What determines the productivity of arbitrary memorization. A. Smirnov. Voluntary and involuntary memory. Being a mnemonic effect of mental processes occurring during any activity, memorization is determined by the features of this activity.

General characteristics of voluntary and involuntary memorization.

Being a mnemonic effect of mental processes that always occur during the performance of any activity, memorization, as was said, is not independent of the characteristics of this activity, but, on the contrary, is determined by them in the closest way.

Any activity of people is characterized, first of all, by orientation. It not only gives one or another result, but is always aimed at something, which may not coincide with the actual result of the activity, with what it actually leads to. The study of the dependence of memorization on the direction of the activity in which it is carried out is therefore part of a more general problem of the influence of activity on memorization.

In the most striking form, the direction of activity can be represented as conscious intention to solve a particular problem, to achieve a particular goal. The presence of this intention characterizes any conscious activity of a person. The latter is always the realization of some consciously set goal. "In what is given by nature," says Marx, "he (man. - A. S.) at the same time realizes his conscious end, which, like a law, determines the mode and nature of his actions and to which he must subordinate his will" (1)

Being determined by a consciously set goal, by a conscious intention to achieve this goal, human activity in its direction is determined, however, not only by conscious intention. Along with it, an essential role is also played by unconscious sources of orientation, in particular, all kinds of installations***, often introducing a completely unconscious or, in any case, insufficiently conscious character.

Both conscious intention and unconscious attitudes are by no means, however, the primary source of human activity. The goals that a person sets for himself, and the direction of his actions unconscious by him, are based on those real conditions in which a person lives and acts. The true source of human activity is the reality that affects a person.

... The most important role in determining human activity, its direction and nature, is played by the social relations of people, which develop differently depending on the material conditions of society. Human activity is socio-historically conditioned.

The direction of human activity is extremely diverse. The study of the dependence of memorization on the various content of the orientation of activity is a large and complex task. In this work, we do not set ourselves this goal, but restrict ourselves to a narrower problem. We want to trace how memory is affected by only one of the types of orientation, the most typical for learning activities human being and especially learning in the learning process. We mean aiming at remember material to be mastered, i.e. the so-called mnemonic direction, or focus on memory.

In those cases where the direct source of the mnemonic orientation is the conscious intention to remember, memorization is a special kind of mental activity, often very complex, and by its very essence is arbitrary memorization. It is usually opposed to memorization involuntary which is carried out in those cases when the mnemonic task is not set, and the activity leading to memorization is aimed at achieving some other goals. When we decide math problem, we do not set ourselves the goal of remembering the numerical data that is available in the problem. Our goal - decide task, and not to memorize the numbers in it, and yet we remember them, even if only for a short time.

The difference between these types of memorization is quite legitimate. But at the same time, it would be wrong to understand it as an absolute opposition of one type of memorization to another. Between voluntary and involuntary memorization there are undoubtedly a number of transitions, a number of intermediate forms. One of them is exactly that memorization, which is carried out not due to a conscious intention to remember, not under the influence of a mnemonic task, but due to the presence of a mnemonic attitude. Such memorization is not arbitrary, since the latter must necessarily be intentional, but at the same time it is still characterized by a more or less pronounced mnemonic orientation, which is not the case with involuntary memorization. Therefore, it can in no way be considered a relatively random mnemonic effect of activity aimed at performing other tasks, as is typical for involuntary memorization. This, of course, is one of the transitional forms between voluntary and involuntary memorization.<...>

The mnemonic orientation is most pronounced, of course, with arbitrary memorization. Therefore, a comparison of this particular type of memorization with involuntary memory should provide the most valuable material for characterizing the action of a mnemonic orientation in its most vivid expression. In this regard, our experimental studies were carried out, with the aim of elucidating a number of questions concerning the dependence of memorization on the direction of activity.

The presence of a mnemonic orientation is of great importance, first of all, for memory productivity. The low productivity of involuntary memorization was noted in a number of works. (Stern, 1903-1904, 1904-1906, G. Myers, 1913 and others). It is well known that, other things being equal, random memorization much more effective than involuntary. The intention to remember should be considered one of the most important conditions for the success of memorization.

This position is well known to everyone from personal experience, from life observations. At the same time, it has found its clear reflection in experimental practice. One of the most striking examples of its significance is the case described by the Serbian psychologist Radossavljevic (1907) and cited many times in the psychological literature. One of the subjects of this researcher did not understand, due to poor knowledge of the language spoken by the experimenter, the task that was set for him - to remember relatively small (but meaningless) material. As a result of this misunderstanding, it turned out that the memorization of even a small material could not be realized, despite the fact that the material was read aloud 46 times. However, once the task of remembering was clear to the subjects, he was able to reproduce the entire material with complete accuracy after only six exposures to it.

