1. Memory
Improving Memory

2. Starter
Think of as many reasons as possible as to why psychologists might be interested in techniques that improve memory…
…there’s a prize for whoever gets the most!

3. Learning Objective
To understand a range of memory improvement strategies.
Success Criteria
Make notes on verbal mnemonics, visual imagery mnemonics and method of loci on page 27 of your booklet.
Challenge Criteria Think about the strengths and weaknesses of these strategies.
Have a go at using the memory improvement strategies.
Evaluate memory improvement strategies on page 28 of your booklet.

4. Remember this…
TVCIAOMNILTMSTMNASA

5. Recall the letters

6. Is this easier? TV
CIA
OMNI
LTM
STM
NASA
Which method does this use?

7. Mnemonics Verbal Mnemonics Acronyms Acrostics
How do you remember the colours of the rainbow?
ROYGBIV or Roy G. Biv
Give me another example of an acronym
Acrostics
How do you remember the order of the planets?
My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets
Give me another example of an acrostic

8. Mnemonics Verbal Mnemonics Rhymes Chunking
How do you remember the letters of the alphabet?
A little song…
“Twinkle, twinkle little star…”
Chunking
How do you remember your phone number?
_ _ _ _
What else do you chunk?

9. 30 seconds to memorise as many objects as you can!

11. Write down as many objects as you can in one minute....

12. 30 seconds to
memorise as many
objects as you
can!

14. Write down as many objects as you can in one minute....

15. There’s an object missing from the previous slide...what is it???

17. What method did that experiment use?
Organisation of material into categories
Tulving and Pearlstone (1966)

18. Mnemonics Visual Imagery Mnemonics The Method of Loci
This method helps you remember things by travelling through a familiar location.
Remember this???

19. Visuo-spatial Sketchpad
Episodic Buffer
Phonological Loop
Central Executive
LTM

20. Mnemonics Visual Imagery Mnemonics The Method of Loci
This method helps you remember things by travelling through a familiar location.
In each room there is an item and this item is linked to a piece of information
The more memorable (smelly, funny, weird) the link, the more likely you are to remember, and recall the information.

21. Activity
Use the method of loci technique to remember the multi-store model…
Where are you travelling (your house, on your way to school etc.)
What items do you have to retrieve?
This will really help with your revision.

22. Peg Words I am going shopping and need to buy the following items:
Fish
Carrots
Rice
Sausages
Oranges
Rice Krispies
Bread
Milk
Yogurt
Dog food

23. Peg Word One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten
Bun Shoe Tree Door Hive Sticks Heaven Gate Line Hen
Fish
Carrots
Rice
Sausages
Oranges
Rice Krispies
Bread
Milk
Yogurt
Dog Food

24. Can you remember your shopping?
Fish
Carrots
Rice
Sausages
Oranges
Rice Krispies
Bread
Milk
Yogurt
Dog food

25. The Narrative Chain
This links words in a list together into a sentence or a story. This disorganised information is put into a meaningful context to be coded semantically.
By using the words and associating them with each other you create a firmer connection between the new words and those already stored in your memory.
This song is an example of a narrative chain:

26. The use of narrative chaining
Bower and Clark (1969) asked participants in their study to learn 12 lists of disconnected words each containing 12 words. The narrative group recalled 94% (135.4 on average) of the words and the control group recalled just 14% (20.2 words on average) of the words. Therefore the method was better than any other memorizing method used.
Create your own narrative chain on page 27.

27. Evaluation Tasks Fill in the blanks on page 28
Make notes on the role of organisation and elaborative rehearsal on page 28

28. Evaluation
Gruneberg (1973) found 30% of psychology students use mnemonics to revise for final exams. 
Glidden et al (1983) found verbal mnemonics were effective with children with learning disabilities.
Most research has been conducted in labs. Studies in real-life settings (e.g. classrooms) show mixed results, for example, mnemonics are useful for teaching foreign language vocabulary, but may not be so effective at actually speaking in a foreign language.
Mnemonics work through rehearsal and organisation.
Organisation is also important, this helps the brain find the information more quickly.
Elaborative rehearsal is the process of giving something a meaning, and strategies such as mind maps work well for this.

29. Assessment for Learning
Alice is visiting the doctor. She needs to remember all of the information that the doctor tells her.
Outline TWO methods of memory improvement that might help Alice, and explain why they should improve recall [4 Marks]

30. Practice Exam Question
Psychology students sometimes revise for an exam by reading their notes over and over again. However, psychologists suggest that other memory improvement strategies may be more effective. Explain how a student could use their knowledge of strategies for memory improvement (other than repetition) to help revise for a psychology exam.
(4 marks)

31. Mark Scheme