Memory Is a process that takes place in the human psyche, due to which the accumulation, saving and display of material is carried out. Memory in psychology is the definition of the brain's ability to perform the functions of memorizing, storing and recreating experience. Also, this mental process allows a person to remember experiences and events of the past, consciously thinking about its value in their own history and to comprehend the feelings and emotions associated with it. This process contributes to the fact that a person can expand their cognitive abilities. Also, this property has a complex structure, consisting of some functions and processes that provide the perception of information from the surrounding reality and its fixation in past experience. Internal memory is a complex process in which the perception, accumulation, storage, systematization and very fast reproduction of information is carried out.
Memory in psychology
Memory in psychology is the definition of a person's ability to remember, save, reproduce and forget information from his own experience. This property helps a person move in space and time. There are various psychological theories that have their own views on this concept.
In associative theory, the key concept is association. In memory, it connects parts of the perceived material. When a person remembers something, he begins to look for a connection between these materials and those that need to be reproduced. The formation of associations has regularities: similarity, contiguity and contrast. The similarity is manifested in the fact that the material that is remembered is then reproduced through a connection with similar material. Adjacency occurs when incoming material is remembered in relation to previous material. The contrast is expressed in the fact that the material that should be remembered is different from the one that is preserved.
According to the behavioristic theory, special exercises contribute to the memorization of the material. Such exercises help to better and faster fix attention on objects, episodes. Several factors affect the quality of memorization: age, individual characteristics, the interval between exercises, the amount of material, and others.
In cognitive theory, this process is characterized as a set of blocks and processes of transformation of information material. Some blocks provide recognition of the expressive features of the material, others create a cognitive orientation map of information, with the help of the third, information is retained, the fourth block converts the material into a specific form.
Activity theory considers this process as an active component of the connection between man and the world. This happens through the processes of analysis, synthesis, grouping, repetition and isolation of features, with their help, a mnemonic image is also created, a kind of material form that contains a person's personal attitude. Memorization is also influenced by external stimulus signs, which later become internal and a person, guided by them, controls this process.
Types of memory
This process, multi-level and multifunctional, this complexity involves distinguishing between several of its types.
Inner memory displays biological processes of memorizing information by a person.
External memory is fixed on external means (paper, voice recorder). The distinction between other types is based on the nature of mental activity, the characteristics of ideas, the nature of the connection with the target activity, the duration of the storage of images and the objectives of the study. The simplest division of this process into internal and external. Division into types according to the nature of mental activity: figurative, motor, verbal-logical and emotional.
Figurative memory is the process of memorizing images that were formed on the basis of the material of sensory systems. As a result, in the figurative process there are also types of memory, depending on the main analytical system: visual (fixing images of objects or people with whom there was often contact); auditory (the image of sounds that a person once heard); gustatory (tastes that a person once felt); olfactory (the image of smells with which a person can associate some kind of memory); tactile (images of tangential sensations that remind of objects or people).
Motor memory - this is a kind, thanks to which people learn to operate a bicycle, remember a dance, play games, swim, also do any work activity and various appropriate movements.
Emotional memory Is the ability to remember feelings, experiences, or, remember emotions and their relativity to a certain situation at that moment. If a person did not have this mental process, then he would be “emotionally stupid” - this is a definition of a person's state in which he looks unattractive, uninteresting to others, such a robotic object. The ability to express your emotions is the key to mental health.
Verbal and logical memory divided into words, judgments and thoughts. It is also divided into mechanistic and logical. Mechanistic, includes memorizing material due to its constant repetition, when there is no awareness of the meaning of information. Logical - makes semantic connections in memorized objects. For the level of awareness of the memorized material, memory is of two types: implicit and explicit.
Implicit - memory for information not perceived by a person. Memorization is closed, independent of consciousness and is inaccessible to direct observation. Such a process is carried out with the need to find a solution in a certain situation, but even then the knowledge that a person has does not lend itself to awareness. An example of such a process is that a person, in the process of his socialization, perceives the norms of society, and is guided by them in his behavior, without realizing the basic theoretical principles.
Explicit memory occurs when the knowledge gained is used absolutely consciously. They are retrieved, recalled when there is a need to solve a problem using this knowledge. This process can be: involuntary and arbitrary. In the involuntary process, there are traces of images that have arisen unconsciously, automatically. Such memorization is more developed in childhood; it weakens with age.
Arbitrary memory - this is purposeful memorization of the image.
For the duration of time, memory is divided into instant, short-term, operational, long-term.
Instant memory, also called sensory, is displayed in the retention of information perceived by sensory analyzers. She, in turn, is divided into iconic and echoic.
Iconic is a kind of sensory recorder of visual stimuli. With its help, information is recorded in a holistic form. Man never distinguishes between iconic memory and environmental objects. When iconic information is superseded by other information, the visual sensation becomes more receptive. If the visual material arrives too quickly, then there is a layering of one information on top of another, which is still retained in memory, and has passed into long-term memory. This is called the back-masking effect.
Echoic memory - post-like, images are stored in it for no more than 2-3 seconds, when there was the influence of an auditory stimulus.
Short-term memory promotes the memorization of images by a person after a single, short-term perception and instant reproduction. In such a process, the number of stimuli that are perceived, their physical nature matters, and their information load is not taken into account.
Short-term memory has a certain formula, which determines the number of memorized objects. It sounds like seven plus or minus two. When a person is presented with a stimulus material on which a certain number of objects are depicted, he can memorize 5 or 9 objects of them for up to 30 seconds.
RAM - saves a trace of the image, which is necessary for the current action.
Long-term memory can store traces of images for a very long time and allows them to be used later in future activities. Thanks to such memorization, a person is able to accumulate knowledge, which he can then extract either of his own free will, or with external intervention in the brain (with help).
Depending on the target research activity, there are special types of this mental process: biological, episodic, associative, reproductive, reconstructive, autobiographical.
Biological, or it is also called genetic, is determined by the mechanism of heredity. It presupposes a person's possession of such patterns of behavior that were characteristic of people in earlier periods of evolution, this is expressed in reflexes, instincts.
Episodic is a repository of fragments of material that are tied to a specific situation.
Reproductive is the repetition of the reproduction of information, recalling the original appearance of the saved object.
Reconstructive helps to restore the broken sequence of stimuli to their original form.
Associative memory forms functional connections, that is, associations, between objects that are remembered.
Autobiographical memory helps a person remember the events of his own life.
Memory training
Training happens when people don't even notice it. Memorizing the list of products needed in the store, the names of new acquaintances, dates of birth - all this is training for a person. But there are exercises for development that are more specific, they contribute to a much better memorization, concentration on the specific development of these abilities. If memory develops, then other mental processes (thinking, attention) also develop.
There are exercises to develop this process, the most common will be briefly described below.
Memory development in adults exercises are very different. Schulte tables are a very popular exercise. They contribute to the development of peripheral vision, attention, observation, speed reading and visual memory. Looking for consecutive numbers, vision captures only a few cells, so the location of the desired cell and cells of other numbers is remembered.
Exercise for the development of photographic memory according to the Aivazovsky method... Its essence is to look at the object for five minutes. After, close your eyes and restore the image of this object in your head, as clearly as possible. Also, these images can be drawn, this will help improve the effectiveness of the exercise. It needs to be done periodically to develop visual memory well.
