Despite some popular opinion to the contrary, memory is critical to learning in school, including tutoring. But its importance is downplayed often in favour of things such as deep understanding and critical thinking.
Of course, you should want to develop a deep understanding of the material you are learning. But, deep understanding relies on memory. And as my next article points out, thinking is also central to learning. But thinking also relies on memory.
The problem is that many of us misunderstand the role of memory, how our memory works and its role in learning. In this article, I explain:
How your memory works
2 Types of Memory
Working Memory
Your working memory is where you briefly store information so that you can think about it. This includes:
- New information enters your working memory from your senses (e.g., something you heard).
- Information you recall from your long-term memory.
But your working memory can only hold a small amount of information at once.
Long-Term Memory
You store information in your long-term memory. This includes things you learn at school and beyond and memories of events.
You store these memories for a very long time, sometimes for life. But, the exact amount of time can vary from one memory to the next.
To date, researchers have not found a limit on how much information your long-term memory can store.
What You Know Determines What You Learn
Did you know what you already know determines what you learn?
This is because when you take in new information, you use what you already understand to make sense of it.
Put another way, your working memory:
- Takes in new information
- Retrieves related information from your long-term memory
- Connects the two to make sense of the new information
Example 1 – Labradors
Here is a brief example. I’ll tell you some information that is new to most people. Labradors almost went extinct.
After reading this, you pull related information from long-term memory
Labradors are a type of dog
Extinct means died out
Almost means not quite
You think about and connect all this information in your working memory to better understand what you just read.
If you knew what labradors were and what almost meant but didn’t know what extinct meant, you would not get the same understanding from this new information as someone who did.
Example 2 – Australia & the Moon
New information (for most people): Australia is wider than the moon.
After reading this, you pull related information from long-term memory about
Australia, and what the continent looks like
The Moon, what it is and a mental image
Width, in relation to both Australia and the Moon
You think about and connect all this information in your working memory to better understand what you just read
Example 3 – Lack of Knowledge in Long-Term Memory
New information (for most people): Correlational research shows that an increase in ice-cream sales predicts an increase in murders.
After reading this, you pull related information from long-term memory about
Research – what it is
Ice-ream sales
Murder rates
You think about and connect all this information in your working memory to better understand what you just read
But for most people, it doesn’t make sense and doesn’t ring true. This is likely because you have no knowledge of correlational research in your long-term memory.
Correlational research shows that two things are related, but not that one causes the other. So, the fact that correlational research shows that an increase in ice-cream sales predicts an increase in murders does not show that increased ice-cream sales cause more murders.
A plausible explanation could be that ice-cream sales increase due to temperature increases. Hotter temperatures could lead to increases in anger, which in turn could lead to more murders.
But the point is that if you didn’t understand correlational research in your long-term memory, you would struggle to deeply understand the new information in this example.
Working Memory Overload
Your working memory can only handle so much new information and thinking at any time. Too much and it becomes overloaded.
When your working memory is overloaded, it hinders thinking and, therefore, learning. It can even prevent it altogether.
But your capacity to draw on information from long-term memory is almost limitless.
Example 1 – Multiplication
Imagine you’re learning how to do 3-digit x 2-digit multiplication, for example, 572 x 38. Your teacher shows you the steps, but you do not know your times tables.
When you go to do the practice questions your teacher set you, your working memory gets overloaded trying to work out each times table needed. Therefore, there is little or no space left to remember the steps your teacher told you.
Example 2 – Analysing Data
Imagine you were in Year 11 and had an assignment that involved analysing and reporting on a set of data. For example, the temperature in your location 10 years ago compared to now.
You go and find this new information yourself. But you cannot make sense of it or complete the assignment independently unless you understand:
- What type of data it is (continuous numerical)
- What measures of central tendency you could and should use (the mean unless there are outliers, then the median)
- What outliers are and how to identify them
- How to calculate the mean or median (e.g., using a function in Excel)
- How to measure and show spread (standard deviation and histogram if you used the mean) (five-number summary and box plot if you used the median)
- How to write a report and where to put the data (numbers and graphs) within it
Trying to learn all these things while doing the assignment will likely overload your working memory.
Long-Term Memory Isn’t Just Isolated Facts
Your memory doesn’t just store isolated facts and bits of information. Rather, it connects them in organised and meaningful ways that psychologists call schemas.
In isolation, bits of information are just bits of knowledge. However, the schemas in your long-term memory reflect your understanding of a concept or topic.
Example 1
Here is a simple example of a schema you may hold about our solar system.
Example 2
But, as Piaget pointed out, we always add to and improve our schemas as we learn. So, your schema may look like this after you have done a unit on our solar system.
Learning Can Be Seen as a Change in Long-Term Memory
This is a provocative claim made by renowned cognitive psychologist John Sweller.
A slightly modified but more accurate claim is that learning is a positive change in long-term memory.
While this is a true description of learning, it is not a complete one or even the only definition. But it will help you understand another way memory is linked to learning.
Let me explain.
The Long Grass Analogy
Imagine you are at the edge of a field of long grass. You walk through it to the other side, and your path is marked by slightly trampled grass.
If you repeatedly walk the same path, the trace you leave behind becomes clearer and easier to follow each time.
Thinking about new information is like walking through long grass as you make a pathway. More specially, you make a neural pathway (memory trace) in your long-term memory.
You strengthen the memory trace or neural pathway whenever you think hard about the new information. When your working memory fetches information from your long-term memory, it is far quicker and easier when it follows a strong neural pathway.
The Mind & Learning in a Nutshell
- Learning: Your working memory takes in new information and considers how it connects to related information in your long-term memory to understand what the new information means. Put another way, what you know determines what you learn (understand).
- Not Learning: When your working memory receives too much new information and cannot draw on enough related information from long-term memory, it becomes overloaded. Working memory overload hinders and can even prevent learning.
- Deep Understanding: Your long-term memory does not just store isolated bits of information. Rather it organises and connects these bits of information into schema. Deep understanding comes from adding and improving the schema in your long-term memory.
- Learning: Given points 1-3, one way to describe learning is that learning is a positive change in long-term memory.
