Transcriber: Valentina Cigarini Reviewer: David DeRuwe
I always found memorizing school materials to be difficult,
whether it’s kinematics equations for a physics class,
or molecular shapes for a chemistry class,
and some of my friends have the same problem.
During COVID 19, this situation was amplified because of online school.
Most teachers allow open-book evaluations,
so there was no need to memorize the materials.
Also, there always seems to be something
more fun to do than memorizing equations or definitions.
For example, scrolling through social media.
The lack of focus, combined with all of the distractions,
caused my memorization skill to worsen
and made me think that it was just not my thing.
At least that’s what I thought.
However, everything changed after chatting with my friend
over Instagram about a video game called “League of Legends.”
Out of boredom, we challenged ourselves to list out all 157 champions
and their abilities in the game.
Surprisingly, we wrote down around 100 of them from memory.
This made me think that:
“Why can I memorize so much information about a video game
but not about school materials?”
For the record, there were only about 13 molecular shapes
that I had to memorize for my chemistry class.
So, I did some research on memory
and then compared my approaches to memorizing different things.
It turns out that I always possessed
the ability to memorize school materials just as well as video games.
So the process of storing memories
can be compared to how a computer operates:
First, you need to insert the information into the brain.
This process is called “encoding,”
and it can be compared to entering words onto a document.
Then, you need to retain the information.
In other words, you must find a method to store it permanently.
This step is like pressing the Save button on a computer to save the Word document.
Lastly, you must be able to use the information later.
This step is also known as “retrieving,”
and it can be compared to accessing saved Word documents on a computer.
So no matter what kind of things you want to remember,
the memory formation step is always the same.
So this can only mean one thing:
while playing video games, I did something that I wasn’t doing while studying.
So, what are they?
First, I want to talk about the things I did differently in the encoding step.
To encode any memory,
you need to do so effortfully and with a clear intention.
A common example of failed encoding
would be when asked to draw the face of a penny.
Although we saw pennies often in the past, we still can’t draw them
because we did not focus on encoding what the face actually looked like.
We just saw them, but we didn’t actually try to memorize them.
While playing a video game,
I’m always focused and put a lot of effort into understanding how the game operates.
For example, I ask questions such as: Is my opponent’s ability ready?
Will the enemy team try to attack me together?
However, while studying, I was not as focused.
I was concerned with concepts or ideas that do not require much thinking,
for example, memorizing terms and their definitions.
In psychology, this is known as shallow processing vs. deep processing.
The latter makes memorization more effective.
Instead of just remembering terms and definitions,
I should focus on how and ask questions, such as:
How are these terms used in the context of this chapter?
Many other techniques are also helpful for effective encoding.
I use “chunking” while playing video games.
For example, I “chunk” video game characters into groups
based on their roles in the game.
But for school, I just reread the entire chapter over and over,
hoping that I could somehow absorb all the material through pure repetition.
So speaking of repetitions,
while they are beneficial to some degree, it’s important that you use them properly.
Studies show spacing learning sessions out can improve memory formation greatly.
This is also known as the “spacing effect.”
Unfortunately, although I space out my gaming sessions throughout the week,
I frequently cram my studying sessions into the day before the evaluations.
So by unintentionally using
all these techniques to encode video game knowledge,
I undoubtedly can memorize champions
from “League of Legends” better than chemistry shapes.
The next step in the memory formation process
is storing these memories, and I also did things differently in this step.
The type of memory required for schoolwork is called “semantic memory.”
They are facts or general knowledge.
So these memories are stored as short-term memories in our hippocampus
and memory consolidation is required
to process that information into long-term ones.
Fortunately, research shows that one of the best ways
to consolidate memory is just by sleeping.
So by staying up late to play video games every night,
I unintentionally experienced
less sleep-induced memory consolidation for my school material.
However, this did not affect my videogame memory
because my gaming sessions are spaced out compared to my study sessions.
This means I still experience more
sleep-induced memory consolidation for video games over time.
So, retrieving is the last step of the memory formation process.
Here, I also make countless mistakes when studying.
For this step, practice is the key.
I need to practice recalling this information.
While playing video games, I frequently recall my gaming knowledge,
but for chemistry ... not nearly as often.
Also, I neglected the context-dependent nature
of memory retrieval while studying.
I always play games in the same room, therefore, my video-game-related memories
will be retrieved under the same conditions.
However, I failed to consider this
while studying for tests, especially during COVID times.
I should try to sometimes wear a mask while studying
to better prepare myself for the conditions of school,
where I will be retrieving information to complete assessments.
So from this experience, I learned that when it comes to memory,
there’s no such thing as being able to memorize something better than others,
if you follow the memory formation steps properly:
First, make sure you focus on information you’re trying to memorize
and make meaningful reflections when encoding them.
Tricks that you could use are chunking information
into logical grooves and spacing out your learning.
Second, get tons of sleep for more sleep-induced memory consolidation.
Remember, it’s always better to study until 10 p.m. for a week
and go to bed earlier than pulling an all-nighter the day before the exam.
Lastly, be sure to practice retrieving your memorized information
to be comfortable with retrieving them under any conditions.
People often think that they are naturally good at something
but bad at others, as I did for memory.
However, more often than not, that is not the case.
So, I hope you learned some handy memory tips.
Thank you very much.