Exercise playing matches helps to train visual memory. To do this, you need to put five matches on the table, and look at their location, then turn away, take five more matches and try on another surface to recreate the location of the matches that you remember.
Exercise roman room promotes the development of the ability to structure stored information, but with its help visual memory is also trained. It is necessary to memorize the sequence of objects, their details, color, shape. As a result, more information is memorized and visual memory is trained.
There are also exercises to train auditory memory.
Memory development in adults exercises must obey certain rules. The first exercise is reading aloud. When a person voices memorized material, he develops his vocabulary, improves diction, intonation, improves the ability to impart emotional color and brightness to his speech. The auditory components of the read are also better remembered. You need to read easily, take your time, read as you speak. There are some rules: to clearly pronounce the words, with the appropriate arrangement, expressively pronouncing each word, not to "eat" the ending, to pronounce the text as if it were a speech of a diplomat or an orator laying out his own thoughts on some serious issue. If you read for at least ten or fifteen minutes every day, adhering to all the rules, you can notice results in oratory and auditory memory within a month.
Regular study of poems is a good and easy way to practice memorization. Studying the verse, it is necessary to understand its meaning, highlight the techniques that the author used. Divide it into semantic components, highlight the main idea. It is important, while learning a verse, to repeat it all the time, saying it aloud, to apply intonation, to convey the mood of the author, thus, further developing diction. You need to repeat many times, and over time the number of repetitions will decrease. During the pronunciation of a verse in the mind or out loud, the articulatory apparatus is involved. The study of a poem is used for long-term memorization of abstract information. Such memorization occurs, for example, in studying the multiplication table, or memorizing the number Pi.
Auditory memory develops through eavesdropping. Being among people, in transport or on the street, on a bench, you need to focus on the conversation between other people, comprehend the information, try to remember it. Then, when you come home, speak the conversations you heard with the appropriate intonation and remember the expressions on people's faces at the time of the conversation. Exercising so very often, a person will be able to learn to perceive the text fluently by ear, will become much more attentive and sensitive to intonation and tone.
An effective method is the development of memory according to the methods of special services. This is a training program that is based on the techniques used in the special services. The effectiveness of such a program has been tested by intelligence officers and counterintelligence officers. This method is presented in the book by the author Denis Bukin, which is called "Development of memory by the methods of special services."
In the modern world, almost everyone is accustomed to the fact that they always have a phone, tablet, organizer at hand, in which the necessary information is stored and which you can always spy on there. Routine work, overloading the memorization process with unnecessary information, inability to systematize this information leads to a weakening of mnemonic processes. The book describes a profession in which a well-developed memory is the key to success, more precisely, it is vital - it is a scout. He cannot save the operation plan, the map on his phone, he does not have time to leaf through the notebook. All important information should be stored only in the head, all the details so that they can be clearly reproduced at the right time. Each chapter in the book describes each stage of the scout's career. Each stage contains techniques, exercises and instructions for them.
Memory development
Developed memory is a very big plus of a person's personality, both in everyday life and at work. In most professions, a developed memory is highly valued, it is a great advantage that helps to achieve great achievements at work and take great responsibility. There are certain ways to develop this process. To remember something, you need to focus on the process, on the material itself. You need to comprehend information, look for parallels in it in relation to your experience. The more chances there are to establish such a connection, the better the memorization will be.
If you need to remember some element, for example, name, phone number, number, you do not need to immediately rush to a notebook or the Internet for an answer. Within a couple of minutes, you need to abstract from everything external, look into the depths of your brain and try to remember yourself.
If you need to remember something very important, you need to create in your head some kind of image, an association, very vivid. The brain is much easier to remember something original, in connection with which it will be easier to remember the necessary thing. To easily memorize numbers, you need to divide them into groups, or, as in the previous method, create associations.
A very effective method for developing memory is a cognitive training simulator called the Wikium project.
To remember something well, you need to say it right after the perception of information, then retell it to someone else, so it will be easier to remember and better understand the meaning of the material.
A very simple method that can be used everywhere is to solve the simplest arithmetic problems in your head.
Also, the simplest way to develop memorization is to scroll through the events of the day in your head. It is better to do this at the end of each day before going to bed, recreating all the details and episodes, feelings, experiences, emotions that this day was filled with. You also need to assess your actions and actions committed on this day.
Reading books contributes to the development of memorization, the brain concentrates, the text is perceived, and the details are stored in memory.
Effective memorization involves understanding the meaning of the text. It is very unprofitable to memorize material mechanically without retelling it in your own words. Such a process will stop at the level of RAM and will not go into long-term memory.
To develop memory, you need to accustom yourself to repeat information, first, to memorize it will require multiple repetitions, after such frequent repetition, the brain will be sufficiently developed to memorize information faster.
Mechanical hand movements help in the development of memory. When a person does some long-term action with his hands, the structures of the brain are activated.
Learning foreign languages \u200b\u200bis also a good way to improve memory.
The emotional state of a person will play a significant role. When a person is calm and happy, he will be able to quickly and easily remember information and reproduce it than a person in a state of anger or anxiety.
To develop memory, you need to work on it, focused and purposeful. Laziness will contribute to the degradation of the human psyche, and a good memory will clearly not be a characteristic feature of such a person. A developed memory opens up great prospects for a person, thanks to memory, you can achieve high results, both at work and in communication.
With the help of neurobics, you can also develop and maintain this mental process. There is a corresponding literature, which describes a lot of methods for the development of this process.
With the methods described above, you need to load your memory, without regular training it will weaken, fail and accelerate the aging of thinking.
There are a few more rules that must be followed to effectively develop this process. In order for the memory to be good, it is necessary for the brain to be efficient, for this it must be saturated with oxygen, which enters the blood. To do this, you need to be in the air often, take breaks in mental work for several minutes, do exercises, exercises that contribute to the flow of blood to the brain.
If a person smokes and does not train his memory, he prescribes for himself a quick wear of mental processes. If a person smokes and trains memory, such processes begin a little later, but still faster than in completely non-smoking people.
Adequate sleep promotes the development of this process, ensures brain activity. If a person does not get enough sleep, his memory at the biological level is not able to work as it should. Because the brain depends on the biological rhythms of day and night, so only at night are brain cells restored and in the morning, after sleeping for seven or eight hours, a person will be ready for a productive work day.
To keep the mind flexible, you need to give up alcohol. The more a person uses, the more damage he causes to his brain. Some people have the experience of not remembering half of the events after alcohol abuse. Especially when you need to learn some material, then before that you need to avoid even drinking wine and beer, not to mention stronger drinks. For a well-developed memory, you need to eat right, especially foods that contain phosphoric acid and calcium salts.
All of the above methods, rules, if applied in combination, guarantee the development and preservation of memory for many years.
Memory development in children
From early childhood, the development of memory is realized in several directions. The first way assumes that mechanical memory gradually begins to change, supplement, and then completely replaces logical memory. The second direction involves direct memorization of information, gradually turning into an indirect one, which is used in memorizing and reflecting various mnemonic means. The third way is involuntary memorization, which dominates in childhood, but becomes arbitrary with age.
The creation of internal ways of memorizing depends on the development of speech. Memorization, which switches from externally mediated to internal, associated with the metamorphosis of speech from external to internal.
