What is subjective organization in mnemonic strategies?

Subjective organization refers to the way in which an individual organizes and encodes information based on their personal experiences, prior knowledge, and cognitive preferences. Choosing to organize items into previously established categories exemplifies subjective organization because it involves leveraging personal associations and familiar structures to make the information more memorable.

When someone uses subjective organization, they are actively creating a mental framework that relates new material to concepts or categories that they already understand. This could mean grouping items based on themes, relationships, or any personal criteria that make sense to the individual. This strategy enhances retrieval by creating meaningful connections in memory, which aids in easier recall later on.

Other options involve different strategies that do not align with the concept of subjective organization. Creating unrelated groups does not utilize personal frameworks; color-coded systems may help with organization but depend on external systems rather than personal ones; visualizing items without a structure lacks the cognitive framework that subjective organization relies on.