The same is evidenced by the data of other works, in which the question of the action of the task of remembering was subjected to special study, in particular, the studies of Poppelreiter (1912), Wolgemuth (1915), Mazo (1929). The methodology of these works consisted in the fact that the subjects were asked, on the one hand, to perceive some material in order to memorize it, and on the other hand, to familiarize themselves with similar material in conditions where memorization was not required. In both cases, after this (in the second case, unexpectedly for the subjects), it was proposed to reproduce the perceived material. The results of the experiments showed that in the first case memorization was much more productive than in the second case. Quite indicative is the fact, well known to all those who conducted experimental studies of memory, that the experimenters do not memorize the material that they offer the subjects for memorization. All subjects memorize the material completely and accurately, while the experimenters themselves, who read this material to the subjects, at the end of the experiments can reproduce it extremely insufficiently, and this takes place, despite the fact that the experiments are carried out with several subjects, due to which the material is perceived by the experimenters a much larger number of times. than for each subject individually.<...>

memorization- the process of fixing new information by linking it with the already known, stored in memory. There are the following types of memory:

Mechanical and meaningful Data from experimental studies show the importance of semantic connections for the process of memorization. A comparison of the results of memorizing meaningless syllables and meaningful words showed that memorization productivity is directly dependent on the presence of semantic connections (22 times more effective!)

Voluntary and involuntary memory. Involuntary is understood as such a memorization when a person does not set a special goal to remember. For example, you walk down the street and memorize some situation, although you did not have a special task - to remember. With arbitrary memorization, a person sets a special goal - to remember. What memory is more productive? Research

Zinchenko showed that involuntary memorization can be more productive than arbitrary, it all depends on what place the memorized material occupies in the structure of activity. So, the following experiment was carried out: in one case, the subjects were asked to classify the proposed pictures into groups, and the goal of remembering these pictures was not set before the subjects. In the second case, the goal was to memorize the pictures. So, in the case of classification, the pictures were remembered better than when the task was simply to remember them. Thus, involuntary memorization can be more effective than arbitrary. if the material takes the place of the purpose of the activity. With arbitrary memorization, the goal is shifted to the memorization process itself.

Direct and indirect memory. With direct memorization, a person does not use auxiliary means to remember. Such memorization is called mediated when the subject uses such means. For example, he sets a goal to remember, writes down so as not to forget, ties a knot in memory. By the way, the last technique is very ancient. Attempts to use auxiliary means to remember (that is, to master one's memory) are already found among primitive peoples. A person tries to remember one thing with the help of other weights, for example, puts a pebble in his pocket, a leaf from a tree while counting. Thus, along with what we remember, there appears something with which we remember.

In accordance with the goals of the activity, which includes the processes of memorization, there are two main types of memorization: involuntary and arbitrary.

Involuntary memorization is a product and condition for the implementation of cognitive and practical actions. Since memorization itself is not our goal, then about everything that is remembered involuntarily, we usually say:

"I remember it myself." In fact, this is a strictly natural process, determined by the peculiarities of our activity. Studies show that for the productivity of involuntary memorization, the place that this material occupies in the activity is important. If the material is included in the content new goal of the activity, it is remembered better than when it is included in the conditions, ways to achieve this goal.

In the experiments, schoolchildren of the 1st grade and students were given five simple arithmetic problems to solve. In both cases, unexpectedly for the subjects, they were asked to recall the conditions and number of tasks. Schoolchildren of the 1st grade memorized numbers almost three times more than students. This is explained by the fact that the ability of first-graders to add and subtract has not yet become a skill. It is a meaningful goal-directed action for students of Grade I.

Numerical manipulation constituted the content goals this action, while for students it was part of the content way, not the purpose of the action.

Material that occupies a different place in the activity acquires a different meaning. Therefore, it requires a different orientation and is reinforced in different ways. The content of the main goal requires a more active orientation and receives effective reinforcement as an achieved result of the activity and therefore is better remembered than what concerns the conditions for achieving the goal.

The facts of special studies show that material that takes the place of the main goal in activity is remembered the better, the more meaningful connections are established in it.

In a study that looked at the involuntary memory of text that students needed to understand, they found that very easy text was remembered worse than text of average difficulty. A difficult text was remembered better with such a more active way of working with it as drawing up a plan than with using a ready-made plan of the same text.

Consequently, the material that causes active mental work on it is involuntarily remembered better.

It is known that we involuntarily remember completely and firmly, sometimes for the rest of our lives, what has special meaning for us. vital importance, what makes us interest and emotion. Involuntary memory will the more productive, the more interested we are in the content of the task being performed. So, if the student is interested in the lesson, he remembers its content better than when the student listens only “for order”. A special study of the conditions for high productivity of involuntary memorization of knowledge in learning has shown that one of these most important conditions is the creation of internal, proper cognitive motivation for learning activity. This is achieved through a special organization systems learning objectives, at which each result obtained becomes necessary means for each subsequent one.

Arbitrary memorization - it is a product of special mnemonic actions, i.e., such actions, the main purpose of which will be memorization itself. The productivity of such an action is also related to the characteristics of its goals, motives and methods of implementation. At the same time, as special studies have shown, one of the main conditions for arbitrary memorization is a clear statement of the problem of memorizing the material accurately, completely and consistently. Various mnemonic goals affect the nature of the memorization process itself, the choice of its various methods, and, in connection with this, its result.

In one study, students were asked to memorize two stories. The test of the first one was scheduled for the next day, with regard to the second, it was said that it should be remembered for a long time. The memory test for both stories was actually done four weeks later. At the same time, it turned out that the second story was remembered much better than the first. It is known how quickly material is forgotten that is remembered only for exams, without setting for a strong, long-term consolidation.

