According to Spoors et al. (2011) thinking is perhaps one of the most difficult of all psychological processes to describe. We can organise our thoughts by using mental images, forming concepts or developing schemas. In this essay, I will describe each way of organising thinking in turn and illustrate how they can help us improve our memory.
First, to consider the role of mental images. Forming mental images simply means thinking in pictures. Spoors et al. (2011) suggest that it works best if the images we form are large, colourful and bizarre, as we tend to remember distinctive items better than everyday items.The mental image will give us another cue when we come to recall the information. The effort we make to form the image will also help to fix it in our memory.
Spoors et al. (2011) give an example of making a picture of a bell used as a bin, with a bad smell, and which can help us remember the French word ‘poubelle’ for bin in English. Here you can see that the first step is to think of an English word or words that sound like the French word and then make a mental picture of the key word or words.Michael Rough and Richard Atkinson (1975), who developed the key word technique, carried out a research on two groups of participants, who were asked to learn 60 Spanish words. Only half of them were taught to use the key word technique and when tested later, the participants using key words scored an average of 88 per cent in comparison to only 28 per cent by the participants that did not use key words.
As stated in Spoors et al. (2011) a number of strategies for improving memory, also known as mnemonics, are based on mental images.Such as the ‘Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain’ for remembering the colours in the rainbow. A technique developed in Ancient Greece called ‘method of loci’ works by linking mental images of items that the learner is trying to memorise with a sequence of locations. For example, it can be used to memorise a shopping list using the layout of your home.
As adults, we tend to do most of our thinking in words but numerous experiments have shown that using mental images will help us remember written or verbal information more efficiently. Secondly, concepts can also be used to help improve our memory.According to Spoors et al. (2011) when forming concepts we are organising our thoughts by sorting them into groups with related items, based on a set of defining features.
For example ‘animal’ is a concept that contains other sub-concepts like ‘birds’, ‘fish’, ‘mammals’ and then further sub-concepts. However, our concepts are not clearly defined and we seem to group objects within the same category or concept if we do the same thing with them. For example, our definition of a table, as a piece of furniture with a flat surface and four legs, could just as easily be applied to a stool, but we would not sit on a table.Next, we will have a look at two experiments, which illustrate exactly how much we use concepts to recall. In an experiment carried out by Weston Bousfield (1953), the participants were asked to learn a list of 60 words that could be divided into 4 categories. Although the words were presented in random order, the participants seemed to remember them in groups that belonged to the same category.
For example, if a participant remembered the word apple, then they would also remember the words peach, lemon and strawberry.In some experiments, the participants were allowed a second try at remembering the words, after being given the category headings. Although they thought they had listed all the words they could remember, they could actually recall more words when given category headings as cues. Research by George Mandler (1967) suggests that by organising information we learn it even though we are not making an effort to memorise it.
He carried out an experiment where two groups were given 100 cards each, with printed words on them. They were asked to sort the cards into groups and were allowed several tries at it.The first group was told to try to memories the words on the cards while sorting them. Later the participants were asked to write down all the words they could remember. The group that was asked just to sort the cards could remember just as many words as the group that was asked to memorise the words while sorting the cards.
It has been proven to be easier to remember things in categories, as it seems that every bit of information acts as a cue for the next one. Finally, schemas are also important in improving memory. Spoor et al. 2011) states that a schema is a mental package of information about certain objects, situations, groups and even ourselves, and is developed as a result of experience. It is as if our memory is a huge filing cabinet and each file is a schema. For example, if you apply the concept formation to the word dentist, you would probably categorise it as an occupation.
Whereas thinking of everything that you associate with the word dentist (waiting room, white coat, fear and certain smells) would give you a dentist schema. John Bransford and Marcia Johnson (1972) carried out a number of experiments, which illustrated the role of schemas in our nderstanding and recall of information. In one experiment, the participants were read a passage of a text and then asked to recall it as accurately as possible. Half of the participants were also given a title for the passage.
Most people reported that they had great difficulty in understanding the passage, let alone remembering the details. However, if they read the passage with the title in mind, everything should make sense as the title provides a schema so that the information can be stored properly and recalled more easily.Schemas can help us to recall information as they provide an organising framework so that the information is stored appropriately and cues are provided to prompt our memory. In conclusion, all three ways of organising our thinking can help improve our memory. Mental images are useful as the pictures give us extra cues. Concepts are useful as it is easier to remember information when bits of it are linked.
Schemas also provide cues to prompt our memory, as information is stored in a mental framework.
