best way to improve memory?

[CoolStuff]

I dont really care about short term memory, if somethings important then I'll remember it. But I'm more interested in improving memory for school, so I can spend my time more efficiently.

I am planning on picking up The Memory Book Steve mentioned.

[Paul C]

For studying it's said that shorter studying sessions help with memory retention. Instead of studying for hours on end you would instead have a study of session of about 30 minutes then take a break for about 5-10 minutes, then you would go back to it as many times you have energy for.

Take notes a lot? Only the important points- overall concepts even. Not sure what else I could suggest at this time.

Good luck.

[jtrikster]

On the left side of this post there is a link the Lumosity.com. I found it interesting so I clicked it.
It's a website that hosts games to help with memory, cognition, reaction, etc. Its awesome! and fun! you get a free 14-day trial with no credit card numbers required (thank god because I hate those kind of 'free' trials.).

Well I think it's really fun and it keeps you busy. I've noticed that I pay more attention and look at the bigger picture now; when it comes to learning information.

Btw, I bought The Memory Book Steve suggested and I can't seem to find it effective. The methods are good, but I haven't found a way to incorporate them into the classes I'm taking right now.
I was motivated to buy the book because I'm taking Human Anatomy this semester and let's just say it is one of the most intense courses you can take. The book's methods are good for history and the social sciences in general.

I haven't finished it yet so maybe I'll be able to figure out a way to incorporate it into the information I'm learning. One thing I'm experimenting with is linking one idea to a picture and then linking those pictures, indirectly linking ideas. We'll see if that works at the end of the semester.

Well good luck!

[Ilya]

CoolStuff, what do you mean by "remembering for school"? As a graduate I can tell you that school is rarely about memorizing something. During my studies I was more then once tempted to use some mnemonic tricks to prepare for exams. On closer inspection, every time I've found that it's is more efficient to understand the underlying principle that connects and organizes the facts I need to remember. It may be harder to go for that understanding, but that's what study is. Memorization without understanding is just, well, quick fix, the other type of short term memorization you don't care about. If you give me examples of what you need to memorize, I might help you brainstorm, what you could pay attention to.
Still, if you absolutely need to memorize something, there is no difference between mnemonic techniques. If done correctly, they allow you to memorize information for as long as you need it. Visual linking, different pegging systems should help.

[jtrikster]

So you're saying it's more efficient to understand the 'big picture?'
It is really hard to come to that understanding. What methods do you use?

[Jim11]

He just means it's more important to understand concepts as opposed to cramming your brain without actually thinking about it.

A simple example:
If you are taking economics and you read "when supply goes down, price goes up" you can highlight it, memorize it, and never bother thinking about it.

But if you decide to take 2 minutes to think about it you will be much more likely to remember it, simply because it makes sense. Where cramming fails is when you run into hard tests where they mix things up and make you apply your knowledge to completely different concepts.

Also, practicing LEARNING and not cramming will give you valuable skills that you can apply to all learning. Analysis, being able to spot important material very quickly, etc

If you start learning things by memorizing you will eventually forget a lot more than if you had decided to understand it. This will become very clear if you go deep into post secondary.

[jtrikster]

Some big picture concepts aren't as simple. Yes you can find concepts that simple within subjects, in order to get a deeper understanding, you need to also understand the big concepts that are a little more specific.
Take for example anatomy:
We have muscles all around our bodies that allow us to move. (big picture)
The muscles on your anterior arm flex your forearm. (more specific)

It sometimes is not that simple to find the more specific pictures. That's what I was refering to in my post before.

[MartialDev]

The use of a pencil has improved my memory dramatically.

[180]

memory is a habit

I suggest harry lorayne's books on memory. Old old book, but the best.

But if you want an overall brief summary, anything can be remembered if you attach something wildly out of the ordinary. Special Mneomic techniques. In the book they even include ways to peg numbers.