Memory development in preschool children, in particular, the process of direct memorization is a little more likely the formation of mediated memorization. And along with this, the gap in the performance of these types of memorization becomes larger in favor of the first.
Memory development in primary school children expressed by the simultaneous development of direct memorization and mediated, but the rapid production of mediated memory. Developing at a fast pace, mediated memorization is catching up with direct memorization in productivity.
The development of this process in preschool children is expressed by the gradual transition of unintentional memorization to voluntary. In children of the middle preschool period, by about the age of four, memorization and reproduction, which have not yet succumbed to learning mnemonic functions and in the natural conditions of development, are involuntary.
Under the same conditions, older preschoolers are characterized by a gradual transition from involuntary to voluntary memorization of material. At the same time, in the corresponding processes, an almost independent process of the development of special perceptual actions begins, the development of mediating mnemonic processes aimed at improving the memorization and display of materials.
Not all of these processes develop in the same way in all children with age, some tend to get ahead of others. Thus, voluntary reproduction develops faster than voluntary memorization and surpasses it in development. Memory development depends on the child's interest and motivation in the activities he performs.
The development of memory in preschool children is characterized by the predominance of involuntary, visual-emotional memory. In the junior - middle preschool period, well-developed mechanical and spontaneous memory.
The development of memory in children of primary school age proceeds quite well, especially when it comes to rote memorization and its progression over a period of three to four years of study, which is carried out very quickly. Logical and mediated memory lags behind a little in development, but this is a normal process. Children have enough mechanical memory in their learning, work, play and communication. But special training in mnemonic techniques of children from their first years of study significantly improves the productivity of logical memory. Non-application of these techniques, or their inept application in practice, may be the reason for the poor development of voluntary memory in young children. The good development of this process of children is facilitated by the use of special mnemonic tasks, they are put in front of the children accordingly to their activities.
Memory is the most important component of our personality. She is the link between our past, present and future. Without the ability to memorize, evolution would probably stand still. For a modern person in an age of a large flow of information, it is extremely important to have a good memory in order to keep up with the development race. The load on our natural "hard drive" is growing every day.
What is human memory?
Language and memory are closely related. The ability to memorize in humans is not innate. It develops when we learn to describe the world. We have practically no memories of the first years of life precisely because we did not know how to speak. Then, by the age of 3-5, the child begins to speak in sentences and describes events from life, thereby fixing them in memory.
In adolescence, self-awareness comes to a person. He answers to himself the question "who am I?" And the memories of these years are the strongest and most vivid. Whereas recent life events can be very difficult to remember. Why it happens?
There is a theory that 15-25 years is the last period of formation. During this time, we turn our attention to other things besides family. Hormonal changes occur, the brain is formed, new neural connections are formed, many of them work effectively in the frontal frontal lobe. This part of the brain is responsible for being aware of oneself. And also in these areas information is accumulated, which becomes memories. Maybe this is the reason that we remember very well the adolescent period of our life, even in adulthood.
Types of memory by the way of memorization.
Human memory can be roughly divided into several types. fig.
So, in order:
1 block. The subject of memorization.
* Figurative memory... Information that is stored by creating some images based on data received by our senses. Everything that we see, hear, feel by touch, feel with taste buds and smell, is transformed into images and remains in memory in this form.
* Verbal memory Is all that we get with the help of words and logic. Only man possesses this kind. All information received verbally is deliberately analyzed and classified for further use.
* Emotional memory. Feelings experienced by a person are imprinted in this "department". All positive or negative emotions persist, and in the future, remembering these moments of life, a person can again experience the same feelings.
* Motor (motor) memory... Everything related to movement is remembered by motor memory. Cycling, the ability to swim, everything that we do "automatically", having learned it once, is stored in our muscle memory.
2 block. Memorization method.
* Arbitrary memory... With this method, a person remembers the necessary information on purpose, by an effort of will. For example, using repetition.
* Involuntary memory... In the process of life, we remember not only what we need, but also other processes. Especially if this data is in line with our interests and preferences. For example, after a New Year's corporate party, someone will remember the outfits of employees, someone will have delicious dishes, while others will remember the competitive games. Everyone will involuntarily take away in his memory what was most interesting to him personally.
3 block. Memorization time.
* Short-term memory... It is used to solve problems "on the agenda". With its help, a person processes a huge amount of information, but very quickly forgets it. Immediately, as soon as the need for it disappears. A natural "fuse" is triggered so that the brain does not "explode".
* Long-term memory... This type is determined by the long-term storage of information. All accumulated knowledge is structured, grouped and used for months, years or a lifetime.
* Intermediate memory... This is a cross between long-term and short-term. During the day, the brain collects everything it has learned, and in the process of a night's sleep it makes a sorting - something is cut off, and something is put into a long-term "safe".
* RAM is needed to perform a specific specific action.
* Sensory memory the shortest. Stores information received from the senses for fractions of a second. For example, after closing the eyes, the last picture seen does not disappear immediately. Probably due to this type of memory, we do not notice the blinking of our eyes.
Success in almost all areas of life depends on our ability to remember the right information at a certain time. So human memory and attempts to improve it have been in the focus of attention of the entire globe for hundreds of years.
Human memory provides the continuity of experience and the basis for personality development. All our impressions leave a trace and, when we need it, are actualized, recalled. If it were not for memory, everything would become an instant, because only preservation and the possibility of reproduction organizes a person's idea of \u200b\u200bhimself as a subject existing up to the present moment.
Meaning and history
Memory as a mental process is associated with all mental functions, its connection with emotions, motor functions and cognitive processes is especially strong. Bartlett emphasizes that memories are not lifeless and fixed layers of experience.
Recollection is creation, construction, the basis of which is our relationship to the past. That is, every time we remember, we create - the parts of the brain in which in the past there was excitement for the event, during the recollection, they become active again, creating it.
All other creatures, except for humans, have genetic and mechanical memory. Genetic is responsible for the transmission through genes of those properties that are necessary for a creature to survive. Mechanical - the result of learning for a short life. They are both incapable of organizing experience that is possible thanks to human memory.
For a long time, the concept of memory was under the jurisdiction of philosophy, since it is one of the foundations of human cognition. Plato represented it in the form of an imprint, however, without endowing it with activity. Aristotle identified the role of associations when referring to it in the process of thinking.
The era of memory research in psychology began in the middle of the 19th century. At this time, an experimental approach to the development of concepts related to the mental life of an individual was laid. Thanks to the advances that psychology has achieved, it has become clear what memory is - a property of the nervous system, which consists in storing, reproducing and changing information, but so far there has been no consensus on a huge number of side issues.
general information
Memory is a condition for learning, skills formation, knowledge acquisition. The main functions of memory: recognition, playback, memorization, storage.
Due to the abundance of grounds for classification, there are many different groups within which it is subdivided into specific types. For example, based on the difference from other creatures, the following types of human memory can be distinguished:
- Free. Responsible for purposeful memorization.
- Logical. Inclusion of the memorized in logical connections.
- Mediated. Using memorization aids.
On the other hand, the storage time of the material in memory plays an important role. And its types are different in terms of storage duration:
1. Instant memory
Instantaneous, it can also be called sensory, is a direct reflection of what the senses perceived. It retains information for about 0.1-0.5 seconds. Represents an image of an impression.
