- According to information-processing theory, which component of the memory system did Verona Bishop's students first use during the 3-second experiment?
- ANSWER: a) They first registered the visualized material in their visual-sensory memory.
- Verona Bishop asks her students, "[I]magine that you could keep everything that ever entered your mind. What would that be like?" One student responds, "You'd be a genius!" Another responds, "You'd go crazy!" Why does Ms. Bishop side with the second student?
- ANSWER: c) Learning would be very difficult if one were bombarded by too much information
- During the 3-second memory experiment, Verona Bishop asks her students to recall things not associated with the overhead information she presented. What type of memory are students using when they recall smells, sounds, and details of the classroom and the people in it?
- ANSWER: d) Episodic memory is the type of long-term memory that stores images of our personal experience, such as the sounds of a truck going by or details of a classroom and the people in it.
- Cheryl, one of Verona Bishop's students, recalled seeing the word learning on the overhead screen, even though it was not there. How does Ms. Bishop explain this phenomenon?
- ANSWER: c) Learning and memory are closely related concepts, and are likely stored closely together in memory.
- Consider that some of Verona Bishop's students attempted to memorize the information on the overhead screen in a random fashion. Which of the following learning strategies are they using?
- ANSWER: a) Free-recall learning is learning a list of items in any order.
- Verona Bishop summarizes her experiment by telling her students that they will forget some details of the experiment but remember others. Why is this so?
- ANSWER: a) Students remember information they process deeply and give meaning to.
- Review the current research on the brain. What do we know about how it works? What is the connection between brain function and memory?
- POSSIBLE ANSWER: Research on the brain has been very fruitful. For instance, we know that the human brain is divided in two hemispheres that function asymmetrically yet always share information. For example, for most people language is housed in the left hemisphere along with many logical-mathematical tasks, whereas visual-spatial tasks tend to reside in the right hemisphere. Regarding learning and memory, information processing of newly learned information is cumbersome, but becomes far more efficient over time, ignoring useless and redundant information while employing far fewer brain processes.
- Describe several memory strategies that you can teach your students to help them remember facts, concepts, and ideas presented to them in a lesson.
- POSSIBLE ANSWER: First, I would teach them note-taking skills, especially learning to paraphrase rather than seeking to write down all material presented. Second, I would teach them to summarize facts learned in reading and prepare to teach learned material to other students, as teaching is a terrific method to solidify difficult concepts in memory. I would also tell them to relate material to concepts they already know, so they can form associations between old and new concepts. Furthermore, I would tell them to make learning meaningful by having them reflect upon their learning in relation to daily life events outside of class. This step would make difficult concepts learned in class meaningful. Finally, I would ask them to ask themselves many questions while reading material and to remind themselves to employ all the strategies I asked them to employ, thereby teaching them to reflect upon their own thinking (metacognition).
