Organizing materials

Memorizing means setting in motion a dynamic process oforganizing and structuring the information we wish to retain. All working behaviors aimed at discovering relationships, understanding... will have positive effects on memory: we retain better what seems logical to us. After all, our brain is a huge potential reservoir of relationships*. * Our brain (encephalon) has billions of synapses (between 1013 and 1015): these are the areas where the information that forms the basis of memorization is exchanged. Certain nerve cells, neurons, can be connected thousands of times with other cells, enabling us to perform at a high level in terms of the quantity of material to be assimilated and the quality of understanding, at a deeper level, with the aim of integrating knowledge.

We are inundated with stimuli and information, little of which we retain in our memory: most of it, in fact, is unconscious, and passes through our memory system without actually being processed. The information we focus on during study enters a short-term memorization process (STM), usually followed by a long-term process (LTM).

It's our TCM that's active during work periods: it enables us to capture and restitute certain information within a limited timeframe. The next day's exam, on the other hand, requires us to have already transferred the information to the LTM.

Short-term memory is a working memory, drawing from long-term memory what it needs to deal with a current issue. It's a kind of psychic notepad with a limited capacity, which can only process a limited amount of information at any one time. This number is around seven, and is known as the TCM magic number. Organizing and connecting the information to be retained enables us to get around this limitation.

Our LTM is a memory for storing information. The more organized the mental structure we put in place, the greater the number of links discovered and installed, and the more integrated our memorization and learning. 

Organizing the information we need to understand and memorize better and better enables us to cope better with the sheer volume of material, by gathering and connecting information, and to be better prepared to meet the demands for precision and integration expected by our teachers.