Cognitive Science: How to Turn Information into Long-Term Memory

The Need for Cognitive Science

During my undergraduate years, I spent countless hours in the library, convinced that rereading, highlighting, and doing practice problems would be enough to succeed. They were the same strategies that I used in high school and they worked just fine at the time. But when I got my biology exam back and saw a failing grade, I was devastated. I went to my professor’s office hours, hoping for guidance, but instead he said, “According to your score, it seems like you didn’t even open a book.” That moment shook me. I had worked hard, so why wasn’t it paying off? I began to wonder if studying science was really for me.

Then one day, I noticed a friend studying differently. Instead of just reading, she wrote questions and quizzed herself later. Her approach made me rethink my study strategies. Was I just not studying the right way? I went straight to Google and started researching how people actually learn. After going through a rabbit hole (I tend to do this a lot), I discovered cognitive science. After reading a few research articles and papers on the subject, I realized that effective learning is not about how long you study. It is about how you engage with the material. This realization changed everything for me.

So what did I discover in that rabbit hole? Let me break it down for you, so you don’t have to learn the hard way like I did.

Understanding the Brain: How Neurons Create Memories

Your brain is made up of billions of tiny cells called neurons. The brain’s neurons connect and communicate with each other through networks called neural pathways. These neural pathways create every thought and memory you have. 

When you learn something new, your brain forms a new neural pathway. At first, this pathway is weak and temporary because the information is brand new. That’s why it’s easy to forget new things. But if you want to remember this new information for a long time, you need to make the neural pathway strong and long-lasting. The only way to do this is to practice using the information over and over again.

Think of this neural pathway as a muscle. If you only lift weights once and then stop, you won’t build strong muscles. The same thing happens to new neural pathways. They will disappear quickly if you don’t use and practice the new information. But if you practice the material over and over again, then the memory becomes stronger.

Now, you might be thinking, “But I’ve reread the material over and over, and it still doesn’t stick!” I thought the same thing. The problem is not the repetition. It’s how you’re engaging with the material. Let’s explore why simply rereading does not work and what you can do instead.

Building Strong Neural Pathways

If you want to effectively build muscle at the gym, you need to adequately challenge them with heavier weights. The same goes for the brain. If you want information to stick to long-term memory, then you must use effective study techniques. These techniques need to challenge your brain adequately. There are many effective study techniques out there. Ultimately, it comes down to the big three: retrieval practice, spaced practice, and interleaving.

Retrieval Practice: Boost Memory by Recalling Information

Retrieval means remembering information without any clues or hints. Remembering something entirely from memory without any extra help is what is important here. 

Studies show that retrieving information works better for learning than other techniques like re-reading and highlighting texts.^{1 2} But why is retrieval practice so effective? It works better because retrieving information requires hard work and effort from your brain. You can’t rely on any clues to help jog your memory. Your brain has to work hard to pull the information from memory on its own. 

You can say that retrieval practice is like lifting heavy weights at the gym. Heavy weights is what leads to stronger and bigger muscles. The same thing goes for your brain. Retrieval practice challenges your brain and helps make stronger neural pathways, converting short-term memory into long-term memory. Retrieving knowledge entirely from memory requires no hints or clues. It is the “heavy weight” that strengthens your brain’s ability to learn and recall information for the long-term. 

Re-reading and highlighting, on the other hand, do not make your brain work very hard. Yet that’s the default for a lot of us (one of the many reasons why I failed my biology exam). As stated in Make It Stick written by Henry Roediger, Mark McDaniel, and Peter C. Brown, “Rereading text and massed practice of a skill or new knowledge are by far the preferred study strategies of learners of all stripes, but they’re also among the least productive.”³ Let’s talk about why so many of us fall into the trap of re-reading and highlighting our textbooks. It feels good, right? You’re flipping pages, marker in hand, feeling like you’re really nailing this study thing. But here’s the thing: it’s an illusion. Actually, cognitive scientists call this the “illusion of mastery.” Think about it. When everything’s right there in front of you, you find it easy to nod along. You think, “Yep, I’ve got this.” But what happens when you close that book and try to recall the information from your brain? Suddenly, it’s not so easy. And guess what? That closed-book scenario is exactly what you face in most exams. So why are we studying in a way that doesn’t prepare us for the real challenge? 

Now, let’s go back to retrieval practice. You know, actually trying to remember stuff without peeking at your notes. It’s frustrating. It’s uncomfortable. It might even make you feel like you’re terrible at learning. But guess what? That struggle is where the magic happens. It’s kind of like working out. You know that burn you feel when you’re lifting weights? That’s your muscles growing stronger. Same deal with your brain. When you’re feeling uncomfortable about not knowing the information right away, that’s your brain building stronger neural pathways.

So next time you’re tempted to just highlight your way through a study session, remember: if it feels too easy, it probably is. Embrace the struggle. Practice retrieving the information instead.

Spaced Practice: Optimize Learning with Timed Review Sessions

Spaced practice involves spreading out your studying over time, rather than cramming it all the night before a test. You might be thinking, “But I’ve crammed before and still passed tests.” While that may be true, let me ask you this: Could you remember the same information for the final exam? Did you remember it even after the course ended? Probably not. This is exactly why I failed my biology exam. By cramming at the last minute, I could not retain all the information that had been covered throughout the course. Trying to absorb weeks of material in one night did not give my brain the time it needed to properly process and remember everything.