Short-term - is responsible for storing the most essential elements of the image for 20 seconds, if the material is not repeated. This memory belongs to the area of \u200b\u200bthe person's actual consciousness, it contains only that which corresponds to the individual portrait of the personality, that which the person paid attention to.
3. RAM
Or, as it is also called, the working memory of a person can store information for up to several days, depending on the task at hand. The stored information is needed precisely to solve the problem facing a person. The operational can be increased, which will lead to the development of the mobile.
4. Long-term memory
It contains the most fundamental and significant memories, knowledge. Stores information indefinitely. Repetition strengthens the stored experience.
5. Genetic memory
Information in the genotype, inherited. It is on her that we are unable to influence.
The qualities of memory depend on the individual characteristics of the person himself. The individual characteristics of the processes of memorization and reproduction in a person add up to types of memory. Among them are: figurative, verbal and logical. Thus, the figurative type differs in that whole "pieces" of the image are preserved. In the semantic type, the elements of the perceived are lined up into a system, the emphasis is on meaning, and not on form.
Structure
William James was the first to propose the division of memory into short-term and long-term on the basis that some of the information that we receive is irretrievably lost, and the other is remembered for many years. Ebbinghaus presented his forgetting curve around the same time. Ebbinghaus's Law says that we forget more than half of what we learned in an hour; by the end of the week, less than 1/5 of what we have learned remains.
Through experiments and observations of people with brain damage, we already know that the regions of the brain responsible for short-term and long-term memory are different. There are still different theories about the volumes of the short-term.
One of them, which is perhaps the most popular, is that the maximum number of storage units in it is 7. It does not matter what we consider to be a unit of information - a letter or a word. If you give a set of letters, then a person will remember about 7, the same will happen with words, although words seem to be more informative and complex units of information.
Thus, the ability to memorize 7 units of information, in fact, does not limit us too much. It is enough to correctly organize the disparate elements into groups so that there are no more than 7 of these groups, then you will be able to remember huge pieces of information. Good organization refers to the process of combining groups with information from long-term memory. The effectiveness of this technique has been proven in the experiments of Bauer and Springsston.
Some scientists (Baddeley et al.) Argue that the amount of information that can be stored in short-term memory is limited only by the speed with which we repeat information. Thus, time remains critical. The more information we can fit into a small amount of time, the potentially better we can remember it.
We are always in the short-term, it is given to us directly. Our knowledge, memories and everything else that gives meaning to life, allows us to perceive new experiences are in the long-term. She, apparently, can save an unlimited amount of information for any length of time.
On the one hand, memory is found everywhere in the brain, on the other, some zones clearly perform the functions necessary for the interaction of its different types. How does memory and memorization work? Hebb's theory provides an original answer to this:
- Thanks to the short-term, a round of nervous activity begins.
- A sufficient number of repetitions results in a chemical or structural change.
- If there is a combination of information with past memories, meaningful inclusion, then the information is transferred to permanent storage.
Mnemonics - the art of remembering
There are a lot of sources on how to develop memory. It is best to turn directly to cognitive psychology, which has been conducting experiments for years and studying human mental processes and directly the development of memory. Features of memory not only make it possible to improve the memorization of information, but make it possible to intensively develop a person's intellectual level.
Organization can occur with the help of familiar ideas, things, objects. Stranger-acquaintance associations allow you to quickly access information. Connecting imagination, crossing new and unfamiliar with its help, or creating scenes from objects, allows you to remember the material much faster and for a longer period.
The second fact that will be needed for the development of memory: vivid emotions associated with some information allow you to remember this information without difficulty and for a long time.
Third: repetitions at short intervals have a better effect on the memorization of the material than "shock" lessons with long breaks.
And the last thing: an increase in blood glucose immediately after memorizing information makes it easier for a person to reproduce it in the future.
People who want to develop their analytical skills will benefit from memory training. Working memory exercises improve logical thinking, as well as the ability to concentrate, which are almost the foundation of any successful study and work. It turns out that when we develop memory, we develop in general. How to train this type of memory:
- A person is presented with visual or sound images one after another.
- The task of a person is to indicate whether the image that he perceives now has already been presented before n-step back.
2. Method of places
Improving memory allows you to remember absolutely everything, but for this you have to first develop concentration. The method of places, known since 500 BC, is the placement of objects of thought in places in a certain room that you know well.
Bad memory complicates the learning process, hinders the manifestation of the entire potential of the individual, therefore, a person's memory must be developed from childhood and throughout life. Author: Ekaterina Volkova
All living beings have memory, but a person has reached the highest level of development. Memory connects the past with the present. It is memory that allows a person to be aware of his “I”, to act in the world around him, to be who he is. Human memory is a form of mental reflection, which consists in the accumulation, consolidation, preservation and subsequent reproduction by the individual of his experience. Ours is a functional education that does its job through the interaction of three main processes: memorizing, storing and reproducing information. These processes not only interact, there is mutual conditioning between them. After all, you can save only what you have memorized, and reproduce what you have saved.
Memorization. Human memory begins with memorizing information: words, images, impressions. The main task of the memorization process is to memorize accurately, quickly and a lot. Distinguish between involuntary and voluntary memorization. Voluntary memorization is turned on when the goal is to remember not only what is itself imprinted in his memory, but also what is necessary. Voluntary memorization is active, purposeful, and has a volitional origin.
That which is personally significant, is associated with a person's activities and his interests, has the character of involuntary memorization. In case of involuntary memorization, a person is passive. Involuntary memorization clearly demonstrates such a property of memory as selectivity. If you ask different people what they remember most at the same wedding, then some will easily tell about who presented the newlyweds and what gifts, others - what they ate and drank, others - to what music they danced, etc. However, at the same time, neither the first, nor the second, nor the third did not set a clear goal for themselves to remember something concrete. Memory selectivity worked.
It is worth mentioning the "Zeigarnik effect" (it was first described in 1927 by the Soviet psychologist Bluma Wolfovna Zeigarnik (1900-1988): a person involuntarily remembers unfinished actions, situations that have not received natural resolution.
If we could not finish something, finish eating, get what we want, while we were close to the goal, then this is remembered thoroughly and for a long time, and the successfully completed is forgotten quickly and easily. The reason is that an unfinished action is a source of strong negative ones, which are much more powerful than positive ones in terms of the force of impact.
Many scientists have studied memorization techniques. In particular, the German psychologist G. Ebbinghaus formulated a number of patterns of memorization. He believed that repetition (indirect or direct) is the only relative guarantee of the reliability of memorization. Moreover, the result of memorization is in a certain dependence on the number of repetitions. Ebbinghaus's law states: the number of repeated presentations required to memorize the entire row grows much faster than the object of the presented row. If the subject memorizes 8 numbers from one presentation (display), then to memorize 9 numbers he will need 3-4 presentations. The scientist also emphasizes the importance of the will factor. The higher the concentration of attention on any information, the faster memorization will occur.
However, it has been found that mechanical repetition is less effective than meaningful memorization. The direction of modern psychology - mnemonics - is engaged in the development of numerous memorization techniques based on the principle of associative communication: the translation of information into images, graphics, pictures, schemes.
Allocate four types of human memory in accordance with the type of memorized material.
