Describe how semantic knowledge and the use of memory strategies support one another
What will be an ideal response?
Our vast, taxonomically organized and hierarchically structured general knowledge system, consisting of concepts, language meanings, facts, and rules, is often referred to as semantic memory. Children's expanding knowledge promotes improved memory by making new, related information more meaningful so that it is easier to store and retrieve. Greater organization at retrieval suggests that highly knowledgeable children apply memory strategies in their area of expertise with little or no effort—by rapidly associating new items with the large number they already know. Such automatic recall lets experts devote more working-memory resources to using recalled information to reason and solve problems.
Knowledge, though powerfully influential, is not the only important factor in children's strategic memory processing. Children who are expert in an area are usually highly motivated as well. Faced with new information, they ask themselves, "What can I do to learn this more effectively?" As a result, they not only acquire knowledge more quickly but also actively use what they know to add more. In contrast, academically unsuccessful children fail to ask how previously stored information can clarify new information. This, in turn, interferes with the development of a broad knowledge base.
You might also like to view...
Newborns can focus on
clouds moving in the sky. a bookcase across the room. a mobile hung three feet above its crib. faces.
The proportion of children in the United States and Canada who are members of ethnic minorities
A) has grown steadily in recent decades. B) is greater than the proportion among adults. C) is largely the result of immigration. D) All of the above.