Dr Megan Sumeracki and Dr Althea Need Kaminske, both US-based psychologists, have published a book named “The Psychology of Memory”. The book explains how to strengthen memory using day-to-day tasks and complex learning processes along with real-life implications of understanding memory, for example – in a judicial context where memory plays a huge role and any false memory can affect the situation. The book is based on cognitive psychology research.
The book contains techniques of recollection-boosting for improving learning and remembering names and numbers effortlessly. According to the authors, memory is ‘more like a Wiki page’ rather than a recording device. It is editable according to the new information. They also highlighted forgetting is normal and it allows the brain to store more information. The book gives a clear idea about the types of memory, how they work and how alcohol, caffeine and lack of sleep can affect them. It also explains different memory systems and types like short and long-term memory.
There are myths that memory is just a collection of past events, the authors proved it to be false in their book. Memory helps to perform tasks in the future from past experiences. This type of memory is known as ‘event-based’ recall. Dr Sumeracki and Dr Kaminske put an example of “leaving a purse in the back seat of the car as a cue to remember to remove your child from their car seat before heading into work”.
Other techniques including ‘retrieval practice’, and the use of schema for organizing information are explained in the book with examples. The authors said about retrieval practice “Anyone who has studied knows that regular practice is essential. But to become an expert in a field of learning, people need to employ deliberate practice. The difference is that deliberate practice involves purposeful and deliberate attention whereas regular practice just involves repetition.”
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