CogPsych - Study Strategies and Memory Techniques

UNIT 2!!

What was Neisser’s “Call to Arms” statement on memory?

Psychologists often neglected to study the most interesting and socially important aspects of memory.

ex: people care about how to improve studying for exams, but researchers need to investigate which study methods actually work instead of just assuming they work.

Learning Styles

The belief that people learn best when information is presented in their preferred style, such as visual or verbal

ex: someone who considers themselves a visual learner believes they will learn better from diagrams than written explanations.

What did Massa and Mayer (2006) study?

They tested whether students with different learning preferences learned better when instructions matched their supposed learning style.

Results?

• Matching the presentation to students’ preferred styles did not reliably improve learning

What did Pashler et al. (2009) find?

Reviewed research on learning styles

→ They found insufficient evidence to support the learning styles hypothesis

• learning styles = popular idea, NOT supported by strong evidence

Motivation → What did Nilsson examine with this?

The desire or incentive to do something

• Nilsson examined how motivation affected people’s memory performance

→ People who were more motivated to remember information generally showed better memory

“More motivation → more effort → better memory”

Explain the Nilsson experiment with motivation and memory.

Participants studied a list of words and were divided into three groups:

• Motivation-study group: Offered a money reward before studying.

• Motivation-test group: Offered a money reward before the memory test.

• Control group: No reward.

Main takeaway: Motivation at the time of testing can affect memory performance, but incentives during studying do not necessarily improve how well information is stored.

Explain the Science of Learning

The study of how people learn and remember information using scientific research

• It uses experiments and evidence to determine which learning strategies actually work

ex: using practice tests and spreading studying across several days instead of only rereading notes

Examples & Elaboration → Palmere et al. (1983)

Examples can help you remember information because they add meaning.

ex: to remember retrieval, you connect it to taking information out of your memory during an exam

• People who learned info with examples generally remember it better

What experiment did Palmere et al. do with Elaboration & Example?

Method: Participants read about a made-up place, and researchers varied how many examples they received.

Main finding: More examples generally led to better memory.

Why? Examples give you more ways to understand, organize, and retrieve the information.

The Generation Effect

You tend to remember information better when you generate the answer yourself instead of simply reading it

Example:

• Reading: You see the pair ruby — diamond.

• Generating: You see ruby — dia_____ and fill in diamond yourself.

Generating the answer makes you actively work with the information.

• Slamecka and Graf (1987)

Explain what Slamecka and Graf (1978) did in their experiment.

Method: Participants learned word pairs. Some read complete pairs, while others had to generate the missing word.

Main finding: People generally remembered self-generated words better than words they simply read.

What did Foos et al. (1994) study?

Participants read a 2,250-word text.

One group generated its own study questions, while another read questions written by someone else.

• Creating your own questions can encourage active processing and make you think more deeply about the material.

ex: Instead of rereading “What is deep processing?” you cover the answer and try to explain it yourself.

Why can generating your own study questions help? → Foos et al. (1994)

It requires active thinking and

• Students generally remembered information better when they generated it themselves.

Desirable Difficulty

Learning activities that feel more challenging but can improve long-term memory

ex: trying to recall a definition without looking at your notes instead of immediately rereading it.

• Something that feels harder during studying may produce better learning later

Explain the Encoding Specificity Principle to studying

Memory is better when retrieval conditions match encoding conditions.

ex: You study a concept by connecting it to a personal example. Remembering that example during the exam can help you retrieve the concept

• Memory is cue-dependent —> the right clues help you remember

Why is this effect less reliable in classrooms?

Classrooms contain many repeated features, such as desks, projectors, and similar lighting. Because these features are present in both the study and test environments, small environmental changes may not make a big difference.

Explain how you apply Encoding Specificity to Studying

• Match your thinking: If the exam requires understanding concepts, practice explaining concepts instead of only memorizing definitions.

• Match time pressure: Try timed practice questions if the real exam is timed.

• Consider your mental state: Practice retrieving information in a focused state similar to the one you want during an exam, while recognizing that you can't always control stress or mood.

ex: Practice with similar questions → if your exam uses multiple-choice questions, practice multiple-choice questions.

