Chapter 4 Encoding

I remember studying for vocabulary tests as a kid. I would have my list of vocab words, I would read them over and over again, then I would give it to my mom, and she would quiz me on them. She would quiz me until I spelled and defined the words correctly. When we did this bit of rehearsal encoding, it worked well enough for me to pass with good marks. I don't really think my parents or teachers tried to teach us any encoding strategies. Well, let me take that back: encoding tricks that didn't involve songs. It wasn't until middle school, when the concepts became more abstract and difficult to remember, that encoding tricks became prevalent. The one that stands out the most in my mind was ROYGBIV: the mnemonic for the colors in the spectrum.

Today, I really don't use encoding strategies as a matter of practice. If I do, it's the Method of Loci: I locate ideas/numbers/names spatially. For example, the grocery list that we had Dr. Lavele memorize, I can somewhat recall due to where the items were on the list. There were two columns of five items, and on top of the second column were condoms and dill. On the first row on the bottom, we listed beer. The middle right we listed celery, and middle left was tampons. Granted, since I'm writing this way after the fact, and as a class, we have gone over this twice (and dill was my suggestion): so, there's some circumstances here that might not support my claim. But I really do think I'm a spatial encoder. Next weekend, I'm going to Chicago to referee a robotics competition. I've been to Chicago several times, and as for any place I've visited, I can find my way around rather easily because I'm constantly making a little map in my head. The first thing I do when I land in a new place: I figure out where North is. With this bit of information, I'm able to orient myself and not worry about getting lost (I actually enjoy the challenge of getting lost!). When I take tests, I recall information from books by remembering where it was in the book and its location on the page. If I wanted to augment this ability, I would need to practice placing information chunks in a more abstract spaces: houses seem popular...I think I might use a computer as I'm just "at home" working with them. Especially if I want to encode Cognitive Psych information: a computer metaphor/encoding model, would be perfect!

Other methods that I might want to try is the peg method: I found myself reciting "pegs" just now after I thought about recalling our class grocery list. The link method is very visual: I could see myself using mental images to remember a list of objects interacting with each other. But when all is said and done, it comes down to effort: am I willing to put in the practice to enhance my encoding abilities?