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Memory improvement
By admin | November 10, 2007
Having a good memory is like a gift – it can help you with your social life, your self esteem and your overall health. Not being able to remember your aunt’s name, or very important part of your exam can be very frustrating, but there is a way to get out of that magic circle. Here you can find tips on how to improve your memory so you can increase the speed of learning new names or how to remember detailed information you’ve already learned.
These techniques are divided into two parts:
1.Learning the actual techniques.
2. In the second part, you will learn how to actually use these techniques when you try to remember new names, informations or languages.
It’s important to say that, more time you spend practicing, more benefits you’ll see from these memory improvement techniques.
Mnemonics are techniques for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall: A very simple example is the ‘30 days hath September’ rhyme for remembering the number of days in each calendar month. The whole idea behind this is to create an easier way to remember things that are usually very hard to recall.
The key idea is that by coding information using vivid mental images, you can reliably code both information and the structure of information. And because the images are vivid, they are easy to recall when you need them.
Try to use these to make your mnemonics more memorable:
1. Use all senses to recall your memory. You can use sounds, smell, taste…
2. Give your image three dimensions, so it can move. This way it will be more vivid and memorable.
3. Use positive, bright images because your mind usually blocks the unpleasant ones.
4. Use humor because funny images are much more easier to remember than the “boring” ones.
5. Symbols and rhymes are also a great way to remembering things easier. They are fun and memorable!
Three fundamental principles for mnemonics use
There are three fundamental principles for your mnemonics use: imagination, association and location.
Imagination is used to create mnemonics that are potent for you. The more strongly you visualize a situation, the more effectively it will stick to your mind for later recall.
Association is a method of remembering things by a link you want it to be remembered by. There are few ways to use this method:
- by placing things on top of each other
- by crushing them together
- by wrapping them around each other
Location gives you two things: a coherent context into which you can place information so that it hangs together, and a way of separating one mnemonic from another.
Methods to help you improve your memory
1. The Link and Story Method
The Link Method is one of the easiest mnemonic techniques available. You use it by making simple associations between items in a list, linking them with a vivid image containing the items. Taking the first image, create a connection between it and the next item. Then move on through the list linking each item with the next.
It is quite possible to remember lists of words using association only. However it is often best to fit the associations into a story: Otherwise by forgetting just one association you can lose the whole of the rest of the list. Where a word you want to remember does not trigger strong images, use a similar word that will remind you of that word.
2. Number/Rhyme Mnemonics
It is an example of a peg system using – a system where information is ‘pegged’ to a known sequence to create pegwords. By doing this you ensure that you do not forget any facts, as gaps in information are immediately obvious. It also makes remembering images easier as you always know part of the mnemonic images. At a simple level you can use it to remember things such as a list of English Kings or American Presidents in their precise order.
The technique works by helping you to build up pictures in your mind, in which you represent numbers by things that rhyme with the number. You can then link these pictures to images of the things to be remembered.
3. The Alphabet Mnemonics
The Alphabet system is a peg memory technique similar to, but more sophisticated than, the Number/Rhyme system. It is a good method for remembering longer lists of items in a specific order, in such a way that you can tell if items are missing. It works by associating images representing letters of the alphabet with images you create for the things to be remembered.
When you are creating images for the letters of the alphabet, create images phonetically, so that the sound of the first syllable of the word is the name of the letter. For example, you might represent the letter “k” with a word “cat”.
If you work on your memory improvement every day, you will see the results within few weeks. Practice helps your brain stay healthy and sharp.
Topics: Health, Memory Improvement, Men's Health, Mental Health, Women's Health | No Comments »