So for example: I want to remember to send my cable bill tomorrow

So right now I'm going to make a mental imagine of me waking up at 4:00 am right after watching a thigh master infomercial. picking up a huge pink spotted mailbox and wading it up into a straw, spitting it over to arizona smashing into my cable company and killing the CEO of the company right in the head.

The image is so wildly ridiculous that it is easily recalled. So when I wake up tmr, I'd be like ah ♥♥♥♥, wahts that thing I needed to do. Well I know it had something to do cable...? Oh the mailbox I shot over to Arizona and killing the CEO of that cable company.

[Truely Self Development]

So there is a way? I also find that my memory getting poorer lately!

[Ilya]

Originally Posted by Jim11

He just means it's more important to understand concepts as opposed to cramming your brain without actually thinking about it.

Great points Jim11, thanks for clarifying me and giving great examples.

[Ilya]

Originally Posted by jtrikster

Some big picture concepts aren't as simple. Yes you can find concepts that simple within subjects, in order to get a deeper understanding, you need to also understand the big concepts that are a little more specific.
Take for example anatomy:
We have muscles all around our bodies that allow us to move. (big picture)
The muscles on your anterior arm flex your forearm. (more specific)

It sometimes is not that simple to find the more specific pictures. That's what I was refering to in my post before.

Jtrikster, I'm not sure I've made myself clear enough. I'm not talking about big or specific picture. I'm talking more about finding the natural connections or associations in data.
Mnemonics are all about creating a link between two unrelated things. The classic example is the shopping list to fill the fridge for the week. So you do something like imagine each item on the list and place it mentally on the crossroads on your way to the mall. Then by remembering the familiar crossroads you will be able to recall the list.

Now, even with shopping list there are some internal associations actually. For example if you have a meal plan and you know what will you cook throughout the week, you can remember the dishes rather then products. Then at the shop, you can recall the ingredients of each of your favorite dishes. This may or may not be a more efficient approach, depending on how variable meals are there and do you know what food is made of But it illustrates the concept.

If we take your anatomy example, I'm not talking about either of your interpretations. I didn't do anatomy, so my example may be unrealistic, but hopefully it will clarify something.
As far as I know in anatomy the students have to remember the name of all muscles, the function of each muscle, the points where each muscle connects to the bones or whatever and probably something else.
Now the names of the muscles are in Latin. Ouch. However a quick look on the net lets me believe that the latin used is not arbitrary. It says something about the muscle. Sometimes it gives hints about the location, sometimes about the function, sometimes about the size or the structure of the muscle.
Not all of the meanings are clear straight away, but that's why med students study latin. Assuming the latin is fine, you can eliminate a lot of memorization by understanding that the name of the muscle may be connected to it's function, location and composition. So before recalling the string of latin letters it is worthwhile to imagine the body and where this muscle is located and what does it do there. It actually is pretty obvious in many cases. With this understanding the correct name may just jump at you. Otherwise you'll have to do the long chain of mnemonic conversions to remember the information that is already there.
Some other helpful concept is that the muscles come in pairs some bend and others straighten the joint. By the way, knowing how each joint moves can give you the good understanding of what kinds of muscles are needed to provide this movement. The longer you think about the more pieces of the puzzle come into place. That is what understanding is about. For that you may have to read the explanation on each of the muscles and what they do and what are they connected to. Memorizing the list is no good really.
You may argue that finding out all these connections is long and tedious. But that is what learning is about - to find out the underlying system, not to remember the collection of disjointed facts.

[magi13]

I recommend the memory palace or journey method. :3 Its a very easy method to learn. :3

[Chillax]

Originally Posted by CoolStuff

I dont really care about short term memory, if somethings important then I'll remember it. But I'm more interested in improving memory for school, so I can spend my time more efficiently.

I am planning on picking up The Memory Book Steve mentioned.

It would be very wise to learn memory tricks, the earlier you learn them the better.

Furthermore, as you understand how these tricks work, you can modify them and make them fit in different situations.

