How can memory be improved by use of mental images, concepts and schemas which help to organise thinking?

Memory is part of the brains function and can be separated in to three different types. Iconic thought is when the brain and memory uses images to aid recall; semantic memory is the most common type of memory and it uses words for recall and finally there is the episodic memory which uses events for recall. Memory strategies can be used by the brain to aid and improve recall; three such strategies are mental images, concepts and schemas which will be examined in further detail, with supporting evidence, below.

What are mental images?

Firstly to consider that mental images are created by thinking of a specific object in relation to text as our brains are more receptive to this rather than trying to remember text. This is a nice opening sentence. I would suggest that this is all one paragraph and you will see I have used // to show this otherwise you have one sentence paragraphs – remember, one idea, one paragraph// When our thoughts are processed and we think of an object, for example if you think about your favourite holiday you will remember how beautiful the beach is and how blue the water appears.//Our brains have to put more effort into remembering images which means that it’s it is easier to relate to than text. If the image is in colour our brains are more responsive than black and white. //Michael Raugh and Richard Atkinson (1975, cited in Spoors et al, 2011) carried out an experiment to see how many Spanish words would be remembered by one group using key words and the other group not using keywords, this was called the keyword technique which…. The outcome of this experiment was an average of 88 per cent of individuals that use the keywords and 28 per cent that did not use the key words. Spoors, P., Dyer, E.W., Finlay, L. and Marsh, G. (2011) Starting with psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University.  // The above is a simple experiment of what our memory can remember when using key words to relate images to text. As you can see from the results it is significally higher when using key words than not using key words which helps our memory to improve and evolve thus showing that mental images can improve memory because they act as cues to recalling a word or image. I like the way you have tried to sum up here how the evidence answers the question. Remember to use the language of the question in your answers as this can really spell out to the reader how you are answering the question LO4

What is a Concept?  

Second concepts are mental categories which can be an object or event that relates to your understanding in order to process our thoughts to increase our memory.//

When we understand a concept it is how you use the specific item or event in relation to what categories your brain put it in. If you are asked to remember a list of words and you cant can not remember them all you may remember what category the item falls into rather than the specific item.//For example an experiment was carried out by Weston Bousfield (1953, cited in Spoors et al, 2011) where individuals were asked to learn words that were put into four separate categories. The words were mixed and the individuals seemed to remember the categories the words rather than the actual words. For example, chair, desk, filing cabinet fell into the office category. In addition the individuals were able to remember more words when the category was given. Spoors, P., Dyer, E.W., Finlay, L. and Marsh, G. (2011) Starting with psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University. //The experiment that was carried out clearly indentifies that we relate more to categories rather than individual words as this is how our brain organises these thoughts and thus concepts can help improve memory as they act as a prompt to recall.

What is a Schema?

Finally schemas are a very important part of our memory as this organises our thoughts which links to our behaviour. When new things happen old schemas are replaced. //Our memory has a large amount of information including how we think about schemas. This helps us to relate to everyday tasks. Schemas are like a mental filing system //John Bransford and Marcia Johnson (1972 cited in Spoors et al, 2011) carried out experiments which highlighted the role of schemas which included our understanding and recalling of information. Some individuals were given a document with a title and without a title as the title prompts what needs to be included in the document. The title provides what the schema will involve which means you can relate to it. Spoors, P., Dyer, E.W., Finlay, L. and Marsh, G. (2011) Starting with psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University. //The experiment carried out has highlighted that having a title on a document and not having a title means we know what is required within the document and it will flow very well compared to not knowing what the document is about and having to read between the lines.  It prompts our brain to think what it relates to thus showing that schemas…..

In conclusion to my findings above it is clear that there are various ways? memories which include how we process information and how different methods can be used. Our brain is a powerful organ which stores a huge amount of information, memories, feelings, emotions and life events.// Different people react in different ways which is what makes us unique and our brains have evolved as time has evolved. //There are various courses of action that can be taken to improve our memory as  

Michael Raugh and Richard Atkinson (1975) have confirmed in their experiment. This is a clear section which is your conclusion LO6 however a conclusion should be a summing up of what you have talked about in your main body. For example, In conclusion it can be said that mental images help improve memory by acting as a cue for recall as the images helps the word to fix in the memory. Concepts are a prompt for recall as one item prompts recall of other items in the same category etc

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Reference

Spoors, P., Dyer, E.W., Finlay, L. and Marsh, G. (2011) Starting with Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University

Please do remember to include everything you are asked to from the AB as these two bits make up LO7 and can make a LO vey easy to just achieve or achieve on by including them ☺