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We need memory to learn – but not the way we currently

Sylvie Pérez Lima

Jordi Perales Pons

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Sometimes we remember things that we did not even know we had memorised and sometimes the
opposite happens – we want to remember something that we know we’ve learned but are not able to
recall it.
Faced with an exam, students only ask themselves about decontextualised exam content: in this
situation, they may not be able to bring back the answer, even if they think they know it. It may even
seem to them that they have forgotten everything they have studied. Perhaps not everything, but a large
part of it. Had they really ever even learned it?

There is no learning without memory

Memory and learning go hand in hand. As much as it may not sound innovative in this day and age, and
even if new methodologies reject the idea, it is impossible to separate learning from memory.

In order to defend this categorical statement, we need to understand what memory consists of, the
different types of memory that we have and are familiar with, and their involvement in learning
processes. It should also be clarified that language often betrays us and that “learning things by heart”
(something which is sometimes necessary) is not the same as involving memory to achieve learning.

Memory types

There is more than one memory. We could classify the types of memory as sensory memory, working
memory and long-term memory.

Sensory memory is unconscious, made up of information gathered by the senses and sent permanently
to the brain. When we direct our attention to a piece of information, that memory becomes conscious.
This is a short-term memory (our “working” memory).

We are always using our working memory. To understand how this memory type operates, it is useful to
think of it as a small space in which we can store only a certain amount of information simultaneously –
information that we gather from the outside or information that we bring to our consciousness.

Working memory in class

The functioning of working memory depends, then, on where we focus our attention and also on how
quickly we process the information with which we are working.

To this end, there are students whose processing speed (that is, the time they require to store the
information in their working memory) may be greater. This does not mean that they do not have the
capacity to work with the information, but rather that they cannot accumulate so many things at the
same time in working memory. And vice versa: other students can handle more information faster.

Working memory is what allows us to learn. It processes the information in our brain almost physically
– organising it, comparing it with prior knowledge, imagining contexts. When we become aware of our
thinking, we are putting our working memory into play. So, should teachers teach with memory in
mind? In the case of working memory, there is no doubt that the answer is yes.

Long-term memory
Long-term memory is what we are normally referring to colloquially when we talk about “memory”, and
we can observe it when we remember things we have learned, different meanings, etc.

In terms of long-term memory, we can differentiate between what we call explicit and implicit memory.
Explicit long-term memory corresponds to the type of memory that is the result of conscious learning
and it can come about quite quickly. This is semantic and meaningful learning or autobiographical and
contextual learning. Once the knowledge has been processed in the working memory, one could say that
it is transferred to the long-term memory. While working memory is limited, long-term memory is
infinite.

Implicit long-term memory is unconscious and is acquired through repetition and through experience.
Also known as procedural memory, it is essential in everyday life since it helps us to learn skills. This
includes motor skills, such as riding a bicycle or sewing, but also (and closely related to the educational
field) cognitive skills, such as learning to read.

Without automatic learning, reading would be impossible as a cognitive skill. Also, the ability to solve
problems, plan, etc.

Memorising by thinking

So, why do we say that we should abandon a learning system based on memory if memory is so
important for learning? Because “learning by heart” or “rote learning”, as we colloquially understand the
expression, inevitably leads to the information being forgotten. It does not make learning conscious, it
does not use working memory, and it teaches without a clear understanding of what the meaning behind
that memorising is.

We need to learn by thinking. If we only ask students to “do things” without making them think about
what we want them to learn – if we do not focus their attention and make them process the information
– there will be no meaningful learning.

Teaching students to use and work with their memory implies activating prior knowledge through
questions, setting out real or familiar contexts, bringing past experiences and memories back into
working memory. And not only activating this knowledge, but also really making sure that they have it.
Without this prior step, the student’s reaction is to memorise in a meaningless way.

And that is why they forget: they cannot reactivate what they thought they had memorised when it is put
into other contexts because they have no context and the knowledge has not been connected to the
information that long-term memory already had in it.

For this reason, it is necessary to go deeper into the different topics (very different from adding more
and more content), offering multiple situations and different schemes to form connections, all the while
consolidating with more and more prior knowledge.
Having a ‘good’ memory or a ‘bad’ memory

When we say that someone has a “good” memory, we usually refer to their ability to remember, to call up
what has been kept in long-term memory. And, thus, we say that someone who is capable of
remembering many things has a “good memory”.

The more ingrained the information is in the mind and the better we have learned it, the easier it will be
for us to remember it. But it is also necessary to facilitate this memory from the educational perspective,
to make it sound familiar to us and give clues for contextualisation.

In exams, what we are measuring is the ability to remember. When we ask students to “study”, what we
should be asking them is to “practice to see if they remember”. Repeating and trying to “learn by heart”
causes them to not be able to remember the information later, even despite saying that they “knew it”.
For this reason, it is necessary to practice memory, work with the information and its meanings, and not
just read while trying to memorise.

Thus, memorising is not learning. Learning is remembering.

This article was originally published in Spanish