Clustering involves organizing information in memory into related groups. Memory is clustered into groupings during recall from long-term memory.
This strategy can be used effectively when trying to memorize long lists of information. For example, imagine that you are trying to memorize a long grocery list. One way of making the information more manageable would be to cluster items into related groups. For example, you might make separate clusters for vegetables, fruits, grains, meats and dairy items.
Let's take a look at another example of clustering. Read the following list of words:
grapes table bus apple chair airplane desk banana sofa car train plum lamp motorcyle strawberry dresser bicycle peach
Chances are that you automatically grouped these items into three clusters: fruits, furniture and modes of transportation.
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