Contents
Hello, dear readers of Valery Kharlamov’s blog. Memory in psychology has long occupied an honorable place, there are even various theories about how the process of remembering works, and today we will consider each of them.
What are the types?
You can learn more about what species exist by looking at an article that is devoted to this issue. In general, the process of memorizing information requires the inclusion of such mechanisms as psychological, physiological and chemical. We will try to consider directly the theories that the psychological approach includes.
1. Associative
That is, as you already understood, the principle of associations is fundamental. It is the very first, and, by the way, is based directly on the teachings of Aristotle. He argued that a person creates connections between phenomena, selecting them according to similarity, or vice versa, difference, as well as adjacency (that is, association with previous information received).
In almost every exercise, it is proposed to create a connection between the necessary material and your images, pictures, thoughts that arise when reading it. Psychologist and physiologist Wilhelm Wundt even created a classification of associations, in his opinion, they are:
- Verbal. That is, the search and creation of links between words. For example, in an article about mnemonics, it talks about such a method as rhyming. That is, if you need to learn a phone number, a person comes up with a rhyme for numbers, which is why he can easily reproduce it later at any time.
- Internal. They are selected according to the similarity of objects or content. For example, a wolf is a dog, a river is a sea …
- External — the search for familiar, consistent and logical associations. For example, if you say “bulldog”, then many will respond with the word “dog” …
The associationists discovered a law called the Ebbinghaus law of forgetting. Its essence lies in the fact that after studying some information, within the first hour, approximately 60% of its volume will be forgotten. And after five or six days, the amount of data lost will reach 80%. That’s why experts in the field recommend repeatedly repeating what you have learned so that it is forever deposited in the depths of your brain.
The definition, history and essence of this direction, along with valuable recommendations, can be found here.
2. Gestalt
The human psyche is arranged in such a way that if it has defined a task for itself and has not been able to complete it, it will be in suspense until it completes the action. And it doesn’t matter whether a person thinks about it or not, part of the energy will go nowhere until he realizes his problem or finds methods by which he realizes the formed goal. This is described in detail in the article about the incomplete gestalt.
So, the features of a non-closed gestalt are that a person is able to remember for the rest of his life that need that he could not satisfy. There is even the phenomenon of Bluma Zeigarnik. She discovered during the experiments that a group of subjects was able to restore the conditions of tasks over time, during which they were interrupted and not given the opportunity to complete.
They recalled these tasks several times more often than those with which they managed to cope. Gestaltists also found out that the more complex the structure of the material needed to be studied, the worse it will be remembered, which is why a person usually tries to systematize, rank and transform it into a more understandable form.
3. Behavioral
Psychologists of this direction have made a significant contribution to experimental psychology by coming up with a lot of methods with which it became realistic to study memory and its characteristics. Their theory is somewhat similar to that of the associationists, but there is one significant difference.
Behaviorists believe that the most important thing is the implementation of exercises for the development of cognitive processes, this is what contributes to obtaining results. That is, in addition to using various mnemonics, it is important to work tirelessly and repeat the material covered. They also found that in order to consolidate the learned information, it is necessary to transfer the positive results of previously acquired skills to the future.
For example, you will be much more motivated to learn new things if you remember the pleasant consequences of previous learning. You can even do your own research, remembering situations where your knowledge helped you and brought you pleasant sensations. In most cases, you will be able to reproduce the material for which you received long-awaited praise at the meeting or a good mark in the test from a very stingy teacher.
4. Active
Its prominent representatives are Jean Piaget, Vallon, Leontiev, Smirnov, Ribot and others. Jean was the first to state that memory is a system of actions, such as memorization, processing and storage. Interestingly, psychologists have come to the conclusion that animals and small children, up to about 4 years old, do not have the ability to memorize and store data. And only over time, developing and learning, they take control of these processes.
To prove this, I will cite as an example an experiment on three groups of subjects. The first is for preschoolers, the second is for schoolchildren, and the third is for students. Initially, all participants were asked to memorize 15 phrases, after which the task was slightly changed. They were given 15 new sentences, only with the condition of using the provided images, which did not reflect the essence at all and were not associated with the text.
According to the results of the study, it was revealed that the preschoolers did not need these pictures at all, they coped with the task without relying on them, as well as the students, by the way, too. They were useful to schoolchildren, the indicators increased significantly.
Do you know why? Because in young children, memory processes are involuntary, natural, while students are already able to control their behavior and cognitive processes, which is why all sorts of additional images will help. And students have already mastered various techniques to such an extent that they could well rely on internal resources without using the ones offered.
That is, from the very beginning of the experiment, they created a rhyme, mentally drew images, repeated many times and, of course, came up with associations.
Interesting Facts
- I think it’s no secret to anyone that a significant event is postponed deep inside for many years, and instantly. Did you know that the same cases, if they turned out to be not very interesting, we are able to live a lot of times, completely forgetting about the previous experience?
- Sometimes it happens that a person, remembering something, reproduces the situation incorrectly, being sure that this is exactly what happened. And vice versa, sometimes unconsciously performs the right actions.
- Have you heard of the edge effect? Its essence lies in the fact that a person, listening or reading a long sentence, is able to reproduce its beginning and end, but the middle will be lost. The same is true with a number of words, you will catch only the first and last, but this, of course, if you do not have phenomenal abilities.
- Impressions that are associated with surprise, delight, are delayed much longer than those that a person is used to receiving. Therefore, we keep memories, and we can even carry some event through our whole lives if it turned out to be significant and important.
- Did you know that if you memorize something simple, the effect will be short-lived? It is necessary to divide the material into several parts and take on it, making intervals and breaks in order to stretch it over several days.
- If you set yourself up to quickly and efficiently learn the necessary information, you will cope with the task much faster than usual.
- There is such a thing as reminiscence. That is, a person, without repeating, and without putting any effort, in a few days reproduces what he has learned much better than during his studies.
- There is special games for the development of memory and, as always, I recommend that all my readers periodically engage in them. What’s more, you can get started absolutely free. So, going through exercises in the form of games, you will not only develop your memory, but also spend time pleasantly and with excitement.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today, dear readers! If the above theories are of interest to you, and you would like to devote maximum time to your development, I recommend that you read the article “9 exercises for the development of figurative memory”. Good luck and inspiration!