according to research on memory when studying for a test

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The neuroscience of effective studying

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Dr. Todd Handy is a UBC professor in the Department of Psychology who specializes in cognitive neuroscience. He’s also the kind of prof you’d like to have a coffee with.

We discussed how the "savvy student," as he put it, can use neuroscience research to optimize their academic performance.

According to Dr. Handy, “Bringing neuroscience into learning has really expanded our understanding of study strategies and what the smart, effective student can do to bring their A-game to the academic experience.”

Read on for 4 strategies—based in neuroscience research—that can help you study smarter, not harder.

Strategy #1: Space it out, don’t do it all at once

Not only is leaving all your studying to the last minute something that can cause you to stress, it’s simply not a smart way to study.

In Dr. Handy’s words:

“The literature has shown that the brain is more effective at absorbing and retaining information if you have multiple, shorter study sessions than if you cram everything in all at once.”

Why is this helpful? Because of how the brain works:

“There is a thing called the consolidation process where the brain may be handling some of that information when you’re not thinking about it,” said Dr. Handy.

Allowing time and space for this consolidation process, also known as an incubation period, is vital. By reviewing the material regularly, you’re forcing yourself to recall the information, which helps you retain it.

Again, Dr. Handy:

“The real positive kick comes when you go back to it again. Now you have to call it back up again. That helps to solidify the information in your memory. It helps your brain better retain it."

So if you’re going to devote 3 hours to studying, the evidence suggests it is much better for you to have 3 separate, 1-hour study sessions than it is to have a single 3-hour session.

Strategy #2: Test yourself in the same way you will be tested on the exam

When you take a traditional exam, what you’re basically doing is calling up all this information from memory. Study methods that replicate that experience can help you perform better.

“If you have an exam that's just going to ask you a bunch of questions, it's helpful to study by practicing answering those questions,” said Dr. Handy.

That's why using flashcards can be a really effective way of studying. You are not only reviewing the material but you are essentially creating the conditions under which you will be tested.

“Not only does the brain re-engage with the material and that sort of solidifies it, you're also practicing what you're going to do at the test. People have shown that's very effective,” said Dr. Handy.

It also helps to try to anticipate what you are going to be asked on the exam:

“The smart student starts anticipating what the questions are going to be like, what the exam is going to be like. And that might require doing something a little different than how you're currently studying.”

So take a minute to think about the type of exam you will be writing: is it going to be short-answer questions? Multiple choice ? Applying concepts to real-life situations?

Make sure you tailor your study activities to the type of questions you will be asked.

Strategy #3: Lose the electronics

Dr. Handy doesn’t allow any electronics in his classes. That means no phones and no computers. And he provides neuroscience literature to justify it.

First, he said, electronics can be really distracting:

“There are studies out there showing that when somebody is on a computer in a classroom, not only did they perform less well but it's distracting to everybody around them.”

The second reason is that taking notes by hand forces you to engage with the material on a deeper level than when you’re using a computer:

“You're going slower, you have to assimilate what's being said and summarize it. The idea is that the deeper you engage with the material, the better you remember it.”

The savvy student, then, not only turns off their phone in class but also while studying for an exam or writing an essay.

Strategy #4: The Great Triad: Eat, sleep, and exercise

Dr. Handy was afraid of sounding like a broken record. He did...but with good reason. The reason was the Great Triad: eating well, sleeping enough , and exercising regularly .

You may not think about these things as affecting your ability to retain information, but they absolutely do:

“This is where thinking about the brain more holistically is really vital. How do you optimize, not just the material you're learning, but how do you optimize the brain itself? How do you bring the brain's A-game to the table?"

The answer: take care of your brain just as you would any other muscle, tissue, or organ.  

“The more you can actually exercise on a regular basis, the better you can eat, and the more you're paying attention to sleep—these are all vitally important for your brain to be working at its optimum.”

Specifically, physical activity  can help super-charge your studying:

“It can be really helpful to get up and walk around for 5 minutes and come back. Even if it's part of a study session, just moving helps. It doesn't have to be drastic, but the more you can do can really help.”

The real savvy student will do some studying immediately after exercising:

“Studies have also shown that people can learn better right after physical activity. So if you're somebody who likes to work out, it can be really effective to study right after—because the exercise actually pumps the brain full of brain growth hormones.”

Dr. Handy himself conducted a study here at UBC looking into the effects of exercise and sleep on exam performance:

“What we found is that people who, the more they aerobically exercised in the 48 hours preceding the exam, the better they did on the exam. The people who reported higher sleep quality the night before the exam performed better on the exam.”

Find what works for you

In the end, it’s important to pay attention to what works best for you. There's no one-size-fits-all solution to studying. But by using these tips from neuroscience, you can get a better idea of the things you can do that make for more effective retention of your studies.

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• Memory Psychology

10 Influential Memory Theories and Studies in Psychology

Discover the experiments and theories that shaped our understanding of how we develop and recall memories..

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How do our memories store information? Why is it that we can recall a memory at will from decades ago, and what purpose does forgetting information serve?

The human memory has been the subject of investigation among many 20th Century psychologists and remains an active area of study for today’s cognitive scientists. Below we take a look at some of the most influential studies, experiments and theories that continue to guide our understanding of the function of memory.

1 Multi-Store Model

(atkinson & shiffrin, 1968).

An influential theory of memory known as the multi-store model was proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968. This model suggested that information exists in one of 3 states of memory: the sensory, short-term and long-term stores . Information passes from one stage to the next the more we rehearse it in our minds, but can fade away if we do not pay enough attention to it. Read More

Information enters the memory from the senses - for instance, the eyes observe a picture, olfactory receptors in the nose might smell coffee or we might hear a piece of music. This stream of information is held in the sensory memory store , and because it consists of a huge amount of data describing our surroundings, we only need to remember a small portion of it. As a result, most sensory information ‘ decays ’ and is forgotten after a short period of time. A sight or sound that we might find interesting captures our attention, and our contemplation of this information - known as rehearsal - leads to the data being promoted to the short-term memory store , where it will be held for a few hours or even days in case we need access to it.

The short-term memory gives us access to information that is salient to our current situation, but is limited in its capacity.

Therefore, we need to further rehearse information in the short-term memory to remember it for longer. This may involve merely recalling and thinking about a past event, or remembering a fact by rote - by thinking or writing about it repeatedly. Rehearsal then further promotes this significant information to the long-term memory store, where Atkinson and Shiffrin believed that it could survive for years, decades or even a lifetime.

Key information regarding people that we have met, important life events and other important facts makes it through the sensory and short-term memory stores to reach the long-term memory .

Learn more about Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Multi-Store Model

2 Levels of Processing

(craik & lockhart, 1972).

Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart were critical of explanation for memory provided by the multi-store model, so in 1972 they proposed an alternative explanation known as the levels of processing effect . According to this model, memories do not reside in 3 stores; instead, the strength of a memory trace depends upon the quality of processing , or rehearsal , of a stimulus . In other words, the more we think about something, the more long-lasting the memory we have of it ( Craik & Lockhart , 1972). Read More

Craik and Lockhart distinguished between two types of processing that take place when we make an observation : shallow and deep processing. Shallow processing - considering the overall appearance or sound of something - generally leads to a stimuli being forgotten. This explains why we may walk past many people in the street on a morning commute, but not remember a single face by lunch time.

Deep (or semantic) processing , on the other hand, involves elaborative rehearsal - focusing on a stimulus in a more considered way, such as thinking about the meaning of a word or the consequences of an event. For example, merely reading a news story involves shallow processing, but thinking about the repercussions of the story - how it will affect people - requires deep processing, which increases the likelihood of details of the story being memorized.

In 1975, Craik and another psychologist, Endel Tulving , published the findings of an experiment which sought to test the levels of processing effect.

Participants were shown a list of 60 words, which they then answered a question about which required either shallow processing or more elaborative rehearsal. When the original words were placed amongst a longer list of words, participants who had conducted deeper processing of words and their meanings were able to pick them out more efficiently than those who had processed the mere appearance or sound of words ( Craik & Tulving , 1975).

Learn more about Levels of Processing here

3 Working Memory Model

(baddeley & hitch, 1974).

Whilst the Multi-Store Model (see above) provided a compelling insight into how sensory information is filtered and made available for recall according to its importance to us, Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch viewed the short-term memory (STM) store as being over-simplistic and proposed a working memory model (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974), which replace the STM.

The working memory model proposed 2 components - a visuo-spatial sketchpad (the ‘inner eye’) and an articulatory-phonological loop (the ‘inner ear’), which focus on a different types of sensory information. Both work independently of one another, but are regulated by a central executive , which collects and processes information from the other components similarly to how a computer processor handles data held separately on a hard disk. Read More

According to Baddeley and Hitch, the visuo-spatial sketchpad handles visual data - our observations of our surroundings - and spatial information - our understanding of objects’ size and location in our environment and their position in relation to ourselves. This enables us to interact with objects: to pick up a drink or avoid walking into a door, for example.

The visuo-spatial sketchpad also enables a person to recall and consider visual information stored in the long-term memory. When you try to recall a friend’s face, your ability to visualize their appearance involves the visuo-spatial sketchpad.

The articulatory-phonological loop handles the sounds and voices that we hear. Auditory memory traces are normally forgotten but may be rehearsed using the ‘inner voice’; a process which can strengthen our memory of a particular sound.

Learn more about Baddeley and Hitch’s working memory model here

4 Miller’s Magic Number

(miller, 1956).

Prior to the working memory model, U.S. cognitive psychologist George A. Miller questioned the limits of the short-term memory’s capacity. In a renowned 1956 paper published in the journal Psychological Review , Miller cited the results of previous memory experiments, concluding that people tend only to be able to hold, on average, 7 chunks of information (plus or minus two) in the short-term memory before needing to further process them for longer storage. For instance, most people would be able to remember a 7-digit phone number but would struggle to remember a 10-digit number. This led to Miller describing the number 7 +/- 2 as a “magical” number in our understanding of memory. Read More

But why are we able to remember the whole sentence that a friend has just uttered, when it consists of dozens of individual chunks in the form of letters? With a background in linguistics, having studied speech at the University of Alabama, Miller understood that the brain was able to ‘chunk’ items of information together and that these chunks counted towards the 7-chunk limit of the STM. A long word, for example, consists of many letters, which in turn form numerous phonemes. Instead of only being able to remember a 7-letter word, the mind “recodes” it, chunking the individual items of data together. This process allows us to boost the limits of recollection to a list of 7 separate words.

Miller’s understanding of the limits of human memory applies to both the short-term store in the multi-store model and Baddeley and Hitch’s working memory. Only through sustained effort of rehearsing information are we able to memorize data for longer than a short period of time.

Read more about Miller’s Magic Number here

5 Memory Decay

(peterson and peterson, 1959).

Following Miller’s ‘magic number’ paper regarding the capacity of the short-term memory, Peterson and Peterson set out to measure memories’ longevity - how long will a memory last without being rehearsed before it is forgotten completely?

In an experiment employing a Brown-Peterson task, participants were given a list of trigrams - meaningless lists of 3 letters (e.g. GRT, PXM, RBZ) - to remember. After the trigrams had been shown, participants were asked to count down from a number, and to recall the trigrams at various periods after remembering them. Read More

The use of such trigrams makes it impracticable for participants to assign meaning to the data to help encode them more easily, while the interference task prevented rehearsal, enabling the researchers to measure the duration of short-term memories more accurately.

Whilst almost all participants were initially able to recall the trigrams, after 18 seconds recall accuracy fell to around just 10%. Peterson and Peterson’s study demonstrated the surprising brevity of memories in the short-term store, before decay affects our ability to recall them.

Learn more about memory decay here

6 Flashbulb Memories

(brown & kulik, 1977).

There are particular moments in living history that vast numbers of people seem to hold vivid recollections of. You will likely be able to recall such an event that you hold unusually detailed memories of yourself. When many people learned that JFK, Elvis Presley or Princess Diana died, or they heard of the terrorist attacks taking place in New York City in 2001, a detailed memory seems to have formed of what they were doing at the particular moment that they heard such news.

Psychologists Roger Brown and James Kulik recognized this memory phenomenon as early as 1977, when they published a paper describing flashbulb memories - vivid and highly detailed snapshots created often (but not necessarily) at times of shock or trauma. Read More

We are able to recall minute details of our personal circumstances whilst engaging in otherwise mundane activities when we learnt of such events. Moreover, we do not need to be personally connected to an event for it to affect us, and for it lead to the creation of a flashbulb memory.

Learn more about Flashbulb Memories here

7 Memory and Smell

The link between memory and sense of smell helps many species - not just humans - to survive. The ability to remember and later recognize smells enables animals to detect the nearby presence of members of the same group, potential prey and predators. But how has this evolutionary advantage survived in modern-day humans?

Researchers at the University of North Carolina tested the olfactory effects on memory encoding and retrieval in a 1989 experiment. Male college students were shown a series of slides of pictures of females, whose attractiveness they were asked to rate on a scale. Whilst viewing the slides, the participants were exposed to pleasant odor of aftershave or an unpleasant smell. Their recollection of the faces in the slides was later tested in an environment containing either the same or a different scent. Read More

The results showed that participants were better able to recall memories when the scent at the time of encoding matched that at the time of recall (Cann and Ross, 1989). These findings suggest that a link between our sense of smell and memories remains, even if it provides less of a survival advantage than it did for our more primitive ancestors.

8 Interference

Interference theory postulates that we forget memories due to other memories interfering with our recall. Interference can be either retroactive or proactive: new information can interfere with older memories (retroactive interference), whilst information we already know can affect our ability to memorize new information (proactive interference).

Both types of interference are more likely to occur when two memories are semantically related, as demonstrated in a 1960 experiment in which two groups of participants were given a list of word pairs to remember, so that they could recall the second ‘response’ word when given the first as a stimulus. A second group was also given a list to learn, but afterwards was asked to memorize a second list of word pairs. When both groups were asked to recall the words from the first list, those who had just learnt that list were able to recall more words than the group that had learnt a second list (Underwood & Postman, 1960). This supported the concept of retroactive interference: the second list impacted upon memories of words from the first list. Read More

Interference also works in the opposite direction: existing memories sometimes inhibit our ability to memorize new information. This might occur when you receive a work schedule, for instance. When you are given a new schedule a few months later, you may find yourself adhering to the original times. The schedule that you already knew interferes with your memory of the new schedule.

9 False Memories

Can false memories be implanted in our minds? The idea may sound like the basis of a dystopian science fiction story, but evidence suggests that memories that we already hold can be manipulated long after their encoding. Moreover, we can even be coerced into believing invented accounts of events to be true, creating false memories that we then accept as our own.

Cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has spent much of her life researching the reliability of our memories; particularly in circumstances when their accuracy has wider consequences, such as the testimonials of eyewitness in criminal trials. Loftus found that the phrasing of questions used to extract accounts of events can lead witnesses to attest to events inaccurately. Read More

In one experiment, Loftus showed a group of participants a video of a car collision, where the vehicle was travelling at a one of a variety of speeds. She then asked them the car’s speed using a sentence whose depiction of the crash was adjusted from mild to severe using different verbs. Loftus found when the question suggested that the crash had been severe, participants disregarded their video observation and vouched that the car had been travelling faster than if the crash had been more of a gentle bump (Loftus and Palmer, 1974). The use of framed questions, as demonstrated by Loftus, can retroactively interfere with existing memories of events.

James Coan (1997) demonstrated that false memories can even be produced of entire events. He produced booklets detailing various childhood events and gave them to family members to read. The booklet given to his brother contained a false account of him being lost in a shopping mall, being found by an older man and then finding his family. When asked to recall the events, Coan’s brother believed the lost in a mall story to have actually occurred, and even embellished the account with his own details (Coan, 1997).

Read more about false memories here

10 The Weapon Effect on Eyewitness Testimonies

(johnson & scott, 1976).

A person’s ability to memorize an event inevitably depends not just on rehearsal but also on the attention paid to it at the time it occurred. In a situation such as an bank robbery, you may have other things on your mind besides memorizing the appearance of the perpetrator. But witness’s ability to produce a testimony can sometimes be affected by whether or not a gun was involved in a crime. This phenomenon is known as the weapon effect - when a witness is involved in a situation in which a weapon is present, they have been found to remember details less accurately than a similar situation without a weapon. Read More

The weapon effect on eyewitness testimonies was the subject of a 1976 experiment in which participants situated in a waiting room watched as a man left a room carrying a pen in one hand. Another group of participants heard an aggressive argument, and then saw a man leave a room carrying a blood-stained knife.

Later, when asked to identify the man in a line-up, participants who saw the man carrying a weapon were less able to identify him than those who had seen the man carrying a pen (Johnson & Scott, 1976). Witnesses’ focus of attention had been distracted by a weapon, impeding their ability to remember other details of the event.

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• PMC10410470

Cognitive neuroscience perspective on memory: overview and summary

Sruthi sridhar.

1 Department of Psychology, Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB, Canada

Abdulrahman Khamaj

2 Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia

Manish Kumar Asthana

3 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India

4 Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India

Associated Data

The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

This paper explores memory from a cognitive neuroscience perspective and examines associated neural mechanisms. It examines the different types of memory: working, declarative, and non-declarative, and the brain regions involved in each type. The paper highlights the role of different brain regions, such as the prefrontal cortex in working memory and the hippocampus in declarative memory. The paper also examines the mechanisms that underlie the formation and consolidation of memory, including the importance of sleep in the consolidation of memory and the role of the hippocampus in linking new memories to existing cognitive schemata. The paper highlights two types of memory consolidation processes: cellular consolidation and system consolidation. Cellular consolidation is the process of stabilizing information by strengthening synaptic connections. System consolidation models suggest that memories are initially stored in the hippocampus and are gradually consolidated into the neocortex over time. The consolidation process involves a hippocampal-neocortical binding process incorporating newly acquired information into existing cognitive schemata. The paper highlights the role of the medial temporal lobe and its involvement in autobiographical memory. Further, the paper discusses the relationship between episodic and semantic memory and the role of the hippocampus. Finally, the paper underscores the need for further research into the neurobiological mechanisms underlying non-declarative memory, particularly conditioning. Overall, the paper provides a comprehensive overview from a cognitive neuroscience perspective of the different processes involved in memory consolidation of different types of memory.

