Find out more about your memory as well as some mnemonic tactics that you can do to improve it.
There are two types of memory which can either be a long or short term. The latter is usually forgotten after it has served its purpose, while long-term memory stays with the person throughout his/her lifetime.
Memory is one’s ability to conveniently store, preserve and recall certain information as well as experiences. Conventional studies related to memory started in the area of philosophy and they comprised procedures of artificially boosting memory.
Classes of Memory
Memory can be subdivided into three respective echelons which include sensory, short & long term ranks.
Sensory memory roughly corresponds to the preliminary 300 milliseconds subsequent to perceiving an object.
The capacity to glance at a substance then remember exactly how it appeared within a second is a good illustration of sensory recall at work.
Short term recollection allows one to remember only for a limited duration, not exceeding two minutes. And there are no rehearsals required here.
Contemporary estimates regarding the aptitude of short-term recollection are low, generally averaging on about 4 to 5 small items.
Nonetheless, memory capacity may be improved via a process known as ‘chunking.’
Many scholars believe that this kind of memory is chiefly dependent on particular acoustic codes vital for storage of such kinds of information, visual codes may also be applicable here but to a minor extent.
In contradiction, LTM can store quite large proportions of information for a remarkably unlimited time duration which can be the individual’s entire lifespan. Its storage capacity is also incredibly great.
Many people believe that the different sections of memory are correlated in one way or another.
It is generally believed that technique and depth of actual processing are the major determinants of how experiences are stored up in one’s memory, which is slightly different from rehearsal.
Organization
Psychologists have identified that it’s much simpler to memorize information that has been subcategorized than random data. For instance, it’s much easier to recite alphabetical letters when arrange from A-Z than it is on the reverse.
Distinctiveness
When information is associated in a distinctive manner rather than the regular way it would be much easier to remember. Loudly spelling out words is more memorable than when you just read information from a list.
Effort
Memory is best retained when one puts more effort towards understanding certain information. The more you practice the better your recalling ability.
Elaboration
People tend to recall descriptive paragraphs more than ambiguous sentences.
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Categorization by Nature of Information
There are some memory oriented scholars who have divided long-term recollection into declarative and also procedural subcategories. Declarative memory necessitates a conscious recall.
There are particular conscious procedures that need to call back certain information in the mind for proper storage.
This is at times referred to as explicit memory because it comprises information which is openly stored and repossessed.
– Declarative memory may also be categorized into semantic & episodic memory. The latter comprises data specific to set contexts like place or time, while the semantic memory is concerned with facts that are used from autonomous contexts.
– Semantic recollection permits one to encode abstract information concerning the world, like ‘London is the administrative capital of England.’ On the contrary, episodic memory is utilized in individual memory recollection on issues like emotions, sensations and also an individual correlation of certain venues or time.
– Autobiographical memory is related to an individual’s episodic events that are difficult to be eliminated from memory, like your wedding eve or honeymoon. This form of visual memory generally results in actual priming plus it’s assumed there’s some perceptual demonstrational system which underlies this particular phenomenon.
– Topographical memory refers to one’s capacity to appropriately be oriented in a set space; consequently one would distinguish and then tag along with an itinerary, as well as distinguish familiar settings.
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Methods of Memory Optimization
Memorization refers to a system of learning which permits one to recall data in verbatim. Rote tutorial is the technique that’s used in this mode of memory recollection.
To improve memory there are certain loosely connected sets of mnemonic ideologies and techniques which can be utilized to drastically enhance one’s memory in standard memory art.
These include healthy eating, stress reduction and physical fitness amongst others. Brain teasers along with verbal reminiscence tutorial procedurals will also be of great assistance.
Researchers have indicated that with such coaching it would only take14 days for one to show improved word fluency, along with memory.
However, you should supplement the above-discussed procedurals with activities that increase blood flow to your brain such as reading and actively socializing.
Reduce the amount of stress that you have to improve your memory. Stay away from emotional unsteadiness, depression and also try to get some proper sleep for the best results.
Memory Tasks
Correspondence paired learning
This refers to a situation where one learns to relate a single word with significant others. For instance, when presented with one given a word like ‘safe’ you will have to learn a corresponding remark like ‘green’ to stimulate automatic recollection of the two. This process occurs in a stimulus and rejoinder manner.
Free recalling
In this process, the subject shall be requested to study a certain list of statements then afterward recall or in-script several words which they will be able to remember.
Recognition processes
Here, subjects are requested to recall a certain list of pictorials or words. Afterward, they are requested to identify certain previously represented terminologies or pictorials that are set alongside a certain inventory of alternatives which weren’t there in the preexisting list.
Memory and Learning
According to mind & memory researchers, actual learning is characteristically thought to be a mental process.
Nevertheless, your brain is a standard physical organ which mostly functions in an electrochemical and psychological way.
