Qualities That Can Improve Memory

A good memory is one of the most useful things to have in this busy world. Many of us have to make lists for the tasks and events ahead of us at the start of each day simply to avoid neglecting any of them, and yet at times we still find ourselves to have forgotten something. Good memory, however, would decrease the number of things left undone, and researchers have discovered some traits of memorization to increase our memories.

The Loci Method

• Imagination and visualization can aid memory.

  List the items to memorize, then imagine yourself in a familiar place and put reminders for each item on a walkway through that place. To remember them, you only have to imagine yourself back in that place and encounter those reminders.

Confidence

• Confidence matters.

  Show confidence in yourself when memorizing or recalling. Belief in your ultimate success in remembering increases your ability to remember and keeps you actively on the task of remembering for a longer time period.

Motivation

• Personal interest is a natural motivator.

  Develop your interest in the material and pay attention to it. Interest is a powerful motivator for learning and memorization, while disinterest make learning a labor rather than a doable task.

Know the Material

• Take notes as a matter of habit.

  Take notes rather than simply highlighting a text or handout materials, and make charts and diagrams for the material. Pay attention to make sure you get the main ideas, which helps improve your memory of them.

Take It in Doable Parts

• Any task is like a set of steps.

  Break down a large task into smaller units. According to psychologists, people are particularly good at memorizing material at the beginning and the end of a list or lesson, and taking a large amount of data in smaller units gives you the advantage of that effect, thus making the overall task easier.

Environment

• Environment affects learning and memory.

  Learn new material in a good study area, during daylight and recurring quiet periods sufficiently long to memorize the material. The study area, quiet and daylight all seem to affect memory, and a series of separate learning periods usually permits the memorization of more material than one or a few practices time slots.

Finding the Relationships

• Memorization may be a matter of fitting the pieces together.

  Relate any fact or idea to your previous knowledge and to the other facts and ideas presented with it, then look for the meaning behind those facts and ideas. Each relationship found between the facts and ideas increases retention. Relationships to personal experience are especially effective.

The Big Picture

• Understand the meaning behind the words.

  Look for the meaning of the facts and ideas rather than just memorizing them by rote, and act while reviewing the material, then stop every few paragraphs and test your comprehension. This gives your mind smaller and easier to grasp amounts of data to learn and store.

Action is Key

• Action speaks louder than words and also helps you remember the event better.

  Pace while reciting aloud or teach the memorized material to an imaginary audience. People remember situations better than a mere series of words, and you can use these actions to store new learning as situational memories rather than as just a series of words.

Don't Overdo It

• We all have to take a rest sometime, so schedule time for it.

  Stop memorizing or studying at a preset time and sleep on it. Overlearning can blur your memories of material already in your head, so it may cost you the benefit of your own labors. Sleep, however, ingrains new memories more completely into the brain.