Introduction

Memory is an essential cognitive function that permits individuals to acquire, retain, and recover data that defines a person’s identity ( Zlotnik and Vansintjan, 2019 ). Memory is a multifaceted cognitive process that involves different stages: encoding, consolidation, recovery, and reconsolidation. Encoding involves acquiring and processing information that is transformed into a neuronal representation suitable for storage ( Liu et al., 2021 ; Panzeri et al., 2023 ). The information can be acquired through various channels, such as visual, auditory, olfactory, or tactile inputs. The acquired sensory stimuli are converted into a format the brain can process and retain. Different factors such as attention, emotional significance, and repetition can influence the encoding process and determine the strength and durability of the resulting memory ( Squire et al., 2004 ; Lee et al., 2016 ; Serences, 2016 ).

Consolidation includes the stabilization and integration of memory into long-term storage to increase resistance to interference and decay ( Goedert and Willingham, 2002 ). This process creates enduring structural modification in the brain and thereby has consequential effects on the function by reorganizing and strengthening neural connections. Diverse sources like sleep and stress and the release of neurotransmitters can influence memory consolidation. Many researchers have noted the importance of sleep due to its critical role in enabling a smooth transition of information from transient repositories into more stable engrams (memory traces) ( McGaugh, 2000 ; Clawson et al., 2021 ; Rakowska et al., 2022 ).

Retrieval involves accessing, selecting, and reactivating or reconstructing the stored memory to allow conscious access to previously encoded information ( Dudai, 2002 ). Retrieving memories depends on activating relevant neural pathways while reconstructing encoded information. Factors like contextual or retrieval cues and familiarity with the material can affect this process. Forgetting becomes a possibility if there are inadequate triggers for associated memory traces to activate upon recall. Luckily, mnemonic strategies and retrieval practice offer effective tools to enhance recovery rates and benefit overall memory performance ( Roediger and Butler, 2011 ).

Previous research implied that once a memory has been consolidated, it becomes permanent ( McGaugh, 2000 ; Robins, 2020 ). However, recent studies have found an additional phase called “reconsolidation,” during which stored memories, when reactivated, enter a fragile or liable state and become susceptible to modification or update ( Schiller et al., 2009 ; Asthana et al., 2015 ). The process highlights the notion that memory is not static but a dynamic system influenced by subsequent encounters. The concept of reconsolidation has much significance in memory modification therapies and interventions, as it offers a promising opportunity to target maladaptive or traumatic memories for modification specifically. However, more thorough investigations are needed to gain insight into the mechanisms and concrete implications of employing memory reconsolidation within therapeutic settings ( Bellfy and Kwapis, 2020 ).

The concept of memory is not reducible to a single unitary phenomenon; instead, evidence suggests that it can be subdivided into several distinct but interrelated constituent processes and systems ( Richter-Levin and Akirav, 2003 ). There are three major types of human memory: working memory, declarative memory (explicit), and non-declarative memory (implicit). All these types of memories involve different neural systems in the brain. Working memory is a unique transient active store capable of manipulating information essential for many complex cognitive operations, including language processing, reasoning, and judgment ( Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968 ; Baddeley and Logie, 1999 ; Funahashi, 2017 ; Quentin et al., 2019 ). Previous models suggest the existence of three components that make up the working memory ( Baddeley and Hitch, 1974 ; Baddeley, 1986 ). One master component, the central executive, controls the two dependent components, the phonological loop (speech perception and language comprehension) and the visuospatial sketchpad (visual images and spatial impressions processing). Some models mention a third component known as the episodic buffer. It is theorized that the episodic buffer serves as an intermediary between perception, long-term memory, and two components of working memory (the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad) by storing integrated episodes or chunks from both sources ( Baddeley, 2000 ). Declarative memory (explicit memory) can be recalled consciously, including facts and events that took place in one’s life or information learned from books. It encompasses memories of both autobiographical experiences and memories associated with general knowledge. It is usually associated with the hippocampus–medial temporal lobe system ( Thompson and Kim, 1996 ; Ober, 2014 ). Non-declarative memory (implicit memory) refers to unconscious forms of learning such as skills, habits, and priming effects; this type of implicit learning does not involve conscious recollection but can include motor skill tasks that often require no thought prior to execution nor later recall upon completion. This type of memory usually involves the amygdala and other systems ( Thompson and Kim, 1996 ; Ober, 2014 ).

Working memory

Working memory is primarily associated with the prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex ( Sarnthein et al., 1998 ; Todd and Marois, 2005 ). Working memory is not localized to a single brain region, and research suggests that it is an emergent property arising from functional interactions between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the rest of the brain ( D’Esposito, 2007 ). Neuroimaging studies have explored the neural basis for the three components proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) , the Central executive, the phonological loop, and the visuospatial sketch pad; there is evidence for the existence of a fourth component called the episodic buffer ( Baddeley, 2000 ).

The central executive plays a significant role in working memory by acting as the control center ( Shallice, 2002 ). It facilitates critical functions like attention allocation and coordination between the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad ( Yu et al., 2023 ). Recent findings have illuminated the dual-functional network regulation, the cingulo-opercular network (CON) and the frontoparietal network (FPN), that underpins the central executive system ( Yu et al., 2023 ). The CON comprises the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI). In contrast, the FPN encompasses various regions, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and frontal eye field (FEF), along with the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) ( Yu et al., 2023 ). Neuroimaging research has found evidence that elucidates the neural underpinnings of the executive attention control system to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) ( Jung et al., 2022 ). The activation patterns indicate that the CON may have a broader top-down control function across the working memory process. At the same time, the FPN could be more heavily implicated in momentary control or processing at the trial level ( Yu et al., 2023 ). Evidence suggests that the central executive interacts with the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad to support working memory processes ( Baddeley, 2003 ; Buchsbaum, 2010 ; Menon and D’Esposito, 2021 ). The function, localization, and neural basis of this interaction are thought to involve the activation of specific brain regions associated with each component of working memory, as discussed in detail below.

The phonological loop is divided into two components: a storage system that maintains information (a few seconds) and a component involving subvocal rehearsal—which maintains and refreshes information in the working memory. Neuroanatomically, the phonological loop is represented in the Brodmann area (BA) 40 in the parietal cortex and the rehearsal components in BA 44 and 6, both situated in the frontal cortex ( Osaka et al., 2007 ). The left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca’s area) and the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (Wernicke’s area) has been proposed to play a critical role in supporting phonological and verbal working memory tasks, specifically the subvocal rehearsal system of the articulatory loop ( Paulesu et al., 1993 ; Buchsbaum et al., 2001 ; Perrachione et al., 2017 ). The phonological store in verbal short-term memory has been localized at the left supramarginal gyrus ( Graves et al., 2008 ; Perrachione et al., 2017 ).

Studies utilizing neuroimaging techniques have consistently yielded results indicating notable activation in these brain regions during phonological activities like recalling non-words and maintaining verbal information in memory ( Awh et al., 1996 ; Graves et al., 2008 ). During tasks that require phonological rehearsal, there was an increase in activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus ( Paulesu et al., 1993 ). Researchers have noted an increase in activity within the superior temporal gyrus-which plays a significant role in auditory processing-in individuals performing tasks that necessitate verbal information maintenance and manipulation ( Smith et al., 1998 ; Chein et al., 2003 ).

Additionally, lesion studies have provided further confirmation regarding the importance of these regions. These investigations have revealed that impairment in performing phonological working memory tasks can transpire following damage inflicted upon the left hemisphere, particularly on perisylvian language areas ( Koenigs et al., 2011 ). It is common for individuals with lesions affecting regions associated with the phonological loop, such as the left inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus, to have difficulty performing verbal working memory tasks. Clinical cases involving patients diagnosed with aphasia and specific language impairments have highlighted challenges related to retaining and manipulating auditory information. For example, those who sustain damage specifically within their left inferior frontal gyrus often struggle with tasks involving phonological rehearsal and verbal working memory activities, and therefore, they tend to perform poorly in tasks that require manipulation or repetition of verbal stimuli ( Saffran, 1997 ; Caplan and Waters, 2005 ).

The visuospatial sketchpad is engaged in the temporary retention and manipulation of visuospatial facts, including mental pictures, spatial associations, and object placements ( Miyake et al., 2001 ). The visuospatial sketchpad is localized to the right hemisphere, including the occipital lobe, parietal and frontal areas ( Osaka et al., 2007 ). Ren et al. (2019) identified the localization of the visuospatial sketchpad, and these areas were the right infero-lateral prefrontal cortex, lateral pre-motor cortices, right inferior parietal cortex, and the dorsolateral occipital cortices ( Burbaud et al., 1999 ; Salvato et al., 2021 ). Moreover, the posterior parietal cortex and the intraparietal sulcus have been implicated in spatial working memory ( Xu and Chun, 2006 ). Additionally, some evidence is available for an increase in brain regions associated with the visuospatial sketchpad during tasks involving mental imagery and spatial processing. Neuroimaging studies have revealed increased neural activation in some regions of the parietal cortex, mainly the superior and posterior parietal cortex, while performing mental rotation tasks ( Cohen et al., 1996 ; Kosslyn et al., 1997 ). However, further research is needed to better understand the visuospatial working memory and its integration with other cognitive processes ( Baddeley, 2003 ). Lesions to the regions involving the visuospatial sketchpad can have detrimental effects on visuospatial working memory tasks. Individuals with lesions to the posterior parietal cortex may exhibit deficits in mental rotation tasks and may be unable to mentally manipulate the visuospatial representation ( Buiatti et al., 2011 ). Moreover, studies concerning lesions have shown that damage to the parietal cortex can result in short-term deficits in visuospatial memory ( Shafritz et al., 2002 ). Damage to the occipital cortex can lead to performance impairments in tasks that require the generation and manipulation of mental visual images ( Moro et al., 2008 ).

The fourth component of the working memory, termed episodic buffer, was proposed by Baddeley (2000) . The episodic buffer is a multidimensional but essentially passive store that can hold a limited number of chunks, store bound features, and make them available to conscious awareness ( Baddeley et al., 2010 ; Hitch et al., 2019 ). Although research has suggested that episodic buffer is localized to the hippocampus ( Berlingeri et al., 2008 ) or the inferior lateral parietal cortex, it is thought to be not dependent on a single anatomical structure but instead can be influenced by the subsystems of working memory, long term memory, and even through perception ( Vilberg and Rugg, 2008 ; Baddeley et al., 2010 ). The episodic buffer provides a crucial link between the attentional central executive and the multidimensional information necessary for the operation of working memory ( Baddeley et al., 2011 ; Gelastopoulos et al., 2019 ).

The interdependence of the working memory modules, namely the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, co-relates with other cognitive processes, for instance, spatial cognition and attention allocation ( Repovs and Baddeley, 2006 ). It has been found that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) have a crucial role in several aspects of spatial cognition, such as the maintenance of spatially oriented attention and motor intentions ( Jerde and Curtis, 2013 ). The study by Sellers et al. (2016) and the review by Ikkai and Curtis (2011) posits that other brain areas could use the activity in PFC and PPC as a guide and manifest outputs to guide attention allocation, spatial memory, and motor planning. Moreover, research indicates that verbal information elicits an activation response in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) when retained in the phonological loop, while visuospatial information is represented by a corresponding level of activity within the right homolog region ( Narayanan et al., 2005 ; Wolf et al., 2006 ; Emch et al., 2019 ). Specifically, the study by Yang et al. (2022) investigated the roles of two regions in the brain, the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) and the right supra-marginal gyrus (rSMG), as they relate to spatial congruency in visual working memory tasks. A change detection task with online repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation applied concurrently at both locations during high visual WM load conditions determined that rIFG is involved in actively repositioning the location of objects. At the same time, rSMG is engaged in passive perception of the stability of the location of objects.

Recent academic studies have found evidence to support the development of a new working memory model known as the state-based model ( D’Esposito and Postle, 2015 ). This theoretical model proposes that the allocation of attention toward internal representations permits short-term retention within working memory ( Ghaleh et al., 2019 ). The state-based model consists of two main categories: activated LTM models and sensorimotor recruitment models; the former largely focuses upon symbolic stimuli categorized under semantic aspects, while the latter has typically been applied to more perceptual tasks in experiments. This framework posits that prioritization through regulating cognitive processes provides insight into various characteristics across different activity types, including capacity limitations, proactive interference, etcetera ( D’Esposito and Postle, 2015 ). For example, the paper by Ghaleh et al. (2019) provides evidence for two separate mechanisms involved in maintenance of auditory information in verbal working memory: an articulatory rehearsal mechanism that relies more heavily on left sensorimotor areas and a non-articulatory maintenance mechanism that critically relies on left superior temporal gyrus (STG). These findings support the state-based model’s proposal that attentional allocation is necessary for short-term retention in working memory.

State-based models were found to be consistent with the suggested storage mechanism as they do not require representation transfer from one dedicated buffer type; research has demonstrated that any population of neurons and synapses may serve as such buffers ( Maass and Markram, 2002 ; Postle, 2006 ; Avraham et al., 2017 ). The review by D’Esposito and Postle (2015) examined the evidence to determine whether a persistent neural activity, synaptic mechanisms, or a combination thereof support representations maintained during working memory. Numerous neural mechanisms have been hypothesized to support the short-term retention of information in working memory and likely operate in parallel ( Sreenivasan et al., 2014 ; Kamiński and Rutishauser, 2019 ).

Persistent neural activity is the neural mechanism by which information is temporarily maintained ( Ikkai and Curtis, 2011 ; Panzeri et al., 2023 ). Recent review by Curtis and Sprague (2021) has focused on the notion that persistent neural activity is a fundamental mechanism for memory storage and have provided two main arcs of explanation. The first arc, mainly underpinned by empirical evidence from prefrontal cortex (PFC) neurophysiology experiments and computational models, posits that PFC neurons exhibit sustained firing during working memory tasks, enabling them to store representations in their active state ( Thuault et al., 2013 ). Intrinsic persistent firing in layer V neurons in the medial PFC has been shown to be regulated by HCN1 channels, which contribute to the executive function of the PFC during working memory episodes ( Thuault et al., 2013 ). Additionally, research has also found that persistent neural firing could possibly interact with theta periodic activity to sustain each other in the medial temporal, prefrontal, and parietal regions ( Düzel et al., 2010 ; Boran et al., 2019 ). The second arc involves advanced neuroimaging approaches which have, more recently, enabled researchers to decode content stored within working memories across distributed regions of the brain, including parts of the early visual cortex–thus extending this framework beyond just isolated cortical areas such as the PFC. There is evidence that suggests simple, stable, persistent activity among neurons in stimulus-selective populations may be a crucial mechanism for sustaining WM representations ( Mackey et al., 2016 ; Kamiński et al., 2017 ; Curtis and Sprague, 2021 ).

Badre (2008) discussed the functional organization of the PFC. The paper hypothesized that the rostro-caudal gradient of a function in PFC supported a control hierarchy, whereas posterior to anterior PFC mediated progressively abstract, higher-order controls ( Badre, 2008 ). However, this outlook proposed by Badre (2008) became outdated; the paper by Badre and Nee (2018) presented an updated look at the literature on hierarchical control. This paper supports neither a unitary model of lateral frontal function nor a unidimensional abstraction gradient. Instead, separate frontal networks interact via local and global hierarchical structures to support diverse task demands. This updated perspective is supported by recent studies on the hierarchical organization of representations within the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) and the progressively rostral areas of the LPFC that process/represent increasingly abstract information, facilitating efficient and flexible cognition ( Thomas Yeo et al., 2011 ; Nee and D’Esposito, 2016 ). This structure allows the brain to access increasingly abstract action representations as required ( Nee and D’Esposito, 2016 ). It is supported by fMRI studies showing an anterior-to-posterior activation movement when tasks become more complex. Anatomical connectivity between areas also supports this theory, such as Area 10, which has projections back down to Area 6 but not vice versa.

Finally, studies confirm that different regions serve different roles along a hierarchy leading toward goal-directed behavior ( Badre and Nee, 2018 ). The paper by Postle (2015) exhibits evidence of activity in the prefrontal cortex that reflects the maintenance of high-level representations, which act as top-down signals, and steer the circulation of neural pathways across brain networks. The PFC is a source of top-down signals that influence processing in the posterior and subcortical regions ( Braver et al., 2008 ; Friedman and Robbins, 2022 ). These signals either enhance task-relevant information or suppress irrelevant stimuli, allowing for efficient yet effective search ( D’Esposito, 2007 ; D’Esposito and Postle, 2015 ; Kerzel and Burra, 2020 ). The study by Ratcliffe et al. (2022) provides evidence of the dynamic interplay between executive control mechanisms in the frontal cortex and stimulus representations held in posterior regions for working memory tasks. Moreover, the review by Herry and Johansen (2014) discusses the neural mechanisms behind actively maintaining task-relevant information in order for a person to carry out tasks and goals effectively. This review of data and research suggests that working memory is a multi-component system allowing for both the storage and processing of temporarily active representations. Neural activity throughout the brain can be differentially enhanced or suppressed based on context through top-down signals emanating from integrative areas such as PFC, parietal cortex, or hippocampus to actively maintain task-relevant information when it is not present in the environment ( Herry and Johansen, 2014 ; Kerzel and Burra, 2020 ).

