The conflict between effective, accurate and efficient memory

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Associative memory and the Zebra

Accuracy and efficiency

How do the stripes on a zebra’s legs run? Few people can answer the question confidently. The
reason is that as children, they encoded “zebra” as “black-and-white striped horse.” For most purposes, this is a perfectly acceptable mental model of a zebra. It is also an economical model: storing only the necessary information. However, as you may have just found, it is inadequate for getting one-up on sneaky trainers out to make a point. The next time you see a picture of a zebra, you are likely to change your mental model to incorporate the direction of the stripes.

All learning is a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness. High-order thinking and expertise require abstract mental models that can be applied to a range of situations. We develop these models by looking for similarities. For example, considering certain types of investment warrants as margin loans is the key to calculating their fair value. However, we still need to be alert for significant differences: you can’t consider trading warrants as margin loans. They are more like options, so you’d use the Black-Scholes equations for valuations.

you pay too much attention to insignificant detail and too little attention to similarities, you cannot develop expertise. However, neither can you develop expertise by paying too little attention to significant detail and too much to similarities.

How do you know you have the right balance? A good training program will provide sufficient exercises and questions with adequate feedback. In particular, if you find yourself indignantly exclaiming “This wasn’t in the lesson!” you know you have missed the similarity between the situations described in the lesson and the question.

Veridicality is the extent to which a knowledge structure accurately reflects the information environment it represents. This is a construct of interest as our understanding of the relationship between knowledge structures and information environments is weak. In particular, the optimal level of veridicality is problematic.

The value of a knowledge structure lies in its ability to simplify an environment, yet simplification increases the probability of a false characterisation and hence error.

The study of veridicality is concerned with investigating the consequences of this trade off between accuracy and efficiency.

References:
1. Walsh, J.P., Henderson, C.M. &
Deighton,J. (1988). Negotiated belief structures and decision performance: An empirical investigationOrganizational
Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 42, 194-216

By the way, which way do the stripes go round a zebra’s legs? Move your pointer over the image below.

Zebra

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What is Learning? Constructivism Types of Learning Expertise and Creativity Formal Training Short-term memory Associative memory, Repetition & Encoding Associative memory and the Zebra Accountability and Assessment Validity and reliability More Validity Testing and the IQ test The Adult Learner Back to Gryphon Home	Associative memory and the Zebra Accuracy and efficiency How do the stripes on a zebra’s legs run? Few people can answer the question confidently. The reason is that as children, they encoded “zebra” as “black-and-white striped horse.” For most purposes, this is a perfectly acceptable mental model of a zebra. It is also an economical model: storing only the necessary information. However, as you may have just found, it is inadequate for getting one-up on sneaky trainers out to make a point. The next time you see a picture of a zebra, you are likely to change your mental model to incorporate the direction of the stripes. All learning is a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness. High-order thinking and expertise require abstract mental models that can be applied to a range of situations. We develop these models by looking for similarities. For example, considering certain types of investment warrants as margin loans is the key to calculating their fair value. However, we still need to be alert for significant differences: you can’t consider trading warrants as margin loans. They are more like options, so you’d use the Black-Scholes equations for valuations. you pay too much attention to insignificant detail and too little attention to similarities, you cannot develop expertise. However, neither can you develop expertise by paying too little attention to significant detail and too much to similarities. How do you know you have the right balance? A good training program will provide sufficient exercises and questions with adequate feedback. In particular, if you find yourself indignantly exclaiming “This wasn’t in the lesson!” you know you have missed the similarity between the situations described in the lesson and the question. Veridicality is the extent to which a knowledge structure accurately reflects the information environment it represents. This is a construct of interest as our understanding of the relationship between knowledge structures and information environments is weak. In particular, the optimal level of veridicality is problematic. The value of a knowledge structure lies in its ability to simplify an environment, yet simplification increases the probability of a false characterisation and hence error. The study of veridicality is concerned with investigating the consequences of this trade off between accuracy and efficiency. References: 1. Walsh, J.P., Henderson, C.M. & Deighton,J. (1988). Negotiated belief structures and decision performance: An empirical investigationOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 42, 194-216 By the way, which way do the stripes go round a zebra’s legs? Move your pointer over the image below.