So why does the brain forget information when we cram? This phenomenon can be explained with The Forgetting Curve. Psychologist Herman Ebbinghause produced this theory back in the 19th century.⁴

The Forgetting Curve is a graphical representation of decline of memory over time. According to the Forgetting Curve, a large amount of information is forgotten within the first few hours of learning it. After this rapid decline, the rate of forgetting slows down. However, information continues to be forgotten gradually over time. Eventually, some of the newly learned information is retained but cannot be recalled perfectly. Now this can be frustrating when trying to memorize information. So how can we overcome the Forgetting Curve?

To combat this phenomena and retain information for a longer period of time, it is best to review the material consistently over time. According to the Forgetting Curve, the best time to review material is just before you are about to forget it. This is where spaced practice comes in. Review sessions should generally be done in this order:

1. First Review

• The first review should be done within 24 hours of learning the new material.

2. Second Review

• The second review should be done a few days after the first review session. Most people opt for 3 days after the first review session.

3. Subsequent Reviews

• Reviews after the second review session should be spaced out longer.
• A week later, then 2 weeks, a month, and so on.
• Intervals can be adjusted based on how well you remember the information.

Spaced practice is a lot like going to the gym consistently. You cannot build muscle by cramming all your workout sessions in one day. You have to go to the gym consistently over a long period of time for muscle growth. Your brain works the same way. If you want information to be stored into long-term memory, then you need to retrieve information from your brain consistently over time. 

Interleaving: Improving Problem-Solving and Retention

When studying a topic, people tend to study in blocks, focusing on one topic at a time. This is exactly what I did for my biology exam. But for simplicity, instead of using biology as an example, let’s use shapes.

Let’s say you’re learning how to calculate the area of different shapes. With a blocked approach, you would practice finding the area of triangles first. Once you master that, you move on to practicing how to find the area of squares. After mastering squares, you move on to finding the area of circles, and so on and so forth. Block studying in this example means studying each shape type separately, mastering one before moving to the next. 

However, according to cognitive science research, you’d benefit more from interleaving.⁵ Interleaving means mixing up different topics and types of problems during a study session.

Let’s go back to the area example. With interleaving you wouldn’t completely master triangles first before seeing other shapes. Instead, you’d mix up triangles, squares, and circles together in the same practice session. You calculate the area of a triangle, then a square, then a circle, then loop back to another triangle area problem, and so on. You’d continually alternate between the different shape types rather than practicing them one type at a time until mastery.

This interleaving approach provides several benefits:

• It enhances your ability to discriminate between different types of problems and subjects, improving overall problem-solving skills.
• Interleaving encourages more effortful retrieval practice, as your brain has to work harder to switch between topics. This strengthens memory and deeper understanding.
• It better prepares you for tests and real-world situations, where different problem types are rarely presented in separate blocked sections. The problems are usually interleaved.

By interleaving your practice, you train your brain to rapidly identify the characteristics of each problem type and choose the appropriate solution strategy, just like you’d need to in an exam or applying your knowledge in reality.

So instead of studying topics in strict blocks, intentionally mixing up your practice forces more active retrieval and discrimination of concepts, leading to more flexible knowledge that transfers better.

Think about it as building muscle at the gym. Instead of spending an entire workout session focused only on one type of exercise, like bicep curls, you mix up different exercises throughout the session to get an effective workout. 

Cognitive Science in Learning

That moment in my professor’s office, when he questioned how serious I was about my studies, ended up changing everything for me. It forced me to dig deeper into why my study techniques weren’t working. What I discovered changed everything. It wasn’t that I didn’t belong at UCLA or that I wasn’t cut out for science. It was that I had not yet learned how to study effectively. By embracing cognitive science and applying techniques like retrieval practice, spaced repetition, and interleaving, I was able to transform my hard work into meaningful results. I started receiving better grades and, more importantly, truly engaging with my education in a way I hadn’t before. Studying no longer felt like a dreaded, fruitless effort. It became something I looked forward to, as I finally saw the results of my hard work. By the end of my senior year, I had not only conquered my academic challenges but was also honored by being placed on the Dean’s Honors List at UCLA. What once felt impossible had become a reality, all because I learned how to study effectively.

Whether you’re a teacher or a student, using these learning techniques can make a big impact. As a teacher, you can incorporate retrieval practice, spaced repetition, and interleaving into your lessons and homework to help your students retain information longer. As a student, you can apply these methods in your own study sessions. Instead of just re-reading your notes, challenge yourself to recall information without looking. Spread out your study sessions over time rather than cramming, and mix up the topics you’re reviewing. By doing this, you’re giving your brain the right kind of workout. Just like lifting weights makes your body stronger, these study strategies strengthen your memory. You’ll find that learning becomes easier, and you’ll remember things for much longer. So, give these techniques a try and see how they can transform your learning!

Notes:

1. Roediger, H. L., & Butler, A. C. (2011). The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(1), 20-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2010.09.003 ↩︎
2. Bjork, R. A., & Bjork, E. L. (2011). Making things hard on yourself, but in a good way: Creating desirable difficulties to enhance learning. In M. A. Gernsbacher, R. W. Pew, L. M. Hough, & J. R. Pomerantz (Eds.), Psychology and the real world: Essays illustrating fundamental contributions to society (pp. 56-64). Worth Publishers. ↩︎
3. Ebbinghaus, H. (2011). Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology (H. A. Ruger & C. E. Bussenius, Trans.). Martino Fine Books. (Original work published 1885) ↩︎
4. Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., III, & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Belknap Press. ↩︎
5. Taylor, K., & Rohrer, D. (2010). The effects of interleaved practice. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24(6), 837-848.  https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1598 ↩︎