Thus, the role of the mnemonic task cannot be reduced to the action of the memorization intention itself. Different mnemonic tasks cause a different orientation in the material, in its content, structure, in its linguistic form, etc., causing the choice of appropriate methods of memorization. Therefore, in academic work It is important to give students differentiated tasks: what and how to remember.

An important role in voluntary memorization is played by motives that encourage memorization. The reported information can be understood and memorized, but, without acquiring sustainable significance for the student, it can be quickly forgotten. People who have not been sufficiently raised a sense of duty and responsibility often forget much of what needs to be remembered.

Among the conditions for the productivity of arbitrary memorization, the central place is occupied by using rational memory techniques. Knowledge is made up of a certain system of facts, concepts, judgments. To memorize them, it is necessary to isolate certain semantic units, to establish connections between them, to apply logical techniques associated with more or less developed processes of thinking. Understanding - necessary condition logical, meaningful memory. The concept is remembered faster and stronger because it is meaningfully associated with the knowledge already acquired earlier, with the past experience of a person. On the contrary, what is misunderstood or poorly understood always appears in the mind of a person as something separate, meaningfully not connected with past experience. Incomprehensible material usually does not arouse interest in itself.

One of the most important methods of logical memorization is drawing up a plan for the material to be learned. It includes three points:

1. breakdown of the material into its component parts;

2. inventing titles for them or highlighting some strong point with which the entire content of this part of the material is easily associated;

3. linking parts by their titles or selected strong points into a single chain of associations.

Combining individual thoughts, sentences into semantic parts reduces the number of units that need to be remembered without reducing the amount of memorized material. Memorization is also facilitated because, as a result of drawing up a plan, the material acquires a clear, dissected and ordered form. Thanks to this, it is easier to grasp mentally in the process of reading itself.

Unlike plan for understanding material in terms of memory more and more fractional units are singled out, and the titles only indicate, remind of what should be reproduced, and therefore in their form they are often incomplete, fragmentary.

Of great importance comparison as a method of logical memorization. Emphasizing differences in objects is especially important. This ensures the specialization of links during memorization and directs the reproduction of object images along a certain path. Establishing only general, and even more so very broad connections between objects can make it difficult to remember them. This largely explains the difficulty in remembering (for example, the names of Ovsov in Chekhov's story "Horse Name").

Memorization of objects is carried out the faster and stronger, the sharper the differences between them are. Therefore, the comparison of objects must begin with clearly identified differences and only after that move on to less noticeable differences. As a result of experiments I. P. Pavlov came to the conclusion that the neural connection to a certain stimulus is carried out faster and is more durable not when the stimulus itself is repeatedly reinforced, but when its reinforcement is interspersed, opposed to an unreinforced other stimulus similar to the first.

Association by similarity and contrast is also the basis for such more complex methods of arbitrary memorization as classification, systematization material.

When the logical work on the material relies extensively on figurative connections, this increases the meaningfulness and strength of memorization. Therefore, where possible, it is necessary to evoke appropriate images in ourselves, to associate them with the content of the material that we remember.

One of the most important means of remembering playback, acting in the form of retelling to oneself the memorized content. However, it is useful to use this method only after preliminary understanding, awareness of the material, especially in cases where the material is complex, difficult to understand. Reproduction, especially in your own words, improves understanding of the material. Poorly understood material is usually associated with a "foreign" language form, while well-understood material is easily "translated" into "one's own language".

Reproduction speeds up, rationalizes memorization, especially when memorizing, since when retelling, we identify weaknesses and exercise self-control. It is important that reproduction is not replaced by recognition. Knowing is easier than remembering. But only the possibility of reproduction, recall creates the necessary confidence in knowledge.

Educational material that requires multiple repetitions in its volume can be memorized in three ways: either in parts— partial way, or all at once - holistic way, or all and in parts - combined method. The most rational combined method, and the least rational - partial. With a partial method, there is no orientation towards the general content of the whole, therefore, individual parts are memorized in isolation from one another. This leads to a quick forgetting of the memorized. More productive is the holistic way, which uses the general content of the material, making it easier to understand and remember the individual parts in their relationship. But parts can vary in difficulty, besides, the middle of the material is always remembered worse than the beginning and end, especially with a large volume. Here, a combined method of memorization can be applied, when at first the whole material is comprehended, realized as a whole, in the process of which its individual parts are also distinguished, then individual parts are memorized, especially the more difficult ones, and finally, the material is repeated again as a whole.

This method of memorization is most suited to the characteristics the structure of the mnemonic action, which includes the following operations: orientation in the entire material, the selection of groups of its elements, the establishment of intra-group relations, the establishment of inter-group connections.

The ability to reproduce is not necessarily an indicator of the strength of memorization. Therefore, the teacher should always worry about how, through repetition, to achieve a more solid consolidation of knowledge by students. According to K. D-Ushinsky, a teacher who does not care about repetition, about the strength of knowledge, can be likened to a drunk driver with poorly tied luggage: he drives everything forward without looking back, and brings an empty cart, boasting only that he has come a long way.

