Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of EducationOntario. Department of Education
Science
Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education
Ontario. Department of Education
Education; Educational psychology
In a complete example of memory the following factors may be noted:
1. The original presentation--as the first perception of an object or
scene, the reading of a new story, the hearing of a particular voice,
etc.
2. Retention--this involves the permanent changes wrought in the nervous
tissue as a result of the presentation or learning process and, as
mentioned above, is really physiological.
3. Recall--this implies the re-establishment of the nervous movements
involved in the original experiences and an accompanying revival of the
mental imagery.
4. Recognition--under this heading is included the sense of familiarity
experienced in consciousness, and the consequent belief that the present
experience actually occurred at some certain time as an element in our
past experience.
CONDITIONS OF MEMORY
=A. Physical Conditions.=--One of the first conditions for an effective
recollection of any particular experience will be, evidently, the
strength of the co-ordinations set up in the nervous system during the
learning process. The permanent changes brought about in the nervous
tissue as a result of conscious experience is often spoken of as the
physical basis of memory. The first consideration, therefore, relative
to the memorizing of knowledge is to decide the conditions favourable to
establishing such nervous paths during the learning process. First among
these may be mentioned the condition of the nervous tissue itself. As
already seen, the more plastic and active the condition of this tissue,
the more susceptible it is to receive and retain impressions. For this
reason anything studied when the body is tired and the mind exhausted is
not likely to be remembered. It is for the same reason, also, that
knowledge acquired in youth is much more likely to be remembered than
things learned late in life. The intensity and the clearness of the
presentation also cause it to make a stronger impression upon the system
and thus render its retention more permanent. This demands in turn that
attention should be strongly focused upon the presentations during any
learning process. By adding to the clearness and intensity of any
impressions, attention adds to the likelihood of their retention. The
evident cause of the scholar's ability to learn even relatively late in
life is the fact that he brings a much greater concentration of
attention to the process than is usually found in others. Repetition
also, since it tends to break down any resistance to the paths which are
being established in the nervous system during the learning process, is
a distinct aid to retention. For this reason any knowledge acquired
should be revived at intervals. This is especially true of the school
knowledge being acquired by young children, and their acquisitions must
be occasionally reviewed and used in various ways, if the knowledge is
to become a permanent possession. A special application of the law of
repetition may be noted in the fact that we remember better any topic
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