Elaborate is what we constantly hear. Did you know we have a great elaborate machine in our brain that takes up what we experience and combines it? Our mind reconstructs what we experience and makes it different, but still lets us retrieve the right information for a deeper understanding of knowledge, like collage.
First, let’s dive into Elaborative Rehearsal, which uses meanings and connections to help transfer information to long-term memory. “Generating questions makes you think hard about the material and fosters comprehension (B. Wong,1995). Additionally, answering questions such as “Why is this true? Or what parts of this page are new to me? will help you to learn because it connects what you are learning to what you already know.” (Putnam et al.,2016) Looking at that quote, you can see that comprehension is done by connections and not just by memorizing information.
Looking at the effects of elaboration throughout advertisements processing and judgment. Scientists Houston, Childers, Heckler, Lutz, Unnava, and Burnkrant, throughout the many years where all the scientists did it at different times. Tested the effects of types of elaboration on product judgement. “We hypothesize that there are differences in the extent to which the two types of pictures and the two contexts prompt item-specific and relational processing. Specifically, the attribute-focused picture and the unrelated products context are expected to prompt greater item-specific processing, whereas the image-focused picture and the competing brands context are expected to induce more relational processing.” (Malaviya et al.,.1996). From that, you can figure out that the more you put information in front of your face, the more connections and better recall you will have. That is all based on how much you take in based on the number of times you visit that information. Therefore, if you go into college and look at everything you must study for an exam and go through it a couple of times, you will have better connections to the material versus you barely skim over the material. It is important to study multiple times then at once. Therefore, “…elaboration of a previously reported explanatory model of deviant behavior (Kaplan, Johnson, and Bailey, 1989) …Further, self-rejection, net of its indirect positive effects, was modeled to have direct negative effects upon later deviant behavior.” (Kaplan, Johnson, Bailey, 1989). By that the test was to test behaviors and elaborate on them. Some of the tests that were in this study were: deviant peer association, assessment of fit, structural relations model, and measurement model. Out of the different models, the structural model and the measurement model were the most successful with self-rejection and Early Deviance.
Overall, you remember certain items of information based on emotions; therefore, make connections with those emotions with the new material learned. “High use of lexical repetition in argument by sixth graders reflected, partially, the immature repetitiveness or their lexical choices, whereas, for twelfth graders, it reflected, partially, a greater tendency to elaborate and summarize their arguments.” (Cohurst, 1987). Looking at the reading, it claims that there is a difference among grade levels, meaning the higher up you are, the more likely you are to elaborate; versus the younger grades, where people seem to have a less likely outcome of elaborating. Therefore, elaboration is important as you get older to understand information faster and more effectively.
Finally, while taking notes and class can be helpful if you write them down versus just listening. You should write down your notes, so you have that initial connection versus just seeing it once and moving on. “The results showed that elaboration during review interfered with performance on a cued-recall test for subjects who had taken notes…Research has distinguished and confirmed the encoding and storage functions of notetaking and has offered some implications for facilitating these functions.” (Kiewra et al., 1989). Therefore, taking notes is beneficial so that you can process the information into long-term memory, and not into short-term memory, and forget the important information when the test arrives. In college, pen and paper are your best friends for studying and recalling information.
Overall, elaboration is an effective tool for studying. As an incoming student or as you are just beginning the start in your career at a university or college. Elaboration is very beneficial; you should start with encoding when you are in the classroom and continue it throughout, so you can get the best bang for your buck for knowledge. The benefits you can receive are having a deeper understanding of the information and better memory retention, since it will be processed into long-term memory. You are now set up for the inside and the outside of the classroom. You will set yourself up for success with this studying technique, it is highly recommended and has been proven through studies that your brain retains more information this way.
References
1. American Psychological Association. (n.d.). American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/xge/
2. Hub: | 10.2307/40927048. Sci. (n.d.). https://sci-hub.se/https:/www.jstor.org/stable/40927048
3. A review of note-taking: The encoding-storage paradigm and beyond … (n.d.-a).https://www.jstor.org/stable/23359203?seq=1
4. Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more … (n.d.-e).https://web.williams.edu/Psychology/Faculty/Kornell/Publications/Kornell.2009b.pdf
5. Worth elaborating | english examples in context | ludwig. (n.d.-f). https://ludwig.guru/s/worth+elaborating