In addition, Yu et al. (2022) examined how brain regions from the ventral stream pathway to the prefrontal cortex were activated during working memory (WM) gate opening and closing. They defined gate opening as the switch from maintenance to updating and gate closing as the switch from updating to maintenance. The data suggested that cognitive branching increases during the WM gating process, thus correlating the gating process and an information approach to the PFC function. The temporal cortices, lingual gyrus (BA19), superior frontal gyri including frontopolar cortices, and middle and inferior parietal regions are involved in processes of estimating whether a response option available will be helpful for each case. During gate closing, on the other hand, medial and superior frontal regions, which have been associated with conflict monitoring, come into play, as well as orbitofrontal and dorsolateral prefrontal processing at later times when decreasing activity resembling stopping or downregulating cognitive branching has occurred, confirming earlier theories about these areas being essential for estimation of usefulness already stored within long-term memories ( Yu et al., 2022 ).

Declarative and non-declarative memory

The distinctions between declarative and non-declarative memory are often based on the anatomical features of medial temporal lobe regions, specifically those involving the hippocampus ( Squire and Zola, 1996 ; Squire and Wixted, 2011 ). In the investigation of systems implicated in the process of learning and memory formation, it has been posited that the participation of the hippocampus is essential for the acquisition of declarative memories ( Eichenbaum and Cohen, 2014 ). In contrast, a comparatively reduced level of hippocampal involvement may suffice for non-declarative memories ( Squire and Zola, 1996 ; Williams, 2020 ).

Declarative memory (explicit) pertains to knowledge about facts and events. This type of information can be consciously retrieved with effort or spontaneously recollected without conscious intention ( Dew and Cabeza, 2011 ). There are two types of declarative memory: Episodic and Semantic. Episodic memory is associated with the recollection of personal experiences. It involves detailed information about events that happened in one’s life. Semantic memory refers to knowledge stored in the brain as facts, concepts, ideas, and objects; this includes language-related information like meanings of words and mathematical symbol values along with general world knowledge (e.g., capitals of countries) ( Binder and Desai, 2011 ). The difference between episodic and semantic memory is that when one retrieves episodic memory, the experience is known as “remembering”; when one retrieves information from semantic memory, the experience is known as “knowing” ( Tulving, 1985 ; Dew and Cabeza, 2011 ). The hippocampus, medial temporal lobe, and the areas in the diencephalon are implicated in declarative memory ( Richter-Levin and Akirav, 2003 ; Derner et al., 2020 ). The ventral parietal cortex (VPC) is involved in declarative memory processes, specifically episodic memory retrieval ( Henson et al., 1999 ; Davis et al., 2018 ). The evidence suggests that VPC and hippocampus is involved in the retrieval of contextual details, such as the location and timing of the event, and the information is critical for the formation of episodic memory ( Daselaar, 2009 ; Hutchinson et al., 2009 ; Wiltgen et al., 2010 ). The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is involved in the encoding (medial PFC) and retrieval (lateral PFC) of declarative memories, specifically in the integration of information across different sensory modalities ( Blumenfeld and Ranganath, 2007 ; Li et al., 2010 ). Research also suggests that the amygdala may modulate other brain regions involved with memory processing, thus, contributing to an enhanced recall of negative or positive experiences ( Hamann, 2001 ; Ritchey et al., 2008 ; Sendi et al., 2020 ). Maintenance of the integrity of hippocampal circuitry is essential for ensuring that episodic memory, along with spatial and temporal context information, can be retained in short-term or long-term working memory beyond 15 min ( Ito et al., 2003 ; Rasch and Born, 2013 ). Moreover, studies have suggested that the amygdala plays a vital role in encoding and retrieving explicit memories, particularly those related to emotionally charged stimuli which are supported by evidence of correlations between hippocampal activity and amygdala modulation during memory formation ( Richter-Levin and Akirav, 2003 ; Qasim et al., 2023 ).

Current findings in neuroimaging studies assert that a vast array of interconnected brain regions support semantic memory ( Binder and Desai, 2011 ). This network merges information sourced from multiple senses alongside different cognitive faculties necessary for generating abstract supramodal views on various topics stored within our consciousness. Modality-specific sensory, motor, and emotional system within these brain regions serve specialized tasks like language comprehension, while larger areas of the brain, such as the inferior parietal lobe and most of the temporal lobe, participate in more generalized interpretation tasks ( Binder and Desai, 2011 ; Kuhnke et al., 2020 ). These regions lie at convergences of multiple perceptual processing streams, enabling increasingly abstract, supramodal representations of perceptual experience that support a variety of conceptual functions, including object recognition, social cognition, language, and the remarkable human capacity to remember the past and imagine the future ( Binder and Desai, 2011 ; Binney et al., 2016 ). The following section will discuss the processes underlying memory consolidation and storage within declarative memory.

Non-declarative (implicit) memories refer to unconscious learning through experience, such as habits and skills formed from practice rather than memorizing facts; these are typically acquired slowly and automatically in response to sensory input associated with reward structures or prior exposure within our daily lives ( Kesner, 2017 ). Non-declarative memory is a collection of different phenomena with different neural substrates rather than a single coherent system ( Camina and Güell, 2017 ). It operates by similar principles, depending on local changes to a circumscribed brain region, and the representation of these changes is unavailable to awareness ( Reber, 2008 ). Non-declarative memory encompasses a heterogenous collection of abilities, such as associative learning, skills, and habits (procedural memory), priming, and non-associative learning ( Squire and Zola, 1996 ; Camina and Güell, 2017 ). Studies have concluded that procedural memory for motor skills depends upon activity in diverse set areas such as the motor cortex, striatum, limbic system, and cerebellum; similarly, perceptual skill learning is thought to be associated with sensory cortical activation ( Karni et al., 1998 ; Mayes, 2002 ). Research suggests that mutual connections between brain regions that are active together recruit special cells called associative memory cells ( Wang et al., 2016 ; Wang and Cui, 2018 ). These cells help integrate, store, and remember related information. When activated, these cells trigger the recall of memories, leading to behaviors and emotional responses. This suggests that co-activated brain regions with these mutual connections are where associative memories are formed ( Wang et al., 2016 ; Wang and Cui, 2018 ). Additionally, observational data reveals that priming mechanisms within distinct networks, such as the “repetition suppression” effect observed in visual cortical areas associated with sensory processing and in the prefrontal cortex for semantic priming, are believed to be responsible for certain forms of conditioning and implicit knowledge transfer experiences exhibited by individuals throughout their daily lives ( Reber, 2008 ; Wig et al., 2009 ; Camina and Güell, 2017 ). However, further research is needed to better understand the mechanisms of consolidation in non-declarative memory ( Camina and Güell, 2017 ).

The process of transforming memory into stable, long-lasting from a temporary, labile memory is known as memory consolidation ( McGaugh, 2000 ). Memory formation is based on the change in synaptic connections of neurons representing the memory. Encoding causes synaptic Long-Term potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term depression (LTD) and induces two consolidation processes. The first is synaptic or cellular consolidation which involves remodeling synapses to produce enduring changes. Cellular consolidation is a short-term process that involves stabilizing the neural trace shortly after learning via structural brain changes in the hippocampus ( Lynch, 2004 ). The second is system consolidation, which builds on synaptic consolidation where reverberating activity leads to redistribution for long-term storage ( Mednick et al., 2011 ; Squire et al., 2015 ). System consolidation is a long-term process during which memories are gradually transferred to and integrated with cortical neurons, thus promoting their stability over time. In this way, memories are rendered less susceptible to forgetting. Hebb postulated that when two neurons are repeatedly activated simultaneously, they become more likely to exhibit a coordinated firing pattern of activity in the future ( Langille, 2019 ). This proposed enduring change in synchronized neuronal activation was consequently termed cellular consolidation ( Bermudez-Rattoni, 2010 ).

The following sections of this paper incorporate a more comprehensive investigation into various essential procedures connected with memory consolidation- namely: long-term potentiation (LTP), long-term depression (LTD), system consolidation, and cellular consolidation. Although these mechanisms have been presented briefly before this paragraph, the paper aims to offer greater insight into each process’s function within the individual capacity and their collective contribution toward memory consolidation.

Synaptic plasticity mechanisms implicated in memory stabilization

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) and Long-Term Depression (LTP) are mechanisms that have been implicated in memory stabilization. LTP is an increase in synaptic strength, whereas LTD is a decrease in synaptic strength ( Ivanco, 2015 ; Abraham et al., 2019 ).

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) is a phenomenon wherein synaptic strength increases persistently due to brief exposures to high-frequency stimulation ( Lynch, 2004 ). Studies of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) have led to an understanding of the mechanisms behind synaptic strengthening phenomena and have provided a basis for explaining how and why strong connections between neurons form over time in response to stimuli.

The NMDA receptor-dependent LTP is the most commonly described LTP ( Bliss and Collingridge, 1993 ; Luscher and Malenka, 2012 ). In this type of LTP, when there is high-frequency stimulation, the presynaptic neuron releases glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter. Glutamate binds to the AMPA receptor on the postsynaptic neuron, which causes the neuron to fire while opening the NMDA receptor channel. The opening of an NMDA channel elicits a calcium ion influx into the postsynaptic neuron, thus initiating a series of phosphorylation events as part of the ensuing molecular cascade. Autonomously phosphorylated CaMKII and PKC, both actively functional through such a process, have been demonstrated to increase the conductance of pre-existing AMPA receptors in synaptic networks. Additionally, this has been shown to stimulate the introduction of additional AMPA receptors into synapses ( Malenka and Nicoll, 1999 ; Lynch, 2004 ; Luscher and Malenka, 2012 ; Bailey et al., 2015 ).

There are two phases of LTP: the early phase and the late phase. It has been established that the early phase LTP (E-LTP) does not require RNA or protein synthesis; therefore, its synaptic strength will dissipate in minutes if late LTP does not stabilize it. On the contrary, late-phase LTP (L-LTP) can sustain itself over a more extended period, from several hours to multiple days, with gene transcription and protein synthesis in the postsynaptic cell ( Frey and Morris, 1998 ; Orsini and Maren, 2012 ). The strength of presynaptic tetanic stimulation has been demonstrated to be a necessary condition for the activation of processes leading to late LTP ( Luscher and Malenka, 2012 ; Bailey et al., 2015 ). This finding is supported by research examining synaptic plasticity, notably Eric Kandel’s discovery that CREB–a transcription factor–among other cytoplasmic and nuclear molecules, are vital components in mediating molecular changes culminating in protein synthesis during this process ( Kaleem et al., 2011 ; Kandel et al., 2014 ). Further studies have shown how these shifts ultimately lead to AMPA receptor stabilization at post-synapses facilitating long-term potentiation within neurons ( Luscher and Malenka, 2012 ; Bailey et al., 2015 ).

The “synaptic tagging and capture hypothesis” explains how a weak event of tetanization at synapse A can transform to late-LTP if followed shortly by the strong tetanization of a different, nearby synapse on the same neuron ( Frey and Morris, 1998 ; Redondo and Morris, 2011 ; Okuda et al., 2020 ; Park et al., 2021 ). During this process, critical plasticity-related proteins (PRPs) are synthesized, which stabilize their own “tag” and that from the weaker synaptic activity ( Moncada et al., 2015 ). Recent evidence suggests that calcium-permeable AMPA receptors (CP-AMPARs) are involved in this form of heterosynaptic metaplasticity ( Park et al., 2018 ). The authors propose that the synaptic activation of CP-AMPARs triggers the synthesis of PRPs, which are then engaged by the weak induction protocol to facilitate LTP on the independent input. The paper also suggests that CP-AMPARs are required during the induction of LTP by the weak input for the full heterosynaptic metaplastic effect to be observed ( Park et al., 2021 ). Additionally, it has been further established that catecholamines such as dopamine plays an integral part in memory persistence by inducing PRP synthesis ( Redondo and Morris, 2011 ; Vishnoi et al., 2018 ). Studies have found that dopamine release in the hippocampus can enhance LTP and improve memory consolidation ( Lisman and Grace, 2005 ; Speranza et al., 2021 ).

Investigations into neuronal plasticity have indicated that synaptic strength alterations associated with certain forms of learning and memory may be analogous to those underlying Long-Term Potentiation (LTP). Research has corroborated this notion, demonstrating a correlation between these two phenomena ( Lynch, 2004 ). The three essential properties of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) that have been identified are associativity, synapse specificity, and cooperativity ( Kandel and Mack, 2013 ). These characteristics provide empirical evidence for the potential role of LTP in memory formation processes. Specifically, associativity denotes the amplification of connections when weak stimulus input is paired with a powerful one; synapse specificity posits that this potentiating effect only manifests on synaptic locations exhibiting coincidental activity within postsynaptic neurons, while cooperativity suggests stimulated neuron needs to attain an adequate threshold of depolarization before LTP can be induced again ( Orsini and Maren, 2012 ).

There is support for the idea that memories are encoded by modification of synaptic strengths through cellular mechanisms such as LTP and LTD ( Nabavi et al., 2014 ). The paper by Nabavi et al. (2014) shows that fear conditioning, a type of associative memory, can be inactivated and reactivated by LTD and LTP, respectively. The findings of the paper support a causal link between these synaptic processes and memory. Moreover, the paper suggests that LTP is used to form neuronal assemblies that represent a memory, and LTD could be used to disassemble them and thereby inactivate a memory ( Nabavi et al., 2014 ). Hippocampal LTD has been found to play an essential function in regulating synaptic strength and forming memories, such as long-term spatial memory ( Ge et al., 2010 ). However, it is vital to bear in mind that studies carried out on LTP exceed those done on LTD; hence the literature on it needs to be more extensive ( Malenka and Bear, 2004 ; Nabavi et al., 2014 ).

Cellular consolidation and memory

For an event to be remembered, it must form physical connections between neurons in the brain, which creates a “memory trace.” This memory trace can then be stored as long-term memory ( Langille and Brown, 2018 ). The formation of a memory engram is an intricate process requiring neuronal depolarization and the influx of intracellular calcium ( Mank and Griesbeck, 2008 ; Josselyn et al., 2015 ; Xu et al., 2017 ). This initiation leads to a cascade involving protein transcription, structural and functional changes in neural networks, and stabilization during the quiescence period, followed by complete consolidation for its success. Interference from new learning events or disruption caused due to inhibition can abort this cycle leading to incomplete consolidation ( Josselyn et al., 2015 ).

Cyclic-AMP response element binding protein (CREB) has been identified as an essential transcription factor for memory formation ( Orsini and Maren, 2012 ). It regulates the expression of PRPs and enhances neuronal excitability and plasticity, resulting in changes to the structure of cells, including the growth of dendritic spines and new synaptic connections. Blockage or enhancement of CREB in certain areas can affect subsequent consolidation at a systems level–decreasing it prevents this from occurring, while aiding its presence allows even weak learning conditions to produce successful memory formation ( Orsini and Maren, 2012 ; Kandel et al., 2014 ).

Strengthening weakly encoded memories through the synaptic tagging and capture hypothesis may play an essential role in cellular consolidation. Retroactive memory enhancement has also been demonstrated in human studies, mainly when items are initially encoded with low strength but later paired with shock after consolidation ( Dunsmoor et al., 2015 ). The synaptic tagging and capture theory (STC) and its extension, the behavioral tagging hypothesis (BT), have both been used to explain synaptic specificity and the persistence of plasticity ( Moncada et al., 2015 ). STC proposed that electrophysiological activity can induce long-term changes in synapses, while BT postulates similar effects of behaviorally relevant neuronal events on learning and memory models. This hypothesis proposes that memory consolidation relies on combining two distinct processes: setting a “learning tag” and synthesizing plasticity-related proteins ( De novo protein synthesis, increased CREB levels, and substantial inputs to nearby synapses) at those tagged sites. BT explains how it is possible for event episodes with low-strength inputs or engagements can be converted into lasting memories ( Lynch, 2004 ; Moncada et al., 2015 ). Similarly, the emotional tagging hypothesis posits that the activation of the amygdala in emotionally arousing events helps to mark experiences as necessary, thus enhancing synaptic plasticity and facilitating transformation from transient into more permanent forms for encoding long-term memories ( Richter-Levin and Akirav, 2003 ; Zhu et al., 2022 ).

Cellular consolidation, the protein synthesis-dependent processes observed in rodents that may underlie memory formation and stabilization, has been challenging to characterize in humans due to the limited ability to study it directly ( Bermudez-Rattoni, 2010 ). Additionally, multi-trial learning protocols commonly used within human tests as opposed to single-trial experiments conducted with non-human subjects suggest there could be interference from subsequent information that impedes individual memories from being consolidated reliably. This raises important questions regarding how individuals can still form strong and long-lasting memories when exposed to frequent stimuli outside controlled laboratory conditions. Although this phenomenon remains undiscovered by science, it is of utmost significance for gaining a deeper understanding of our neural capacities ( Genzel and Wixted, 2017 ).

The establishment of distributed memory traces requires a narrow temporal window following the initial encoding process, during which cellular consolidation occurs ( Nader and Hardt, 2009 ). Once this period ends and consolidation has been completed, further protein synthesis inhibition or pharmacological disruption will be less effective at altering pre-existing memories and interfering with new learning due to the stabilization of the trace in its new neuronal network connections ( Nader and Hardt, 2009 ). Thus, systems consolidation appears critical for the long-term maintenance of memory within broader brain networks over extended periods after their formation ( Bermudez-Rattoni, 2010 ).

System consolidation and memory

Information is initially stored in both the hippocampus and neocortex ( Dudai et al., 2015 ). The hippocampus subsequently guides a gradual process of reorganization and stabilization whereby information present within the neocortex becomes autonomous from that in the hippocampal store. Scholars have termed this phenomenon “standard memory consolidation model” or “system consolidation” ( Squire et al., 2015 ).

