One obvious application for our understanding of memory is in studying. The following recommendations have been derived from memory research (Hadad and Reed 2007). Try them to enhance your own memory on tests and examinations.
1 Find an environment for studying where distractions are minimal. This will increase your attention to important concepts.
2 After a lecture, review your notes, and consider rewriting them into condensed study notes. This will both increase your attention and serve as rehearsal. Reviewing will also help you to see relationships between concepts, thereby aiding in organization.
3 Organize material in your study notes to see how concepts relate to each other and to your already existing knowledge. This further elaboration of material will aid in retention and later retrieval of information.
4 When studying, ask yourself questions about the material. Try to imagine what questions might be asked on a test and answer them. This increases organization and facilitates retrieval.
5 When you need to study many different topics or subjects, study those that are most different closest in time (for example, study biology and French in the same evening, not French and Spanish). This will reduce interference.
6 Categorize information in your study notes (for example, ‘Types of memory’). This will reduce interference and increase the likelihood that information stored will be cued in questions on a test.
7 Use mnemonic techniques. These will help to elaborate on the topic, providing greater organization and a hook for memory.
8 Finally, get a good night’s sleep the night before a test, since memory is consolidated during sleep; sleep deprivation results in less recall of information (Huber 2007).