However, it is not the case that re-reading has no value whatsoever. Re-reading is useful inasmuch as it is used together with practice testing. It is definitely a good idea to selectively re-study the concepts which you cannot recall. What is memory? The general consensus is that memory is a multitude of cognitive systems which allow us to store information for certain periods of time so that we can learn from our past experiences and predict the future.

The first strategy would be called ‘shallow’ processing because you would not be giving the information any additional meaning. You would be making only one connection between the cues (countries) and the target memories (cities). The second strategy would be called ‘deep’ processing as you would be drawing many connections – between the capital, the country, its people and its sights, and so on. One way we can overcome interference is by making it explicit. If there are concepts that you get mixed up frequently then put them side by side and re-study them at the same time. One would expect that the superficially-processing students would underperform in both tests (because deep processing is generally better than superficial processing – see previous section). However, this was the case only for the free-recall test. Surprisingly, in fragment completion, the superficial-processing group was better than the deep-processing group.

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Lots of very interesting and thought-provoking observations, concepts, and ideas about memory in this book, delivered in a very approachable and easily digested format. At my request, you recovered a memory for something that you probably would have not thought about, if I hadn’t prompted you to recall it, and you hadn’t made the effort to retrieve it. Try to see the items in your mind,” he said, and only consult the list at the end, if necessary. If you’re not going to the store, try memorizing a recipe. He added that frequent cooking is actually a great way to improve working memory. Scientists have found that regardless of type of test/exam you are going to take, you stand the best chance of succeeding if you revise with practice tests. [ 34] As a demonstration, consider the following experiment: [ 35] While on parental watch as Mom and Dad steadily decline in the throes of dementia and Alzheimer’s, The Complete Guide to Memory: The Science of Strengthening Your Mind was mentioned on NPR and I had to explore!

The reason why it was easier to memorize items from the latter two lists is that the items were meaningfully connected – they were subjectively (consciously or unconsciously) organized into a specific category or related to a common concept. Giving meaning to information is beneficial as it harnesses the process of spreading activation (which we’ll cover in the section on “Spreading activation”). The former has so much more context, that you may memorize the pairing only with this context (which may be missing when you need to think about the term).Once in a while, get in the car without turning on your GPS, and try to navigate through the streets from memory.A small 2020 studysuggested that people who used GPS more frequently over time showed a steeper cognitive decline in spatial memory three years later.