By Brooklyn Lyles
College is typically overwhelming for many, but is also considered to be one of the best times of your life. There are various ways in which each student navigates their way throughout these years whether it pertains to studying, learning, finding your way to different buildings on campus, where resources may be located, and much more. It comes down to what works best for each individual themselves. Another aspect of everyday memory is remembering directions, which typically applies to your everyday driving route whether that be to work, to campus, or back home. As it is time to transition to the new chapter in your life(college), it is crucial knowing the ins and outs of things as well as what your professor expects from you and how to engage/interact with the environment cognitively in order to learn better. However, something we all have in common that can be used to benefit/improve these different aspects is something called everyday memory.
Definition of Everyday Memory
What exactly is everyday memory? Well, everyday memory refers to how we use mental operations pertaining to our daily lives/environment4 . According to the American Psychological Association, there are various factors that impact our everyday memory, and age is perhaps the largest one of all1. Therefore, the younger you are, the easier it is to retain information on a daily basis, given under certain circumstances. Have you ever experienced a time when you were taking an exam, and a question comes up that you know you absolutely reviewed and know you know the answer, but can’t quite figure it out? Same here! This is known as the feeling of knowing4 which then leads to the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon4.
Benefits/Usage of Everyday Memory for College Students
Establishing a routine enables the improvement of all aspects of college. For example, if you observe the campus map and even take a tour to each building to where your classes might be, you will likely begin to memorize the locations and it will be easier to navigate these on the first day of classes. You will also begin to generally just know where all buildings are as the semester progresses. It is also okay to ask for help when needed! In reference to learning, we use everyday memory to obtain information from lectures in which we can use to eventually apply towards studying. As time moves along, your learning/study habits may change in order to adapt to the best way for specific classes. However, what is the best way to study for complex/detailed exams or learn material that you may not understand using everyday memory?
Techniques
Typically, when it comes to facts & knowledge, our semantic memory comes into play4. Two different techniques could potentially be used in regards to learning improvement. For example, college is different from high school in quite a lot of ways, but learning is definitely one. In general, however, it comes down to what method works best for you because everyone’s memory works differently. These points I brought up correlate with everyday memory as note-taking is a part of your daily routine when it comes to college. You can prepare for class better knowing this information as you always remember to bring either a note-book or computer to class as it is a part of your daily routine. In addition, knowing that slides will be posted or knowing that you have access to textbooks/notes prior to exams can help you learn better as you can incorporate it into your daily routine. This goes the same for studying for simple or complex exams!
Though, in many situations, memory failure/errors tend to occur. Unfortunately, there remains some uncertainty on the impacts of certain types of memory failures and if the impacts fluctuate throughout life3 . One of the biggest inaccuracies is being able to retrieve the correct information from your long-term memory also known as retrieval4 . This can likely be avoided if you put your mind to it!
Studies
As previously mentioned, age has an influence on your memory1. As we get older, our cognitive functions will begin to decline. According to McDougall et al, they conducted a study in which included elderly participants2. The groups differed in the fact that one was using memory training and the other received a promotion training comparison condition2. The group who was using memory training had more benefits overall but both groups performed at about average2. It was concluded that minority elders succeeded the most within the study which was a bit astonishing2. It truly makes you wonder if memory training could help those who are younger that may struggle with everyday memory problems improve their ways about life. In another study, the Extended Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test(ERBMT) was considered to be a good measuring tool of everyday memory in normal adults because of the complexity of the questions5 .
Conclusion
All in all, everyday memory is very beneficial and can be used in a more complex way than what it is meant for. We use it everyday, even if we are unaware of it. It is used in the simplest of ways whether that being remembering an item at the grocery store, or even a phone number4 . It plays a huge role in our lives as it is the foundation of the remembrance of our daily routine(s) and a majority of those little things in life.
- West, Robin L, et al. “Everyday Memory Performance across the Life Span: Effects of Age and Noncognitive Individual Differences.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/1992-19393-001.
- McDougall, Graham J., et al. “The Seniorwise Study: Improving Everyday Memory in Older Adults.” Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, W.B. Saunders, 15 Jan. 2010, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883941709001575.
- Niedźwieńska, Agnieszka, et al. “Everyday Memory Failures across Adulthood: Implications for the Age Prospective Memory Paradox.” PloS One, Public Library of Science, 25 Sept. 2020, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518607/.
- Goldstein, E. Bruce. Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Cengage, 2019.
- “The Extended Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test: A Measure of Everyday Memory Performance in Normal Adults.” Taylor & Francis, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09658219408258942.