Help Your Working-Memory Capacity (As posted in Improve Your Learning and Memory)

Working memory is arguably one of the most important theoretical concepts to take away from cognitive science.  Without it, we literally would not be able to learn anything.  Even those of us with “normal” working memory capacity are severely limited in that we can usually only hold around seven (plus or minus two) chunks of information at a time.  After that, these chunks either enter our long-term storage, or we forget about them completely – and it’s usually the latter.  For those of us who want to learn new material, whether it’s a foreign language, vocabulary words, or a biological system, the limited working memory capacity has serious implications.  And here at Brainscape, our goal is to improve your learning, including your working memory, always backing it up with the relevant research.  Thus, many of my blog posts center around memory enhancement, and this one is no exception.  I have decided to re-post the following post from the blog of Dr. Bill, “Memory Medic” because it contains a number of useful strategies for building on your working memory capacity.  Although the post appears to be directed towards teachers, I believe it is quite useful for the everyday learner as well. Enjoy!

“Help Your Working-memory Capacity”

By: Dr. Bill, “Memory Medic”

Saturday, May 31, 2008

I just read a fascinating book on increasing teacher awareness of the importance of working-memory capacity for teaching and learning strategies. Many youngsters have working memory limitations, and they usually do not grow out of them. This is a major and serious cause of low grades, poor learning skills, poor confidence, and life-long diminished motivation to learn.

Limited working-memory capacity impairs the ability to think and solve problems. I was told once by a middle-school teacher that her “special needs” students could do the same math as regular students, but they just can’t remember all the steps. This clearly reflects a limited working-memory capacity. If the demands made on working memory could be lessened, better thinking could result.

Certain strategies can help to reduce the load on working memory. Teachers should model and students should employ the following devices:

• Provide help, cues, mnemonics, reminders.

• KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!)(example: use short, simple sentences, present much of the instruction as pictures/diagrams).

• Don’t present so much information. Less can be more.

• Facilitate rehearsal, using only relevant information and no distractors.

• Get engaged, by taking notes, and creating diagrams and concept maps.

• Attach meaning from what is already known. (The more you know, the more you can know).

• Organize information in small categories.

• Break down tasks into small chunks. Master each chunk sequentially, one at a time.

Doing these things not only helps the thinking process, but will also promote the formation of lasting memories. The process of converting working memory into permanent form is called consolidation, and I will explain that next time.

Source:

Gathercole, Susan E., and Alloway, Tracy P. 2008. Working memory and learning. Sage Publications,. 124 pages.

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