However, repetition is productive only when it is conscious, meaningful and active. Otherwise, it leads to rote memorization. Therefore, the best kind of repetition is the inclusion of learned material in subsequent activities. The experience of experimental teaching has shown that when the program material is organized into a special strict system of tasks (so that each previous step is necessary for the assimilation of the next), then in the corresponding activity of the student, essential material is necessarily repeated each time at a new level and in new connections. Under these conditions, the necessary knowledge is firmly remembered even without memorization, that is, involuntarily. Previously acquired knowledge, being included in the context of new knowledge, is not only updated, but also qualitatively changed, rethought.

Patterns of memory (conditions for successful memorization and reproduction) are associated with the forms of memory.

Involuntary memorization

The conditions for successful involuntary memorization are:

strong and significant physical stimuli (the sound of a shot, bright spotlight);
what causes increased orienting activity(cessation or resumption of an action, process, unusual phenomenon, its contrast with the background, etc.);
stimuli that are most significant for a given individual (for example, professionally significant items);
stimuli that have a special emotional coloring;
what is most connected with the needs of this person;
that which is the object of activity.

Thus, the conditions of a problem that we solve for a long time are remembered involuntarily and firmly.

Arbitrary memorization

But in human activity more often there is a need to specifically remember something and reproduce it under appropriate conditions. This is an arbitrary memorization, in which the task of remembering is always set, that is, a special mnemonic activity is carried out.

In the process of human development, voluntary memorization is formed relatively late (mainly by the period of schooling). This type of memorization is intensively developed in the teachings and.

Conditions for successful voluntary memorization are:

awareness of the significance and meaning of the memorized material;
identification of its structure, logical relationship of parts and elements, semantic and spatial grouping of material;
identification of a plan in a verbal-textual material, key words in the content of each of its parts, presentation of the material in the form of a diagram, table, diagram, drawing, visual visual image;
content and accessibility of the memorized material, its correlation with the experience and orientation of the subject of memorization;
emotional and aesthetic saturation of the material;
possibility of using this material in professional activity subject;
installation on the need to reproduce this material in certain conditions;
material, which acts as a means of achieving significant goals, plays an essential role in solving life problems, acts as an object of active mental activity.

When memorizing material, it is essential to rationally distribute it in time, and actively reproduce the material being memorized.

mnemonics

If it is impossible to establish semantic connections in a heterogeneous material, artificial methods of facilitating memorization - mnemonics(the art of memorization): the creation of auxiliary artificial associations, the mental placement of the memorized material in a well-known space, a familiar pattern, an easy-to-remember rhythmic tempo. So, from school years everyone knows the mnemonic method of memorizing the sequence of colors of the light spectrum: "Every Hunter Wants to Know Where the Pheasant Sits."

Arbitrary memory is purposefully organized. Studies show that a person easily retains and reproduces only three or four isolated objects (with their simultaneous perception). The limited volume of simultaneous retention and reproduction of material is due to retroactive and proactive inhibition (inhibition arising, respectively, from subsequent and previous influences).

edge factor

If the subject is given a series of 10 syllables, then the first and last syllables are easier to remember, and the middle ones are worse. What explains this fact? The first elements are not inhibited by previous impressions, and the last members of the series are not inhibited by subsequent elements. The middle members of the series, on the other hand, experience inhibition both from the side of the preceding (proactive inhibition) and from the side of subsequent elements (retroactive, reverse-acting inhibition). The specified pattern of memory (better memorization of extreme elements) is called edge factor.

If the memorized row consists of four elements, then the first, second and fourth are remembered first of all, worse - the third. Therefore, in quatrains, attention should be paid to the third line - the “Achilles heel” of the construction. It is characteristic that it is in the third lines of quatrains that poets often allow violations of the size in order to arouse increased attention to it. Here is how, for example, the first quatrain of N. M. Yazykov's poem "Muse" sounds:

The goddess of the strings survived

Gods and thunder and damask steel.

She did not give beautiful hands into chains

Ages of tyranny and depravity.

It is difficult to remember a list of 18 different items. But listing the hero's purchases dead souls» Nozdryova is not too difficult to remember. In this we are assisted by the author himself, who carries out the necessary contrast organization of the list. “If he [Nozdryov] was lucky enough to attack a simpleton at the fair and beat him, he would buy a bunch of everything that had previously caught his eye in the shops: collars, smoking tar, chintz, candles, kerchiefs for the nanny, a stallion, raisins, a silver washstand, Dutch canvas, grain flour, tobacco, pistols, herrings, paintings, grinding tools, pots, boots, faience utensils - as far as there was enough money.

When moving from memorizing one complex material to memorizing another, it is necessary to take breaks (for at least 15 minutes), which prevent retroactive inhibition.

The assumption that traces do not disappear at all, but are only inhibited under the influence of other influences, is confirmed by the phenomenon of reminiscence (Latin reminiscentia - recollection). Often, when playing material immediately after it has been perceived, the number of elements retained in memory is less than the amount that a person can reproduce after a pause. This is due to the fact that during the rest period, the effect of inhibition is removed.

To expand the amount of arbitrary memory, it is necessary to give the memorized material a certain structure, to group his. It is unlikely, for example, that anyone can quickly remember a series of 16 isolated numbers: 1001110101110011. If you group this series in the form of two-digit numbers: 10 01 11 01 01 11 00 11, then they are easier to remember. In the form of four-digit numbers, this series is even easier to remember, since it no longer consists of 16 elements, but of four enlarged groups: 1001 1101 0111 0011. Combining elements into groups reduces the number of those elements that experience proactive and retroactive inhibition, allows you to compare these elements, i.e., include intellectual activity in the memorization process.

