I saw a great post about USA capitals today, where someone showed a worksheet where they colored in the states according to images they associated with them. This is often how I remember things as well- images that reinforce an association I have with a thing.
However, it made me wonder- to what degree do our memorization psycho-technologies and methods (whether learned or innate) reinforce misrepresentations of something to a degree that inhibits our ability to develop new connections?
For example, I might put down in West Virginia a picture of a 3-toothed hillbilly with a coal shovel. It helps me remember which one is WV, but it’s not at all true in the sense of experience and real humans. Is there any research out there about the relationship between memory formation and an ability to learn, shed biases, and select for truth?