Types of memory
1. Information processing, recording and reproduction are greatly facilitated by the conscious selection of stimuli and concentration on them.
2. Simultaneous consideration of logical and emotional reactions guarantees better recording of material in memory, and the better the quality of the recording, the easier it is to reproduce.
3. There are two types of memory: short-term and long-term. Short-term memory is superficial and fragile. In order for the information from it not to disappear after a few seconds, it is necessary to repeat it. Long-term memory is supported by the search for the meaning of the material being remembered. This type of memory is associated with complex mental operations.
4. Memory is subjective and subject to distortion, memories change after each reproduction. These provisions are the basis of exercises that are recommended for classes with students who have a low level of memory development.
Memory is a complex mental process, the study of which is devoted to the works of many scientists. Their results allow us to conduct effective classes on its development, to use non-traditional methods of processing and storing information. When conducting such classes, teachers, school psychologists, and parents should take into account not only the physiological aspect of the functioning of the memory process, but also the psychological one.
Among cognitive processes, in addition to memory, attention plays a significant role in the educational process.
Attention is understood as the direction and concentration of mental activity on a certain object (N.F. Dobrynin). The first manifestations of attention can be observed already in a newborn during sucking. During preschool age, the properties of attention and its arbitrariness develop. The child learns to control himself and consciously direct his attention to a certain object. At the same time, he uses primarily the word and the pointing gesture of an adult, that is, attention becomes mediated.
In preschool childhood, the volume of attention increases, that is, the number of objects that are clearly perceived in a relatively short period of time. The stability of attention changes as the ability to maintain concentration on an object. One of the indicators of stability is the duration of maintaining concentration. The distribution of attention indicates that the child can direct and concentrate his attention on several different objects at the same time. Switching attention means that the child is able to move the direction and concentration of attention from one object to another, from one type of activity to another. The development of the properties and types of attention of preschoolers significantly depends on the weight, emotionality, interest for them of the material, on the nature of the activity performed by the child. Attention indicators increase significantly in plot-role and didactic games. The development of attention is closely related to the development of will and arbitrariness of behavior, the ability to control one's behavior.
The younger school age is favorable for the development of attention. Without sufficient formation of this mental function, the learning process is impossible. In the lesson, the teacher draws the attention of students to the educational material, trying to keep it for a long time, switching from one type of work to another. Compared to preschoolers, younger schoolchildren are much more attentive. They are able to concentrate on uninteresting actions, but involuntary attention dominates in them. For these children, external impressions are a strong distracting factor, it is difficult for them to concentrate on incomprehensible complex material. The attention of younger schoolchildren is characterized by a small volume, low stability, they can concentrate on one thing for 10-20 minutes (teenagers - 40-45 minutes, and high school students up to 45-50 minutes). These children have difficulty distributing attention and switching it from one task to another. In educational activities, the child's voluntary attention develops. At first, children act according to the teacher's instructions, work under his constant control, they gradually acquire the ability to perform tasks independently - they set goals themselves and control their actions. Very often, inattentive students are found who focus their attention not on academic activities, but on something else - on their thoughts that are far from studying, drawing at the desk, etc. When such a child looks at a textbook, he does not see a rule or an exercise, but purposefully studies a text or drawing that is not related to today's lesson.
The attention of such children is sufficiently developed, but due to the lack of the necessary focus, they give the impression of absent-mindedness. Inattentive younger schoolchildren are very distracted, they have poor concentration, they are characterized by unstable attention, which significantly affects the results of their studies. The school psychologist constantly has to listen to the complaints of teachers and parents that children of this age are distracted in lessons, inattentive and disorganized. Most often, these complaints refer to first graders 6-7 years old. Their attention is still poorly organized, has a small volume, is poorly distributed, and is unstable, which is explained by the insufficient maturity of the neurophysiological mechanisms that ensure attention processes. During primary school age, significant changes occur in the development of attention, intensive development of all its properties: the volume of attention increases especially sharply (by 2.1 times), its stability increases, the ability to switch and distribute develops. Well-developed properties of attention and its organization are factors that directly determine the success of studies in primary school age. As a rule, scientists who study better have better indicators of the development of attention. The difficulty lies in the fact that different properties of attention do not develop to the same extent. The volume of attention is most affected, it is individual, at the same time, the properties of distribution and stability can and should be trained to prevent their spontaneous development. The success of attention training is largely determined by individual and typological characteristics. It was found that various combinations of properties of the nervous system can contribute to, or on the contrary hinder, the optimal development of attention characteristics. People with a strong and mobile nervous system have a stable attention that is easily switched. People with an inert and weak nervous system are characterized by unstable attention, which is poorly distributed and switched. With a combination of inertia and strength, stability indicators increase, switching and distribution properties reach average efficiency. (Yermolaev O.Yu. et al. 1987). Thus, it is necessary to take into account that the individual and typological features of each specific child allow training his attention only within specific limits. Inattentiveness of younger schoolchildren is one of the most common reasons for lower academic performance. Errors "due to inattention" in written works and during reading are the most offensive for children. As a rule, the presence of a significant number of such errors in first-graders can be explained by the influence of immediate factors, general age-specific features of development (immaturity of neurophysiological mechanisms), the beginning of the stage of mastering the skills of organizing educational activities, and other reasons related to the period of adaptation to new school conditions. Therefore, in the first grades, classes on the development of attention are recommended to be conducted as a preventive measure, aimed at increasing the efficiency of the functioning of attention in all children. Classes on the formation of attention are conducted as training in "careful writing" and are built on the material of work with texts that contain various types of errors "due to inattention": replacing or omitting words in a sentence, replacing or omitting letters in a word. An important point in the process of forming attention is the child's work with a special card on which the "rules" of checking are written, that is, the order of operations when checking the text. The presence of such a card is a necessary material support for mastering the valuable action of control.
When working with inattentive students, the development of individual properties of attention is of great importance. To conduct classes, a psychologist can use the following types of tasks:
1. Development of attention concentration. The main type of exercises are proofreading tasks in which the child is asked to find and cross out certain, defined letters in the printed text. Such exercises allow the child to feel what it means to "be attentive" and to develop a state of internal concentration. This work should be done daily (5 minutes per day) for 2-4 months. It is also recommended to use tasks that require the selection of features of objects and phenomena (by the method of comparison); exercises that are based on the exact reproduction of a sample (a sequence of letters, numbers, geometric patterns, movements, etc.); tasks of the type: "entangled lines", searching for hidden figures.
2. Increasing the volume of attention and short-term memory. The exercises are based on memorizing the subject and the order of placement of objects that are presented for a few seconds.
When the exercise is mastered, the number of objects is gradually increased.
3. Training the distribution of attention. The basic principle of the exercises: the child is offered a one-time performance of two different tasks (for example, reading a story and counting pencil strokes on the table; performing a proofreading task and listening to a recording of a fairy tale, etc.) After completing the exercise (after 10-15 minutes), the effectiveness of each task is determined.
4. Development of the skill of switching attention. Performing proofreading tasks with alternating rules for crossing out letters.
With the correct performance of tasks for the development of memory and attention, taking into account the recommendations of psychologists, teachers and parents can significantly improve the indicators of these important mental processes in children of primary school age.