To all college students, especially freshmen, are you tired of blanking on tests? Are you tired of studying for hours and not remembering your content? I have something to tell you, it’s not how long or how hard you study, it is how you study. How would it feel to show up to a test and feel more confident than ever? How would you feel about sleeping peacefully the night before a test? I can give you the answer on how to feel confident and calm before you show up to a test. Once again, it is not about how long you study, it is all about how you encode the information you study.
As an incoming student, you may be wondering how to make the best of your learning and retention of new information. Well lucky for you there are many cognitive processes that may help you learn and retain information, one of which is the generation effect. In this blog post, we will be exploring the basics of the generation effect in cognitive psychology, we will discuss its benefits, and even provide you with some tips you may add for good study habits.
Have you ever studied for a test but then when the time came to actually take the test you completely blanked? Many factors play a role in how well our memory works in different circumstances. One way you can try to improve your memory when studying for school is to use the encoding specificity principle. The encoding specificity principle is the idea that when we learn information we are processing both the information and the environment in which we learned it so we have better recall of that information when we are trying to remember it in an environment similar to the one we learned the information in (1). If we apply this concept to school we see that it is important to study for exams in an environment similar to the environment we will be in when we take the exam.
Picture this: you’re standing at the starting line of the biggest 5k race of your life, but you were so nervous you forgot your running shoes. Now what do you do in this situation? You could always just put your Crocs into “sports mode,” but that probably wouldn’t end well. Instead, you may try to borrow a pair of shoes from a friend. What’s the first thing you would do before slipping them on? You will probably take a quick peek at the inside of the tongue to check the size label to see if they fit your feet. That’s your brain using a schema! “Schemas support memory and perception by providing an organizational framework within which we can encode and store relevant information and efficiently incorporate new information,” according to The National Library of Medicine. Just like making smart shoe decisions, schemas can help students of any age study and learn by providing a framework for organizing new information using what they already know. In this post, we’ll learn about schemas and how they can help you run the race toward academic success!
The dual-coding theory was proposed by Paivio (1991), and it states that, “… human cognition is divided into two processing systems: visual and verbal … if the information to be processed is coded both visually and verbally, the acquisition chances for learners would be doubled because the information is presented physically as a whole” (O’Neil H. F. et al., 2010).
In other words, the dual-coding hypothesis argues that the combination of visual and verbal representations of information helps increase the ability to encode and later recall that information. With this theory in mind, I would suggest that incoming freshman should prioritize class attendance and engagement because the use of visual representations (such as slideshow presentations) and verbal representations (such as the professors lecture) will promote a better learning outcome, which can be reflected in quiz/exam scores.
Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and iHeartRadio are all amazing apps created to provide people, from anywhere, music at any time. Music provides everyone with a sense of feeling all different kinds of moods and can be listened to for whatever occasion. Some people want to dance around their kitchen, while others just want to scream a breakup song in the privacy of their cars. Finally, what my friend and I like to do is carpool to karaoke. However, some people find themselves listening to music while they are studying. I know I am no saint when it comes to watching YouTube videos or streaming Hulu while I am studying for tests or writing a paper. I mean, it is impossible not to when my phone is right there. However, whatever I might be listening to while studying or writing a paper, I often find myself being very distracted and end up procrastinating on my assignment. I always stress about my grade, so I know I should focus on the task in hand. However, I always get stuck on what is happening on social media right now, or, depending on the song, I will just start to sing my heart out and not even care about my assignment anymore. Why, why is this a difficult task to do? Well, the answer is the result of divided attention, or more well-known name, multitasking.
Though I lack statistical data, I am willing to bet it is safe to assume that most have heard “What were you thinking?” a time or two. Am I right? As a child, I heard this often. As a parent, I say it often. I still hear it, too, but not from my parents, from my wife. As Forrest Gump said: “Sometimes we all do things that, well, just don’t make no sense.” (1). You may be wondering what this has to do with being a college student, and I must confess, I am wondering the same. Just kidding. Or am I? Implicit in Forrest Gump’s statement is our ability to use reason to form conclusions, i.e., make decisions, and as you have likely “deduced,” the more adept our reasoning abilities, the greater the probability that we avoid “…do(ing) things that, well, just don’t make no sense.” (1), both in and out of academic and professional settings. Now, my exploration of reasoning and decision-making will be broad and terse; my goal is too “prime” that gelatinous thing between your ears, a.k.a. your brain, so you begin your college career thinking about thinking (metacognition) and thus improving your ability to think critically and efficiently in and out of the classroom. First on the agenda is metacognition, then inductive and deductive reasoning, and finally, I will conclude with decision-making, all of which are skills every college student needs to hone to be successful, whether a freshman or beyond.
A flashbulb memory is what you would call a “core memory”. This type of memory is where you remember where you were, how you felt, and what you were doing. Some would say this memory is “carved” into your brain. A flashbulb memory is a newsworthy event that has personal value to it. The journal article “Flashbulb Memories in Older Adults” by Gillian Cohen, Martin A. Conway, and Elizabeth A. Maylor, explains that “The term flashbulb memories, which was introduced by Brown and Kulik (1977), has been used to denote unusually vivid and detailed veridical memories that persist unchanged over long periods of time”. The article also describes flashbulb memories as “ The existence, nature, and aetiology of flashbulb memories have been the subject of considerable debate and remain controversial. According to one view (Brown & Kulik, 1977; Gold, 1987; Schmidt & Bohannon, 1988), flashbulbs are a distinct type of memory created by a special encoding mechanism that is triggered by high levels of emotion, surprise, and consequentiality ( Cohen, Conway, and Maylor 1).
Imagery is defined simply by the APA Dictionary of Psychology as “cognitive generation of sensory input from the five senses, individually or collectively, which is recalled from experience or self-generated in a non experienced form”. Imagery is also associated with the ability to form mental images about certain things you think about. This is something that occurs with people everyday. You create mental images of different thoughts every single day. The most relatable thing I could compare it to is when you go a certain amount of time without eating and you have that one craving in your mind. You can see it and almost perfectly imagine what it will taste like once you can eat it.
Learning to retain material that is taught rather than memorizing it will ease the stress of future courses. There are many subjects that overlap information and courses are going to build on each other from one semester to the next. Being a full-time college student is time-consuming! Courses like anatomy and physiology (AP) are often deemed highly difficult, which leads to high failure and withdraw rates (DFW) — there is so much memorization involved as well as difficult concepts to understand. So, what can incoming students do to prevent becoming quickly overwhelmed?
