Articles

How To Improve Memory?

By Ms. Shereena E.A : Psychologist

Memory is critical to humans and all other living organisms. Practically all our daily activities like talking, understanding, reading and socializing will depend on our learned and stored information about our environments.

Memory and learning are closely related. Information is learned only when it can be retrieved later, and retrieval cannot occur unless information was learned. Without the ability to access past experiences or information, we would be unable to comprehend language, recognize our friends and family members, find our way home or even tie a shoe. Life would be a series of disconnected experiences, each one new and unfamiliar. Without any sort of memory, humans would quickly perish.

Why we forget?

There are many reasons to it:

• Fading occurs when we can no longer recall information from our memory because of disuse.
• Interference occurs when information gets confused with other information in our memory.
• Distortion refers to the misrepresentation of information that occurs when an imperfect image is recalled memory.
• Lack of interest in the subject.
• Emotions like fear, anxiety, worry, frustration etc.
• Brain damage or brain abnormalities.
• Suppression refers to the subconscious urge from within our personalities to obliterate unpleasant or threatening information from our memories. For example, an adolescent who had been abused as a child may be unable to recall specific instances of abuse, even though these were numerous, because he had suppressed them.

What We Can Do To Improve Memory

1. Learn to monitor your own thinking processes.

2. Inspire yourself through setting goals.

3. Try to pay attention to only a few things at a time.

4. Practice ignoring things that you don't want to pay attention to, as well as attending to those things that you do want to pay attention to.

5. Avoid mind wandering and daydreaming by ‘auto suggestions’.

6. To deal with several new pieces of information, combine similar information in to a group.

7. Become as active as you can be in the learning process. The following are some good ways to become active while you learn:

• Highlight important ideas and points
• Draw diagrams and pictures of study material.
• Ask yourself questions before you read part of a textbook, and then see if you can answer them after reading that part of the book.
• Look for ways to apply what you are studying.

8. Study with a friend. Explain your ideas to your friend and listen to your friend's ideas.

9. Try to make sure you understand the information clearly and correctly before you practice it.

10. Once you think you have learned something, practice it even a little longer than you think necessary to master it.

11. Don't study at the same time things that you are likely to confuse with one another.

12. Plan your learning in an organized manner.

13. Don’t be over conscious about the result.