The Standard Model suggests that information acquired during learning is simultaneously stored in both the hippocampus and multiple cortical modules. Subsequently, it posits that over a period of time which may range from weeks to months or longer, the hippocampal formation directs an integration process by which these various elements become enclosed into single unified structures within the cortex ( Gilboa and Moscovitch, 2021 ; Howard et al., 2022 ). These newly learned memories are then assimilated into existing networks without interference or compression when necessary ( Frankland and Bontempi, 2005 ). It is important to note that memory engrams already exist within cortical networks during encoding. They only need strengthening through links enabled by hippocampal assistance-overtime allowing remote memory storage without reliance on the latter structure. Data appears consistent across studies indicating that both AMPA-and NMDA receptor-dependent “tagging” processes occurring within the cortex are essential components of progressive rewiring, thus enabling longer-term retention ( Takeuchi et al., 2014 ; Takehara-Nishiuchi, 2020 ).

Recent studies have additionally demonstrated that the rate of system consolidation depends on an individual’s ability to relate new information to existing networks made up of connected neurons, popularly known as “schemas” ( Robin and Moscovitch, 2017 ). In situations where prior knowledge is present and cortical modules are already connected at the outset of learning, it has been observed that a hippocampal-neocortical binding process occurs similarly to when forming new memories ( Schlichting and Preston, 2015 ). The proposed framework involves the medial temporal lobe (MTL), which is involved in acquiring new information and binds different aspects of an experience into a single memory trace. In contrast, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) integrates this information with the existing knowledge ( Zeithamova and Preston, 2010 ; van Kesteren et al., 2012 ). During consolidation and retrieval, MTL is involved in replaying memories to the neocortex, where they are gradually integrated with existing knowledge and schemas and help retrieve memory traces. During retrieval, the mPFC is thought to use existing knowledge and schemas to guide retrieval and interpretation of memory. This may involve the assimilation of newly acquired information into existing cognitive schemata as opposed to the comparatively slow progression of creating intercortical connections ( Zeithamova and Preston, 2010 ; van Kesteren et al., 2012 , 2016 ).

Medial temporal lobe structures are essential for acquiring new information and necessary for autobiographical (episodic) memory ( Brown et al., 2018 ). The consolidation of autobiographical memories depends on a distributed network of cortical regions. Brain areas such as entorhinal, perirhinal, and parahippocampal cortices are essential for learning new information; however, they have little impact on the recollection of the past ( Squire et al., 2015 ). The hippocampus is a region of the brain that forms episodic memories by linking multiple events to create meaningful experiences ( Cooper and Ritchey, 2019 ). It receives information from all areas of the association cortex and cingulate cortex, subcortical regions via the fornix, as well as signals originating within its entorhinal cortex (EC) and amygdala regarding emotionally laden or potentially hazardous stimuli ( Sorensen, 2009 ). Such widespread connectivity facilitates the construction of an accurate narrative underpinning each remembered episode, transforming short-term into long-term recollections ( Richter-Levin and Akirav, 2003 ).

Researchers have yet to establish a consensus regarding where semantic memory information is localized within the brain ( Roldan-Valadez et al., 2012 ). Some proponents contend that such knowledge is lodged within perceptual and motor systems, triggered when we initially associate with a given object. This point of view is supported by studies highlighting how neural activity occurs initially in the occipital cortex, followed by left temporal lobe involvement during processing and pertinent contributions to word selection/retrieval via activation of left inferior frontal cortices ( Patterson et al., 2007 ). Moreover, research indicates elevated levels of fusiform gyrus engagement (a ventral surface region encompassing both temporal lobes) occurring concomitantly with verbal comprehension initiatives, including reading and naming tasks ( Patterson et al., 2007 ).

Research suggests that the hippocampus is needed for a few years after learning to support semantic memory (factual information), yet, it is not needed for the long term ( Squire et al., 2015 ). However, some forms of memory remain dependent on the hippocampus, such as the retrieval of spatial memory ( Wiltgen et al., 2010 ). Similarly, the Multiple-trace theory ( Moscovitch et al., 2006 ), also known as the transformation hypothesis ( Winocur and Moscovitch, 2011 ), posits that hippocampal engagement is necessary for memories that retain contextual detail such as episodic memories. Consolidation of memories into the neocortex is theorized to involve a loss of specific finer details, such as temporal and spatial information, in addition to contextual elements. This transition ultimately results in an evolution from episodic memory toward semantic memory, which consists mainly of gist-based facts ( Moscovitch et al., 2006 ).

Sleep and memory consolidation

Sleep is an essential physiological process crucial to memory consolidation ( Siegel, 2001 ). Sleep is divided into two stages: Non-rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. NREM sleep is divided into three stages: N1, N2, and N3 (AKA Slow Wave Sleep or SWS) ( Rasch and Born, 2013 ). Each stage displays unique oscillatory patterns and phenomena responsible for consolidating memories in distinct ways. The first stage, or N1 sleep, is when an individual transitions between wakefulness and sleep. This type of sleep is characterized by low-amplitude, mixed-frequency brain activity. N1 sleep is responsible for the initial encoding of memories ( Rasch and Born, 2013 ). The second stage, or N2 sleep, is characterized by the occurrence of distinct sleep spindles and K-complexes in EEG. N2 is responsible for the consolidation of declarative memories ( Marshall and Born, 2007 ). The third stage of sleep N3, also known as slow wave sleep (SWS), is characterized by low-frequency brain activity, slow oscillations, and high amplitude. The slow oscillations which define the deepest stage of sleep are trademark rhythms of NREM sleep. These slow oscillations are delta waves combined to indicate slow wave activity (SWA), which is implicated in memory consolidation ( Tononi and Cirelli, 2003 ; Stickgold, 2005 ; Kim et al., 2019 ). Sleep spindles are another trademark defining NREM sleep ( Stickgold, 2005 ). Ripples are high-frequency bursts, and when combined with irregularly occurring sharp waves (high amplitude), they form the sharp-wave ripple (SWR). These spindles and the SWRs coordinate the reactivation and redistribution of hippocampus-dependent memories to neocortical sites ( Ngo et al., 2020 ; Girardeau and Lopes-dos-Santos, 2021 ). The third stage is also responsible for the consolidation of procedural memories, such as habits and motor skills ( Diekelmann and Born, 2010 ). During SWS, there is minimal cholinergic activity and intermediate noradrenergic activity ( Datta and MacLean, 2007 ).

Finally, the fourth stage of sleep is REM sleep, characterized by phasic REMs and muscle atonia ( Reyes-Resina et al., 2021 ). During REM sleep, there is high cholinergic activity, serotonergic and noradrenergic activity are at a minimum, and high theta activity ( Datta and MacLean, 2007 ). REM sleep is also characterized by local increases in plasticity-related immediate-early gene activity, which might favor the subsequent synaptic consolidation of memories in the cortex ( Ribeiro, 2007 ; Diekelmann and Born, 2010 ; Reyes-Resina et al., 2021 ). The fourth stage of sleep is responsible for the consolidation of emotional memories and the integration of newly acquired memories into existing knowledge structures ( Rasch and Born, 2013 ). Studies indicate that the cholinergic system plays an imperative role in modifying these processes by toggling the entire thalamo-cortico-hippocampal network between distinct modes, namely high Ach encoding mode during active wakefulness and REM sleep and low Ach consolidation mode during quiet wakefulness and NREM sleep ( Bergmann and Staresina, 2017 ; Li et al., 2020 ). Consequently, improving neocortical hippocampal communication results in efficient memory encoding/synaptic plasticity, whereas hippocampo-neocortical interactions favor better systemic memory consolidation ( Diekelmann and Born, 2010 ).

The dual process hypothesis of memory consolidation posits that SWS facilitates declarative, hippocampus-dependent memory, whereas REM sleep facilitates non-declarative hippocampus-independent memory ( Maquet, 2001 ; Diekelmann and Born, 2010 ). On the other hand, the sequential hypothesis states that different sleep stages play a sequential role in memory consolidation. Memories are encoded during wakefulness, consolidated during NREM sleep, and further processed and integrated during REM sleep ( Rasch and Born, 2013 ). However, there is evidence present that contradicts the sequential hypothesis. A study by Goerke et al. (2013) found that declarative memories can be consolidated during REM sleep, suggesting that the relationship between sleep stages and memory consolidation is much more complex than a sequential model. Moreover, other studies indicate the importance of coordinating specific sleep phases with learning moments for optimal memory retention. This indicates that the timing of sleep has more influence than the specific sleep stages ( Gais et al., 2006 ). The active system consolidation theory suggests that an active consolidation process results from the selective reactivation of memories during sleep; the brain selectively reactivates newly encoded memories during sleep, which enhances and integrates them into the network of pre-existing long-term memories ( Born et al., 2006 ; Howard et al., 2022 ). Research has suggested that slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep have complementary roles in memory consolidation. Declarative and non-declarative memories benefiting differently depending on which sleep stage they rely on ( Bergmann and Staresina, 2017 ). Specifically, during SWS, the brain actively reactivates and reorganizes hippocampo-neocortical memory traces as part of system consolidation. Following this, REM sleep is crucial for stabilizing these reactivated memory traces through synaptic consolidation. While SWS may initiate early plastic processes in hippocampo-neocortical memory traces by “tagging” relevant neocortico-neocortical synapses for later consolidation ( Frey and Morris, 1998 ), long-term plasticity requires subsequent REM sleep ( Rasch and Born, 2007 , 2013 ).

The active system consolidation hypothesis is not the only mechanism proposed for memory consolidation during sleep. The synaptic homeostasis hypothesis proposes that sleep is necessary for restoring synaptic homeostasis, which is challenged by synaptic strengthening triggered by learning during wake and synaptogenesis during development ( Tononi and Cirelli, 2014 ). The synaptic homeostasis hypothesis assumes consolidation is a by-product of the global synaptic downscaling during sleep ( Puentes-Mestril and Aton, 2017 ). The two models are not mutually exclusive, and the hypothesized processes probably act in concert to optimize the memory function of sleep ( Diekelmann and Born, 2010 ).

Non-rapid eye movement sleep plays an essential role in the systems consolidation of memories, with evidence showing that different oscillations are involved in this process ( Düzel et al., 2010 ). With an oscillatory sequence initiated by a slow frontal cortex oscillation (0.5–1 Hz) traveling to the medial temporal lobe and followed by a sharp-wave ripple (SWR) in the hippocampus (100–200 Hz). Replay activity of memories can be measured during this oscillatory sequence across various regions, including the motor cortex and visual cortex ( Ji and Wilson, 2006 ; Eichenlaub et al., 2020 ). Replay activity of memory refers to the phenomenon where the hippocampus replays previously experienced events during sharp wave ripples (SWRs) and theta oscillations ( Zielinski et al., 2018 ). During SWRs, short, transient bursts of high-frequency oscillations occur in the hippocampus. During theta oscillations, hippocampal spikes are ordered according to the locations of their place fields during behavior. These sequential activities are thought to play a role in memory consolidation and retrieval ( Zielinski et al., 2018 ). The paper by Zielinski et al. (2018) suggests that coordinated hippocampal-prefrontal representations during replay and theta sequences play complementary and overlapping roles at different stages in learning, supporting memory encoding and retrieval, deliberative decision-making, planning, and guiding future actions.

Additionally, the high-frequency oscillations of SWR reactivate groups of neurons attributed to spatial information encoding to align synchronized activity across an array of neural structures, which results in distributed memory creation ( Swanson et al., 2020 ; Girardeau and Lopes-dos-Santos, 2021 ). Parallel to this process is slow oscillation or slow-wave activity within cortical regions, which reflects synced neural firing and allows regulation of synaptic weights, which is in accordance with the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis (SHY). The SHY posits that downscaling synaptic strengths help incorporate new memories by avoiding saturation of resources during extended periods–features validated by discoveries where prolonged wakefulness boosts amplitude while it diminishes during stretches of enhanced sleep ( Girardeau and Lopes-dos-Santos, 2021 ).

During REM sleep, the brain experiences “paradoxical” sleep due to the similarity in activity to wakefulness. This stage plays a significant role in memory processing. Theta oscillations which are dominant during REM sleep, are primarily observed in the hippocampus, and these are involved in memory consolidation ( Landmann et al., 2014 ). There has been evidence of coherence between theta oscillations in the hippocampus, medial frontal cortex, and amygdala, which support their involvement in memory consolidation ( Popa et al., 2010 ). During REM sleep, phasic events such as ponto-geniculo-occipital waves originating from the brainstem coordinate activity across various brain structures and may contribute to memory consolidation processes ( Rasch and Born, 2013 ). Research has suggested that sleep-associated consolidation may be mediated by the degree of overlap between new and already known material whereby, if the acquired information is similar to the information one has learned, it is more easily consolidated during sleep ( Tamminen et al., 2010 ; Sobczak, 2017 ).

In conclusion, understanding more about how the brains cycle through different stages of sleep, including specific wave patterns, offers valuable insight into the ability to store memories effectively. While NREM sleep is associated with SWRs and slow oscillations, facilitating memory consolidation and synaptic downscaling, REM sleep, characterized by theta oscillations and phasic events, contributes to memory reconsolidation and the coordination of activity across brain regions. By exploring the interactions between sleep stages, oscillations, and memory processes, one may learn more about how sleep impacts brain function and cognition in greater detail.

Century has passed since we addressed memory, and several notable findings have moved from bench-to-bedside research. Several cross-talks between multidiscipline have been encouraged. Nevertheless, further research is needed into neurobiological mechanisms of non-declarative memory, such as conditioning ( Gallistel and Balsam, 2014 ). Modern research indicates that structural change that encodes information is likely at the level of the synapse, and the computational mechanisms are implemented at the level of neural circuitry. However, it also suggests that intracellular mechanisms realized at the molecular level, such as micro RNAs, should not be discounted as potential mechanisms. However, further research is needed to study the molecular and structural changes brought on by implicit memory ( Gallistel and Balsam, 2014 ).

The contribution of non-human animal studies toward our understanding of memory processes cannot be understated; hence recognizing their value is vital for moving forward. While this paper predominantly focused on cognitive neuroscience perspectives, some articles cited within this paper were sourced from non-human animal studies providing fundamental groundwork and identification of critical mechanisms relevant to human memories. A need persists for further investigation—primarily with humans—which can validate existing findings from non-human animals. Moving forward, it is prudent for researchers to bridge the gap between animal and human investigations done while exploring parallels and exploring unique aspects of human memory processes. By integrating findings from both domains, one can gain a more comprehensive understanding of the complexities of memory and its underlying neural mechanisms. Such investigations will broaden the horizon of our memory process and answer the complex nature of memory storage.

This paper attempted to provide an overview and summarize memory and its processes. The paper focused on bringing the cognitive neuroscience perspective on memory and its processes. This may provide the readers with the understanding, limitations, and research perspectives of memory mechanisms.

Data availability statement

Author contributions.

SS and MKA: conceptualization, framework, and manuscript writing. AK: review and editing of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank students and Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR) office staff for their conditional and unconditional support. We also thank the Memory and Anxiety Research Group (MARG), IIT Roorkee for its constant support.

Funding Statement

MKA was supported by the F.I.G. grant (IITR/SRIC/2741). The funding agency had no role in the preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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clock This article was published more than  3 years ago

Cramming may help for next-day exams. But for long-term memory, spacing out study is what works.

At the end of even this strangest of academic semesters, final exams loom and — as always — students will cram for these tests, resulting often in short-lived success followed by enduring forgetfulness.

When surveyed , students claim to know that cramming isn’t the best approach, but many persist in it anyway. Procrastination isn’t the only reason. Studies have found that cramming can lead to better outcomes on test day than the same number of study-hours would, spread out. But in the weeks, months and years after students put their pencils down, the relative advantages of a spaced-out study strategy assert themselves. Much of what crammers forget, as they dive into the next semester, spacers tend to retain .

Cognitive scientists call the phenomenon responsible for this state of affairs the spacing effect. Today, thanks to more than a century’s worth of effort, they have assembled a remarkably detailed picture of how memory works, with the spacing effect standing front and center. It appears to be so important that introducing a bit of space into one’s study or practice schedule can improve long-term outcomes for just about anyone, at any age, trying to learn almost anything.

In 1885, the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus sketched the spacing effect’s first outlines through a self-experiment that involved memorizing and forgetting mind-numbingly long lists of nonsensical syllables. The effect’s existence has since become one of the most robust findings in all of experimental psychology. Spaced study schedules improve students’ long-term retention across subjects including the sciences , math , new languages and vocabulary . It doesn’t apply to only school-age kids: It has also been documented in people as old as 76 and as young as 8 weeks . (Researchers can’t expect infants to pore over textbooks, but can compare how well they remember certain bodily tricks, such as kicking a device that moves a mobile hanging over their crib.)

Athletes , musicians — even surgeons — can also harness the spacing effect to improve their motor skills.

In one study from 2006, surgical residents learning to splice tiny blood vessels in rats were trained in either a spaced sequence — one session a week, for four weeks — or all at once, blasting through all four sessions in a single, “massed,” block. Expert evaluators awarded higher scores to the space-trained residents’ work. Meanwhile, only in the massed-practice group did some trainees tear their furry patients’ arteries so badly that they had to call off the exercise.

Findings from outside our species are even more striking. Our closest animal relatives exhibit the spacing effect as they navigate laboratory memory tasks. In one 1973 study , for instance, when researchers taught gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees to tap certain photographs for a food reward, spaced training outperformed massed in terms of helping the apes remember which photos to touch. The space effect also is seen among some of our most distant animal relations, including honeybees , when trained to hungrily extend their feeding tube in response to various odors, their memory lasted longer after spaced training. The spacing effect even turns up in the tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans , which can be taught to flee chemicals that normally wouldn’t bother it.

