Retention of Learning

Theories of Forgetting

Disuse: How many times have you heard the phrase “if you don’t use it, you lose it?” It has long been argued that if knowledge is not used, it will be lost somewhere in the large filing cabinet known as the brain. This is why several years after graduating from school, many students are saddened that they have forgotten more than they remember from the experience. It would be easy to conclude that the memory loss is a result of disuse; however, it is not that simple. Experimentation studies show, for example, that a hypnotized person can describe fine details of an event that would normally be beyond memory. The key is that these memories still reside within the brain, the difficulty lies in reaching those “files” located at the end of some unused neural pathway that has been grown over since it’s last use.

Interference: One theory holds that people forget a piece of information because a certain experience has overshadowed it, or that the learning of similar things has intervened. This theory might explain how the range of experiences after graduation from school causes a person to lose knowledge. New events may displace other things that have been learned. Two conclusions about interference have been suggested as results from experiments. (1) closely similar material seems to interfere with memory more than dissimilar material, and (2) material not well learned suffers most from interference.

Repression: Freudian psychology portends a view that some forgetting is due to the submersion of ideas into the unconscious mind. Material that is unpleasant or produces anxiety may be treated this way by a student, but not intentionally. It is a subconscious repression and it is accomplished to protect the individual from something uncomfortable to them. The repression theory does not appear to account for much forgetfulness of the kind discussed in this article, but it does explain some other cases.

Retention principles

One of the most intimate of problems faced by an instructor, is how to ensure what the student is gaining through the experience will be retained for future use. This topic is touched upon in an informal way by Nater and Gallimore (2006) in their book titled, “You haven’t taught until they have learned.” In every circumstance, an instructor should seek to facilitate learning properly so that the students find their own meaning. Material fully learned is resistant to forgetting because meaningful learning builds patterns of relationships in the student’s consciousness. The difference in rote learning, as discussed previously, is its superficiality which generally causes it not to be retained. Meaningful learning is a deeper type of learning because it involves principles and concepts that are fixed firmly in the student’s own experiences.

Socrates is widely quoted as saying, “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” This common thread throughout is that retention relies on the student to absorb the information; however, coaches can assist in the retention if they keep the following five principles in mind.

Praise Stimulates Remembering: Responses which give pleasurable feeling, are inclined to be repeated. Absence of praise or recognition tend to discourage a student and ANY form of negativism in the tone of a response can make the recall less likely.

Recall is Encouraged by Association: Information or action that is associated with something previously known or learned facilitates the later recall by the student. Unique or non-associated facts are usually forgotten unless they are of special interest to the student.

Favorable Attitudes Aid Retention: People learn and remember only what they wish to know. Without motivation, there is little chance for recall. The most effective motivations are those based on positive or rewarding objectives from the perspective of the student.

Learning with All the Senses is Most effective: Although we generally receive what we learn with our eyes and ears, other senses also contribute to most perceptions. When several senses respond together, fuller understanding and greater chance of recall is then more likely.

Meaningful Repetition Aids Recall: Each repetition gives the student an opportunity to gain a clearer and more accurate perception of the subject to be learned. But mere repetition does not guarantee retention. Practice gives an opportunity for learning, but does not cause it. Further, it is believed that three or four repetitions provide the maximum effect, after which the rate of learning and probability of retention falls off rapidly.

I hope this gives you something to think about, but more importantly I hope you retain and use the information wisely.

Until next time, Ride and Coach Safe!

References

Nater, S., Gallimore, R. (2006). You haven’t taught until they have learned. West Virginia: Fitness Information Technology.