Use of Memory Cards to Gain Photographic Memory
Allyn Erickson, Director from the Freshman Year Experience at a significant northwestern university, reports, “The majority of freshmen battle in their general education classes, because they cannot study and comprehend their books. They especially can’t remember textbook information, and they struggle to connect with information they garner from professors’ lectures.” Therefore, Erickson teaches students to develop not their reading abilities but their memory abilities, empowering them to connect, retain, and recall important information from their classes. According to Erickson, college students who aggressively cultivate their so-called photographic memory outperform their less aggressive classmates by two full grades—“B-plus averages versus D-plus averages,” Erickson says.
Always taking pictures—“Your brain isn’t truly wired for retaining abstractions,” Erickson explains; “it does far better with concrete things—people, objects, texts.” Therefore, Erickson recommends that college students take mental images of professors’ notes on the chalkboard or recreate the info in their notes. “If the instructor enables it, take cell phone or digital images from the chalkboards at the end of class, utilizing them as organizers for your reviews,” she says.
Erickson also emphasizes students usually should review and elaborate lecture material immediately after class, pointing out, “Students lose approximately 95% of new learning within an hour following they hear it.” Erickson insists that college students must review correct away, suggesting that they ask and answer, “What did you understand these days? What else did you understand these days? And what else did you understand?” In her own classes, Erickson requires students to fill in the important details around the main ideas she writes on the chalkboard or presents in PowerPoint. “Always take images of classroom experiences,” Erickson repeats with emphasis.
Active engagement with your learning—“When you read text material, particularly should you read articles and books instead of traditional textbooks, you should get actively involved with your reading, because your brain naturally will blur it all together or dismiss it.” Erickson especially emphasizes, “You must instruct your brain about what matters, and you have to give it props or resources for retaining the most essential info. Naturally, the best tools and techniques combine both sight and sound—synaesthesia,” she says.
Treating extremely important texts, Erickson suggests that college students produce main concept maps, tracking and plotting the main concept in each paragraph. She discourages the use of highlighters and underlining, saying, “Students tend to underline too much, and also the colors obscure the text. If you must underline,” she stipulates, “underline one sentence per paragraph utilizing a red ball-point pen.”
Utilizing memory tools and techniques—“To support effective memorization, ‘graphic organizers’ make all the difference, simply because they help you visualize facts, details, data, vocabulary, and concepts,” Erickson stresses. She says that, “always taking pictures” includes creating images to organize info for recall on tests. Working with college students on academic probation, Erickson pioneered use of “mnemonics cards”—illustrated index cards that have pictures on one side, terminology and concepts on the other. Utilizing old tests, students identify material which professors inevitably will test, conceiving images to capture test items, and then creating catchy words and phrases for recalling the info. Professor Erickson’s information indicates that pupils who work with their mnemonics notes regularly score A’s; other students’ grades “decline in direct correlation with the time period they have invested in their cards.”
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