Rice. 1. Techniques for organizing an arbitrary mnemonic action

The productivity of semantic memory is 25 times higher than mechanical memory. Establishing connections, structure, principle, patterns of building an object is the main condition for its successful memorization. It is difficult to mechanically remember the numbers 248163264128256, but it is very easy to remember the same numbers if you establish a certain pattern in a number of numbers (doubling each subsequent number). The number 123-456-789 is easy to remember by finding the principle of its construction (Fig. 1).

Arbitrary memorization of figurative material is also facilitated by the identification of the principle of its organization (Fig. 2).

AT experimental studies it is found that the subjects "remember" large quantity information than what was presented to them for memorization. If, for example, the sentence “Ivanov chopped sugar” is given for memorization, then when it is reproduced, the subjects often reconstruct this material as follows: “Ivanov chopped sugar with tongs.” This phenomenon is explained by the involuntary connection to the memorization of the judgments and conclusions of the individual.

So, memory is not a store of static information. It is organized by systematizing processes of perception and thinking.

Rice. 2. Remember and reproduce in the same sequence this series of figures (the task can be completed only when the principle of the arrangement of the figures is established)

At playback material as a support should be used those objects that structurally organized the field of perception, regulated the activity of the subject of memorization.

Memories are a special kind of reproduction. Memory- the assignment by the individual of figurative representations to a certain place and moment of his life. The localization of memories is facilitated by reproducing integral behavioral events, their sequence.

Reproduction associated with overcoming difficulties is called recollection. Overcoming the difficulties of recall is facilitated by the establishment of various associations.

Reproducible images of objects or phenomena are called representations. They are divided into types corresponding to the types of perceptions (visual, auditory, etc.).

The peculiarity of representations is their generality and fragmentation. Representations do not convey with the same brightness all the features and signs of objects. If certain representations are connected with our activity, then those aspects of the object that are most essential for this activity come to the fore.

Representations are generalized images of reality. They preserve the permanent attributes of things and discard the random ones. Representations are a higher level of knowledge than sensation and perception. They are a transitional stage from sensations to thought. But representations are always paler, less complete than perceptions. When presenting an image of a well-known object, for example, the facade of your house, you can find that this image is fragmentary and somewhat reconstructed.

The past is restored with the participation of thinking - in a generalized and indirect way. Consciousness of reproduction inevitably leads to a categorical, conceptual coverage of the past. And only specially organized control activity - comparison, critical evaluation - brings the reconstructed picture closer to the real events.

The material of reproduction is a product not only of memory, but of the entire mental originality of a given individual.

The material is remembered in the context of human activity. First of all, what was most relevant, significant in human activity, how this activity began and ended, what obstacles arose on the way to its implementation are stored in memory. At the same time, some people better remember the facilitators, while others - the hindering factors of activity.

In interpersonal interactions, what is remembered more firmly is that which affects the most significant personal characteristics of the individual.

There are also personal tendencies to reconstruct the material stored in the memory. A person remembers events in the form in which he comprehends them in the process of perception. Already an elementary act of synthesis of perception and memory - recognition is distinguished by a number of individual features. Poor memory for faces can be combined with good memory for other objects.

The accuracy and completeness of reproduction depend on the suggestibility and conformity of the individual, his tendency to fantasize. Significant deformations cognitive processes occur in emotionally stressed states.

So, memory is not a warehouse of finished goods. Her material is subject to personal reconstruction. The personal reconstruction of the reproduced material can manifest itself in the distortion of the semantic content of the source material, the illusory detailing of the reproduced event, the unification of disparate elements, the separation of related elements, the replacement of content with other similar content, the spatial and temporal mixing of events or their fragments, exaggeration, emphasizing personally significant aspects of the event, confusion functionally identical objects.

In the memory of a person, not only the actual side of events is preserved, but also their corresponding interpretation. Meaningful memorization is characterized by the inclusion of the material in the semantic (categorial-conceptual) field of the individual. Reproduction, restoration of past influences is not a "slump" of these influences. The degree of discrepancy between ideas and real events in different people is not the same. It depends on the type of higher nervous activity of the individual, the structure of individual consciousness, value attitudes, motives and goals of activity.

It also functions intensively beyond the threshold of consciousness. At present, it is modeled with the help of electronic computers. However, these machines provide only information storage, while human memory is a constantly self-organizing process, a mental mechanism integrating the results of all mental processes, a mechanism for storing directly perceived and logically processed information.

Some people may have full, vivid representations after a single and involuntary perception of an object. Such representations are called eidetic(from Greek eidos - image). Sometimes there is an involuntary, obsessive, cyclical emergence of images - perseveration(lat. perseveratio - perseverance).

Memory is based on those mental processes that occur during the initial meeting with the memorized material. Accordingly, during reproduction, the main role is played by the actualization of the material in terms of the functional connections of its elements, their semantic context, and the structural relationship of its parts. And for this, the material in the process of imprinting must be clearly analyzed (divided into structural and semantic units) and synthesized (conceptually combined). The reserves of human memory are inexhaustible.