There are some movements along with categories of exercise which will sufficiently stimulate your mind and aid in learning.
Workings of Your Brain
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On average there are new cells that are produced in the brain right from birth up to the person’s demise. This accounts for the individual’s capacity to carry on with learning in a bid to sufficiently ‘update the mind database’
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Every individual generally has around 100 billion functional neurons in the brain. Each of them comprises about 1,000 and 100,000 nervous links. The information would be conveyed electrically all through neurons via chemical neurotransmitters. If your mind is sufficiently stimulated while thinking or puzzling up data, then brain cells would liberate chemicals which enhance the intensification of certain hormonal links along the cell structures.
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The brain does consume around 25% of the entire fraction of glucose along with oxygen that humans do absorb. Glucose serves as your brain’s chief source of energy and is vital for nourishing nerve fibers for better recollection of information. Through consuming complex carbohydrates, proteins or lipids one would sufficiently feed the body’s most hungry organ.
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An individual’s biological state does support most of the mental efforts applied. When an individual does stand after long periods of heavy mind exercise, for instance, stretching up the legs would aid you to sufficiently refresh mind functionalities.
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Exercises which comprise a clear combination of equilibrium coordination alongside learning certain intricate movements will produce a greater amount of neurons. Memory and relevant mastery of certain information can vastly be administered through exercises related to such categories. This is mainly because the prime motor cortex, cerebellum and also basal ganglia do coordinate physiological movements as well as thought structures through ordering a cycle of thoughts requisite in thinking.
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Many educational systems prefer the classroom setting as their favorite method of learning. However, researchers have found out that it is not very effective because it lacks engagement. Tasks that incorporate movement, communication skills and solving problems can exercise your brain effectively.
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Humor can also be used to stimulate the brain for meaningful perception & learning. For healing to occur one should have a bold spirit and have in mind the goal of linking individual energy sources for mental clarity in a fun-filled environment.
More Information about Memory
Memory is not intelligence, the power of the mind to process and deduct is attributed to intelligence, but we do know that memory does have some part in assisting a powerful mind.
All scientific disciplines are guided by many rules and equations. Without memory, even the most powerful mind would get lost in going back to the same basic ideas over and over again.
Understanding is also linked to memory, it is a simple fact that once you understand some idea or concept you stand a better chance of remembering it.
All humans have a limited capacity for memory, there are some exceptional cases of phenomenal memory abilities, but most people do not enjoy that rare gift.
With our limited capacity humans have devised many forms of communication to help us remember notions and ideas, even hundreds of years old.
It is not only ideas and concepts that we can allow the memory of. It is feelings and emotions, and certain moments in our lives you treasure.
Think of reading the memories of a historian that lived in the Roman Empire time, providing you know what life was at that time you can understand almost every aspect of his life.
Although memory is not Intelligence, memory techniques train the mind and practice its ability. Memory techniques exercise boost brain power and push the brain to process what it remembers.
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Principles of Mnemonic Tactics
Another factor in improving your mind and your memory is through using mnemonic tactics. It has been shown in many studies that mnemonics have three fundamental principles that include imagination, association, and location.
And these three creates a powerful mnemonic system.
Association is the method by which you link a thing to be remembered to a method of remembering it.
Although association techniques are different and use the same principles, you should try and use what you know works best for you.
Thus, it is suggested that you implant your own associations rather than adopting a foreign system.
You can use association by doing these following things:
- Tying or linking a thing to be placed on top of the associated object
- Infiltrating into each other
- Merging together
- Wrapping around each other
- Rotating around each other or dancing together
- Being attached to the same color, smell, shape, or feeling
Imagination in memory is used to create the links and associations needed to create effective memory techniques.
Imagination is the way in which you use your mind to create the links that have the most meaning for you.
There is a natural difference between people since images created will have less power and impact on you, because they reflect the way in which you think.
The more strongly you imagine and visualize a situation, the more effectively it will stick in your mind for later recall.
Mnemonic imagination can be as violent, vivid, or sensual as you like, as long as it helps you to remember what needs to be remembered.
The third principal is location.
Location provides you with two things, a coherent context.
This means that you have a context into which information can be placed so that it hangs together and a way of separating one mnemonic from another.
An example of this is by setting one mnemonic in one bus seat, separate it from a similar mnemonic located in the back of the same bus.
Location spices up your memory and provides context and texture to your mnemonics, and protects and prevents them from being confused with similar mnemonics.
Setting one mnemonic with visualizations in the stadium in Milan, Italy and another similar mnemonic with images of a stadium in London, England allows us to separate them with no danger of confusion.
So, using the three fundamentals of Association, Imagination and Location you can design images that strongly link things with the links between themselves and other things, in a context that allows you to recall those images in a way that does not conflict with other images and associations.