Y183 Tma01

Module: 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 – examples

- studies / evidence

Concepts:

- definition

- uses

- examples

- studies / evidence

Schemas:

- definition

- uses

- examples

- studies / evidence

Conclusion:

- summarise main points

- memory aids

References

Part B

Write an essay of approximately 1000 words.

In this essay I plan to explain how our memory can be improved by organising our thinking with the aid of mental images, concepts and schemas. I will do this by defining each term and giving examples and evidence for each.

Firstly I will look at mental imagery, which is a tool used to help us visualise information which is written or spoken, so that when we come to recall it we can picture it. Mental images are an aid to memory and have been shown to work best because of the effort that has been put in to making those images in the first place. As an example, the human brain is capable of storing a vast number of different images at one time, so if asked to recall the items in your living room, it can remember the images in different areas. The more bizarre or odd the image we attach to something, the easier it is thought to be to remember it.

There have been a number of experiments used to evidence this. Spoors et al (2007) give the example of a method of learning the French word ‘poubelle’, meaning ‘bin’ in English, by making a

References: Spoors, P., Dyer, E.W. and Finlay, L. (2011) Starting With Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Task 2 Write no more than 150 words in total for this task. What did you find easiest and what did you find most difficult about doing this assignment? Why was this? I found it quite easy to plan what I wanted to include in my essay generally, but it was more difficult to narrow it down to the most appropriate extracts from the book to give the best examples. I also enjoyed trying to think of my own examples, but did not find this easy. What could you do to make the difficult area easier in the future? I think it should get easier with practice as I work through the course. I need to ensure I have plenty of time to tackle this as if I get distracted it’s harder to go back to where I was. (Word count: 94)