1. Motor memory, i.e. the ability to memorize and reproduce a system of motor operations (drive a car, weave a braid, tie a tie, etc.).
2. Figurative memory - the ability to save and further use the data of our perception. It is (depending on the receiving analyzer) auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory and gustatory.
3. Emotional memory captures the feelings we experienced, the peculiarity of emotional states and affects. A child who is frightened by a large dog, most likely, even becoming an adult, will have dislike for these animals for a long time (fear memory).
4. Verbal memory (verbal-logical, semantic) is the highest type of memory inherent only in humans. With its help, most of the mental actions and operations (counting, reading, etc.) are carried out, the information base of the human is formed.
Different people have developed this or that type of memory to a greater extent: in athletes - motor, in artists - shaped, etc.
Preservation of information. The main requirement for human memory: to store information reliably, for a long time and without loss. Several memory levels are distinguished, differing in how long information can be stored on each of them.
1. Sensory (direct) type of memory. The systems of this memory retain accurate and complete data on how the world is perceived by our senses at the receptor level. Data is saved for 0.1-0.5 seconds. The mechanism of action of sensory memory is easy to detect: close your eyes, then open them for a second and close them again. The clear picture you see remains for a while and then slowly disappears.
2. Short-term memory allows you to process a colossal amount of information without overloading the brain, due to the fact that it eliminates all unnecessary and leaves useful, necessary for solving urgent (momentary) problems.
3. Long-term memory provides long-term storage and use of information. The capacity and duration of long-term memory storage can be limitless. There are two types of long-term memory. The first one is at the level of consciousness. A person in his own way can remember, extract the necessary information. The second type is a closed long-term memory, in which information is stored at the subconscious level. Under normal conditions, a person does not have access to this information, only with the help of psychoanalytic procedures, in particular hypnosis, as well as stimulation of various parts of the brain, it is possible to access it and update images, thoughts, experiences in all details.
4. Intermediate memory is between short-term and long-term memory. It ensures the preservation of information for several hours. In the waking state, a person accumulates information during the day. To prevent the brain from overloading, it is necessary to free it from unnecessary information. The information accumulated over the past day is cleared, categorized, and stored in long-term memory during a night's sleep. Scientists have determined that this requires at least three hours of sleep a night.
5. Working memory is a type of human memory that manifests itself in the course of performing a certain activity and serves this.
Playback... The requirements for the memory reproduction process are accuracy and timeliness. In psychology, four forms of reproduction are distinguished:
1) recognition - arises from the repetition of the perception of objects and phenomena;
2) recollection - carried out in the real absence of perceived objects. Memories are usually mediated through associations that provide automatic, involuntary reproduction;
3) recollection - carried out in the absence of a perceived object and is associated with active volitional activity to update information;
4) reminiscence is a delayed reproduction of what was previously perceived and seemed forgotten. With this form of memory reproduction, older events are remembered more easily and more accurately than those that occurred in the recent past.
Forgettingis the flip side of memory preservation. This is a process that leads to a loss of clarity and a decrease in the amount of data that can be updated in. For the most part, forgetting is not a memory anomaly, it is a natural process that is caused by a number of factors.
1. Time - in less than an hour a person forgets half of the information he just received mechanically.
2. Active use of available information - forgetting, first of all, what is not a constant need. However, childhood experiences and motor skills such as ice skating, playing a musical instrument, swimming, remain fairly stable for many years without any exercise. Remains at a subconscious level, as if forgetting what upsets the psychological balance, causes negative stress (traumatic impressions).
Information in our memory is not stored unchanged, like documents in an archive. In memory, the material undergoes a change and a qualitative reconstruction.
Human memory disorders... Multiple memory impairments are common, although most people do not notice them or notice them too late. The very concept of "normal memory" is rather vague. Memory hyperfunction is usually associated with strong excitement, febrile excitement, taking certain medications or hypnotic effects. The form of obsessive memories is called a violation of emotional balance, feelings of insecurity and anxiety, which create a thematic focus of memory hyperfunction. So, for example, we constantly remember our extremely unpleasant, unseemly actions. It is almost impossible to banish such memories: they haunt us, cause a feeling of shame and a pang of conscience.
In practice, weakening of memory function, partial loss of preserving or reproducing available information are more common. The weakening of selective reduction, difficulties in reproducing the material necessary at the moment (names, dates, names, terms, etc.) are attributed to the earliest manifestations of memory impairment. Then the weakening of memory can take the form of progressive amnesia, the causes of which are alcoholism, trauma, age-related and negative personality changes, sclerosis, diseases.
In modern psychology, there are facts of memory deceptions in the form of extremely one-sided selectivity of memories, false memories and distortions of memory. Usually they are caused by strong desires, passions, unmet needs. For example, when a child is given a sweet, he quickly eats it, and then “forgets” about it and sincerely proves that he did not receive anything.
Distortion of memory is often associated with a weakening of the ability to distinguish between one's own and another's, what a person experienced in reality, and what he heard, saw in a movie or read. In the case of multiple repetitions of such memories, their complete personification occurs, i.e. a person begins to consider other people's thoughts as his own. The presence of the facts of deceiving memory indicates how closely it is connected with a person's fantasy.
What is memory
What we feel and perceive does not disappear without a trace, everything is remembered to one degree or another. Excitations that go to the brain from external and internal stimuli leave traces in it that can persist for many years. These "traces" (combinations of nerve cells) create the possibility of excitement even when the stimulus that caused it is absent. On the basis of this, a person can remember and save, and subsequently reproduce his feelings, perceptions of any objects, thought, speech, actions.
Just like sensation and perception, memory is a process of reflection, and it reflects not only what acts directly on the senses, but also what took place in the past.
Memory- This is memorization, preservation and subsequent reproduction of what we previously perceived, experienced or did. In other words, memory is a reflection of a person's experience through memorization, preservation and reproduction.
Memory is an amazing property of human consciousness, it is the renewal in our consciousness of the past, images of what once made an impression on us.
In old age I live anew, The past passes before me. How long has it been rushing events full, Worrying like the sea-ocean?
Now it is silent and calm, I have not retained many faces, Few words reach me, And the rest has died irrevocably ...
A.S. Pushkin."Boris Godunov"
No other mental function can be performed without the participation of memory. And memory itself is inconceivable outside of other mental processes. THEM. Sechenov noted that without memory our sensations and perceptions, "disappearing without a trace as they arise, would leave a person forever in the position of a newborn."
Imagine a person who has lost his memory. The student was woken up in the morning, told to have breakfast and go to class. Most likely, he would not have come to the institute, and if he did, he would not know what to do there, he would forget who he is, what his name is, where he lives, etc., he would have forgotten his native language and could not say a word ... The past for him would no longer exist, the present is unpromising, since he cannot remember anything, cannot learn anything.
Remembering any images, thoughts, words, feelings, movements, we always remember them in a certain connection with each other. Without the establishment of one or another connection, memorization, recognition, and reproduction are impossible. What does it mean to memorize a poem? It means memorizing a series of words in a certain connection, sequence. What does it mean to memorize some foreign word, for example, the French "la table"? It means to establish a connection between this word and the object that it designates, or the Russian word "table". The connections that underlie memory activity are called associations. Association is a relationship between separate views, in which one of these views causes another.
