Study of Psychology: Understanding Mental Images, Concepts, and Schemas
Task B
How can memory be improved by use of mental images, concepts and schemas (which help organise thinking)?
Within this essay I am going to try and explain the defining roles of mental images, concepts and schemas. These processes are the ways in which our minds interpret information in order for us to understand, use and convey in our everyday life to aid and organise our way of thinking.
The role of a mental image is to provide our memory with an almost visual aide to prompt our thoughts, to create a snapshot of information. This snapshot of information is better absorbed as pictures or images rather than words. With a mental image we tend to place it in a more familiar area or situation that we know. The stranger the images are that we associate to words, the easier this makes it for our minds to recall. (1.1) Take for example the study carried out by Michael Raugh and Richard Atkinson in 1975. They carried out an experiment that saw the use of a key word technique, The key word technique is a way in which the individual should try to think of an English word that sounds like the Spanish equivalent. This technique required the help of two groups of people that were asked to memorise a list of 60 Spanish words. Of the two groups the first group that used the key word technique scored an average of 88 per cent where as the groups that did not use the technique scored 28 per cent. Therefore the use of the technique provides the prompts in which our memory can recall the Spanish words.
Secondly, I would like to focus on concepts. Concepts are a way of processing information into certain categories. The process in which we do this is known as concept formation. A formation of concepts is a way in which a group of things share a similar likeness to each other. As an example, I would like to focus on the experiment that was carried out by Weston Bousfield (1953). (1.2) Mr Bousfield gathered together a group of people and presented them with sixty words,
How can memory be improved by use of mental images, concepts and schemas (which help organise thinking)?
Within this essay I am going to try and explain the defining roles of mental images, concepts and schemas. These processes are the ways in which our minds interpret information in order for us to understand, use and convey in our everyday life to aid and organise our way of thinking.
The role of a mental image is to provide our memory with an almost visual aide to prompt our thoughts, to create a snapshot of information. This snapshot of information is better absorbed as pictures or images rather than words. With a mental image we tend to place it in a more familiar area or situation that we know. The stranger the images are that we associate to words, the easier this makes it for our minds to recall. (1.1) Take for example the study carried out by Michael Raugh and Richard Atkinson in 1975. They carried out an experiment that saw the use of a key word technique, The key word technique is a way in which the individual should try to think of an English word that sounds like the Spanish equivalent. This technique required the help of two groups of people that were asked to memorise a list of 60 Spanish words. Of the two groups the first group that used the key word technique scored an average of 88 per cent where as the groups that did not use the technique scored 28 per cent. Therefore the use of the technique provides the prompts in which our memory can recall the Spanish words.
Secondly, I would like to focus on concepts. Concepts are a way of processing information into certain categories. The process in which we do this is known as concept formation. A formation of concepts is a way in which a group of things share a similar likeness to each other. As an example, I would like to focus on the experiment that was carried out by Weston Bousfield (1953). (1.2) Mr Bousfield gathered together a group of people and presented them with sixty words,
References: 1.1 Starting with psychology course manual, Chapter 3.2 page 45 - Study performed by Michael Raugh & Richard Atkinson (1975). 1.2 Starting with psychology course manual, Chapter 3.2 page 53 - Experiment carried out by Weston Bousfield (1953). 1.3 Starting with psychology course manual, Chapter 3.3 page 60 - Experiment carried out by Elizabeth Loftus (1974, 1975).