C. elegans boasts only 302 neurons, compared with the human brain’s 86 billion . To researchers seeking to explain how and why the spacing effect occurs, it is telling that even this relative handful of cells can produce it. It hints that the origins of the spacing effect might be tangled up in the roots of memory itself.

In the theory of memory most widely accepted by cognitive scientists, information is preserved in patterns of selectively strengthened synapses: the microscopic junctions where neurons communicate with one another. Intriguingly, a number of the molecular mechanisms involved in fortifying and preserving synapse strength appear to require significant downtime between bouts of activity. To scientists working at such minute scales, these “recharging” periods are strong candidates for the source of the spacing effect.

But molecular and cellular neuroscientists aren’t the only ones who have their sights on spacing. So do cognitive psychologists, who are concerned less with how individual neurons work than how their collective activity in the brain supports thought.

In one prevailing explanation, having an item stored in your memory doesn’t necessarily mean you can easily retrieve it; sometimes, for instance, it remains perched on the “tip of your tongue,” just out of reach. To render memories more retrievable, it helps to practice recalling them, but there’s a catch. Retrieval practice works best when the memory in question is no longer fresh — and that requires the passage of time

Robert Bjork, distinguished research professor of cognitive psychology at UCLA, likes to use a cocktail party to explain this. Say “you really want to try to remember the names of the people you’re meeting,” he said in an interview for our book “Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn.” To remember a new name, people sometimes quickly “repeat it over and over to themselves. Not out loud, of course.” Unfortunately, he said, “that won’t do anything as far as creating long-term learning.” You can’t practice retrieving such a recent memory for the same reason an angler can’t reel in a trout that’s already lying at their feet — when it’s so close at hand, there’s no meaningful retrieval left to be done.

When you allow some time to elapse, however, recalling that memory becomes more difficult, as plausible, rival associations begin to creep in. (Was his name Jim, Jake or John?)

Counterintuitively, such moments of mild forgetfulness create an opportunity to reinforce the memory for the long term. Assuming you do successfully manage to recall Jim’s name, that act of retrieval can clear away those competing associations and grant long-lasting access to that memory.

“At some time later, looking across the room and retrieving what that person’s name is,” Bjork said, “can be a really powerful event in terms of your ability to recall that name later that evening or the next day.”

Whether viewed from the perspective of cellular neuroscience or cognitive psychology (or even at a level somewhere in between: brain scientists are now also in the hunt) the spacing effect continues to maintain its starring role in theories of how we remember. The effect is so pervasive that it may be best considered a feature of memory, not a bug.

Forgetfulness in the wake of a one-off event often comes in handy, Bjork said, letting us blissfully forget, for instance, “the name of an over-talkative seatmate on a flight.”

Meanwhile, the spacing effect makes it easier to hold on to information we encounter repeatedly, which might prove useful in the future — such as “the name of a book recommended by each of one’s seatmates on two different flights,” he says.

Any learner can apply techniques to break up massed learning — otherwise known as cramming — and create stronger memories.

Take golf, for example: “Just watch people on a driving range sometimes,” Bjork said. “It’s almost nothing but block practice.” Instead of using the same club over and over again, he recommended players switch clubs frequently, which forces them to do the hard, salutary work of mentally “reloading” their swing each time, while preventing them from settling into a comfortable but counterproductive groove.

In a bitter twist, however, one setting where spacing would be especially beneficial — school — is usually set up in a way that disincentivizes it. In its traditional forms at least, school tends to reward cramming. It bestows outsized rewards for performance on test day, and little for checking in on past subjects.

Given the extreme pressure now incumbent on students, teachers and parents, this may not be the best year to tinker any more with school schedules than the coronavirus pandemic is requiring.

But next year, as, with any luck, we return to the embrace of familiar educational institutions and practices, it may make sense for schools to step back and reassess which long-standing norms truly nurture learning, and which stand in its way.

If they do — putting less emphasis on high-stakes finals, perhaps, and more on multidisciplinary projects and other assignments that reference prior learning — then perhaps our semiannual rite of cramming will someday meet the same fate it currently imposes, and be forgotten.

Sanjay Sarma and Luke Yoquinto are co-authors of “ Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn .” Sarma is the head of MIT Open Learning. Yoquinto is a research associate at the MIT AgeLab.

Studying for exams? Here’s how to make your memory work for you

Lecturer, Australian Catholic University

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Amina Youssef-Shalala does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Australian Catholic University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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Have you ever thought about how your brain works when you study? Knowing this may improve your ability to retain and recall information.

There are three main memory structures: sensory, working and long-term memory. Using these tips, you can activate all three to enhance how you study.

1. Try to learn the same content in different ways

Activating your sensory memory is the first step. Sensory memory relies on the senses, which I’m sure you know are sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.

So think about it – to activate your sensory memory, you should activate as many senses as possible. We mainly use visual and and auditory (sound) aids when learning but many subject areas also make use of more than these two senses. For example, visual arts would require touch.

Instead of just reading your textbook, try learning using podcasts, visual aids such as posters, presentations and online blogs.

When we activate our sensory memory , we engage in the processes of attention and perception.

Humans must pay attention to learn and the more cognitive resources we allocate to a task, at any given time, the faster we learn. This is why it makes sense to study in an environment conducive to learning, such as a quiet room in your home or library.

Sensory and working memory are so limited , learners need to allocate their resources to important information as selectively as possible and with minimal distraction.

Read more: Study habits for success: tips for students

How we interpret information is based on what we already know and our prior experiences. One way we can make use of this is by sharing knowledge with someone else before starting a new or unfamiliar task. So, try to review what you’ve learnt with a friend or parent before going on to learn something new.

If you don’t understand something in the first instance, it may be because you haven’t paid enough attention or you haven’t perceived the question or problem correctly. Try to clear your mind (take a break) and consciously think about how much attention you are paying to the question.

If that still doesn’t work, ask for advice or seek help to ensure you are on the right track.

2. Learn easier parts first, then build on them

After a learner perceives and pays attention to learning material, the information is transferred to working memory. This is where your conscious processing takes place .

When you are sitting an exam, your working memory is what decides what your answer is going to be and how you are going to structure your response.

What many learners don’t realise is that, after a long period of study, you can begin to feel like you are not learning as much as you initially did. This is due to what is known as cognitive overload .

Your working memory can only hold a limited number of bits of information at any given time. The exact size of these bits depends on your level of prior knowledge. For example, a child learning the alphabet won’t have much prior knowledge, so each letter is stored individually as, say, 26 bits. As they become more familiar, the letters come together to become one bit.

Read more: Comic explainer: how memory works

For your working memory to be more efficient, consider the type of information you are learning. Is it low or high in the “bits” department? Is what you are trying to learn something you need to master before you can move on to more challenging parts? If the answer is “yes”, then you are using up a lot of “bits” of memory.

Try master the smaller bits first, so you can recall that information more swiftly without using unnecessary cognitive resources. Then move on to the harder bits.

This type of mastery is known as automation.

Learning something to the point it becomes an automatic thought or process allows the learner to then allocate more cognitive resources to tasks that use up more memory “bits”. This is why at school, we’re encouraged to learn our multiplication tables off by heart, so we free-up cognitive resources to solve the more difficult maths problems.

Working memory is limited, which is why you want to get the information into your long-term memory, which has infinite storage capacity .

For information to be stored there permanently, you must engage in the process of encoding. A lot of things teachers make you do, such as past papers and writing an essay plan, are actually encoding strategies.

Another encoding strategy is the Pomodoro technique . Here, you use a timer to break down study into intervals, usually 25 minutes, separated by short breaks. Used effectively, Pomodoro can reduce anxiety, enhance focus and boost motivation.

Read more: We're capable of infinite memory, but where in the brain is it stored, and what parts help retrieve it?

What you do at the time of encoding affects the transfer of information from your long-term memory to your working memory, which then gives you answers to questions. You remember better when when conditions at the retrieval match those at encoding.

This is why when we study, we often like to replicate a quiet environment to study in, because it’s going to be similar to the exam setting.

3. Link new information to things you already know

Instead of reviewing exam notes, try to explain what you’ve learnt to someone with no knowledge of the content. If you are capable of teaching someone effectively that means you yourself have a sound understanding.

Your long-term memory generally has infinite capacity, but it’s only a storage structure. So, just because you have something stored there, doesn’t mean you can effectively and efficiently retrieve it.

Most of us have had the experience of studying but then not being able to retrieve the information we’ve learnt. Or we’ve retrieved the information incorrectly, meaning we got the wrong answer.

Read more: HSC exam guide: what to eat to help your brain

This may be because we learnt the material on a shallow level, as opposed to a deeper level of processing. Rote learning material the night before means we haven’t linked the information to the established knowledge structure.

You can help yourself by linking new information to old information you already have stored in your long-term memory, such as by drawing an analogy between the new thing and something you already know.

Knowing all this about memory helps you understand why some methods of study are more or less effective than others. Studying for exams or not, it is important we think about how our brain functions and how we, as individuals, learn best.

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Studying Studying: Memory Tips from Psychology

With finals season approaching, a sense of dread sets in every time I take notes in lecture—how am I supposed to remember all of this information at once? Often the prospect of beginning the study process is so overwhelming that organizing all the information seems almost impossible.

As I mentioned in one of my previous  posts , I’ve realized that a lot of my psychology research and coursework have provided many useful tips to make studying as effective and efficient as possible. I have compiled a few here to help you get started and hopefully feel more comfortable diving into studying when reading period comes around.

1. Know where to devote your time – As my final research project for my cognitive psychology class revealed, memory of complex stimuli—things that contain many small details or are particularly abstract—is best following a few long exposures, while memory of simple stimuli—those that contain small amounts of information and are fairly concrete—is best following a lot of short exposures. So, what does this mean for studying? For concepts that you feel like you know well, it would be most beneficial to study those concepts multiple times for short periods of time. But, for concepts that are more complex and challenging for you, you should try to study for longer, but fewer periods of time.

2. Break up information into manageable sections – This is a strategy known as “chunking” in psychology. Research has shown that the human brain can hold just about 7 items in short-term memory at a time. But before you freak out—this does not mean that you are doomed and will only be able to remember 7 important dates for your history final. This number 7 is not as limiting as it may seem. Instead, imagine 7 slots available for you to store information, but each of these slots doesn’t have to be filled with only one, small fact. It all depends on how you group information; for example, you can fill these 7 slots with 7 large concepts that include a lot more detailed information within them. Try to find a way to break up all the information in a class into no more than 7 meaningful sections and use those sections to ground your studying.

3. Be deliberate about where you study – When you remember something, you are retrieving it from your memory. This retrieval can be aided by certain cues that are associated with the initial formation or encoding of the memory. One of these cues is context, i.e. where you first encoded the memory. So, if I am taking my psychology exam and I can’t remember the answer to a question, if I can remember where I studied, thinking about that place may help me remember the memory I am looking for. I use this strategy especially when I am studying for two classes that are somewhat similar—for example two psychology classes. Sometimes I will get confused about what material goes with each class, but if I separate my studying for each class by location, those different locations help me differentiate the material itself and remember it better.

I am lucky enough to be studying a discipline that embeds these enlightening nuggets of information into the coursework. I hope that these tips are helpful to you and encourage you to be mindful of what and how you are learning throughout the semester in order to develop the most effective strategies for each of your classes.

— Ellie Breitfeld, Natural Sciences Correspondent

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BEST Memorisation Techniques For Exams: The Secret Science Of How To Remember What You Study

by William Wadsworth | Feb 28, 2019

by William Wadsworth

The Cambridge-educated memory psychologist & study coach on a mission to help YOU ace your exams . Helping half a million students in 175+ countries every year to study smarter, not harder. Supercharge your studies today with our time-saving, grade-boosting “genius” study tips sheet .

Pretty recently – the last decade or so – scientists have reached broad agreement that there is one memorisation technique for exams and tests that, above all others, will solve the age-old question of how to remember what you study.

Before I tell you what the technique is, I was shocked to learn that as few as 7% of college-level students (and possibly even fewer students at high school) say they are using this technique as their main revision strategy.

So what’s the technique?

It’s called “ retrieval practice ”, and it’s based on the act of trying to pull information out of your memory.

It seems counter-intuitive at first that trying to remember something helps you to learn it, but you’ll be astonished at how powerful this strategy can be for getting information locked away in memory, ready for when you need it.

Read on to discover:

• how retrieval practice works
• why it’s so useful
• and precisely how you should be using retrieval practice memorisation techniques to prepare for exams – including some common mistakes people often make when applying it.

What is “retrieval practice” and how can it help you to remember what you study?

When psychologists talk about “retrieving” something from memory, they mean recalling it, or remembering it. So “retrieval practice” just means practising remembering a piece of information you previously read, heard or saw.

A common misunderstanding – one I held myself for many years when studying for exams in high school – is that testing yourself on what you know only serves to “check” how much you know at that point, i.e. it won’t help you actually learn information.

We now know that’s not true.

A gigantic review of hundreds of studies testing how well various memorisation techniques prepared students for exams or tests concluded that, above all other techniques, retrieval practice (or “practice testing” as the review called it) was the most powerful.

The results from many of these studies were astonishing: students often improved by a whole grade (or more!) when learning using retrieval practice.

Part of the problem is that our own intuitions as students about what learning techniques are working for us are often flawed.

I highly recommend you take a look at a guest post I’ve written for my friends at Titanium Tutors, where I explain a fascinating experiment that beautifully demonstrates how our intuitions often lead to us making bad decisions about how to revise – and what we can do about it.

Benefits of using retrieval practice to learn for exams, and how it helps you to learn information

Retrieval practice works in a number of ways:

• Helps you lock information into memory: the very act of pulling a piece of information out of your memory means you can remember it more easily later on.
• Helps you find the gaps in your knowledge: by testing yourself, you’ll have a better idea of what you know and where you need to do more work.
• Helps you apply information to new contexts: it’s not just about learning the facts, studying using retrieval practice makes it more likely that you will be able to figure out unfamiliar problems based on what you know, make leaps of intuition, and apply knowledge in new ways. These are all skills often demanded by the questions that unlock top marks in exams.

The first of these is probably the most important of these effects, but also the most surprising: it can seem strange at first that simply trying to remember something will strengthen your memory of that information, making it easier to remember it later.

But think of it like this: a big chunk of success in most exams comes down to simply being able to remember the information from your course. In other words, the exam tests your memory of what you learned.

Let me give you an analogy. If you’re training for the Olympics, you’ll train for your chosen sport first and foremost by practising that sport .

For example:

If you’re a long jumper, your most important training will be practising jumping.

But if you’re a weightlifter, your most important training will be practising lifting weights.

And if you’re a 100m runner, your most important training will be practising sprinting.

So given that, if you’re a student preparing for exams that are largely tests of memory, your most important training should be practising remembering information .

Sure, you’ll need to do other things too – the runner will need to spend time in the gym doing leg exercises, and the student will need to spend time (re-)reading unfamiliar material, or working on their exam technique, or how they structure their essays. But the focus for getting knowledge under your belt and into your memory should be retrieval practice.

I often say to my more sporty students that the moment in which you’re trying to remember a fact is the “rep” (a “rep” is a single component of an exercise that makes you stronger – a single press-up, a single bicep curl, or a single pull-up in a set).

Fascinatingly, whether you succeed in pulling the fact you’re searching for out of your memory or not, you’ll still have done some good !

How to memorise for exams with retrieval practice strategies

So how to apply all of this when studying?

Here are some of my favourite retrieval practice based memorisation techniques for exams and tests you can start using today:

• Write what you know from memory on a blank sheet: a plain sheet of paper is a very under-rated study tool! Put your books away, then scribble down everything you can remember about a topic. After you’ve squeezed out as much as you can from memory, you might like to go back and add in any missing details in a different coloured pen. Next time you train yourself on this topic, aim to have fewer missing details – until you have none at all come the week before the exam!
• Draw concept maps from memory: a slightly more sophisticated variant on the “blank sheet” method is drawing concept maps based on what you know of a topic. A concept map links ideas together visually, putting ideas in boxes, and linking them together with arrows to show how they relate. Unlike mind maps, they are quick to draw, placing more importance on getting the right information down on the page, with a sensible structure around it, rather than spending too long making the final result sumptuously beautiful (I know it’s fun… but you’re not going to be graded on your artwork at the end of the day! Unless you’re studying Art, of course…) Here’s an example of a concept map summarising what you might need to know about rates of reaction in chemistry:

Got stuck sequencing my GCSE rates lessons until I made a concept map inspired by @Mr_Raichura ’s #CogSciSci talk. It works! pic.twitter.com/a7oRW1IueW — Elizabeth Mountstevens (@DrMountstevens) August 18, 2018

• Practice questions: Work through exercises from your text book or revision guide. Answer real exam questions. Or even make up your own quiz questions – I know some students who like to revise by first reading through their notes, making a list of their own “quiz questions” they know they will need to be able to answer to prove they know that topic properly. Then they put their notes away, and take the quiz.
• Train with flash cards: start by making them, and then use them! Flash cards are my favourite way to learn large amounts of information quickly, and through long experience (both my own, and coaching students), there are some very specific steps you need to take to get the most out of studying with flash cards.

Psst… why not grab a free copy of my “science of learning cheat sheet”, which includes a deep-dive “DOs and DONTs” to get the most out of retrieval practice techniques like flash cards:

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Whichever of these techniques you’re using, keep your notes away until you’ve had a good try at remembering. Then you can check your notes (or the mark scheme, if you’re doing past exam questions) and give yourself feedback on where you went wrong.

This feedback step, understanding where you missed things or slipped up, is a very important part of the overall learning process, so don’t skimp on it.

If you find you can’t reliably remember a particular aspect of a topic, you’ll know to prioritise giving that issue some extra time until you have it nailed.

