Self-Generated Memory Cues: Effective Tools for Learning, Training, and Remembering

Tullis, Jonathan G.; Finley, Jason R.

doi:10.1177/2372732218788092

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…The method of passing cues to the next participant has been used widely when testing the effectiveness of simple cues (e.g., Zhang & Tullis, 2021) because it controls for the content of the cues and the mnemonics are identical across conditions. This novel comparison between self-generated and peer-generated conditions tests whether self-generated cues have special properties (i.e., distinctiveness and connections to idiosyncratic knowledge) and processes (i.e., generation) that uniquely support memory, as suggested by prior theory (Tullis & Finley, 2018).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Generating mnemonics boosts recall of chemistry information.

Tullis¹,

Qiu²

2022

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied

Self Cite

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Students frequently generate mnemonic cues to help them remember difficult or abstract information (Tullis & Maddox, Metacognition and Learning, 2020, 15, 129). Self-generated mnemonics have the potential to be particularly effective means of remembering target information because they can transform abstract information into meaningful units, connect information to existing schema, and create distinct retrieval routes to the targets. Across five experiments, we compared the effectiveness of self-generated mnemonics to mnemonics generated by others for remembering chemistry information. Generating one's own mnemonics consistently boosted recall for both the chemistry content and the mnemonic itself. However, experimentally boosting recall of mnemonics through retrieval practice did not affect recall of associated chemistry content. These results indicate that improved recall of chemistry content is not caused by better recall of the mnemonic itself; rather, generating a mnemonic involves deep and effortful processing of chemistry content that boosts recall more than reading someone else's mnemonic. Public Significance StatementCreating their own mnemonics can help students remember chemistry content and the mnemonic better than reading mnemonics generated by others. Generating mnemonics is an effective strategy to remember information because it prompts students to deeply process the material.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Generating mnemonics boosts recall of chemistry information.

Tullis¹,

Qiu²

2022

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied

Self Cite

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“…Memory cues are an effective tool for learning which can help students understand difficult concepts and improve long-term memory. − The pathways of carbohydrate metabolism were grouped together in Sweetieland. The name “Sweetieland” was used because the major biomolecule involved in carbohydrate metabolism is glucose, and glucose has a characteristically sweet taste.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a Bite-Sized Visual Interactive Study Aid for Carbohydrate Metabolism

Lee,

Ng,

Chen

2023

J. Chem. Educ.

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Studying biochemical pathways can be challenging. Frequently, students rely on rote memorization to memorize the steps in metabolic pathways instead of having a deeper understanding of their functions, the reactions involved, and the inter-relationship between different metabolic pathways. In our project, we developed various bite-sized e-learning modules to facilitate students’ learning of carbohydrate metabolism. These modules were presented using different methods, including animations, manga, and interactive exercises. Students spent less than 5 min completing each module to allow them to be more focused and engaged. Memory cues were used to improve students’ understanding of the chemical reactions involved and thus facilitated memorization. Additionally, the pathways of carbohydrate, protein, and nucleotide metabolism were grouped together in a metro map to facilitate knowledge integration. This representation enabled students to correlate pathways in carbohydrate metabolism to other metabolic pathways and to get an overview of how common metabolites were involved in multiple pathways.

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“…People generate reminders throughout their daily lives. People create to-do lists to remind them of their plans for the day, generate file names to remind them of the contents of the file, and take photos to remind them of specific experiences (see Tullis & Finley, 2018). In fact, in a survey about the types of reminders people generate, 100% of people reported putting items in a special place to remind them of something, 97% reported writing notes to themselves, 93% reported writing shopping lists, and 53% reported using a timer as reminders (Harris, 1980).…”

Section: Self-generated Remindersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal reminders: Self-generated reminders boost memory more than normatively related ones

Zhang

Tullis

2021

Mem Cogn

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People generate reminders in a variety of ways (e.g. putting items in special places or creating to-do lists) to support their memories. Successful remindings can result in retroactive facilitation of earlier information; in contrast, failures to remind can produce interference between memory for related information. Here, we compared the efficacy of different kinds of reminders, including participant's self-generated reminders, reminders created by prior participants, and normatively associated reminders. Self-generated reminders boosted memory for the earlier target words more than normatively associated reminders in recall tests. Reminders generated by others enhanced memory as much as self-generated reminders when we controlled output order during recall. The results suggest that self-generated reminders boost memory for earlier studied information because they distinctly point towards the target information.

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Self-Generated Memory Cues: Effective Tools for Learning, Training, and Remembering

Cited by 15 publications

References 68 publications

Generating mnemonics boosts recall of chemistry information.

Generating mnemonics boosts recall of chemistry information.

Development of a Bite-Sized Visual Interactive Study Aid for Carbohydrate Metabolism

Personal reminders: Self-generated reminders boost memory more than normatively related ones

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