(317 words) Importance of contextual learning in memory recall
It is clear that learning with given context assists memory retention in the long run such as having pre-requisite information to guide them in processing new information. Without previous knowledge, new information can result in incomplete or shallow processing and therefore confuse the individual who cannot comprehend the meaning and be unable to understand. As highlighted in Bransford & Johnson (1972), when prior relevant information (e.g. a picture) was presented to participants, they became better at comprehending than another group which had not been presented a picture. The passage did not make sense without the picture providing context so as expected the other group had
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The mean values compare the averages of the conditions and the contexts in which the image was presented before, after or never.
The ‘mean values comparing techniques’ indicate that re-typing is the worst for memory retention while practice recall was slightly higher than re-reading.
The ‘mean values comparing contexts’ show that having an image before produced the highest correctly recalled in participants while participants in the image after and no image conditions had similar correctly recalled.
Context before group (Condition 1, 2, 3) had a higher mean value (p < 0.05) than Context after group (Conditions 4, 5, 6). While re-reading as a technique has more correctly recalled sentences rather than re-typing (p<0.05). All the other comparisons between conditions were insignificant.
Discussion 463 words
In the present study, it was hypothesised that individuals will be better at learning and memorising new information if pre-requisite knowledge or context is provided in any form that is related to the question
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This difference in mean values can be reflected through the absence of an appropriate context presented during the encoding phase. It can be seen that the Context before group had more retrieval cues than the Context never group (Bransford et al. 1972) leading to easier comprehension and memorisation. But as highlighted in Bransford et al. (1972), comprehension does not necessarily mean correct recall but rather the participants has a better understanding of the passage than if the context was not presented at all.
This study was conducted on first year psychology students, many of whom already use practice testing and re-typing as a study technique, rather than re-reading. Thus they may be accustomed to the condition tested and perform better when recalling sentences even without the context presented. A potential solution is to ask participants for their primary study technique before conducting the experiment to see how many participants may possibly be unfairly advantaged in the recall
Roediger III, H. L., Watson, J. M., McDermott, K. B., & Gallo, D. A. (2001). Factors that determine false recall: A multiple regression analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8(3), 385-407.
This investigation looks at retrieval failure in the long-term memory, particularly context-dependant forgetting. The theory behind retrieval failure is that available information stored in the long-term memory cannot be accessed because the retrieval cues are defective. Cue-dependant forgetting theory focuses on the assumption that the context in which we learn something is significant when we come to recall the information. Recall is better if it takes place in the same context as the learning. Research conducted on retrieval failure includes Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) who studied intrinsic cues by asking subjects to learn a list of words from different categories.
Marsh, R. L., Cook, G. I., & Hicks, J. L. (2006). The effect of context variability on source memory. Memory & Cognition (Pre-2011), 34(8), 1578-86.
Through analysis of the results, it may initially seem that the experimental hypothesis is supported. The encoding category shows that there is no significant main effect between recall scores for visual and auditory encoding preference subjects. The learning instruction method factor however, shows that performance between the two groups has a highly significant main effect at the 1% level. It can also be seen from Table 2. and the profile plot in Figure 1. that there is a significant interaction (at the 5%) between the visual and auditory encoding groups across the imagery and sentence conditions. This in turn suggests that the experimental hypothesis cannot be wholly accepted.
Ebbinghaus’ work on memory performance contributed astonishing knowledge to the field of scientific psychology and enthralled several succeeding researchers and psychologists (Fuchs, 1997; Slamecka, 1985; Young, 1985). Ebbinghaus was precisely known for conducting memory experiments by using nonsense syllables, and from the results of those experiments, he postulated a unitary view of learning and memory. However, Endel Tulving, provided evidence from Ebbinghaus’ original research that there existed discernible kinds of learning and memory. Prior to his experiment, Tulving received some scathing criticism on his stance regarding Ebbinghaus’ research, but he averred that there was no intention to derogate its concept (Slamecka, 1985; Tulving, 1985). Rather, Tulving’s experiment emanated from Ebbinghaus’ original research to address implications that would supplement knowledge about the psychological science of memory.
