Y183 Tma01 - 1122 Words

There are various ways in which we can organise our thinking. These can be helpful when we are trying to improve our memory or when trying to recall things from the past. The three ways I am about to explain are all similar in the way we organise our thinking, and can be a powerful aid to our memory. Each point is backed up with evidence to support this. One of the ways we organise our thinking is by using mental images. By forming a mental image, we are thinking about something by constructing a mental picture of it in our mind. There are various ways of constructing mental images which can lead to better recall when trying to remember things. The mental image will give us a cue when we come to recalling the information. We will have†¦show more content†¦For example, if you were to think of the word ‘hospital’, your schema would include a list of everything you associate with a hospital. For example, hospital beds, the smell of cleaning fluids, ambulance sirens, doctors and nurses, etc. Schemas can help provide a cue to prompt our memory when coming to recalling information. We will have stored the information in a specific category so that it can be recalled more easily. One example of this is shown in an experiment carried out by John Bransford and Marcia Johnson (1972). Participants were read a passage which described in detail the process of washing clothes, however they were not told that the title was ‘washing clothes’. Many of the participants found that they had difficulty in understanding the passage and were unable to recall the details. However once the participants were given the title to the passage, this provided the schema which helped them to recall the information more easily. Although schemas are an efficient way of helping us to organise our thinking by providing a cue when recalling information, they can also distort our recall and lead us astray. Evidence to prove this was carried out in a study by William Brewer (1981) to prove the distorting effects of schemas on memory. The participants were taken into an office and asked to wait for 35 seconds. They were then taken into another room and asked to recall the contents thatShow MoreRelatedY183 Tma011258 Words   |  6 PagesModule: Y183 – Assignment: TMA01 Task 1 How can the way in which we organise our thinking by using mental images, concepts and schemas help us improve our memory? Part A Sketch out a plan for an essay to answer the above question. Introduction: - what is the task? - how do I plan to address it? - split into 3 areas - definition of each - evidence of each Mental images: - definition - what they can be used for