Rehearsal

Elaborative Rehearsal

Rehearsal where you think about the information and connecting it to other information already stored in memory

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This is a reliable way of retaining information in long term memory

Maintenance Rehearsal

Rehearsal/repetition of information in its original, unaltered form

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This is not a reliable way of retaining information in your long term memory

The role of repetition as seen in Ebbinghaus and the forgetting curve (1885)

The forgetting curve shows the way that learned information fades over time

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Ebbinghaus experimented with his own ability to remember nonsense syllables. He found:

• Memory retention decreases over time

• The biggest drop in retention happens soon after learning

  • Most loss of retention occurs in the first day

• It’s easier to remember things that have meaning

• The way something is presented affects learning

• How you feel affects how well you remember

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Improving recall:

Use spaced learning

• Review new information at key moments on the forgetting curve

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Overlearn

• Put in more than the usual amount of effort when you learn something

• Use memory strategies

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Make information meaningful

• Make the material clear, relevant, purposeful and establish a strong reason for retaining it

• Reducing your cognitive load (e.g. reducing distractions) should help with this

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Challenge your memory

• If there are gaps in your memory, this is the most productive time to improve your recall of it

Forgetting Curve