Testing Effect

Actively retrieving information through testing improves long-term memory more than simply studying/re-reading it.

ex:

Less effective:
Read your notes → read them again → read them again.

More effective:
Read your notes → close them → quiz yourself.

Testing vs. Restudying → What do students believe?

Students often believe rereading their notes is the best way to study, but research shows that practicing retrieval by testing yourself can improve long-term memory more effectively than simply reviewing the material again.

Testing vs. Restudying → Why can students misjudge their learning?

When you reread something, it feels familiar. That familiarity can make you believe you know the material, even if you would struggle to explain it without looking.

ex: A practice test reveals whether you can actually retrieve the information from memory.

What did Roediger and Karpicke (2006) study?

- The Testing Effect -

Participants read passages about scientific topics and were placed into two conditions:

• Study–Study: Read the passage, then study it again.

• Study–Test: Read the passage, then take a practice test.

Everyone later completed a final free-recall test, meaning they had to remember the information without being given the answers.

The final test occurred after 5 minutes, 2 days, or 1 week.

• Repeated studying can make you feel like you know the material, but testing yourself produces stronger long-term memory.

Explain Rowland (2014) Meta-Analysis

A study that combines results from many previous studies to find an overall pattern.

Rowland reviewed a large collection of studies comparing practice testing with restudying.

• The review included 159 comparisons.

• The overall finding supported a memory advantage for testing over restudying.

• Retrieval practice generally improves learning and long-term retention.

• “2.5 times more likely to remember.”

Explain the power of testing in real classrooms → Example that he did!!

Roediger et al. (2011) investigated whether quizzes help students remember information in an actual middle-school classroom.

Students received quizzes after a lesson, and researchers assessed their memory later using:

• Chapter exam: About 2 weeks after the lesson.

• Semester exam: About 1–2 months after the lesson.

Explain Roediger et al. → Real Classroom

Question:

Does the testing effect actually work in a real classroom, not just a laboratory?

What did they find?

• Testing/retrieval practice improved students' learning in classroom settings.

Why is this important?

• It shows that the testing effect isn't just a laboratory phenomenon.

It can actually be useful for real students in real classes.

What is elaboration?

Connecting new information to existing knowledge through meaning and examples

Massed Practice

Studying information for a long period of time in one session

• also called: cramming

ex: Studying psychology for 5 hours the night before the exam

Spaced Practice

Studying information across multiple sessions separated by time

ex: Studying psychology for 30 minutes each day for a week

What did Kornell study?

Kornell looked at:

1. How well people actually remembered information.

2. How well they predicted they would remember it.

Result:

People often preferred massed practice and thought it was more effective.

However, spaced practice produced better long-term memory.

The problem:

Cramming can feel easier and more successful because the information is fresh.

This can make you think:

"I know this!"

But that doesn't necessarily mean you'll remember it later.

What did Blaisman (2017) study/do?

An introductory psychology instructor added spaced reviews to some class sections.

• Control group: No additional spaced review.

• Spacing group: Reviewed previously learned concepts and randomly selected course topics.

The important idea is that reviewing older material alongside current material can help keep previously learned concepts accessible.

Yazdani and Zebrowski (2006)

Researchers assigned high school geometry students to different homework schedules.

• Massed group: Completed all homework the day after class.

• Spaced group: Spread homework across 24 days.

• Outcome: Students took a final test at the end of the unit.

Students may perform better when learning is distributed over time instead of being completed all at once.

Why isn’t spacing used more often?

• Students procrastinate and leave work until the last minute.

• Cramming can feel more efficient because the material is fresh in the moment.

• Students may not realize that spacing improves long-term retention.

• Spaced practice requires planning and time management.

High-Utility Strategies → Dunlosky et al. (2013)

Dunlosky and colleagues evaluated 10 learning techniques and ranked them by how useful they are for improving learning.

The two strategies identified as high utility in your notes are:

1. Spacing

Spread study sessions across multiple days instead of cramming.

Example: Review your psychology flashcards on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

2. Testing

Practice retrieving information from memory rather than simply rereading it.

ex: Answer flashcards without looking at the backs, then check your answers.