Your Memory by Kenneth L. Higbee Book Review

Available from:

amazon.co.uk | amazon.com

An odd mix of book styles this one. Not quite a textbook and not fully a techniques book, instead a crossover book, aimed at psychology students and laypeople alike.

Start by looking at and dispelling some myths, here are the first 7, of 10:

1. "Memory is a thing": no, think of it more as a system, a process of remembering. Not a specific location in the brain or a specific collection of cells.
2. "There is a secret to a good memory": no, many, often very old, techniques exist, no single technique applies to all commit/recall processes.
3. "There is an easy way to memorise": a skill takes time and practice to develop. You should consider 'Remembering' a skill and practice. When people look for an 'easy' way - we may discover that their inability to remember is related to their their inherent laziness around remembering.
4. "Some people as stuck with bad memories": barring a physiological condition, your ability to master the skills of memory will determine your ability to remember, more than any innate talent.
5. "Some people are blessed with photographic memories": The rarity of the "eidetic imagery" phenomenon, again means that your skills determine your, and most people's, ability to remember
6. "Some people are too old/young to improve their memories": children as young as 3 have learned techniques like the 'peg' system. Elderly people can learn and use memory techniques to improve their memory.
7. "Memory, like a muscle, benefits from exercise": Research evidence does not support this view. Your ability to use memory techniques, increases with practice.

The process of memory has 3 steps:

1. Aquisition
2. Storage
3. Recall

Mnemonics: "The 3 Rs of Remembering: Recording, Retaining, Retreiving". "The 3 Fs of not forgetting: Fixating, Filing, Finding"

Sometimes we cannot recall something because we did not 'record' it in the first place. Or we 'Filed' it in the wrong category. So 'How' we Aquire, and Store information determines successful Recall.

Memory processes have 2 main modes:

• Short Term Memory
• Long Term Memory

Short term memory seems limited to about 7-12 'chunks'.

One model of Long Term memory:

1. Procedural - how to do something
2. Semantic - factual info without a context (time, place)
3. Episodic - personal events e.g. where you were when something happened

To get something into Long Term memory it has to pass through Short term memory.

We then learn that memory measures relate to: Recall (aided, or free-recall), Recognition, Re-Learning. And have the implications of the "Tip of the tongue phenomenon".

So next an overview of how your memory might work? First we learn some theories as to why we might forget: Decay, Repression, Distortion, Interference, Cue dependency. There follows a general overview of visual (imagery process) and verbal process memory, eidetic imagery (the exemplar "S" in Luria's "Mind of a Mnemonist"), and sleep and subliminal learning .

Available from:

amazon.co.uk | amazon.com