Chapter 5- long term memory

1. This chapter focused on the long term memory and how information is stored and received both effectively and non effectively with. This chapter focuses on the episodic memory, which includes personal memories for events that happened, allowing for the individual to travel back and re-experience these moments through their memory recall. The reading explained how memories are encoded into our memories, how they are retrieved, and how information is storied in our autobiographical memory for everyday life.

2. The explanation of distinctiveness, meaning the stimulus is different from all other memory traces, correlates to lasts weeks idea of proactive interference. Like PI, distinctiveness helps to set apart information that is being processed, using unique characteristics to store the memory, for short or long term use. Thinking about this, it would be much harder to recall the names of three identical triplets than to recall three names of people who are unique and the distinctive principle can be applied.

3. I am still not clear on consistency bias in that I don't really believe that this quality is true for all individuals. With the example of thinking back to high school about a particular stance I had, I am aware that I change my emotions and ideas, as does everyone. When I recall an event from my schema, I don't think that you have a consistency bias if you first recall your emotions/ thoughts at the time, in addition to your thoughts/ideas at the present time.

4. I think the part of this chapter that is most applicable to teaching is the Pollyanna Principle and how mood affects recall of memories. When thinking about my education, I agree with the Pollyanna Principle- that I am more likely to remember the pleasant times in learning over the negative, or boring times. As teachers we worry about NCLB and time and feel like we have to teach the information just to get it over with, not always making it the most pleasant and exciting that it can be. While students may remember this information in their short term memory, a lot of it does not make it to the long-term, or can not be recalled in later years, because of presentation. Instead, if we spend a few more minutes, become a little more energetic, ensure that our students have a positive attitude in the classroom. and teacher material using unique strategies, students will learn the content and have a better recall of it in future years.


5. The explanation of the levels of processing approach states that meaningful information processing leads to more permanent retention than shallow sensory processing. This explains why some information is more easily recalled when a self-reference is use. This is very valid and believable to me, because I personally have a greater sense of recall if I use self-referencing when memorizing or applying concepts/theories to my own life. This class is a great example- without self referencing, I would not be able to recall examples or ideas as easily if I did not actually do them and relate them to my personal life.

6. This information is important for me right now because I am learning all the most effective ways and scenarios that students can recall information, which is going to be my job as a teacher. While we say that we can't control outside factors, we can accommodate factors inside the classroom to create positive and educational atmospheres where the potential to encode, store, and recall information is ideal.

7. I would use these techniques in a any elementary classroom. To create a positive mood with pleasant memories does not conflict with any students learning styles. Teaching students self-referencing and helping them apply information to their own lives is essential for elementary students to that they understand the information, it is important to them, and it is more easily recalled. As for implicit/explicit memory, I think using a combination of both techniques is beneficial to reinforce learning and allow students to learn the information through different styles and strategies.

8. There are other ways that information can be "ingrained into our long term memory" as I have heard other teachers say so often, but that produces a negative image of drilling and rote practices to teach students information that they could learn better though positive self-referencing strategies. Sure, not all of the information is going to be stored in our longterm memories, no matter how positive of self centered they may be. To accommodate for this, portfolios containing important information and work from the year as well as scrapbooks and academic journals can be used to assist in the long term memory recall.