Counselor talks on memory improvement
by Carol Vanpell
reporter

   “If you really learn something, you never forget it,” a South Campus counselor told students March 16.
   Annie Dobbins presented Improving Your Memory Helps Raise Your Grades, part of the College Student Success Seminars.
   “It is your retrieval system that you must improve,” she said.
   Although sodium penathol and hypnotic therapy can retrieve hidden memories, Dobbins said, the key is to find a way to retrieve information when needed (without drugs or therapy).
   Dobbins emphasized several proven techniques, including association, visualization, interest, repetition, flash cards, mnemonics, mind-mapping and written word.
   Because everyone is different, Dobbins said it is important for students to try different methods and decide which one works best for them.
   Association is one way to improve memory. Dobbins cited an example of how most people remember exactly what they were doing on the day President Kennedy was assassinated. Dobbins said she remembers every small detail about that day because of the association with the assassination.
   Another way is to visualize or create a picture in the mind.
   “Visualizing or making a mental image will increase the likelihood that we really learn something,” she said.
   Dobbins said mnemonics is another popular way to remember things. She used the phrase “fall back, spring forward” as an example of a mnemonic for remembering how to set a clock for daylight savings time.
   Dobbins also discussed the three types of memory: sensory, short-term and long-term. College students, she said, should strive to improve their long-term memory.
   Dobbins said a study conducted in a college classroom showed that students learned more when the material was presented by actors instead of professors. One possible explanation, she said, is that the actors’ personalities are more animated and engaging.
   “Good instructors make a difference in learning,” she said.
   If the instructor is interesting, Dobbins believes students will pay more attention to what is being said.
   “Students should choose their instructors carefully, based on their teaching style,” she said.
   Dobbins advised students to have a positive attitude and develop good study habits. The best way to learn and remember something, she said, is to take textbook notes and lecture notes and review the information while it is fresh.
   “When you write things down, you are more likely to remember it,” she said.
   The video, Memory Skills: Power Learning, was shown in the second part of the seminar to reinforce the information Dobbins presented.
   According to the video, “Memory is an ‘action’ not a thing,” and “an effective memory makes one memorable.”
   This video can be checked out from the NE library.
   Dobbins’ office is in SACT 1417A on South Campus.