How to Improve Your Memory with Four Easy Strategies

One of my first posts on Wellness Wednesday tackled the ever relevant topic of attention and provided several tips to improve focus and concentration during the day. Today, I wanted to follow up on that post and explore memory, a different but highly interrelated ability. Indeed, if we do not pay attention, we definitely are unable to encode information into our memory storage systems.

In order to understand how to improve our memory we need to understand how memory works. Current theories of memory focus on three distinct stages: sensory memory; short-term memory; and, long-term memory. It is a common misconception that the briefer aspects of memory are far lengthier than they really are. For instance, sensory memory is only 2-3 seconds and short term memory only naturally lasts around 20-30 seconds. While we may be able to do a series of tricks to make those first two stages seem like they are lasting a bit longer, what you are probably most interested in is improving is your long term memory.

The best way to “improve” your long term memory is to make sure that you encode information properly so that it is stored in long term memory. You also want to make sure that the information is encoded in a manner that is easily retrieved where and when you need it.

Consider the file folder system at an old school doctors office with hundreds of patient files are filed alphabetically by last name. Our brain's memory storage is surprisingly similar to this. If we do not file information in an organized way, we will have immense difficulty retrieving the information when needed from those long-term memory stores.
 
Now that we have a bit of background on how memory works, let us get started on some basic memory strategies that you can use (or maybe you are already using intuitively) to help yourself be more productive each day.

Four memory strategies that you can start using today:

1. Rehearsal: Essentially, rehearsal involves repeating and reviewing information multiple times until you are certain it is stored in long term memory.
2. Organization & chunking: Making sure we group information together so that we can see the “big picture” instead of getting lost in all of the “small details”. The 5 - 9 rule states that humans can only hold about 5 to 9 distinct pieces of information in short term memory. Therefore, if you need to remember a lot of information, the best way to increase your capacity is to chunk information together. This is why license plates and phone numbers are chunked into groups of three or four digits, as it makes it easier to remember.
3. ​Elaboration: It will be easier to remember a concept if you are able to make information personally relevant by adding your own examples or by explaining the concept to a friend. So the next time you are studying for a test, make sure you do not just re-read the information, but take the time to explain the concepts to yourself to make sure that concept is well understood and sticks in your brain.
4. Method of Loci: Method of Loci, sometimes called memory palace is a technique that is helpful when you need to remember several pieces of information at once. Trying this technique requires you to visualize the words or pieces of information, imagining these words/items in places as you walk through an imagined scene. With this technique you try to retrieve the information by recalling that journey and passing through all the imagined key points where you hosted each of the words/information that you placed. As this one is a bit harder to explain, here is a good Youtube explaining the concept further: CLICK HERE.

​Give one of these techniques a try and let me know which helps your memory the most. Do you have any other memory strategies that you find help?

Image used under Creative Commons license. CLICK HERE for the source.
 Image: Studying by Steven S. See side panel for further copyright information.