Objects or phenomena connected in reality are also connected in the memory of a person. To remember something means to link the memorized with something, to weave what needs to be remembered into the network of existing connections, to form associations.
There are several types of associations:
- by adjacency:the perception or thought of one subject or phenomenon entails recalling other objects and phenomena adjacent to the first in space or time (this is how the sequence of actions is remembered, for example);
- by similarity:images of objects, phenomena or thoughts of them evoke the memory of something similar to them. These associations underlie poetic metaphors, for example, the sound of waves is likened to the dialect of people;
- by contrast:sharply different phenomena are associated - noise and silence, high and low, good and evil, white and black, etc.
Various associations are involved in the process of memorizing and reproducing. For example, we recall the surname of a familiar person, a) passing near the house in which he lives, b) meeting someone similar to him, c) calling another surname, derived from a word that is opposite in meaning to the one from which the surname comes acquaintance, for example, Belov - Chernov.
In the process of memorization and reproduction, semantic connections play an extremely important role: cause - effect, whole - its part, general - particular.
Memory connects a person's past with his present, ensures the unity of the personality. A person needs to know a lot and remember a lot, with each year of life more and more. Books, records, tape recorders, cards in libraries, computers help a person to remember, but the main thing is his own memory.
In Greek mythology, there is the goddess of memory Mnemosyne (or Mnemosyne, from the Greek word for "remembrance"). By the name of its goddess, memory in psychology is often called mnemonic activity.
In scientific psychology, the problem of memory is "the mother of psychology as a science" (P.P. Blonsky). Memory is a most complex mental process, therefore, despite its numerous studies, a unified theory of memory mechanisms has not yet been created. New scientific evidence shows that memory processes are associated with complex electrical and chemical changes in nerve cells in the brain.
Types of memory
The forms of manifestation of memory are very diverse, since it is associated with various spheres of a person's life, with his characteristics.
All types of memory can be roughly divided into three groups:
1) what the person remembers (objects and phenomena, thoughts, movements, feelings).
Accordingly, they are distinguished: motor, emotional, verbal and logicaland aboutdifferentmemory;
2) asa person memorizes (accidentally or intentionally). Here are distinguished arbitrary and involuntarymemory;
3) how longthe memorized is preserved.
it short-term, long-term and operational memory.
Motor (or motor) memory allows you to memorize skills, skills, various movements and actions. If it were not for this type of memory, then every time a person would have to re-learn to walk, write, perform various activities.
Emotional memoryhelps to remember feelings, emotions, experiences that we experienced in certain situations. Here is how A.S. Pushkin:
I thought my heart had forgotten The ability to suffer lightly, I said: what was, It will never happen! It will never happen! Gone are raptures and sorrows, And gullible dreams ...
But here again they trembled Before the powerful power of beauty.
K.S. Stanislavsky wrote about emotional memory: "Since you are capable of turning pale, blushing at the mere recollection of what you have experienced, since you are afraid to think about a long-lived misfortune, then you have a memory for feelings, or emotional memory."
Emotional memory is of great importance in the formation of a person's personality, being the most important condition for his spiritual development.
Semantic, or verbal-logical memory is expressed in memorization, preservation and reproduction of thoughts, concepts, reflections, verbal formulations. The form of thought reproduction depends on the level of a person's speech development. The less developed the speech, the more difficult it is to express the meaning in your own words.
Figurative memory.
This type of memory is associated with our senses, through which a person perceives the world around him. In accordance with our senses, there are 5 types of figurative memory: auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, tactile.These types of figurative memory are unevenly developed in humans, any is always predominant.
Arbitrary memorypresupposes the presence of a special goal to remember, which the person sets and applies appropriate techniques for this, makes volitional efforts.
Involuntary memorydoes not imply a special purpose to remember or recall this or that material, incident, phenomenon, they are memorized as if by themselves, without the use of special techniques, without volitional efforts. Involuntary memory is an inexhaustible source of knowledge. In the development of memory, involuntary memorization precedes voluntary. It is very important to understand that a person involuntarily remembers not everything in a row, but what is associated with his personality and activities. First of all, we involuntarily remember what we like, what we accidentally paid attention to, what we are actively and enthusiastically working on.
Therefore, involuntary memory also has an active character. Animals already have involuntary memory. However, “the animal remembers, but the animal does not remember. In man, we clearly distinguish both of these phenomena of memory ”(K. Ushinsky). The best way to remember and keep in memory for a long time is to apply knowledge in practice. In addition, memory does not want to keep in consciousness that which is contrary to the attitudes of the individual.
Short-term and long-term memory.
These two types of memory differ in the duration of the preservation of what a person remembers. Short-term memory has a relatively short duration - a few seconds or minutes. It is sufficient for an accurate reproduction of events that have just happened, objects and phenomena that have just been perceived. After a short time, the impressions disappear, and the person usually turns out to be unable to remember anything from the perceived. Long-term memory ensures long-term retention of material. It is important to remember the installation for a long time, the need for this information for the future, their personal significance for a person.
Allocate more operational memory, which is understood as memorizing some information for the time required to perform an operation, a separate act of activity. For example, in the process of solving any problem, it is necessary to keep in memory the initial data and intermediate operations, which may later be forgotten, until the result is obtained.
In the process of human development, the relative sequence of the formation of types of memory looks like this:
All types of memory are necessary and valuable in themselves; in the process of a person's life and growing up, they do not disappear, but enrich, interact with each other.
Memory processes
The main processes of memory are memorization, reproduction, preservation, recognition, forgetting. By the nature of reproduction, the quality of the entire memory apparatus is judged.
Memory begins with memorization. Memorization is a memory process that ensures the preservation of material in memory as the most important condition for its subsequent reproduction.
Memorization can be unintentional and deliberate. When unintentional memorization a person does not set goals to remember and does not make any efforts for this. Memorization happens "by itself." This is how one remembers mainly that which vividly interests a person or evokes a strong and deep feeling in him: "I will never forget this!" But any activity requires a person to remember many things that are not remembered by themselves. Then comes into force deliberate, conscious memorization,that is, the goal is to remember the material.
Memorization is mechanical and semantic. Rotebased mainly on the consolidation of individual ties, associations. Semantic memorizationassociated with the processes of thinking. To memorize new material, a person must understand it, comprehend, i.e. find a deep and meaningful relationship between this new material and the knowledge he already has.
If repetition is the main condition for mechanical memorization, understanding is the condition for meaningful memorization.
Both mechanical and semantic memorization are of great importance in the mental life of a person. When memorizing proofs of a geometric theorem or analyzing historical events, a literary work, semantic memorization comes to the fore. In other cases, remember the house number, phone number, etc. - the main role belongs to mechanical memorization. In most cases, memory should be based on both comprehension and repetition. This is especially evident in educational work. For example, when memorizing a poem or any rule, one cannot do with one understanding, just as one cannot do with one mechanical repetition.
If memorization has the character of specially organized work associated with the use of certain techniques for the best assimilation of knowledge, it is called memorization.
Learning depends:
a) from the nature of the activity, from the processes of goal-setting: voluntary memorization, based on a consciously set goal - to remember, is more effective than involuntary;
b) from the installation - remember for a long time or remember for a short time.
We often start memorizing some material, knowing that, in all likelihood, we use it only on a certain day or until a certain date, and then it will not matter. Indeed, after this period we forget what we have learned.