Don’t make these mistakes when using retrieval practice

Even the best memory techniques in the world won’t work properly if not applied correctly. Some traps to avoid when you’re using retrieval practice techniques in your studies:

1. Some difficulty is good, but if it’s too hard, make it easier…

If you can barely remember anything in a topic, no matter how hard you try, you probably need to back up a step.

Going back and re-reading your notes at this point is OK, and if you’re struggling to go from re-reading to remembering at least a good chunk of what you’ve just read, you need to break it up into smaller chunks.

Take what you’re trying to learn one segment at a time, get comfortable retrieving each segment on its own, then start to string them together.

Or for tricky memory jobs, try using intermediate prompts as “stepping stones” to jog your memory while also giving it space to do at least some retrieval practice. 

Here are a few fun and creative ideas for how you could use “stepping stones” in practice, to build up gradually to remembering the whole thing from scratch. The video is about remembering English literature quotes (hard!), but some of the ideas here could easily be applied to other subjects, from recalling maths formulas to learning anatomical terms:

2. But if it’s too easy, you need to make it harder

On the other hand, if you break something up so small that it becomes trivial to remember, you’re not giving yourself enough of a memory workout and the benefits will be limited.

Say you’re trying to learn the formula for a chemical compound – you could learn it one atom at a time, and test yourself on each atom in the seconds after looking at it. With such small amounts of information and no delay before trying to remember it, you won’t even break a sweat as you recall each atom perfectly – but what you’ve learned won’t stick in memory for long.

So if it feels too easy, try going for larger chunks of knowledge, or leaving more of a gap between re-reading information and doing retrieval practice on it.

3. Don’t let yourself get away with not fully knowing something!

Let’s say you’re working with flashcards. You might feel like you almost knew it, flip the card, find something familiar, and say “ah yes, I did know that”.

But beware! You didn’t, did you?

Train with discipline: give yourself a good moment to rummage through your brain for the information, and if it’s not there, note it down as a missed effort and come back to it again.

Remember, even failing to remember something is useful memory training as long as you gave it a good try!

Though obviously your goal is to succeed in remembering things, so pay special attention to the things you couldn’t remember at the end of the session, and in your review at the end of the day.

4. Remembering something once doesn’t prove you’ll know it forever

Just because you know it today, doesn’t mean you’ll remember it tomorrow, or next week. Some scientists recommend aiming for at least 3 successful retrieval attempts before deciding you “know” something – though you might need more, depending on how long you’ve got before your exam, and how complex the information is.

5. If you’re trying to remember something complex, write it down

If you’re trying to remember a long formula, big number, quote, list, or diagram, you won’t be able to hold it all in your brain at once.

Say you need to remember a list of 7 factors.

By the time you’re trying to remember the sixth item, you can’t be sure whether you’re remembering a sixth that you hadn’t already thought of, or whether you’re actually just re-listing one of the items you’d already come up with!

So get the component parts out of your head and down on a sheet of paper as you think of them, so your memory is freed up to focus on remembering the missing information, and you can be certain you’ve got it all.

At first, retrieval practice won’t feel like the easiest way to memorise for exams, but stick with it!

You’re in elite study territory now: any student that decides to apply all of this properly will have a massive head-start on their peers when it comes to learning information for their exams.

Retrieval practice is incredibly powerful, but, let’s be honest, trying to pull information out of your brain is going to feel like harder work than just sitting back and re-reading your notes again!

A lot of students feel they prefer other ways to study for your exams: re-reading, highlighting, making notes or summarising are all very popular choices.

But here’s the thing:

Our own intuitions about what study techniques work best are really bad! Studies have repeatedly shown that “feel good” study methods that students like best (probably because they don’t take quite so much effort!) are having relatively small benefits, comparing to slightly more effortful but much more effective memorisation techniques for exams like retrieval practice.

Trust the science, and give it a go: you will be astonished at the results!

Ooooh, and just before you go… don’t leave without your copy of my “Science of Learning Cheat Sheet”: my four all-time fave strategies for studying smarter. Retrieval practice is absolutely on the list – but make sure you check out the other techniques too!

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18 Comments

This is an interesting and informative post on memorization techniques that can help students remember what they study during exams. It’s great to know about the science behind effective memory retention, and I look forward to learning more from this article.

How do you do the method on a day before your exam?

How can I remember what I read on the day of exam

1. Re. how to do the methods the day before an exam – it’s exactly the same. You might also like to check out my guide to exam-week / test-taking technique https://geni.us/exams .

2. Re. how to remember what you read on the day of the exam: “READ” is the key word that jumped out at me here! If all you’re doing is reading, it’s really hard to remember. Check out more effective study methods at https://examstudyexpert.com/how-to-study-effectively/

Am definitely trying out the retrieval practice cos am about to write an exam

Brilliant – good luck with it! It will probably feel hard at first – that feeling is the feeling of your memory building, keep going 🙂

Thanks for this enlightening . It really open my understanding to some things that u have been doing that are actually mKingm my brain weaker

Okay, this is seriously the first time I actually really enjoyed what I was reading and continued it till the end (considering English is not my mother language and I normally get tired and bored pretty fast). I also listened to one of your podcasts. Your content is really fascinating and helpful. Thank you.

That’s lovely feedback – thank you so much for sharing, Florentina. I hope you’re finding some useful ideas – anything else we can do to support, just let me know!

This was one of the first articles I read from this website – and I’m so glad I did! Tried and tested these tips myself and they work wonders – smart studying is the way to go 🙂

This is one of the most incredible blogs I’ve read in a very long time. The amount of information here is stunning. Great stuff; please keep it up!

I’ve been using retrieval practice for several years, after reading about it in a book by researchers in the field. Some other things that are necessary: 1. Retrieval practice is great for improving factual information for factual exams, but is less helpful for exams that require applying remembered knowledge to new situations. The main issue here is that students need to do more than just remember things, they need to apply that knowledge. So: 2. Practice applying remembered information to new situations. 3. When doing “brain dumps” or “mind maps” filling in the missing information is important, but students should also _correct_ their mistakes. 4. A related method that I use: write questions in the margins of lecture notes and Powerpoint slides related to the information in the slide. 5. After reading the slide, and writing and reading back the question, ask yourself to answer the question. And, ask your, “What did I just learn in this slide (or paragraph or abstract or paper or movie or video or flash card)?

I should add, 6. All of this takes time, so don’t cram or study at the last minute. 7. Check out the “Method of Inquiry” (related to my point #4) from researchers at Ryerson University in Canada.

Thanks for such a quality comment, Beccles. Are you a current student? Would love to do a mini-interview (5-10 mins) with you for the Exam Study Expert podcast about your experiences with retrieval practice, and your tips for success. Would you be up for that? ( https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exam-study-expert-study-tips-psychology-hacks-to-learn/id1456034719 )

Great tips for students!

I am preparing for my exam that I failed once. I was into feel good study mode, and now I discover this retrieval process. I will use this from now on and will try to stick with it. Better to stick with a scientific proven methods than repeating my feel good technique which didnt give me results.

Wishing you every success in your re-take! If you come up against any questions on using the techniques, I’m always happy to try and answer them – put them here or drop me an email ( https://examstudyexpert.com/about/contact/ ).

Good luck 🙂

Thank you for sharing this excellent article. I used this article to show my assignment in college. Excellent job.

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12 Studying, Memory, and Test Taking: Introduction

Student Survey

How confident are you in preparing for and taking tests? Take this quick survey to figure it out, ranking questions on a scale of 1–4, 1 meaning “least like me” and 4 meaning “most like me.” These questions will help you determine how the chapter concepts relate to you right now. As you are introduced to new concepts and practices, it can be informative to reflect on how your understanding changes over time. We’ll revisit these questions at the end of the chapter to see whether your feelings have changed.

• I set aside enough time to prepare for tests.
• If I don’t set aside enough time, or if life gets in the way, I can usually cram and get positive results.
• I prefer to pull all-nighters. The adrenaline and urgency help me remember what I need come test time.
• I study my notes, highlight book passages, and use flash cards, but I still don’t feel like I’m as successful as I should be on tests.

You can also take the  Chapter 6 Survey  anonymously online.

STUDENT PROFILE

“I didn’t have to study much for tests in high school, but I learned really quick that you have to for college. One of the best strategies is to test yourself over the material. This will help you improve your retrieval strength and help you remember more when it comes to the test. I also learned about reviewing your graded tests. This will help you see where you went wrong and why. Being able to see your mistakes and correct them helps the storage and retrieval strength as well as building those dendrites. Getting a question wrong will only improve those things helping you remember the next time it comes up.”

—Lilli Branstetter , University of Central Arkansas

About this Chapter

By the time you finish this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

• Outline the importance of memory when studying, and note some opportunities to strengthen memory.
• Discuss specific ways to increase the effectiveness of studying.
• Articulate test-taking strategies that minimize anxiety and maximize results.

Kerri didn’t need to study in high school. She made good grades, and her friends considered her lucky because she never seemed to sweat exams or cram. In reality, Kerri did her studying during school hours, took excellent notes in class, asked great questions, and read the material before class meetings—all of these are excellent strategies. Kerri just seemed to do them without much fuss.

Then when she got to college, those same skills weren’t always working as well. Sound familiar? She discovered that, for many classes, she needed to read paragraphs and textbook passages more than once for comprehension. Her notes from class sessions were longer and more involved—the subject material was more complicated and the problems more complex than she had ever encountered. College isn’t high school, as most students realize shortly after enrolling in a higher ed program. Some old study habits and test-taking strategies may serve as a good foundation, but others may need major modification.

It makes sense that, the better you are at studying and test taking, the better results you’ll see in the form of high grades and long-term learning and knowledge acquisition. And the more experience you have using your study and memorization skills and employing success strategies during exams, the better you’ll get at it. But you have to keep it up—maintaining these skills and learning better strategies as the content you study becomes increasingly complex is crucial to your success. Once you transition into a work environment, you will be able to use these same skills that helped you be successful in college as you face the problem-solving demands and expectations of your job. Earning high grades is one goal, and certainly a good one when you’re in college, but true learning means committing content to long-term memory.

Pathways to College Success Copyright © by CWI 101 Leaders is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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14 Tips for Test Taking Success

Worried about getting through your next big exam? Here are 14 test taking strategies that can help you do your best on your next test.

Mary Sharp Emerson

From pop quizzes to standardized tests, exams are an important part of the life of every high school student.

The best way to ensure that you’ll get the grade you want is to understand the material thoroughly. Good test taking skills, however, can help make the difference between a top grade and an average one. Mastering these skills can also help reduce stress and relieve test-taking anxiety. 

In this blog, we’ve divided our tips for test taking into two categories: seven things you can do to prepare for your next exam and seven things you should do once the test begins. We’ve also included four strategies that can help with test taking anxiety.

We hope these test taking tips will help you succeed the next time you are facing an exam, big or small!

Seven Best Strategies for Test Prep

You’ve probably heard the quote (originally credited to Alexander Graham Bell): “Preparation is the key to success.”

When it comes to test taking, these are words to live by. 

Here are the seven best things you can do to make sure you are prepared for your next test.

1. Cultivate Good Study Habits

Understanding and remembering information for a test takes time, so developing good study habits long before test day is really important. 

Do your homework assignments carefully, and turn them in on time. Review your notes daily. Write out your own study guides. Take advantage of any practice tests your teacher gives you, or even create your own. 

These simple steps, when done habitually, will help ensure that you really know your stuff come test day. 

2. Don’t “Cram”

It might seem like a good idea to spend hours memorizing the material you need the night before the test.

In fact, cramming for a test is highly counterproductive. Not only are you less likely to retain the information you need, cramming also increases stress, negatively impacts sleep, and decreases your overall preparedness.

So avoid the temptation to stay up late reviewing your notes. Last minute cramming is far less likely to improve your grade than developing good study habits and getting a good night’s sleep.

3. Gather Materials the Night Before

Before going to bed (early, so you get a good night’s sleep), gather everything you need for the test and have it ready to go. 

Having everything ready the night before will help you feel more confident and will minimize stress on the morning of the test. And it will give you a few extra minutes to sleep and eat a healthy breakfast.

4. Get a Good Night’s Sleep

And speaking of sleep…showing up to your test well-rested is one of the best things you can do to succeed on test day.

Why should you make sleep a priority ? A good night’s sleep will help you think more clearly during the test. It will also make it easier to cope with test-taking stress and anxiety. Moreover, excellent sleep habits have been shown to consolidate memory and improve academic performance, as well as reduce the risk of depression and other mental health disorders. 

5. Eat a Healthy Breakfast

Like sleeping, eating is an important part of self-care and test taking preparation. After all, it’s hard to think clearly if your stomach is grumbling.

As tough as it can be to eat when you’re nervous or rushing out the door, plan time in your morning on test day to eat a healthy breakfast. 

A mix of complex carbohydrates and healthy protein will keep you feeling full without making you feel sluggish. Whole wheat cereal, eggs, oatmeal, berries, and nuts may be great choices (depending on your personal dietary needs and preferences). It’s best to avoid foods that are high in sugar, as they can give you a rush of energy that will wear off quickly, leaving you feeling tired.

And don’t forget to drink plenty of water. If possible, bring a bottle of water with you on test day.

6. Arrive Early

Arriving early at a test location can help decrease stress. And it allows you to get into a positive state of mind before the test starts. 

Choose your seat as soon as possible. Organize your materials so they are readily available when you need them. Make sure you are physically comfortable (as much as possible). 

By settling in early, you are giving yourself time to get organized, relaxed, and mentally ready for the test to begin. Even in a high school setting, maximizing the time you have in the test classroom—even if it’s just a couple of minutes—can help you feel more comfortable, settled, and focused before the test begins. 

7. Develop Positive Rituals

Don’t underestimate the importance of confidence and a positive mindset in test preparation. 

Positive rituals can help combat negative thinking, test anxiety, and lack of focus that can easily undermine your success on test day. Plan some extra time to go for a short walk or listen to your favorite music. Engage in simple breathing exercises. Visualize yourself succeeding on the test. 

Your rituals can be totally unique to you. The important thing is developing a calming habit that will boost your confidence, attitude, and concentration when the test begins.

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Seven Best Test-Taking Tips for Success

You have gotten a good night’s sleep, eaten a healthy breakfast, arrived early, and done your positive test-day ritual. You are ready to start the test! 

Different types of tests require different test taking strategies. You may not want to approach a math test the same way you would an essay test, for example. And some computerized tests such as SATs require you to work through the test in a specific way.

However, there are some general test taking strategies that will improve your chances of getting the grade you want on most, if not all, tests. 

1. Listen to the Instructions

Once the test is front of you, it’s tempting to block everything out so you can get started right away. 

Doing so, however, could cause you to miss out on critical information about the test itself.

The teacher or proctor may offer details about the structure of the test, time limitations, grading techniques, or other items that could impact your approach. They may also point out steps that you are likely to miss or other tips to help improve your chances of success. 

So be sure to pay close attention to their instructions before you get started.

2. Read the Entire Test

If possible, look over the entire test quickly before you get started. Doing so will help you understand the structure of the test and identify areas that may need more or less time. 

Once you read over the test, you can plan out how you want to approach each section of the test to ensure that you can complete the entire test within the allotted time.

3. Do a “Brain Dump”

For certain types of tests, remembering facts, data, or formulas is key. For these tests, it can be helpful to take a few minutes to write down all the information you need on a scrap paper before you get started. 

Putting that important information on paper can relieve stress and help you focus on the test questions without worrying about your ability to recall the facts. And now you have a kind of “cheat sheet” to refer to throughout the test!

4. Answer the Questions You Know First

When possible, do a first pass through the test to answer the “easy” questions or the ones you know right away. When you come to a question that you can’t answer (relatively) quickly, skip it on this first pass. 

Don’t rush through this first pass, but do be mindful of time—you’ll want to leave yourself enough time to go back and answer the questions you skipped. 

* It’s important to remember that this technique is not possible on some tests. Standardized computer-based tests often do not allow you to skip questions and return to them later. On these types of tests, you will need to work through each problem in order instead of skipping around. 

5. Answer the Questions You Skipped

Once you’ve done a first pass, you now have to go back and answer the questions you skipped.

In the best case scenario, you might find some of these questions aren’t as challenging as you thought at first. Your mind is warmed up and you are fully engaged and focused at this point in the test. And answering the questions you know easily may have reminded you of the details you need for these questions.

Of course you may still struggle with some of the questions, and that’s okay. Hopefully doing a first pass somewhat quickly allows you to take your time with the more challenging questions.

6. Be Sure the Test is Complete

Once you think you’ve answered all the questions, double check to make sure you didn’t miss any. Check for additional questions on the back of the paper, for instance, or other places that you might have missed or not noticed during your initial read-through.

A common question is whether you should skip questions that you can’t answer. It’s not possible to answer that question in a general sense: it depends on the specific test and the teacher’s rules. It may also depend on the value of each individual question, and whether your teacher gives partial credit.

But, if you’re not penalized for a wrong answer or you are penalized for leaving an answer blank, it is probably better to put something down than nothing.

7. Check Your Work

Finally, if you have time left, go back through the test and check your answers. 

Read over short answer and essay questions to check for typos, points you may have missed, or better ways to phrase your answers. If there were multiple components to the question, make sure you answered all of them. Double check your answers on math questions in case you made a small error that impacts the final answer. You don’t want to overthink answers, but a doublecheck can help you find—and correct—obvious mistakes.

Four Ways to Cope with Test-Taking Anxiety

Nearly every student gets nervous before a test at some point, especially if the exam is an important one. If you are lucky, your pre-test nervousness is mild and can be mitigated by these test taking tips. 

A mild case of nerves can even be somewhat beneficial (if uncomfortable); the surge of adrenaline at the root of a nervous feeling can keep you focused and energized.

For some students, however, test taking anxiety—a form of performance anxiety—can be debilitating and overwhelming. This level of anxiety can be extremely difficult to cope with. 

