Exploring exactly why some individuals' memory skills are better than others has led researchers in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis to study the brain basis of learning strategies that healthy young adults select to help them memorize a series of objects.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers uncovered brain regions specifically correlated with the diverse strategies that subjects adopt.
This study (and the entire topic of imagery + memory) is essential for graphic facilitators. As a practitioner in the visual learning arena, it is important to remember that each individual cobbles together their own strategy for collecting, internalizing and applying new information.
While earlier pilot studies had indicated that individuals use a variety of strategies to help them memorize new information, the following four strategies were the main strategies used by participants in this study, including:
- A visual inspection strategy in which participants carefully studied the visual appearance of objects.
- A verbal elaboration — or word-based strategy — in which individuals constructed sentences about the objects to remember them.
- A mental imagery strategy in which participants formed interactive mental images of the objects — similar to animated cartoons.
- A memory retrieval strategy in which they thought about the meaning of the objects and/or personal memories associated with the objects.
Read full article: Visual study, word play among most effective memory techniques
by Brenda Murphy-Niederkorn
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