How Can the Way We Organise Our Thinking by Using Mental Images, Concepts and Schemas Improve Our Memory?
This assignment will be based on theories of thinking. The area I want to concentrate on is thought organisation and its different forms which can aid our memory.
I am going to cover three ways of organising information, which are: using mental images, forming concepts and developing schemas. I will describe each of them individually, starting with short definition, fallowed by an explanation of how can we use them to improve recall. Finally I will refer to experiments to endorse the claim. Before I will go onto analysing ways we organise our thoughts I roughly describe the way we think.
As we read in Spoors et al. (2010), psychologists distinguish three ways of thinking: • Semantic thinking (thinking in words) • Iconic thinking (based on mental images-thinking in pictures) • Enactive thought (based on impression of actions)
Adults use mainly semantic thinking, thinking in words. Nevertheless evidence shows that using iconic as well as semantic thinking can improve our memory. In other words, supporting our thinking in words by creating mental images of the information we acquire can help us to memorise it. Using mental images is the first method of organising information I want to concentrate on.
By mental images we understand mental representation of physical objects or events.
There were numerous experiments carried out to research how mental images can lead to better recall. As we read in Spoors et al. (2010) it has been established that mental images provide an additional cue which aids the recollection. Researchers noticed that imagining big, colourful or unusual objects works best as human brain tent to retain uncommon and unique ideas rather than typical. Also, the effort we make to create the image helps to establish it in our memory.
Spoors et al. (2010) give us an example of how creating mental images can be used in practice. Authors refer to key word technique, as a method which can be successfully used in learning a
I am going to cover three ways of organising information, which are: using mental images, forming concepts and developing schemas. I will describe each of them individually, starting with short definition, fallowed by an explanation of how can we use them to improve recall. Finally I will refer to experiments to endorse the claim. Before I will go onto analysing ways we organise our thoughts I roughly describe the way we think.
As we read in Spoors et al. (2010), psychologists distinguish three ways of thinking: • Semantic thinking (thinking in words) • Iconic thinking (based on mental images-thinking in pictures) • Enactive thought (based on impression of actions)
Adults use mainly semantic thinking, thinking in words. Nevertheless evidence shows that using iconic as well as semantic thinking can improve our memory. In other words, supporting our thinking in words by creating mental images of the information we acquire can help us to memorise it. Using mental images is the first method of organising information I want to concentrate on.
By mental images we understand mental representation of physical objects or events.
There were numerous experiments carried out to research how mental images can lead to better recall. As we read in Spoors et al. (2010) it has been established that mental images provide an additional cue which aids the recollection. Researchers noticed that imagining big, colourful or unusual objects works best as human brain tent to retain uncommon and unique ideas rather than typical. Also, the effort we make to create the image helps to establish it in our memory.
Spoors et al. (2010) give us an example of how creating mental images can be used in practice. Authors refer to key word technique, as a method which can be successfully used in learning a
References: Spoors, P., Dyer, E.W. and Finlay, L. (2010) Starting with psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University