It is better to memorize emotionally colored material, to which a person relates with interest, which is personally significant to him. Such memorization is motivated.
This is very convincingly shown in the story of K. Paustovsky "The Glory of the Boatswain Mironov":
“... And so an unusual story happened with boatswain Mironov in the Mayak editorial office ...
I don’t remember who - the People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade or Vneshtorg - asked the editorial office to provide all the information about the Russian ships that had been taken abroad. You need to know that the entire merchant fleet was taken away in order to understand how difficult it was.
And when we sat through the hot Odessa days over the ship's lists, when the editorial office was sweating with tension and remembered the old captains, when exhaustion from the confusion of new shipping names, flags, tons and deadweight reached the highest tension, Mironov appeared in the editorial office.
Drop it, he said. - So you will not get a damn thing.
I will speak, and you write. Write! Steamship Jerusalem. Now sailing under the French flag from Marseille to Madagascar, chartered by the French company Paquet, the crew is French, Captain Borisov, the boatswains are all ours, the underwater part has not been cleaned since 1917. Write further. The steamer "Muravyov-Apostol", now renamed into "Anatole". Sails under the English flag, carries bread from Montreal to Liverpool and London, chartered by the Royal Meil \u200b\u200bCanada. Last time I saw him last fall in Nyo Port Nyos.
This lasted three days. For three days, from morning to evening, smoking cigarettes, he dictated a list of all ships of the Russian merchant fleet, called their new names, the names of captains, voyages, the state of the boilers, the composition of the crew, and cargo. The captains just shook their heads. Marine Odessa got excited. The rumor about the monstrous memory of the boatswain Mironov spread with lightning speed ... "
An active attitude to the learning process is very important, which is impossible without intense attention. For memorization, it is more useful to read the text 2 times with full concentration of attention than to reread it inattentively 10 times. Therefore, trying to memorize something in a state of extreme fatigue, sleepiness, when it is not possible to concentrate attention properly, is a waste of time. The worst and most wasteful way of memorizing is to mechanically re-read the text while waiting for it to be memorized. Reasonable and economical memorization is active work on the text, which involves the use of a number of techniques for better memorization.
V.D. Shadrikov, for example, offers such methods of free or organized memorization:
Grouping - dividing the material into groups for some reason (by meaning, associations, etc.), highlighting pivotal points (theses, titles, questions, examples, etc., in this sense, making cheat sheets is useful for memorizing ), plan - a set of control points; classification - the distribution of any objects, phenomena, concepts into classes, groups based on common characteristics.
Structuring the material - establishing the mutual arrangement of the parts that make up the whole.
Schematization is a depiction or description of something in basic terms.
Analogy is the establishment of similarities, similarities between phenomena, objects, concepts, images.
Mnemic tricks are certain tricks or methods of memorization.
Transcoding - verbalization or pronunciation, presentation of information in a figurative form.
Completion of the memorized material, the introduction of new in memorization (the use of words or images-mediators, situational signs, etc. For example, M.Yu. Lermontov was born in 1814, died in 1841).
Associations establishing links by similarity, contiguity or opposition.
Reiteration deliberately controlled and notcontrolled processes of material reproduction. It is necessary to begin attempts to reproduce the text as early as possible, since internal activity mobilizes attention to the strongest extent and makes memorization successful. Memorization is carried out faster and is more durable when the repetitions do not immediately follow each other, but are separated by more or less significant intervals.
Playback- an essential component of memory. Reproduction can proceed on three levels: recognition, reproduction itself (voluntary and involuntary), recall (in conditions of partial forgetting, requiring volitional effort).
Recognition- the simplest form of reproduction. Recognition is the emergence of a sense of familiarity when you re-perceive something.
Unwittingly to these sad shores I am attracted by an unknown force.
Everything here reminds me of the past ...
A.S. Pushkin."Mermaid"
Playback- a more "blind" process, it is characterized by the fact that the images fixed in the memory arise without relying on the secondary perception of certain objects. It's easier to learn than to reproduce.
When unintended reproduction thoughts, words, etc. are remembered by themselves, without any conscious intention on our part. Inadvertent playback can be caused by associations. We say: "I remembered." Here thought follows association. When intentional reproduction we say: "I remember." Here, associations follow thought.
If reproduction is difficult, we are talking about recall.
Remembering- the most active reproduction, it is associated with tension and requires certain volitional efforts. The success of recalling depends on an understanding of the logical connection between the forgotten material and the rest of the material well preserved in memory. It is important to evoke a chain of associations that indirectly help to remember the necessary. K. D. Ushinsky gave this advice to teachers: do not impatiently prompt the student who is trying to recall the material, since the process of remembering is useful - what the child himself managed to recall will be remembered well in the future.
Recalling, a person uses various techniques:
1) deliberate use of associations - we reproduce in our memory all sorts of circumstances directly related to what needs to be remembered, counting on the fact that they, by association, will bring up the forgotten in the mind (for example, where did I put the key? do I iron when leaving the apartment? etc.);
2) reliance on recognition (they forgot the exact patronymic of a person - Petr Andreevich, Petr Alekseevich, Petr Antonovich - we think that if we accidentally get the correct patronymic, we immediately recognize it, having experienced a feeling of familiarity.
Recollection is a complex and very active process that requires persistence and resourcefulness.
The main of all the qualities that determine the productivity of memory is its readiness - the ability to quickly extract from the store of memorized information exactly what is needed at the moment. Psychologist K.K. Platonov paid attention to that. that there are l RODI, who know a lot, but all their baggage lies in the memory of a dead weight. When you need to remember something, the necessary is always forgotten, and the unnecessary “creeps into the head”. Others may have less baggage, but everything is at hand, and exactly what is needed is always reproduced in memory.
K.K. Platonov gave useful tips for memorization. You cannot first learn something at all, and then develop the readiness of memory. The readiness of memory itself is formed in the process of memorization, which must necessarily be meaningful and during which connections are immediately established between memorization and those cases when this information may be needed. Remembering something, you need to understand why we are doing this and in what cases this or that information may be needed.
Conservation and forgetting- these are two sides of a single process of long-term retention of perceived information. Preservation - this is a retention in memory, and forgetting - it is the disappearance, the disappearance from the memory of the memorized.
At different ages, in different life circumstances, in different types of activity, different material is forgotten, as it is remembered, in different ways. Forgetting isn't always a bad thing. How overloaded our memory would be if we remembered absolutely everything! Forgetting, like remembering, is an selective process that has its own laws.
Remembering, people willingly resurrect the good and forget the bad in their lives (for example, the memory of the campaign - the difficulties are forgotten, but everything that is funny and good is remembered). First of all, what is forgotten is that which is not of vital importance for a person, does not cause his interest, does not occupy an essential place in his activity. What excited us is remembered much better than what left us indifferent, indifferent.
Thanks to forgetting, a person makes room for new impressions and, freeing memory from a pile of unnecessary details, gives it a new opportunity to serve our thinking. This is well reflected in popular proverbs, for example: "Whoever needs someone, that is remembered."
