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Here are 10 simple ways to improve your memory that also shed light on its workings:
1. Get plenty of sleep. If you read a book when very tired, you will forget most of what you’ve read. Sleep improves attention and concentration, and so the registration of information. And sleep is also required for memory consolidation.
2. Pay attention. You can’t take in information unless you’re paying attention, and you can’t memorize information unless you’re taking it in. It helps if you’re interested in the material, so try to be interested in everything! As Einstein said, ‘There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.’
3. Involve as many senses as you can. For instance, if you’re sitting in a lecture, jot down a few notes. If you’re reading a chapter, read it aloud and inject some drama into your performance.
4. Structure information. To remember a list of ingredients, think of the ingredients under the subheadings of starter, main, and dessert, and visualize the number of items under each subheading. For a password, think of it in terms of the first three characters, the middle three characters, and the last three characters—or whatever works best.
5. Process information. If possible, summarize the material in your own words. Or re-organize it so that it is easier to learn. With more complex material, try to understand its meaning and significance. Actors find it much easier to remember their lines if they are able to feel them. If needs must, focus only on the important things, or the bigger picture. ‘Details’ said Oscar Wilde, ‘are always vulgar.’
6. Relate information to what you already know. New information is much easier to remember if it can be contextualized—so that the more you know, the easier it is to learn. A study looking at the role of high-level processes found that chess knowledge predicts chess memory (memory of the layout of a particular chess game) even after controlling for chess experience..
7. Use mnemonics. Tie information to visual images or acronyms. For example, you might remember that your hairdresser is called Sharon by picturing a rose of Sharon or sharon fruit. Or you might remember the order of the colours of the rainbow by the sentence, ‘Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain.’
8. Rehearse. Sleep on the information and review it the following day. Then review it at increasing intervals until you feel familiar with it. Memories fade if not rehearsed, or are overlain by other memories and can no longer be retrieved.
9. Be aware of context. Retrieving a memory is easier if you find yourself in a similar situation, or similar state of mind, to the one in which the memory was laid. People with depression tend to recall their losses and failures while overlooking their strengths and achievements. If you cross the cheesemonger in the street, you may not, without her usual apron and array of cheeses, immediately recognize her, even though you are fairly familiar with her. You might even say something like, “Gosh, remind me, where do I know you from?” If you are preparing for an exam, try to recreate the conditions of the exam: for example, sit at a similar desk, at a similar time of day, and use ink on paper.
Be creative. Unusual experiences, facts, and associations are easier to remember. Because unfamiliar experiences stick in the mind, trips and holidays give the impression of ‘living’, and, by extension, of having lived for longer.
Read more in Hypersanity: Thinking Beyond Thinking.
