Understanding What Makes Content Memorable

This is my "everything I know about encoding" video. Well, not quite everything. But best I could do in 45 minutes.

00:00 Introduction
00:46 What can we encode?
1:46 Two issues in encoding research
4:43 Depth of processing
9:17 The generation effect
13:31 Imagery
17:28 Memory palaces and “time palaces”
20:10 The drawing effect
23:36 Distinctiveness
27:50 Value
31:42 Integration
37:17 Transfer appropriate processing
43:32 The complete list of themes

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References:

Perhaps this goes without saying, but each of the issues that I mention are considerably more nuanced than how I've presented them here. But hopefully the video gives you the basic ideas so that you can dive in further, if you want.

Depth of processing: Craik, F. I., & Tulving, E. (1975). Depth of processing and the retention of words in episodic memory. Journal of experimental Psychology: general, 104(3), 268.

Generation: Bertsch, S., Pesta, B. J., Wiscott, R., & McDaniel, M. A. (2007). The generation effect: A meta-analytic review. Memory & cognition, 35, 201-210.

Imagery: Leopold, C., & Mayer, R. E. (2015). An imagination effect in learning from scientific text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(1), 47–63. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037142

"Time palaces" and memory palaces Bouffard, N., Stokes, J., Kramer, H. J., & Ekstrom, A. D. (2018). Temporal encoding strategies result in boosts to final free recall performance comparable to spatial ones. Memory & Cognition, 46(1), 17–31. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-017-0742-z

Value and encoding: Hennessee, J. P., Patterson, T. K., Castel, A. D., & Knowlton, B. J. (2019). Forget me not: Encoding processes in value-directed remembering. Journal of Memory and Language, 106, 29–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.02.001

Drawing: Fernandes, M. A., Wammes, J. D., & Meade, M. E. (2018). The Surprisingly Powerful Influence of Drawing on Memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(5), 302–308. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721418755385

Wammes, J. D., Meade, M. E., & Fernandes, M. A. (2016). The drawing effect: Evidence for reliable and robust memory benefits in free recall. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69(9), 1752–1776. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2015.1094494

Acting things out: Engelkamp, J., & Zimmer, H. D. (1997). Sensory factors in memory for subject-performed tasks. Acta Psychologica, 96(1-2), 43-60.

Production and distinctiveness: Ozubko, J. D., & MacLeod, C. M. (2010). The production effect in memory: evidence that distinctiveness underlies the benefit. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(6), 1543.

Integration and self-explanations: Chi, M. T., Bassok, M., Lewis, M. W., Reimann, P., & Glaser, R. (1989). Self-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems. Cognitive Science, 13(2), 145–182.

Renkl, A. (2002). Worked-out examples: Instructional explanations support learning by self-explanations. Learning and instruction, 12(5), 529-556.

Integration and video games/passages:

Arena, D. A., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Experience and explanation: Using videogames to prepare students for formal instruction in statistics. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 23, 538-548.

Schwartz, D. L., & Bransford, J. D. (1998). A time for telling. Cognition and Instruction, 16(4), 475–5223.

Transfer appropriate processing: Morris, C. D., Bransford, J. D., & Franks, J. J. (1977). Levels of processing versus transfer appropriate processing. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 16(5), 519–533. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(77)80016-9