1In the article, The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning, Jeffery D. Karpicke and Henry L. Roediger III expound on the long standing assumptions regarding the effects of repeated studying and repeated testing on learning in order to improve long-term retention on learning material. Recently studies have shown that research can occur during testing, contradictory to the traditional beliefs that learning occurs while people study and encode material. Another purpose of this research and this article was to examine a students’ assessments of their own learning, after getting a set of material under repeated study or repeated testing. Finally, The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning, explained further the relationship of speed
Altogether this study has helped us learn more about the brain and memory. Learning is measured thorough when a student can reiterate the right answer to a question. In this study, students in one conditions learned forging language vocabulary words in standard example of recurrent study exam trials. In three other conditions, once a student had correctly formed the language item, it was constantly studied but dropped from further testing. Repeatedly tested but dropped from the further study or just dropped from both the study and also the test. The results reveal the critical part of retrieval practice in combining education and shows that even college students seem naive of the fact.
Various studies have been done to support the importance of the generation effect. Five experiments were conducted to compare the memory for words, which an individual generates and the ones that are directly read (Salamoura & Williams, 2006). It is noted that enhanced memory performance is present in the first case as compared to the recollection of the read material. In line with this, the five experiments have proven that the generation effect is something that is real and manifests itself in various testing procedures, situational changes, and encoding
...Baddeley (1966) study of encoding in the short term memory and long term memory supports the MSM model on the mode of processing such that words are processed on recall and both models share the same opinion that processing does influence recall. Finally, the MSM model of memory states that all information is stored in the long term memory, however, this interpretation contrasts with that of Baddeley (1974) who argue that we store different types of memories and it is unlikely that they occur only in the LTM store. Additionally, other theories have recognised different types of memories that we experience, therefore it is debatable that all these different memories occur only in the long-term memory as presumed by the multi-store model which states the long term memory store as with unlimited capacity, in addition it also fails to explain how we recall information.
Similar studies were done to a different set of college students and they tended to have the same results. After giving as much detail about each memory, the students were interviewed about what they may have written done about what they had remembered. During the last part of the experiment, each of the students were debriefed and asked to guess which memory they believed was false.
Farrants, J. (1998, September). The 'false' memory debate. Counseling Psychology Quarterly. Retrieved September 14, 2000 from ProQuest database (Bell & Howell Information and Learning-ProQuest) on the World Wide Web: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb
.... Serial Position Effect for Repeated Free Recall: Negative Recency or Positive Primacy? Journal of Experimental Psychology, 96(1), 10-16. doi:10.1037/h0033479
...re I think if the participants are not aware of it, the false recall rate will increase. And if there are more words presented, my assume is that it will increase the false recall rate.
In the early primacy portion of the serial position effect, there was a direct positive relationship between the frequency of rehearsal and the probability of recall. That is to say, the primacy effect was entirely dependent on rehearsal. The early items can be rehearsed more, and thus recalled better. The recency effect, was viewed as recall from short-term memory, which is why they were recalled so well even if being rehearsed so little (Ashcraft, 2010). The improved recall for the words at the ...
Knowledge triggers information. There are two ways of describing knowledge. Declarative knowledge is described as “knowing what and why the knowledge of facts and concepts that can be stated or declared” (Ambrose et al., 2010 P?) School students use declarative knowledge in subjects such as chemistry. The mixing of chemicals can cause dangerous effects, if the students does not learn what chemicals should/should not be mixed together and why. A second type of knowledge is often referred to as procedural knowledge, because it involves knowing how and when to apply various procedures, methods, theories, styles, or approaches. (Ambrose et al., 2010). A student applies procedural knowledge in a subject such as math, when they explain how they got to their answer by showing their work step by