Page 123 - Mind Games The Aging Brain and How to Keep it Healthy

Develop a Brawny Brain • 107

What happened was that Annette didn’t make a connec-
tion to Janet’s name, but she had a good connection to the
red hat. By asking for more stimuli, you increase your prob-
ability of finding a connection you can use.
Follow-up: Practice each of these strategies the next time
you are looking for that fact that is right on the tip of your
tongue!

Schemata
In a letter to Robert Hooke, Sir Isaac Newton wrote, “If I
3
have seen further (than you and Descartes) it is by standing
upon the shoulders of Giants.”
Sir Isaac was referring to great scientists who had made
so many contributions before him and from whom he had
learned so very much that he did not have to rediscover their
facts to advance science in the way that he did. This notion
is the essence of schemata. New ideas rarely exist in a com-
plete vacuum. They are related to other experiences, and we
can borrow the knowledge from those experiences to learn
new information.
For example, think about filling your car with gasoline.
You know the general plan for accomplishing that task.
When you arrive at a new gas station, or when your regular
station gets reconfigured with new pumps, you do not have
to learn completely from the beginning how to pump the
gas into your car. You know the general scheme of pumping
gas. You need only to learn what is different from what you
already know. Use schemas to help you retrieve memories
by asking yourself, “How is the problem at hand similar to
something I already know?”
The strategies that use schemata include asking yourself
two questions:

1. What is the same that I already know?
2. What is different from what I already know?