Have you ever decided to do something in your life be it, learning a new skill, language or starting a new hobby and have been passionately fired up by it, reading everything you can and then a few months later, when you come to recall something that you absolutely know  you learned just can't remember for the life of you what that 'thing' is?

Passing exams can often be at the top of the list for forgetting or you remember the information needed for the exam questions, however, as soon as that exam is over you instantly forget it, months or even years later, you may need to recall it and you just can't. Do you find this as frustrating as I do? 

One of the things I am currently doing is improving my memory.  It has come to the point where I do an immense amount of reading and learning and then do an immense amount of forgetting! My recall of the information is, well, crap! So, it's time to take action.  The great thing about improving memory is that with a few simple techniques done regularly you can make immense progress. Interestingly, I went on a course recently where memory was briefly covered, and it was that, that made me remember that I have a great deal of information on memory from the time I was studying my hypnosis exams.  They gave it to us to help through our exams and I have to say it worked.  Of course, I'd forgotten that I had them!!

So today, I thought I would give you a tip on memory.

Human beings are learning much of the time, especially now we live in accelerated times, where career changes are averaging four times a life time! Learning something is only of value if you retain it.

First of all let's look at ...

FORGETTING

Forgetting can occur because:

• the information was not retained in short term memory long enough for it to be transferred to long term memory.
• an unconscious mechanism of repression actively pushes disturbing or threatening thoughts and feelings out of consciousness in order to protect the ego from undue anxiety. 
• 'cues' or 'routes' to the material were not coded in a way which allows them to be located. 

STM (Short Term Memory)

• Information in STM, can be retained for 15-20 seconds but the time can be extended through rehearsal, for example, by mentally repeating a telephone number. 
• The STM can accommodate about 7 bits of information at any time. 
• If we want to extend the memory we can, through organising or chunking the material.  Encoding the information by imposing a meaning upon it effectively reduces the amount of information and increases the likelihood of retention either temporary or more permanently in LTM, e.g.. arranging letters into words, words into sentences

LTM (Long Term Memory)

If you want something to go into LTM you need to use repetition, and allow time for recoding it.

So how do we do that? Well there are many ways: pegs, routes, links, substitutions, etc...

Let's just look at a few. 

• Use a mental blackboard (visual) or a mental tape recorder (auditory).
• Use all 5 senses to create strong associative links.
• Make meaningless words meaningful in some way, use mnemonics, substitute words.
• Organise the information in some way - by identifying images, patterns and other devices which were used for learning.
• When retrieving the information use the images, patterns that you used when learning the information.  Also the 'state' you were in.  State dependent learning i.e. relaxed, light and happy, etc. can help recall the information easily.

Some examples:

• 852244962 is more easily remembered short term as 852 244 962.
• Compass points for children NESW Never East Shredded Wheat. 
• Stalagmites and stalactites.  The mite goes up and the tights go down. 
• Hyperglycaemia: Is that too much or too little sugar?  Recognise the pre fix: Hypermarket - very large hypertension - too much.  Hypodermic - under the skin, Hypocrite - less than truthful.

LINK SYSTEM

The Link System is good for associating things with existing knowledge and creating memorable associations. 

You probably have memories yourself that are embarrassing, funny or frightening that you can recall quite easily, that's because they were unusual.

The key is to associate unrelated items in a memorable way by consciously creating images that have these features:

• Abstracts ideas more concrete by visualising them in an imaginary scene, e.g. 'inflation' might be seen as inflating a balloon.
• Associations are exaggerated in size and number.
• The image is created as dynamic, active or changing
• Unusual substitutions are easily remembered.
• The image is made to be absurd, ridiculous or such that it arouses a feeling of surprise or shock.

Applications

These can be used for:

• Remembering lists in sequence.
• Associating a cluster of relevant information with a central concept.
• Remembering the names of places and people.
• Using substitute words and image links to learn the vocabulary of a foreign language. (Which I use to to help my French vocabulary)

So remember "use it or lose it".  A little, regular practice goes a long way.

I am going to make much more information on memory available soon on my website.  I will let you know when it's there.

Until next week Onwards and Upwards and have MEMORABLE week!!!

© 2004 Denise Bosque All Rights Reserved