In my anthropology class, I have been studying primates. One species in particular stands out in my mind as I have encountered this species in an article I read months ago. The species in question: vervet monkeys. The article I had originally seen them mentioned in had associated vervet with the similar sounding word, velvet. When reading about this species of monkey, I am associating them with velvet, so they have stood out amongst the species studied. This leads me to wonder, why is it that thinking of these vervet monkeys as velvet monkeys makes them so much easier to remember?
Associating the word vervet to a familiar word, already in long term memory, would be a form of elaborative rehearsal (Goldstein, 2011). Elaborative rehearsal is a way to help move information from short term or working memory into long term memory by associating the item with something already in long term memory, such as associating the word vervet with the word velvet (Goldstein, 2011). This also illustrates the depth of processing I used when I was reading about these primates; this particular item shows a couple of levels of processing. I was using shallow processing when I was connecting the word velvet to vervet, as I was not really paying attention to the meanings of the words when the connection was made (Goldstein, 2011).
Without even doing so intentionally, I created an association in my mind between these primates and soft, plush fabric. Goldstein (2011) actually recommends this as a way to study more effectively, by elaborating and making connections between the new material you are studying and things you already know. It probably would have been better for me to associate something that was connected to the meaning of the words instead of the similarity of the word to something that is in reality unrelated to the vervet monkey.
Studying is most effective when the connection made is based on the meaning of the terms studied, not the similarity between two words whose meaning is unrelated (Ricker, 2011). This connection between the words may make it easier for me to remember the name of the monkeys, but it does nothing to help me remember any really relevant information about them beyond what they are called. A more effective strategy may have been to create a story relating the vervet monkeys to the alarm calls they are able to make that are specific to a particular type of predator (Larsen, 2014).
Regardless of how effective this particular connection will be when it is time to take my anthropology exam, there is no doubt I will remember the name of these monkeys as the primates whose name sounds like velvet. Perhaps this connection does benefit my studying of the subject, but I believe more thought and deeper connections to relevant material within my long term memory will most likely serve me better for exam time.
References
Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (3rd Ed.). California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Larsen, C.S. (2014). Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology (3rd ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Ricker, J. (2011, November 5th). Using Elaborative Rehearsal to Study for Tests. In PSY 101 – Introduction to Psychology (Section 5). Retrieved from http://sccpsy101.com/2011/11/05/using-elaborative-rehearsal-to-study-for-tests/