In the late 1920s, forgetting was studied by German and Russian psychologists Kurt Lewin and B.V. Zeigarnik. They proved that interrupted actions are retained in memory more firmly than completed ones. An incomplete action leaves a subconscious tension in a person and it is difficult for him to concentrate on another. At the same time, simple monotonous work like knitting cannot be interrupted, it can only be abandoned. But when, for example, a person writes a letter and is interrupted in the middle, a disturbance of the tension system occurs, which does not allow forgetting this unfinished action. This pending action is called the Zeigarnik effect.
But forgetting, of course, is not always good, so they often struggle with it. One of the means of this struggle is repetition. Any knowledge that is not reinforced by repetition is gradually forgotten. But for better preservation, the very process of repetition must be varied.
Forgetting begins shortly after memorization, and at first it goes on at an especially fast pace. In the first 5 days, more is forgotten after memorizing than in the next 5 days. Therefore, you should repeat what you have learned not when it has already been forgotten, but while forgetting has not yet begun. To prevent forgetting, a cursory repetition is enough, and to restore forgotten, a lot of work is needed.
But this is not always the case. Experiments show that often reproduction is most complete not immediately after memorization, but after a day, two or even three days. During this time, the material learned is not only not forgotten, but, on the contrary, is fixed in memory. This is mainly observed when memorizing extensive material. This leads to a practical conclusion: you should not think that the best answer in the exam is what you learned just before the exam, for example, on the same morning.
More favorable conditions for reproduction are created when the learned material "lies down" for some time. It is necessary to take into account the fact that the subsequent activity, very similar to the previous one, can sometimes "erase" the results of previous memorization. This sometimes happens if you study literature after history.
Forgetting can be the result of various disordersmemory:
1) senile, when an elderly person remembers early childhood, but does not remember all the upcoming events,
2) with a concussion, the same phenomena are often observed as in old age,
3) split personality - after sleep, a person imagines himself to be different, forgets everything about himself.
It is often difficult for a person to remember something on purpose. To make memorization easier, people have come up with different methods, they are called memorization techniques or mnemonics. Here are some of them.
1. Reception of rhyme.Anyone remembers poetry better than prose. Therefore, it will be difficult to forget the rules of behavior on the escalator in the subway, if you present them in the form of a humorous quatrain:
Do not put walking sticks, umbrellas and suitcases on the steps, Do not lean on the railing, Stay on the right, pass on the left.
Or, for example, in Russian there are eleven exception verbs that are not easy to remember. And if you rhyme them?
See, hear and offend, Drive, endure and hate,
And twirl, watch, hold,
And depend and breathe
Look, -it, -at, -yat to write.
Or, in order not to confuse the bisector and the median in geometry:
A bisector is a rat that runs around corners and divides the angle in half.
The median is a monkey that jumps to the side and divides it equally.
Or, to memorize all the colors of the rainbow, remember the great sentence: "How once Jacques the bell ringer broke his lantern with his head." Here, each word and color begins with one letter - red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple.
2. A number of mnemonic techniques are used to memorize the dates of birth of famous people or significant events. For example, I.S. Turgenev was born in 1818 (18-18), A.S. Pushkin was born one year earlier than the 19th century (1799), M.Yu. Lermontov was born in 1814 and died in 1841 (14-41).
3. To remember what is the organ of daytime vision and what is the organ of night vision - rods or cones, you can remember the following: it is easier to walk with a rod at night, and work with cones in the laboratory during the day.
Memory qualities
What is good and bad memory?
Memory starts with memorizing the information that our senses receive from the outside world. All images, words, impressions in general must be retained, remain in our memory. In psychology, this process is called - preservation. When needed, we reproduce previously seen, heard, experienced. It is by reproduction that the quality of the entire memory apparatus is judged.
Good memory is the ability to memorize quickly and a lot, to reproduce accurately and on time.
However, one cannot attribute all the successes and failures of a person, his troubles and losses, discoveries and mistakes to memory alone. No wonder the French thinker F. La Rochefoucauld wittily remarked: "Everyone complains about their memory, but nobody complains about their mind."
So, the memory qualities:
1) speed of memorization. However, it acquires value only in conjunction with other qualities;
2) preservation strength;
3) memory accuracy -absence of distortions, omissions of the essential;
4) memory readiness - the ability to quickly extract from the memory reserves what is needed at the moment.
Not all people quickly remember the material, remember for a long time and accurately reproduce or remember exactly at the very moment when it is needed. Yes, and this manifests itself differently in relation to different materials, depending on the interests of a person, his profession, personal characteristics. Someone remembers faces well, but poorly remembers mathematical material, others have good musical memory, but poor for literary texts, etc. Schoolchildren and students often have poor memorization of material not on poor memory, but on poor attention, on lack of interest in this subject, etc.
Performance
One of the main manifestations of memory is reproduction of images.Images of objects and phenomena that we do not perceive at the moment are called representations.Representations arise as a result of the revitalization of previously formed temporary connections, they can be caused by the mechanism of associations, with the help of words, descriptions.
Views are different from concepts. The concept has a more generalized and abstract character, the presentation is of a visual character. A representation is an image of an object, a concept is a thought about an object. Thinking about something and imagining something are not the same thing. For example, a thousand-sided - there is a concept, but it is impossible to imagine. The source of ideas are sensations and perceptions - visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, kinesthetic.
Representations are characterized by clarity, i.e. direct similarity with the corresponding objects and phenomena (we internally or mentally “see”, “hear”, “smell”, “feel” touch, etc.).
Weight I see Pavlovsk hilly. Round meadow, lifeless water, The most languid and shady, After all, it will never be forgotten.
A. Akhmatova
But ideas are usually much poorer than perceptions. Representations never convey with the same brightness all the features and attributes of objects, only individual features are clearly reproduced.
Representations are very unstable and unstable. An exception is made by people who have highly developed ideas associated with their profession, for example, for musicians - auditory, for artists - visual, for tasters - olfactory, etc.
Representations are the result of processing and generalization of past perceptions. Without perceptions, ideas could not have developed: those born blind have no ideas about colors and colors, the deaf from birth have no sound ideas.
A representation is more accurately called a memory representation, since it is associated with the work of figurative memory. The difference between representations and perceptions is that representations provide a more generalized reflection of objects. In the representations, individual perceptions are generalized, the constant signs of things and phenomena are emphasized, and the random signs that were previously available in individual perceptions are omitted. For example, we see the tree - the image of perception, the tree we imagine - the image is dimmer, more indefinite and inaccurate.
A representation is a generalized reflection of the surrounding world. We say "river" and imagine it: two banks, flowing water. We saw many different rivers, the presentation reflects visual signs characteristic of objects and phenomena. We can only perceive a specific river - Volga, Moskva-river, Kama, Yenisei, Oka, etc., the image of perception is accurate.
To imagine is to mentally see or mentally hear something, not just know. Representation is a higher level of cognition than perception, they are the stage of transition from sensation to thought, it is a visual and at the same time generalized image, reflecting the characteristic features of an object.
We can imagine the whistle of a steamer, the taste of lemon, the smell of gasoline, perfume, flowers, touching something, or a toothache. Of course, someone who has never had a toothache cannot imagine it. Usually, when telling something, we ask: "Can you imagine ?!"
In the formation of general ideas, speech plays an important role, calling a number of objects in one word.
Representations are formed in the process of human activity, therefore, depending on the profession, one type of representations develops predominantly. But the division of representations by type is very arbitrary.