Content retention

[Dagobert]

I would like to ask two questions related to content retention.

Generally speaking,

1- At the start of your next reading session, do you scan the pages read in the preceding session to refresh your memory?

2- About what percentage of the content of a book do you retain in your memory over a long period of time ?

My own answers would be

1) Yes, I have to scan if a day or so has elapsed between reading sessions.

2) Active recall : 10% Passive recall (I will recognize the information if I encounter it again) 70%

 

[Anamnesis]

Sometimes I'll re-read a few pages, but that's if I don't pick up the book for a day or two. If that doesn't happen, then I don't need to do a quick re-read.

 

[brk_3]

1. If I don't read the book any for a day or two I might need to re-read some pages to re-fresh my memeory.

2. It depends on how much I enjoyed the book. A book I really enjoyed I will more than likely remember for a longer time period versus a book that was so-so or I didn't care for.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I'm usually pretty good at retaining what I've read if I stop at the end of a chapter. However, if I'm placing my marker in the middle of a chapter I may have to backtrack a little if I am confused...

 

[sneakers]

Absolutely Terrible.

When I'm currently reading a book, unless I put it down for a couple of days to a week, I'm okay to just keep reading without a refresher.

On the other hand, even if I loved a book, all I'll remember is that I loved it (or hated it, whatever) but will hardly remember anything other than the vast overarching story line. I won't remember details at all. Drives me batty.

 

[Dagobert]

Upsets me too. I guess we have to keep in mind the fact that there is much pleasure in learning and discovering by itself.

Whether we need to conserve the information for further use is not really that important in most of our leisure reading.

So, from that perspective, I don't despair too much about having spent XX number of hours reading a book, and then not recalling it at all. The pleasure has already been experienced!

We must also assume that our subconscious (or is it unconscious) has been affected by the reading experience although we are not aware of it. Memory is not only retention mechanism in our body...

 

[SFG75]

Good thread! I would have to say that I don't have to re-read if I can pick the book up within three to four months. Certain character names and situations will quickly bring me up to where I am at in the book. As for long term memory, it depends. Some books I'm more into than others and unless I like to do a lot of research into the book, I'm not going to remember a lot of specifics.

 

[direstraits]

This has been bothering me for a long while. I, for one, am very unhappy with the fact that I spent so much time reading but remember next to nothing. I read quite a bit of non-fiction, and is quite disheartened that I retain very little. And it isn't because the subject matter is uninteresting to me.

There are several strategies you can employ to combat this, in some sense. Personally I resorted to writing reviews for myself (which, uh, is also visible to others ). I'm not much of a reviewer, and sometimes I do too much precisely because they can be read by others, but now I'm learning to just cover the basics.

Working so far.

 

[Dagobert]

I like to believe that we have not really lost what we have learned. I think there is a difference between remembering and recalling (saving and retrieving). A bit like a document saved in your computer. Whether or not we are aware of it, it is there. It has been "remembered" (recorded). The problem is retrieving it (recalling it). Some people know the entire content of their computer's My Documents folder. Others have trouble recalling that they have a My Document folder! But whether they recall it or not, they still have it..

But our minds are better than computers. In a computer, the data is stored in unrelated "silos". Unless the document you save contains a virus, the presence of that document has no effect on the rest of the machine.

I don't think it is the same with our brain. I think that what we feed it through experience or through reading has the effect at the unconscious level of "training" it a little bit and make it better able to deal with future data.

But even if this not true, we should take solace in the fact that we did experience the joy of learning new information. In bird watching, a short memory allows one to enjoy many times the thrill of seeing the same bird ....for the "first time" !

 

[direstraits]

I like to believe that we have not really lost what we have learned. I think there is a difference between remembering and recalling (saving and retrieving). A bit like a document saved in your computer. Whether or not we are aware of it, it is there. It has been "remembered" (recorded). The problem is retrieving it (recalling it). Some people know the entire content of their computer's My Documents folder. Others have trouble recalling that they have a My Document folder! But whether they recall it or not, they still have it..

Isn't that like going to Disneyland and remembering (or recalling) nothing of that experience beyond a vague tinge of emotion associated with it?

I would want to document the experience in the least disruptive way possible - pictures, souvenirs, graffiti (kidding!), whatever, so I can at least conjure up some emotive response of the time spent when I look at these mental triggers.

Sometimes I wish I could make practical use of the material I read, something more than having it intrinsically enriching me in ways I can't control (at least I don't think my mind does that. It seems more intent on forgetting everything I put into it as soon as it can).

 

[Dagobert]

Yes, it is much like going to Disneyland and not bringing back any memories. But one does not go to Disneyland just to bring back memories. There is also the most important pleasure, that of the moment itself.

I look at it this way: there are three possible scenarios:

1) pleasure of discovering + pleasure of remembering

2) pleasure of discovering

3) no pleasure

The temptation could be that if scenario 1 is not possible, then let's not invest any energy and time and drop down to scenario 3.

I am between scenario 1 and 2. I do remember part of what I read, if only general impressions plus a few sparse details . I have accepted that I have to make do with that, although I do find it frustrating at times.