Page 212 - Keys to College Success

WHAT WILL STRENGTHEN
your memory?

All learning and performance depends on memory, because the information you
remember—concepts, facts, processes, formulas, and more—is the raw material with
which you think, write, create, build, and perform your day-to-day actions in school and
out. Memorization also forms a foundation for higher-level thinking, because you need to
recall and understand information before you can apply, analyze, synthesize, or evaluate it.

Understand the Brain Science of Memory Note Taking, Memory, and Studying
Memory refers to the way the brain stores and recalls information or experiences that
are acquired through the five senses. While you take in thousands of pieces of informa-
tion every second—everything from the shape and color of your chair to how your
history text describes Abraham Lincoln’s presidency—you remember few. Uncon-
sciously, your brain sorts through stimuli and stores only what it considers important.
Look at Key 7.5 as you read how the brain forms lasting memories:
1. Raw information, gathered through the five senses, reaches the brain (for example,
the tune of a song you’re learning in your jazz ensemble class).

KEY 7.5 Information processing model of memory.

LONG-TERM MEMORY
5
(PERMANENT MEMORY STORAGE)

4 REHEARSAL 6 RETRIEVAL

SHORT-TERM MEMORY
3 OR WORKING MEMORY

SENSORY REGISTERS
2 (SENSORY MEMORY)
1

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