However, there are a few things you can do before and during a test to help cope with more severe stress and anxiety:

1. Take a Meditation or Sitting Stretch Break

Take a minute or two before or even during a test to focus on your breathing, relax tense muscles, do a quick positive visualization, or stretch your limbs. The calming effect can be beneficial and worth a few minutes of test time. 

2. Replace Negative Thoughts with Positive Ones

Learn to recognize when your brain is caught in a cycle of negative thinking and practice turning negative thoughts into positive ones. For example, when you catch yourself saying “I’m going to fail”, force yourself to say “I’m going to succeed” instead. With practice, this can be a powerful technique to break the cycle of negative thinking undermining your confidence.

3. Mistakes are Learning Opportunities

It’s easy to get caught up in worrying about a bad grade. Instead, remind yourself that it’s ok to make mistakes. A wrong answer on a test is an opportunity to understand where you need to fill in a gap in your knowledge or spend some extra time studying. 

4. Seek Professional Help

Test taking anxiety is very real and should be taken seriously. If you find that your anxiety does not respond to these calming tips, it’s time to seek professional help. Your guidance counselor or a therapist may be able to offer long-term strategies for coping with test taking anxiety. Talk with your parents or guardians about finding someone to help you cope.

Following these test taking tips can’t guarantee that you will get an A on your next big test. Only hard work and lots of study time can do that. 

However, these test taking strategies can help you feel more confident and perform better on test day. Tests may be an inevitable part of student life, but with preparation and confidence, you can succeed on them all!

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Digital Content Producer

Emerson is a Digital Content Producer at Harvard DCE. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and Yale University and started her career as an international affairs analyst. She is an avid triathlete and has completed three Ironman triathlons, as well as the Boston Marathon.

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What Does the Research Say About Testing?

There’s too much testing in schools, most teachers agree, but well-designed classroom tests and quizzes can improve student recall and retention.

For many teachers, the image of students sitting in silence filling out bubbles, computing mathematical equations, or writing timed essays causes an intensely negative reaction.

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002 and its 2015 update, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), every third through eighth grader in U.S. public schools now takes tests calibrated to state standards, with the aggregate results made public. In a study of the nation’s largest urban school districts , students took an average of 112 standardized tests between pre-K and grade 12.

This annual testing ritual can take time from genuine learning, say many educators , and puts pressure on the least advantaged districts to focus on test prep—not to mention adding airless, stultifying hours of proctoring to teachers’ lives. “Tests don’t explicitly teach anything. Teachers do,” writes Jose Vilson , a middle school math teacher in New York City. Instead of standardized tests, students “should have tests created by teachers with the goal of learning more about the students’ abilities and interests,” echoes Meena Negandhi, math coordinator at the French American Academy in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The pushback on high-stakes testing has also accelerated a national conversation about how students truly learn and retain information. Over the past decade and a half, educators have been moving away from traditional testing —particularly multiple choice tests—and turning to hands-on projects and competency-based assessments that focus on goals such as critical thinking and mastery rather than rote memorization.

But educators shouldn’t give up on traditional classroom tests so quickly. Research has found that tests can be valuable tools to help students learn , if designed and administered with format, timing, and content in mind—and a clear purpose to improve student learning.

Not All Tests Are Bad

One of the most useful kinds of tests are the least time-consuming: quick, easy practice quizzes on recently taught content. Tests can be especially beneficial if they are given frequently and provide near-immediate feedback to help students improve. This retrieval practice can be as simple as asking students to write down two to four facts from the prior day or giving them a brief quiz on a previous class lesson.

Retrieval practice works because it helps students retain information in a better way than simply studying material, according to research . While reviewing concepts can help students become more familiar with a topic, information is quickly forgotten without more active learning strategies like frequent practice quizzes.

But to reduce anxiety and stereotype threat—the fear of conforming to a negative stereotype about a group that one belongs to—retrieval-type practice tests also need to be low-stakes (with minor to no grades) and administered up to three times before a final summative effort to be most effective.

Timing also matters. Students are able to do fine on high-stakes assessment tests if they take them shortly after they study. But a week or more after studying, students retain much less information and will do much worse on major assessments—especially if they’ve had no practice tests in between.

A 2006 study found that students who had brief retrieval tests before a high-stakes test remembered 60 percent of material, while those who only studied remembered 40 percent. Additionally, in a 2009 study , eighth graders who took a practice test halfway through the year remembered 10 percent more facts on a U.S. history final at the end of the year than peers who studied but took no practice test.

Short, low-stakes tests also help teachers gauge how well students understand the material and what they need to reteach. This is effective when tests are formative —that is, designed for immediate feedback so that students and teachers can see students’ areas of strength and weakness and address areas for growth. Summative tests, such as a final exam that measures how much was learned but offers no opportunities for a student to improve, have been found to be less effective.

Testing Format Matters

Teachers should tread carefully with test design, however, as not all tests help students retain information. Though multiple choice tests are relatively easy to create, they can contain misleading answer choices—that are either ambiguous or vague—or offer the infamous all-, some-, or none-of-the-above choices, which tend to encourage guessing.

While educators often rely on open-ended questions, such short-answer questions, because they seem to offer a genuine window into student thinking, research shows that there is no difference between multiple choice and constructed response questions in terms of demonstrating what students have learned.

In the end, well-constructed multiple choice tests , with clear questions and plausible answers (and no all- or none-of-the-above choices), can be a useful way to assess students’ understanding of material, particularly if the answers are quickly reviewed by the teacher.

All students do not do equally well on multiple choice tests, however. Girls tend to do less well than boys and perform better on questions with open-ended answers , according to a 2018 study by Stanford University’s Sean Reardon, which found that test format alone accounts for 25 percent of the gender difference in performance in both reading and math. Researchers hypothesize that one explanation for the gender difference on high-stakes tests is risk aversion, meaning girls tend to guess less .

Giving more time for fewer, more complex or richer testing questions can also increase performance, in part because it reduces anxiety. Research shows that simply introducing a time limit on a test can cause students to experience stress, so instead of emphasizing speed, teachers should encourage students to think deeply about the problems they’re solving.

Setting the Right Testing Conditions

Test achievement often reflects outside conditions, and how students do on tests can be shifted substantially by comments they hear and what they receive as feedback from teachers.

When teachers tell disadvantaged high school students that an upcoming assessment may be a challenge and that challenge helps the brain grow, students persist more, leading to higher grades, according to 2015 research from Stanford professor David Paunesku. Conversely, simply saying that some students are good at a task without including a growth-mindset message or the explanation that it’s because they are smart harms children’s performance —even when the task is as simple as drawing shapes.

Also harmful to student motivation are data walls displaying student scores or assessments. While data walls might be useful for educators, a 2014 study found that displaying them in classrooms led students to compare status rather than improve work.

The most positive impact on testing comes from peer or instructor comments that give the student the ability to revise or correct. For example, questions like , “Can you tell me more about what you mean?” or “Can you find evidence for that?” can encourage students to improve  engagement with their work. Perhaps not surprisingly, students do well when given multiple chances to learn and improve—and when they’re encouraged to believe that they can.

Psych 256: Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Making connections between theory and reality, where and what matters when studying for a test.

The other day, my 16 year old daughter, Olivia, came home excited to share with me that she was the only student in her History class to pass a difficult test. Normally, I don’t hear about the results of her tests. In fact, she hates it if I ask her about school at all, assuming that my curiosity is actually a way of “trying to get in her business” or “accusing her of not keeping up with her school work”. But when she received a poor grade on a test a couple of weeks earlier, she suddenly became interested in some of the study tips I have been learning in my cognitive psychology class. Over a Route 66 Pharmacy Hot Fudge Sundae, we recalled her study habits before the poorly graded test and compared them to some of the research in my text book, Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience , by Bruce Goldstein. One particular strategy that caught her attention was the idea of matching her learning conditions to her testing conditions, based on the principles of encoding specificity and state-dependent learning.

Olivia likes to study at a big desk in our kitchen. There is lots of table space and she often listens to music while she studies. On the day of her test, she sat at a small desk in a quiet classroom. According to the principle of encoding specificity, we “encode information along with its context” (Goldstein, 2011, p.184). This means, when we learn something new, our brains not only encode the new information but information about the environment we are in as well. So, the theory is, if you study for a test in an environment similar or the same as the environment that you will be in while taking the test, you will increase your ability of remembering the information that you learned. Sound a bit unreal? We thought so too, except that research results have supported this theory (Goldstein, 2011).

In the text book, Goldstein (2011) describes a well known study performed by D.R Godden and Alan Baddeley in 1975. In a nutshell, they divided their participants into two groups and had one group learn a list of words on land while the other group learned the list of words wearing scuba gear underwater. Then they placed participants from both groups in each environment and asked them to recall the list of words they learned. The results showed that the participants who were in the same environment as when they were learning the words, recalled more words than those who were tested in a different environment (Goldstein, 2011).

The concept of state dependent learning is similar to encoding specificity, except that it pertains to the state a person is in when encoding and retrieving information. Olivia recalled that when she was studying for the poorly graded test she was very frustrated and annoyed because of an argument she had with her boyfriend. However, when she took the test, she was happy and energized because she had just finished taking her dance class. According to state dependent learning, she would have been able to retrieve more of the information she learned if she was frustrated and annoyed. Once again, it sounds a bit unreal, right? But just like encoding specificity, Goldstein (2011) presented research that supports this theory, such as  Eric Eich and Janet Metcalfe’s 1989 “mood” experiment. In this experiment, participants learned words while in a happy or depressed mood. Two days later, the participants did an exercise to put them in the same or opposite mood they were in while learning the words, then they were tested. Those who were in the same mood recalled more words than those who were in the opposite mood (Goldstein, 2011).

After learning about encoding specificity and state-dependent learning, Olivia decided to study for her History test during her free periods at school. This allowed her to learn the information for the test in the same environment as she would be in when taking the test. Because her History class is always after her dance class, she also made a point to get her heart rate up and to put herself in a happy mood by dancing or exercising to music she likes for fifteen minutes before studying. As mentioned, her efforts appeared to work because she did very well on her History test. Of course, one must include other study habits that may have influenced Olivia’s test results, such as her note taking  during a lecture and time spent reading or talking about the material. However, the results of Olivia’s efforts to match her learning conditions to her test conditions, along with results of formal research, proves that it is a technique worth considering when studying for your next exam at school, at work or maybe even at a game show!

 Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Matching conditions of encoding and retrieval. In  Cognitive psychology: Mind, research and everyday experience  (3rd ed., pp. 183-186). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

9 thoughts on “ Where and What Matters when Studying for a Test ”

http://sites.psu.edu/psych256sp14/2014/03/17/where-and-what-matters-when-studying-for-a-test/

Evonne Rivera

I can relate to your post so much. I have a daughter in college and her study habits are all pretty regular. Which according to Goldstein, E. B. (2011) and as you have mentioned, study habits are encoded and easier to retrieve if the situation in which you study does not vary and are as similar to where and how the test will be taken. I also have to remind myself that when I read especially, I have to do so at the large kitchen table because that is where I will be taking my tests/quizzes. I have tried to read on the couch but I always fall asleep because it is too comfortable. My daughter is able to do her studying and homework on the couch but she sits forward and uses the coffee table, which looks very uncomfortable to me. In the experiment by Harry Grant and coworkers (1998) where some of the participants wore headphones with noise (of a noisy cafeteria) and the others wore headphones that were silent while reading an article on psychoimmunology. Afterwards each participant was given a short-answer test about what they had read under each of the conditions and the results showed that the participants did better taking the test under the same study conditions (Goldstein, E. B 2011, pp184). Our text and my own physical proof indicates that the best study strategy for taking a test would be to study in the same environment to where the test will be given. My kitchen table for both works perfect for me. I’m glad to hear that your daughter did well on her history test and took some pointers from you. Something that will be sure to continue helping her throughout her scholastic career. My daughter has yet to ask me about my study habits and she is the same as your daughter when it comes to me asking about “how school is going?”

Reference: Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Matching conditions of encoding and retrieval. In Cognitive psychology: Mind, research and everyday experience (3rd ed., pp. 183-186). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

What an interesting blog post to read! Your catchy title obviously caught a lot of people’s attention including mine. I think it’s awesome that you were able to take something you learned in class and make such a personal connection. I remember back in middle school someone told me that if you chew gum while you study and take the test, it will enhance your performance. I always thought that seemed like unlikely but perhaps there is some truth to it after all! A few years ago I read an article that said if you sit in the same place during lectures and exams, you will score better. I was skeptical at first but figured I had nothing to lose. Sure enough, I felt a lot more relaxed and was able to recall more information taking the test from a familiar location. I have never thought of how my mood could influence studying and taking an exam but it makes sense! Next time I will have to be more conscious of it. The concept of encoding specificity is especially interesting from an online classroom perspective. Essentially we can choose when and where to study, listen to lectures, and take exams. Some of us may be a morning person and others are night owls. We are able to take that information and use it to our advantage! Personally, I am the most productive either first thing in the morning or at the end of the day. Not exactly the traditional classroom setting. I always have to do my homework at a big table with no noise or people around. I’ve never understood how people can listen to music, watch TV, lay in bed, etc. Even if it’s a simple assignment, I can’t have any distractions. Needless to say I have never been a very good test taker. However, I have found that online classes significantly reduce my anxiety!

I must first compliment you on such a great post that really applies to anyone! I myself have been wondering how I can vamp up my study habits. I’ve taken many psychology courses in the past, ever since high school, and I was always one that thought, “Yeah, sure, like that would really make a difference!”, I’m sure you can slightly hear the typical teenage attitude tone within that phrase. I now know that I was certainly wrong! I first attended Penn State Mont Alto for my Associate’s degree in Human Development & Family Studies. Most of my classes were in a typical classroom setting. I had a lot of down time between classes and I lived 40 minutes away; so I took advantage of that time to study. I would either go into the computer lab or the library, and sit at a desk. I could tell my test performances did much better by studying in the same type of environment as my classes were. Now the struggle came when I started courses online for my Bachelor’s in Psychology with World Campus. It’s so nice to earn an education at home, but the problem was I decided to chill out on my couch or on my bed. I’d read sitting upright, sideways, or even laying down! When I recently read in the textbook about this, I was reminded about performance being better when you study in similar environments. A light bulb lit in my head. How could I have been so negligent, especially when this was proven to work for me a couple years back when I was attending Mont Alto? Now I position myself upward, in a chair, and at a desk or table when studying for an exam. I have noticed my memory becoming much better, and I am able to retain a lot more. Thanks for sharing, and best wishes to your studies, as well as your daughter’s!

I am so loving this post, my mother and I just had some of these same discussions. I am now 23 and have been in school all of my life pretty much. My mom has been out of school for maybe about 30 She is a college graduate which is the goal I am aiming for myself once again. However our views on study is totally different. I have always been a student where it never took much for me to pass a test until recently when \the courses I am taking have showed me something else. I truly believe that unless you have a study guide you will never really be prepared for an exam. Where my moms thinking is if you plan your course of studying using your syllabus its no way to get things wrong on your exams. Of course being the psych, major that I am, I have seen several studies on studying and cramming and there are some that I agree with and several others that I do not. I really feel as though in terms of studying its either you get it or you don’t and that determines pass or fail. So many times I have saw people (i.e family and friends) study for exams and the highest grade they have received was a C. And that’s with using all types of study tips and pointers. I feel like with all things the results may vary.

I found our post incredibly interesting. It truly amazes my how where one studies attributes to their test scores. I have had experienced a similar situation to that of your daughter Olivia’s. When I was in high school, I would study in the kitchen so that I could be around my family. I am the type of person who never wants to be alone. I tremendously enjoy company. I chose this particular part of the house because there was constantly traffic and company. Between my mom cooking up a fabulous dinner, the dogs, my brother, or father, there was always a great amount of commotion. I studied hard, new the material extensively, but was still not producing the test results I desired. I knew I needed to change something. After much struggle, I decided I needed to study in my bedroom, which was quiet. Shortly I noticed my test scores increasing although I never attributed it to how our memory works. I am very intrigued by the fact that the environment we learn something in requires a similar environment to retrieve the majority of that information.

It is amazing to hear how state dependent learning was actually used to help your daughter study. You can read all about something from a textbook but applying it to actual life is another story. I remember first reading about this subject and thinking, “This is crazy.” It wasn’t until I actually applied it that I realized it was beneficial. I usually study at the office where my mother works and then take the tests at home. I could not figure out why I wasn’t doing particularly well even though I understood the material thoroughly. I often times listen to music when I’m studying as well because it helps calm my mind and enables me to focus more. After reading the text I decided to employ some of the procedures described and to my amazement it actually worked. I originally took the test in complete silence because I thought it would help me concentrate… not so true. I decided to try taking the test while listening to music at home. Surprisingly I did better on my first test. Problem solved? I still did not do as well as I expected. I then realized that it would help to take the test in the same environment that I had studied in. Wow! Something we learned about actually helped greatly. The test I took in the busy office setting came out much more desirable than it did in a quiet different environment. I understand why your daughter had so much success in taking her tests in a similar environment that she had studied in. I am glad you were able to share this information because it gave me ground to explore state dependent learning for myself and also greatly improved my success. Isn’t it amazing how something we learn from a book can have such a substantial impact on our everyday life? I think so.