According to the calculations of the famous cyberneticist J. Neumann, the human brain can accommodate the entire amount of information stored in the largest libraries in the world. Alexander the Great knew by sight and by name all the soldiers of his army of many thousands. A. A. Alekhin could play from memory (blindly) with 40 partners at the same time.

Someone E. Gaon knew by heart all 2.5 thousand books he had read in his life, and could reproduce any passage from them. Numerous cases of outstanding figurative memory of people of artistic type are known. W. A. Mozart could record a great piece of music after listening to it only once. Composers L. K. Glazunov and S. V. Rakhmaninov had the same musical memory. The artist N. N. Ge could accurately depict from memory what he had seen only once.

A person involuntarily remembers everything that attracts his attention: the captivating colors of spring evenings, the graceful outlines of ancient cathedrals, the joyful faces of people close to him, the smells of the sea and pine forest. All these numerous images constitute the figurative-intellectual fund of his psyche.

Everyone has the ability to significantly expand the amount of memory. At the same time, it is necessary to discipline the intellect - to single out the essential against the background of the secondary, actively reproduce the necessary material, widely use mnemonic techniques. The habit of remembering the right things is fixed, like any other skill. School folklore about “Pythagorean pants” and about “every hunter who wants to know where the pheasant is sitting” testifies to the indestructible desire of our mind to find a scheme, an association, even where it is impossible to establish logical connections.

Each person has features of his memory: some people have a strong verbal-logical memory, others have a figurative one; some remember quickly, others need more careful processing of the memorized material. But in all cases it is necessary to avoid that which causes proactive and retroactive inhibition. And at the first difficulties of reproduction, the phenomenon of reminiscence should be used.

memorization can be defined as the process of memory, as a result of which the new is consolidated by linking it with the previously acquired. This is a necessary condition for enriching the experience of the individual with new knowledge and forms of behavior. Memorization is always selective: far from everything that affects our senses is stored in memory. What determines choice?

memory and action. It has been experimentally proved that any memorization, including involuntary, is a natural product. actions subject with an object.

In their experiment, the subjects were asked to classify the objects depicted on the cards. On each card, except for the subject, a number was depicted. After the experiment, the subjects were asked to recall what they saw on the cards. It turned out that in this case the subjects were well remembered. As for the numbers, some subjects claimed that they did not see them at all. In another experiment, it was necessary to arrange the cards in the order of the numbers depicted on them. In this case, everything was the opposite: the numbers were well remembered and the pictures were almost not noticed.

Thus, what a person is remembered with is valid. This pattern was also found in experiments with practical, labor actions.

The described facts convincingly prove that the simple adjacency events (pictures and numbers) by itself does not provide unambiguous memorization results. The whole point is that does man with material. Of course, the same external conditions of activity do not lead to exactly the same results of memorization in different people, since these conditions are always refracted through a person’s past experience, his individual characteristics. But this only means that, speaking about the dependence of memorization on activity, it is necessary to consider any human action in a personal context, i.e. in connection with the peculiarities of motives, goals and ways to achieve them.

Thus, we can say that the characteristics of memorization of a particular material are determined by motives, goals and methods of activity of the individual. From these positions, one should consider the characteristics of the memorization process in all its forms and at all stages of formation, including at the very initial level, i.e. at the level short term memory.

Short-term and long-term memory. What is short term memory? If we were dictated to a few random numbers, letters or words and offered to repeat them immediately, we would easily do it. Even the reproduction of a series of meaningless syllables would not cause us great difficulties (provided that there are no more than five or seven elements in the series). For example, we could repeat the series "de-bo-da-ti-tse-lo", but only immediately after it was spoken. After some time, we would no longer be able to do this. This is a short term memory. In order to memorize this series for a long time, we would need several repetitions, and perhaps the use of some special (mnemonic) memorization techniques (for example, combining syllables into words and linking them into an artificial sentence like “Grandfather Bogdan is a birder "). And that would be a long-term memory.

Research into short-term memorization, prompted primarily by the needs of engineering psychology, has today acquired great general theoretical significance. It can be said that all modern problems of the psychology of memory are in one way or another connected with the study of the patterns of its short-term processes. Here, a solution to the key problem in the study of memory - the problem of its mechanisms - should be obtained on the basis of a synthesis of all levels of research: psychological, neurophysiological, biochemical.

The very name "short-term memorization" shows that the basis of the corresponding classification from the very beginning was a temporal attribute. However, the time parameter, for all its importance for understanding the phenomena of memory, does not in itself allow one to exhaustively characterize short-term memorization. When considering memory processes, the dependence of its on the nature of human activity in various time conditions of information processing. It has been established that memorization is regulated by a program specified from above, i.e. determined the nature of the activity person with memorized material.

Currently, research is underway aimed at studying the dependence of short-term memorization on the nature of the activity carried out by a person, on the characteristics of the task performed by him. Until now, studies of short-term memory have mainly varied between two factors: exposure time and the material presented. The task of the activity performed by the subject remained unchanged, since it was always a mnemonic task. Therefore, naturally, the amount of memorization in a given time mode of presentation of the material remained constant. Evidence has now been obtained that indicates that various cognitive and mnemonic tasks affect the productivity of short-term memorization in different ways. These data show that short-term memorization, at least within the time limits in which it has usually been studied, is not directly imprinted.

