MEASUREMENT OF MEMORY 1. RECALL The most widely used method of testing memory or measuring retention is the method of recall.

It is a passive, but direct method of measuring retention. Reproduction of learnt materials after a time span is recall. It is actually repetition of learned material, i.e., verbatim (word for word) recitation. For example, one may recall a poem by reciting it even if he does not remember the circumstances under which he had learned. Recall is often categorized into: (i) Free Recall and ii) Serial Recall. I. Free Recall: Free recall allows us to summon up pieces of information out of order. For example, we may listen to a lecture and afterwards remember a few important quotes without recalling the order in which they were presented. Thus, in free recall, pieces of learnt materials may be recalled freely without following any specific order. Recall %= no. of correctly recalled words/total no. of words in list x 100 II. Serial Recall: In serial recall the material is recalled in a very specific order i.e., in which it has been learned. For example, there are people (who) when asked the question- what is twelve multiplied by seven- may start from the beginning of multiplication chart twelve, and only then can recall the correct answer. 2. RECOGNITION Recognition is considered as a sensitive method of measuring retention. It is an active process where identification of elements takes place. Recognition is the identification of learnt material object from a combination (combined list) of learned and unlearned material The correct identification will provide the raw retention score. The percent of recognition can be derived by using certain formula i.e. Percentage of Recognition = R W/ K-1 x 100/n Where R =Total number of items correctly recognized. W = Total number of items incorrectly recognized. K= Total number of alternatives given for recognition (old + new). N= Number of items originally presented for learning. For example, let the learner recognize 4 out of 10 items with 10 alternates. Then, percentage of Recognition 4- 6 / 20-1 X 100/10 = 36.8% 3. RELEARNING ( SAVING METHOD) The method of relearning is the most sensitive among all measures of retention which was introduced by Ebbinghaus (1885) for measuring the quantitative aspect of memory. In this method, a list of materials is presented to the subject up to perfect learning, and after a time gap, she/he is presented with the same list to relearn. The experimenter records the number of trials and time taken by the subject in relearning condition. The percentage of saving is found by the formula = OLT-RLT / OCT X 10 Where OLT = Original learning trials RLT = Relearning trials For example, if a child takes 8 trials to learn the original task and 6 trials to relearn it, then the percentage of saving is = (8-6 / 8) X 100 = 25% 4. RECONSTRUCTION Reconstruction involves the reproduction of the learned materials. Reconstruction technically means rearranging the parts of an original task, presented randomly. In this method, the stimuli are first presented in a certain arrangement, then this arrangement is broken up and the stimuli are handed over to the subject with instruction to reconstruct the original order. Suppose the parts of a plastic doll are joined to get a full figure of a doll, then the experimenter breaks it into pieces and asks the subject to rearrange the items to form a doll. If the subject can rearrange, then she/he gets the full credit for the test. 5. LEARNING METHOD It is a simple method in which subject is given some material to learn. How much time or trials the subject takes to learn completely indicates his level of memory. E.g. a subject is presented a list of 20 words to learn. More the time or trials are

required by the subject indicates poor memory and lesser time or trials reflects good memory. E.g a subject takes 10 min and other 7min, indicates second subject has better memory than first.