harder with other cultures where there are little meaning
How psychologists study memory
-conditions that lead to better performance
-types of error people make (ppl tend to remember different from how it actually was;
tells us how memory is stored, encoded and retrieved)
-factors that interfere with memory performance (divided attention)
-patients with brain disorders affecting memory (amnesia, Alzheimer's)
- brain activity during memory processes (how activity changes with different tasks)
why do we use verbal materials or word lists?
-easy to control characteristics (frequency and length)
- words can be presented in visual (read) or auditory modality
- words can be recalled in written or spoken form
- early research involved lists
Nature of human memory
-NOT like an audio recorder, DVR or computer
- NOT perfectly accurate
-we interpret content
-NOT a unitary system
-multiple systems or processes
-can add in things like false memories