It was found that under the conditions of short-term memorization, only such tasks are productive, for the solution of which automated ways of doing things. Tasks that require the use of extended methods of processing the material reduce the productivity of its memorization under conditions of short-term presentation. Based on this, short-term memorization could be defined as memorization, which is carried out in such a time frame of human activity with the material, in which it is possible to use only automated methods of its processing.

Long-term memory receives information that acquires tactical rather than strategic to achieve the vital goals of the individual's activity. Long-term memorization, being a natural product of human activity, is not just a concomitant "trace" effect of actions, but is formed primarily as an internally necessary condition for its occurrence. In other words, the memorization of any material is a product of the previous action and, at the same time, a condition, a means of carrying out the next one.

Involuntary and voluntary memory. In accordance with the goals of the activity, which includes the processes of memorization, there are two main types of memorization: involuntary and arbitrary.

Involuntary memorization is a product and condition for the implementation of cognitive and practical actions. Since memorization itself is not our goal, then about everything that is remembered involuntarily, we usually say:

"I remember it myself." In fact, this is a strictly natural process, determined by the peculiarities of our activity. Studies show that for the productivity of involuntary memorization, the place that this material occupies in the activity is important. If the material is included in the content of the main goal of the activity, it is remembered better than when it is included in the conditions, ways to achieve this goal.

In the experiments, schoolchildren of the 1st grade and students were given to solve five simple arithmetic problems, after which, unexpectedly for the subjects, they were asked to recall the conditions and numbers of the problems. Schoolchildren of the 1st grade memorized numbers almost three times more than students. This is due to the fact that the first-grader's ability to add and subtract has not yet become a skill. It is a meaningful purposeful action for students of the 1st grade.

For first-graders, operating with numbers was the content of the goal of this action, while for students it was part of the content of the method, and not the goal of the action.

The facts of special studies show that The material that takes the place of the main goal in the activity is remembered the better, the more meaningful connections are established in it.

In a study that studied the involuntary memory of text that was required to be understood by schoolchildren, they found that a very easy text was remembered worse than a medium-difficulty text. A difficult text was remembered better with such a more active way of working with it as drawing up a plan than when using a ready-made plan of the same text.

Hence, involuntarily the material that causes active mental work on it is remembered better.

It is known that we involuntarily remember completely and firmly, sometimes for the rest of our lives, what has special meaning for us. vital importance, what arouses interest and emotion in us. Involuntary memory will the more productive, the more interested we are in the content of the task being performed. So, if the student is interested in the lesson, he remembers its content better than when the student listens only “for order”. A special study of the conditions for high productivity of involuntary memorization of knowledge in learning has shown that one of these most important conditions is the creation of internal, proper cognitive motivation for learning activity. This is achieved through a special organization systems of learning tasks, at which each result obtained becomes necessary means for each subsequent one.

Arbitrary memorization is a product of special mnemonic actions, those. such actions, the main purpose of which will be memorization itself. The productivity of such an action is also related to the characteristics of its goals, motives and methods of implementation. At the same time, as special studies have shown, one of the main conditions for arbitrary memorization is a clear statement of the problem of remembering the material accurately, completely and consistently. Various mnemonic goals affect the nature of the memorization process itself, the choice of its various methods, and, in connection with this, its result.

In one study, students were asked to memorize two stories. The test of the first one was scheduled for the next day, with regard to the second, it was said that it should be remembered for a long time. The memory test for both stories was actually done four weeks later. It turned out that the second story was remembered much better than the first. It is known how quickly material is memorized that is memorized only for exams, without setting for a strong, long-term consolidation.

Thus, the role of the mnemonic task cannot be reduced to the action of the memorization intention itself. Different mnemonic tasks cause a different orientation in the material, in its content, structure, in its linguistic form, etc., causing the choice of appropriate methods of memorization. Therefore, in educational work it is important to give students differentiated tasks: what and how to remember.

An important role in voluntary memorization is played by motives that encourage memorization. The reported information can be understood and memorized, but, without acquiring sustainable significance for the student, it can be quickly forgotten. People who have not been sufficiently brought up with a sense of duty and responsibility often forget much of what they need to remember.

Among the conditions for the productivity of arbitrary memorization, the central place is occupied by using rational memory techniques. Knowledge is made up of a certain system of facts, concepts, judgments. To memorize them, it is necessary to isolate certain semantic units, to establish connections between them, to apply logical techniques associated with more or less developed processes of thinking. Understanding is a necessary condition for logical, meaningful memorization. The concept is remembered faster and stronger because it is meaningfully associated with the knowledge already acquired earlier, with the past experience of a person. On the contrary, what is misunderstood or poorly understood always appears in the mind of a person as something separate, meaningfully not connected with past experience. Incomprehensible material usually does not arouse interest in itself.

One of the most important methods of logical memorization is drawing up a plan for the material to be learned. It includes three points: 1) breakdown of the material into its component parts; 2) inventing titles for them or highlighting some strong point with which the entire content of this part of the material is easily associated; 3) linking parts by their titles or selected strong points into a single chain of associations. Combining individual thoughts, sentences into semantic parts reduces the number of units that need to be remembered without reducing the amount of memorized material. Memorization is also facilitated because, as a result of drawing up a plan, the material acquires a clear, dissected and ordered form. Thanks to this, it is easier to grasp mentally in the process of reading itself.

