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COTESOL, Denver November 9, 1996

The Making of Memories
ThGmas Scovel
San Francisco State University

THE NATURE AND DIVERSITY OF i'.1EIv10RY

1) We remember to blink! to walk upright, but fo·rget to turn off the lights.
reflexes, i'instincts/' and learned behavior
2)This isn't anything like the pumpkin pie that llAom used to make.
perceptual, affective, an.d cognitive memories
3)OK, quick? 'What's the fifth digit after the decimal point of "pi"?
human, cultural, and individual consb:aints and capacities
4)"Do you remember me?" the student asked his famous professor.
recognition, recall, and the IIHp of the tongue" phenomenon
5) How 24 eyewitnesses couldn't remember the color of the man's hat.
amnesia (childhood & othed, tU'l.reHable eyewitnesses, & poor recall
6) What was the second one again?
primacy, recency, and "bathtub" effects
7) Where were you and what were you doing the day Kennedy was shot?
declarative, procedural, and episodic memorie&
8) I'll never forget good old whaCs his name.
forgetting, working memory (STM), and long-term memory UJT1\1)
9) Can anybody tell me what day of the -rveek Christl'nas will fall on in 2017?
autistic savants, mnemonists, and memorists
10) My body is the uterus and my arms are the fallopian tubes!
external memory aids} ltmethod of lod/' and meta-memory

MEMORY, LEARNING, AND TEACHING

1) Attention plays a vital role in memory;; it must be first disen~ctge,~:Lthen
shifted. and finally re-gngaged. Mernory depends on our focal attention.
2) It is useful to introduce learners to alternative learning styles (e.g. field
dependent vs. field independent activities) and learning strategies (e.g.
using the native language for key word mnemonics)
3) Since recognition is far less demanding than recan, in teaching and in
testing, it helps to begin with the former and then go on to the latter.
4) Much of language learning is procedural memory: remembering b.QW to
is much more helpful than remembering what (declarative knowledge).
5) Memory is greatly enhanced by contextualization, and this is why episodic
knowledge is usually retained the longest. We learn best through stories j

not through structure.

Barsalou, Lawrence. 1992. Cognitive psyd1\)logy.HiBsdale, NJ: LEA.

Casey, Mannheim & Rumsey. 1993. Dysfunctional attention in autistic
savants. JOUlnal of Clinical & Experimental Neuropsychology. 15:933-946.
Neisser, Ulric. 1982. !v1emory observed. New York:\N,H. Freeman & Co.
Stevick, Earl. 1996. :rvlemory, meaning & I?ethod, Boston: Heinle & Heinle.