Use the Production Effect for More Effective Learning

You should always study in silence , but a little noise can be helpful for memorization. In particular, your noise, that is, when you speak out loud, can be useful. If you practice the “production effect” it can help you remember what you learn; here’s how to use it the next time you’re trying to remember something difficult.

What is the production effect?

The production effect is what happens when you use vocalizations as a mnemonic to improve memory for a new concept. Essentially, your memory prefers words you read out loud more than words you read silently. There has been research done on this that suggests that things you say out loud are given extra encoding dimensions that are useful for later retrieving information from your brain.

When you speak out loud, you create something from your material, hence the name of this material. Research has also shown that the more distinct you make things, the better you remember everything you say, so speaking out loud or even singing new information is more helpful than simply reading it out loud.

How to Benefit from Production Effects in Training

You have several options to try this out for yourself during your study session. At the most basic level, you can read your notes or textbook out loud, but based on research supporting the value of distinctiveness, I would recommend going further.

You can always rely on the Feynman technique when you teach someone else the material you’re learning and make sure to repeat it out loud. Try incorporating production effects into the use of cards as well. For example, using the Leitner system , read the cards out loud to yourself.

I’ve already recommended that you also create a “personal podcast” for studying , and this is useful here not only because it gives you something to listen to over and over again until you get it down, but also because you have to talk through the material the first time. around, giving the whole exercise a production effect.

One of the reasons this effect works is that you take information you receive through one modality (like reading) and turn it into another (auditory). Try adding more modalities by drawing a vocabulary word while you say it out loud, or role-playing a new concept by talking about what you do. It may seem inconvenient, but it works, so it’s definitely worth a try.