I found the section on effective studying so interesting and helpful! That’s great you were able to share the studying techniques with your daughter, I also shared the information I learned from that chapter of Cognitive Psychology (2011) with a loved one. I shared the studying techniques that Goldstein (2011) outlines with my husband after he came home from training some of his co-workers for an upcoming test to certify for their job. Three of his co-workers had told him that they had difficulty with certifying in the past and were worried about the upcoming certification. After I shared Goldstein’s techniques with my husband that night, he passed them on to his co-workers the next day. When asked about how they were currently studying, all three of my husband’s co-workers said that they normally studied by reading through the pre-compiled study guides given to them, thinking that this would lead to better memory of the material. Goldstein actually identified rereading material as an ineffective study method that results in an illusion of learning. According to Goldstein, rereading can lead to a greater fluency for material and the occurrence of the familiarity effect that results in greater ability to recognize information, neither of which actually lead to a greater ability to recall the information. According to my husband, all three also appeared to have ineffective note taking skills. My husband challenged them to use the techniques that made the most sense to him; taking organized notes and elaborating on the info they were studying instead of just reading it over and over. A week later, all three told my husband that they felt like they were understanding and retaining the information better. They haven’t taken their certification test yet, but they all said they feel more confident and it’ll be interesting to see how their results compare to their previous test results.

Goldstein, E. (2011). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

That’s really great that you were able to share what you learned with your daughter in order to help her succeed. I work in a learning support classroom and I am always looking for new ways to help my students excel. They only come to us for testing and study halls so it’s important for us to keep a calm, quiet, and welcoming environment. In our classroom, we play music softly and turn off the fluorescent lights in favor of string lights, lamps, and natural lighting. Generally speaking, the students sign in, sit down, and begin working without any prompting. The difference in the students’ – and my – ability to attend to task is incredible on days when I forget to turn on the music or I have to turn on the fluorescent lights. On these days, many of them begin talking before they start or during their test. There is a much greater need for redirection on these days. I had always noticed the difference before but I didn’t realize why it was happening until I read about state-dependent learning. Thanks for sharing!

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How to Thrive as You Age

A cheap drug may slow down aging. a study will determine if it works.

Allison Aubrey

A drug taken by millions of people to control diabetes may do more than lower blood sugar.

Research suggests metformin has anti-inflammatory effects that could help protect against common age-related diseases including heart disease, cancer, and cognitive decline.

Scientists who study the biology of aging have designed a clinical study, known as The TAME Trial, to test whether metformin can help prevent these diseases and promote a longer healthspan in healthy, older adults.

Michael Cantor, an attorney, and his wife Shari Cantor , the mayor of West Hartford, Connecticut both take metformin. "I tell all my friends about it," Michael Cantor says. "We all want to live a little longer, high-quality life if we can," he says.

Michael Cantor started on metformin about a decade ago when his weight and blood sugar were creeping up. Shari Cantor began taking metformin during the pandemic after she read that it may help protect against serious infections.

Shari and Michael Cantor both take metformin. They are both in their mid-60s and say they feel healthy and full of energy. Theresa Oberst/Michael Cantor hide caption

Shari and Michael Cantor both take metformin. They are both in their mid-60s and say they feel healthy and full of energy.

The Cantors are in their mid-60s and both say they feel healthy and have lots of energy. Both noticed improvements in their digestive systems – feeling more "regular" after they started on the drug,

Metformin costs less than a dollar a day, and depending on insurance, many people pay no out-of-pocket costs for the drug.

"I don't know if metformin increases lifespan in people, but the evidence that exists suggests that it very well might," says Steven Austad , a senior scientific advisor at the American Federation for Aging Research who studies the biology of aging.

An old drug with surprising benefits

Metformin was first used to treat diabetes in the 1950s in France. The drug is a derivative of guanidine , a compound found in Goat's Rue, an herbal medicine long used in Europe.

The FDA approved metformin for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in the U.S. in the 1990s. Since then, researchers have documented several surprises, including a reduced risk of cancer. "That was a bit of a shock," Austad says. A meta-analysis that included data from dozens of studies, found people who took metformin had a lower risk of several types of cancers , including gastrointestinal, urologic and blood cancers.

Austad also points to a British study that found a lower risk of dementia and mild cognitive decline among people with type 2 diabetes taking metformin. In addition, there's research pointing to improved cardiovascular outcomes in people who take metformin including a reduced risk of cardiovascular death .

As promising as this sounds, Austad says most of the evidence is observational, pointing only to an association between metformin and the reduced risk. The evidence stops short of proving cause and effect. Also, it's unknown if the benefits documented in people with diabetes will also reduce the risk of age-related diseases in healthy, older adults.

"That's what we need to figure out," says Steve Kritchevsky , a professor of gerontology at Wake Forest School of Medicine, who is a lead investigator for the Tame Trial.

The goal is to better understand the mechanisms and pathways by which metformin works in the body. For instance, researchers are looking at how the drug may help improve energy in the cells by stimulating autophagy, which is the process of clearing out or recycling damaged bits inside cells.

Shots - Health News

Scientists can tell how fast you're aging. now, the trick is to slow it down.

You can order a test to find out your biological age. Is it worth it?

Researchers also want to know more about how metformin can help reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, which may slow biological aging.

"When there's an excess of oxidative stress, it will damage the cell. And that accumulation of damage is essentially what aging is," Kritchevsky explains.

When the forces that are damaging cells are running faster than the forces that are repairing or replacing cells, that's aging, Kritchevsky says. And it's possible that drugs like metformin could slow this process down.

By targeting the biology of aging, the hope is to prevent or delay multiple diseases, says Dr. Nir Barzilai of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who leads the effort to get the trial started.

The ultimate in preventative medicine

Back in 2015, Austad and a bunch of aging researchers began pushing for a clinical trial.

"A bunch of us went to the FDA to ask them to approve a trial for metformin,' Austad recalls, and the agency was receptive. "If you could help prevent multiple problems at the same time, like we think metformin may do, then that's almost the ultimate in preventative medicine," Austad says.

The aim is to enroll 3,000 people between the ages of 65 and 79 for a six-year trial. But Dr. Barzilai says it's been slow going to get it funded. "The main obstacle with funding this study is that metformin is a generic drug, so no pharmaceutical company is standing to make money," he says.

Barzilai has turned to philanthropists and foundations, and has some pledges. The National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, set aside about $5 million for the research, but that's not enough to pay for the study which is estimated to cost between $45 and $70 million.

The frustration over the lack of funding is that if the trial points to protective effects, millions of people could benefit. "It's something that everybody will be able to afford," Barzilai says.

Currently the FDA doesn't recognize aging as a disease to treat, but the researchers hope this would usher in a paradigm shift — from treating each age-related medical condition separately, to treating these conditions together, by targeting aging itself.

For now, metformin is only approved to treat type 2 diabetes in the U.S., but doctors can prescribe it off-label for conditions other than its approved use .

Michael and Shari Cantor's doctors were comfortable prescribing it to them, given the drug's long history of safety and the possible benefits in delaying age-related disease.

"I walk a lot, I hike, and at 65 I have a lot of energy," Michael Cantor says. I feel like the metformin helps," he says. He and Shari say they have not experienced any negative side effects.

Research shows a small percentage of people who take metformin experience GI distress that makes the drug intolerable. And, some people develop a b12 vitamin deficiency. One study found people over the age of 65 who take metformin may have a harder time building new muscle.

Millions of women are 'under-muscled.' These foods help build strength

"There's some evidence that people who exercise who are on metformin have less gain in muscle mass, says Dr. Eric Verdin , President of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. That could be a concern for people who are under-muscled .

But Verdin says it may be possible to repurpose metformin in other ways "There are a number of companies that are exploring metformin in combination with other drugs," he says. He points to research underway to combine metformin with a drug called galantamine for the treatment of sarcopenia , which is the medical term for age-related muscle loss. Sarcopenia affects millions of older people, especially women .

The science of testing drugs to target aging is rapidly advancing, and metformin isn't the only medicine that may treat the underlying biology.

"Nobody thinks this is the be all and end all of drugs that target aging," Austad says. He says data from the clinical trial could stimulate investment by the big pharmaceutical companies in this area. "They may come up with much better drugs," he says.

Michael Cantor knows there's no guarantee with metformin. "Maybe it doesn't do what we think it does in terms of longevity, but it's certainly not going to do me any harm," he says.

Cantor's father had his first heart attack at 51. He says he wants to do all he can to prevent disease and live a healthy life, and he thinks Metformin is one tool that may help.

For now, Dr. Barzilai says the metformin clinical trial can get underway when the money comes in.

7 habits to live a healthier life, inspired by the world's longest-lived communities

This story was edited by Jane Greenhalgh

Study explores possible future for early Alzheimer's diagnostics

Digital memory test and a blood sample -- this combination will be tested for its potential to identify early Alzheimer's disease in a new research study. Over a hundred healthcare centers are part of the study that is now inviting participants to sign up. At least 3,000, preferably many more participants are needed for the study to be successful.

The REAL AD study is the first of its kind in terms of focus and scope. Principal investigators are the University of Gothenburg and the Västra Götaland Region, VGR, which represents a model region for Swedish healthcare. All hundred-plus care centers within VGR Närhälsan, one of the largest primary care providers in Sweden, are included in the study, together with some additional sampling sites.

REAL AD addresses all people aged 50-80 who do not have a diagnosis of dementia and who can go to a care center within VGR Närhälsan. Anyone who meets the criteria can participate regardless of which health center they are listed at.

Tests of memory and thinking ability at home

Starting point is a digital study portal, available in Swedish, English, Finnish and Arabic, where participants receive all information about the study and clear instructions about the next steps. First, cognition, i.e. memory and thinking ability, is tested at home using digital tools for three months. Participants are then invited to provide a blood sample at any of the 111 sampling points around VGR. Participants can complete the digital cognition tests in three additional rounds, after 18, 27 and 36 months, and provide a second blood sample after 18 months. The tests are relatively quick and can be done in all four languages.

The study is led by Michael Schöll, professor at Gothenburg University and research group leader in close collaboration with the co-investigators and a team of project leaders.

- REAL AD is a seriously ambitious project, and it has been an enormous challenge to democratize the study design. It must reflect both urban and rural areas, be accessible to as many participants as possible and involve the entire VGR Närhälsan, which means that even the most remote healthcare centers must be able to participate in terms of sample handling and transport, he says.

Signs of Alzheimer's in a simple blood test

Central hub of the study is a laboratory environment in neurochemistry, located at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and the Sahlgrenska University Hospital Mölndal, with professors Kaj Blennow and Henrik Zetterberg at the helm. The researchers will study so-called Alzheimer's biomarkers in the participants' blood samples, which have been shown to be early signs of the disease.

In addition, a separate study will then be conducted enrolling a smaller number of randomly selected participants who are also thoroughly examined clinically at Sahlgrenska University Hospital to confirm the results of the digital cognition tests and blood analyses. The clinical part of the study is carried out at the university hospital memory clinic in collaboration with professor and senior physician Silke Kern.

Knowledge base for healthcare and research

The research focuses on the potential for early diagnosis based on digital cognitive tests and blood markers. If the combination of the tools works to detect early signs of disease in the general population, the hope is that they will be used in primary care in the future to follow individuals over time and identify Alzheimer's with greater certainty and much earlier than is often the case today.

"The need for earlier diagnosis is widely accepted, also in view of the new treatments that are around the corner. Many if not most diagnoses are made in primary care in Sweden, so diagnostics must be strengthened there, and knowledge is needed about whether it will be feasible to screen for Alzheimer's in the general population. In the short term, society does not have the resources to establish a lot of new specialized memory clinics," says Michael Schöll.

"The study is important, and the timing is perfect. We are closer than ever before to a treatment option for Alzheimer's, but we are not sufficiently prepared," he says.

The study needs at least 3,000 participants but has capacity to enroll up to 10,000 volunteers. It is accompanied by information via Närhälsan and several other marketing efforts.

Research ethics do not allow researchers to share individual information with participants since experimental tools are used. Individuals do thus not receive a cognitive rating or diagnosis, and their participation is unpaid.

"What we are offering is participation in a community where we will actively inform about progresses in Alzheimer's research, also via information meetings, which we know many people are asking for. By participating in the study, you also help our healthcare to prepare for an enormous challenge," concludes Michael Schöll.

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Republicans and Democrats have different top priorities for U.S. immigration policy

Republicans and Democrats differ over the most pressing priorities for the nation’s immigration system. Republicans place particular importance on border security and deportations of immigrants who are in the country illegally, while Democrats place greater importance on paths to legal status for those who entered the country illegally – especially those who entered as children, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Still, there are some areas of overlap between Republicans and Democrats, and there are sizable ideological differences in immigration goals within each partisan coalition, with conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats expressing more intense views than others in their parties.

As the number of people apprehended for illegally crossing the southern border has reached record annual levels, about three-quarters of Americans (73%) say increasing security along the U.S.-Mexico border to reduce illegal crossings should be a very (44%) or somewhat (29%) important goal of U.S. immigration policy. Nearly all Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (91%) say border security should be an important goal, while a smaller majority of Democrats and Democratic leaners (59%) say the same, according to the survey of 7,647 U.S. adults conducted Aug. 1 to 14.

Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand the public’s policy priorities and goals for the U.S. immigration system. For this analysis, we surveyed 7,647 adults from Aug. 1-14, 2022. The survey was primarily conducted on the Center’s nationally representative American Trends Panel, with an oversample of Hispanic adults from Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.

Respondents on both panels are recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. See the Methodology section for additional details. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the questions used for the report, along with responses, and its methodology .

Majorities of Americans also say taking in civilian refugees from countries where people are trying to escape violence and war (72%) and allowing immigrants who came to the country illegally as children to remain in the U.S. and apply for legal status (72%) should be important goals for the immigration system. Each of these priorities garners more support from Democrats than Republicans.

About two-thirds of the public (66%) wants the immigration system to make it easier for U.S. citizens and legal residents to sponsor family members to immigrate to the U.S., while six-in-ten say establishing a way for most immigrants currently in the country illegally to stay legally should be an important immigration policy goal. A similar share (57%) says that increasing deportations of immigrants currently in the country illegally should be a very or somewhat important goal of U.S. immigration policy.

Wide partisan and ideological differences on immigration policy

For every policy asked about in the survey, there are sizable partisan differences in perceived importance. Still, for many policies included in the survey, majorities in both parties say it should be at least a somewhat important goal.

About nine-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (91%) call increasing security along the U.S.-Mexico border an important goal, including 72% who say it should be a very important goal.

While a majority of Democrats and Democratic leaners (59%) say border security should be at least somewhat important, just 22% view this as very important – 50 percentage points less than the share of Republicans who say this.

About eight-in-ten Republicans (79%) say increasing deportations of immigrants currently in the country illegally is important, with nearly half (49%) calling it very important. By comparison, 39% of Democrats view increasing deportations as very or somewhat important, including just 12% who see it as very important.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans (80% vs. 37%) to say that establishing a way for most immigrants currently in the country illegally to stay in the U.S. legally is an important goal for the nation’s immigration system. About four-in-ten Democrats (38%) view this as a very important goal, compared with 10% of Republicans.

Majorities in both parties say that taking in refugees from countries where people are fleeing war and violence is an important goal. Nonetheless, more Democrats than Republicans view it as important (85% vs. 58%). Around four-in-ten Democrats (41%) say that taking in refugees is very important, while just 13% of Republicans say the same.

Conservative Republicans are the most likely to express strong support for more restrictive immigration goals such as increased border security and increased deportations, even when compared with others in their party. Liberal Democrats, by contrast, are the least supportive of these restrictive goals while being the most supportive of establishing a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants in the country.

Around eight-in-ten conservative Republicans (82%) say increased border security should be a very important goal for U.S. immigration policy; about half of moderates and liberals in the GOP (54%) say the same. Similarly, about six-in-ten conservative Republicans (58%) say increasing deportations of immigrants currently in the country illegally should be a very important goal, compared with about a third of moderate and liberal Republicans (34%). (Conservative Republicans account for about six-in-ten of those who identify with or lean toward the GOP.)

Among Democrats, conservatives and moderates are more likely than liberals to say more restrictive goals are very or somewhat important to U.S. immigration policy. Seven-in-ten conservative and moderate Democrats say increasing border security should be a very or somewhat important goal, compared with 44% of liberal Democrats. Conservative and moderate Democrats are also twice as likely as liberal Democrats (50% vs. 25%) to say increasing deportations should be an important goal.

Liberal Democrats are the most supportive of creating a way for most undocumented immigrants to stay in the country legally: 85% say this should be an important goal, including 44% who say it should very important. Three-quarters of conservative and moderate Democrats see this as an important goal, including 32% who see it as very important. Among Republicans, half of moderates and liberals say a path to legal status should be an important goal, while only about three-in-ten conservatives (28%) say the same.

Modest changes in views of U.S. immigration policy

Many of the public’s views about immigration policy goals have been largely stable over the past few years. For example, views on taking in refugees are roughly the same as in 2019, and views on allowing immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children to apply for legal status are largely unchanged from 2016. There has been a modest increase in the share of Americans who say increasing deportations of immigrations here illegally should be a very or somewhat important goal (57% today vs. 54% in 2019).

There has been a 5 percentage point increase in the share of the public who say increasing security along the U.S.-Mexico border to reduce illegal crossings should be an important goal (73% today vs. 68% three years ago). This increase is largely driven by a 10-point increase in the share of Democrats who say this (59% today vs. 49% then).

Support for a pathway to legal status for most immigrants currently in the country illegally has declined over the past three years. Today, six-in-ten adults say this should be an important goal, down from 67% in 2019 and similar to the share who said this in 2016 (62%). The decline reflects a decrease among Republicans – especially conservative Republicans. In 2019, about half of Republicans (48%) said this should be an important goal; today, just 37% say the same.

Note: Here are the questions used for the report, along with responses, and its methodology .

• Border Security & Enforcement
• Family Reunification
• Immigration Attitudes
• Immigration Issues
• Issue Priorities
• Refugees & Asylum Seekers
• Unauthorized Immigration

J. Baxter Oliphant is a senior researcher focusing on politics at Pew Research Center

Andy Cerda is a research assistant focusing on politics at Pew Research Center

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