Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to create a closed book summary of what
Speaker 1: you've just read. Doing this can increase your recall of
Speaker 1: a text far beyond what reading the same text multiple
Speaker 1: times can do. Today's tip, like others this week, comes
Speaker 1: from Amantha Ember's new book time Wise. In this book,
Speaker 1: she shares tips from other people about how to work
Speaker 1: well and feel better about time in general. In the book,
Speaker 1: she cites a study on memory from Jeffrey Karpiki and
Speaker 1: Janelle Blunt from Purdue University. The researchers divided participants into
Speaker 1: different groups and ask them to use different methods to
Speaker 1: study a text. One group was asked to do repeated reviews,
Speaker 1: reading the material over and over again until they felt
Speaker 1: they had learned it. The other group was asked to
Speaker 1: do a free recall, which means they read the text
Speaker 1: once closed the book and tried to recall from memory
Speaker 1: what was covered. Then they were tested on the material.
Speaker 1: They were also asked before taking the test how well
Speaker 1: they thought they had learned the information. Curiously, people who
Speaker 1: had reviewed the material repeatedly thought they knew it well,
Speaker 1: but it turned out they did less well than the
Speaker 1: folks who read the material once and then spent some
Speaker 1: time recalling from memory what was covered. So if you
Speaker 1: want to remember a text well, it helps to write
Speaker 1: the equivalent of a grade school book report. Now. Later
Speaker 1: in school we had to write more das tailed papers
Speaker 1: where we advanced a thesis and argued from evidence in
Speaker 1: the text. But back when you had to do elementary
Speaker 1: school book reports, you basically were just saying what happened
Speaker 1: in the book. You wrote that down, And it turns
Speaker 1: out that writing a basic book report now can help
Speaker 1: you too. Amantha suggests that when you next set out
Speaker 1: to read an article or book, tell yourself that when
Speaker 1: you finish, you will have to write down everything you
Speaker 1: can remember. Then, when you do finish, open a blank
Speaker 1: document or grab a sheet of paper and write down
Speaker 1: a summary. After you do this, if you feel there
Speaker 1: are elements you are missing, feel free to return to
Speaker 1: the text. You can write them into your summary or
Speaker 1: do a second free recall test where you add the
Speaker 1: details from this here second read. One way to keep
Speaker 1: yourself accountable for doing this recall is to make a
Speaker 1: habit of writing summary somewhere like your own blog or
Speaker 1: what site, or for a site like Goodreads. But taking
Speaker 1: the step to recall and reconstruct what is in a
Speaker 1: book can increase your memory and understanding for anything important
Speaker 1: That is probably worth the time. In the meantime, This
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b the number
Speaker 1: four then Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That
Speaker 1: before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.