Memorization of objects is carried out the faster and stronger, the sharper the differences between them are. Therefore, the comparison of objects must begin with clearly identified differences and only after that move on to less noticeable differences. As a result of experiments I.P. Pavlov came to the conclusion that the neural connection to a certain stimulus is carried out faster and is more durable not when the stimulus itself is repeatedly reinforced, but when its reinforcement is interspersed, opposed to an unreinforced other stimulus similar to the first.

Association by similarity and contrast is also the basis for such more complex methods of arbitrary memorization as classification, systematization of the material.

When logical work on material relies extensively on figurative connections, this increases the meaningfulness and strength of memorization. Therefore, where possible, it is necessary to evoke appropriate images in ourselves, to associate them with the content of the material that we remember.

Reproduction speeds up, rationalizes memorization, especially when memorizing, since when retelling, we identify weaknesses and exercise self-control. It is important that reproduction is not replaced by recognition. Knowing is easier than remembering. But only the possibility of reproduction, recall creates the necessary confidence in knowledge.

Educational material that requires multiple repetitions in its volume can be remembered in three ways: either in parts - partial way, or all at once holistic way, or all and in parts - combined method. The most rational is the combined method, and the name rational is partial. With a partial method, there is no orientation towards the general content of the whole, therefore, individual parts are memorized in isolation from one another. This leads to a quick forgetting of the memorized. More productive is the holistic way, which uses the general content of the material, making it easier to understand and remember the individual parts in their relationship. But parts can vary in difficulty, besides, the middle of the material is always remembered worse than the beginning and end, especially with a large volume. Here, a combined method of memorization can be applied, when at first the whole material is comprehended, realized as a whole, in the process of which its individual parts are also distinguished, then individual parts are memorized, especially the more difficult ones, and finally, the material is repeated again as a whole.

This way of learning is best suited features of the structure of the mnemonic action, which includes the following operations: orientation in the entire material, the selection of groups of its elements, the establishment of intra-group relations, the establishment of inter-group connections.

The ability to reproduce is not necessarily an indicator of the strength of memorization. Therefore, the teacher should always worry about how, through repetition, to achieve a more solid consolidation of knowledge by students. According to K.D. Ushinekogo, a teacher who does not care about repetition, about the strength of knowledge, can be likened to a drunk driver with poorly tied luggage: he drives everything forward without looking back, and brings an empty cart, boasting only that he has come a long way.

However, repetition is productive only when it is conscious, meaningful and active. Otherwise, it leads to rote memorization. Therefore, the best type of repetition is the inclusion of learned material in subsequent activities. The experience of experimental teaching has shown that when the program material is organized into a special strict system of tasks (so that each previous step is necessary for the assimilation of the next), then in the corresponding activity of the student, essential material is necessarily repeated each time at a new level and in new connections. Under these conditions, the necessary knowledge is firmly remembered even without memorization, i.e. involuntarily. Previously acquired knowledge, being included in the context of new knowledge, is not only updated, but also qualitatively changed, rethought.

The place of involuntary and arbitrary memorization in the assimilation of knowledge. In training, it is necessary to focus not only on arbitrary, but also on involuntary memorization. A comparative study of them revealed important conditions under which each of them is most effective. The results of this study make it possible to determine the place of involuntary and voluntary memorization in the assimilation of knowledge by students.

Involuntary memorization of objects (depicted on the cards of objects), which was carried out in the process of their classification, i.e. active mental activity, gave better results than arbitrary, which relied only on the perception of the material. Similarly, when students mapped out a relatively complex text in order to understand its content, they remembered it better than when they voluntarily memorized it, which relied only on simply reading the text. Hence, when involuntary memorization is based on meaningful and active ways of working with the material, it is more productive than arbitrary, if the latter does not use similar methods.

In the conditions of the same ways of working with the material (for example, classification of objects), involuntary memorization, remaining more productive in children of school and younger school age, gradually loses its advantage among middle school students and adults, giving way to arbitrary memorization. These changes in the ratio of the productivity of involuntary and voluntary memorization are explained by complex relationships between cognitive and mnemonic actions in the process of their formation. The mnemonic action, being formed on the basis of the cognitive one, lags behind it. Classification can act as a way of remembering when it has reached a certain level of formation as a cognitive action. Only having learned to classify, one can use this mental action as a way of arbitrary memorization. This regularity also appeared in experiments on involuntary and voluntary memorization of a text with such methods of work as using a ready-made plan or drawing up a plan on your own.

Involuntary memorization reaches maximum productivity when students perform cognitive task, when the material requires active understanding. In these cases, involuntary memorization is more productive than voluntary, because the process of understanding is difficult or impossible to combine with the performance of a mnemonic task. Arbitrary memorization reaches its maximum productivity in conditions where the understanding of the material can be entirely subordinated to the performance of a mnemonic task. Involuntary memorization should be guided by when studying new material, and the mnemonic task should be set at the stage of its consolidation. Thus, an important point in the management of knowledge memorization is selection and differentiation of cognitive and mnemonic tasks.