Activity 5.1

It makes sense to say that learning depends on memory. We take in so much information in our lifetime that it seems highly unlikely that every piece of knowledge can be omnipresent. Therefore, the information has to be categorized and filed away for later use. Consider putting together a dinette set. It the beginning, it was necessary for me to read the directions and have the directions present during each step of assembling the furniture. A week later, I put together the last chair and I no longer needed the directions. I knew where each piece belonged and in what order each step was supposed to be performed. In this particular situation, it seems appropriate to credit my knowledge of furniture assembly to memory. How else would I know how to assemble the chair after an extended period of time without referring back to the instructions?

I would like to think that something has been learned even if it cannot be remembered. I thought about how learning occurs when connections are made between new and old knowledge. It is possible that what was learned cannot be remembered because a strong enough connection was not made between the new knowledge and existing knowledge; therefore, it did not stick in the person’s memory as strongly. On the other hand, even if some cue or prompt has been presented and the material taught still cannot be remembered, it is possible that the material was never learned in the first place. I just believe this is not going to always be the case. For instance, consider song lyrics. A person can sing an entire song and there can still be some words that are hard to recall. This does not mean that the song was never learned, it just shows that some words can easily be forgotten.

            When I think about the ease or difficulty of retrieving information, I think about the Law of Use and the Law of Disuse. We use certain pieces of information more often than other pieces, and many of the things that we are taught can easily be forgotten if we are not putting it into use on a consistent basis. For example, there are certain components of math that are used more often than others. I use simple math (e.g. addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) more often than trigonometry. Thus, it is harder for me to retrieve information pertinent to trigonometry because I rarely use it.

            Overall, I believe storage and the retrieval of knowledge comes down to the strength of connections that are made and how much knowledge is put into use. Regardless of whether memories can be verbalized or not, the memories can still be present. There may be some memory that individuals wish to forget; therefore, they may choose not to recall it verbally, but it does not mean that the memory has been forgotten. Moreover, the connections that are tied to specific memories are the very reason why it is so easy for individuals to remember the very things they wish to forget. The stronger the connection or the more connections that are made to a specific piece of knowledge, the more readily available the material will be for retrieval.