Using these memory-enhancing techniques can help improve your ability to
learn new information and retain it over time.
1. Repeat
One
of the golden rules of learning and memory is repeat, repeat, repeat. The brain
also responds to novelty, so repeating something in a different way or at a
different time will make the most of the novelty effect and allow you to build
stronger memories. Examples of using repetition include:
- Taking notes
- Repeating a
name after you hear it for the first time
- Repeating or
paraphrasing what someone says to you
2. Organize
A
day planner or smart phone calendar can help you keep track of appointments and
activities and can also serve as a journal in which you write anything that you
would like to remember. Writing down and organizing information reinforces
learning.
- Try jotting
down conversations, thoughts, experiences.
- Review
current and previous day’s entries at breakfast and dinner.
- If you use a
planner and not a smart phone, keep it in the same spot at home and take
it with you whenever you leave.
3. Visualize
Learning
faces and names is a particularly hard task for most people. In addition to
repeating a person’s name, you can also associate the name with an image.
Visualization strengthens the association you are making between the face and
the name. For example:
- Link the name
Sandy with the image of a beach, and imagine Sandy on the beach.
4. Cue
When
you are having difficulty recalling a particular word or fact, you can cue
yourself by giving related details or “talking around” the word, name, or fact.
Other practical ways to cue include:
- Using alarms
or a kitchen timer to remind you of tasks or appointments.
- Placing an
object associated with the task you must do in a prominent place at home.
For example, if you want to order tickets to a play, leave a newspaper ad
for the play near your telephone or computer.
5. Group
When
you’re trying to remember a long list of items, it can help to group the items
in sets of three to five, just as you would to remember a phone number. This
strategy capitalizes on organization and building associations, and helps to
extend the capacity of our short-term memory by chunking information together
instead of trying to remember each piece of information independently. For
example:
- If you have a
list of 15 things on your grocery list, you can group the items by
category, such as dairy, produce, canned goods, and frozen foods.
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