The information is out there and easy to find if you look for it.

With such tricks, my memory depends more on my creativity than anything else. Without these tricks I would have to repeat the same thing a million times (which works well too, especually if you write/type it out).

Honestly, these memory tricks, are one of the most valuable things I've ever learned. Things like this will give you a serious edge and they are so easy to learn.


A brief example of an ADVANCED memory technique:
I just wrote a quiz yesterday where I had to memorize the name, insertion, origin and action of like 30 muscles and I memorized all that stuff in my spare time with little effort (dead serious).

Now the name, origin and insertion, I had them down using the same old memory techniques I always had used, and if you know how memory techniques work you'll also understand why I never get them mixed up with each other.

But for the actions, it was hard to come up with a picture of it, since it wasn't anything solid. For example, "raises, elevates and adducts the scapula", how the hell do you visualize that?

So what I did, I turned each of the actions into a colour. So I would imagine a scapula painted 3 different coloures, one for each action. This is the first time I tried relying on the COLOUR alone to give me a clue and it worked amazingly well.

So on the quiz when they asked me what the action of the pectoralis minor was, all I did was visualize what part of my mental journey was pectoralis minor (at the bottom of a slide at a park near my highschool) and what mental clues I had put there, and the image I made weeks before was a black scapula floating on the slide. The colour black was the code name for "depresses" so I knew, it depresses scapula.

It's like having a cheat sheet, but instead of words on paper, it's pictures in your head that give you the clues you need to get to the answer.

[Odysseus Ithaca]

Originally Posted by jtrikster

On the left side of this post there is a link the Lumosity.com. I found it interesting so I clicked it.
It's a website that hosts games to help with memory, cognition, reaction, etc. Its awesome! and fun! you get a free 14-day trial with no credit card numbers required (thank god because I hate those kind of 'free' trials.).

Well I think it's really fun and it keeps you busy. I've noticed that I pay more attention and look at the bigger picture now; when it comes to learning information.

Btw, I bought The Memory Book Steve suggested and I can't seem to find it effective. The methods are good, but I haven't found a way to incorporate them into the classes I'm taking right now.
I was motivated to buy the book because I'm taking Human Anatomy this semester and let's just say it is one of the most intense courses you can take. The book's methods are good for history and the social sciences in general.

I haven't finished it yet so maybe I'll be able to figure out a way to incorporate it into the information I'm learning. One thing I'm experimenting with is linking one idea to a picture and then linking those pictures, indirectly linking ideas. We'll see if that works at the end of the semester.

Well good luck!

Originally Posted by Ilya

Jtrikster, I'm not sure I've made myself clear enough. I'm not talking about big or specific picture. I'm talking more about finding the natural connections or associations in data.
Mnemonics are all about creating a link between two unrelated things. The classic example is the shopping list to fill the fridge for the week. So you do something like imagine each item on the list and place it mentally on the crossroads on your way to the mall. Then by remembering the familiar crossroads you will be able to recall the list.

Now, even with shopping list there are some internal associations actually. For example if you have a meal plan and you know what will you cook throughout the week, you can remember the dishes rather then products. Then at the shop, you can recall the ingredients of each of your favorite dishes. This may or may not be a more efficient approach, depending on how variable meals are there and do you know what food is made of But it illustrates the concept.

If we take your anatomy example, I'm not talking about either of your interpretations. I didn't do anatomy, so my example may be unrealistic, but hopefully it will clarify something.
As far as I know in anatomy the students have to remember the name of all muscles, the function of each muscle, the points where each muscle connects to the bones or whatever and probably something else.
Now the names of the muscles are in Latin. Ouch. However a quick look on the net lets me believe that the latin used is not arbitrary. It says something about the muscle. Sometimes it gives hints about the location, sometimes about the function, sometimes about the size or the structure of the muscle.
Not all of the meanings are clear straight away, but that's why med students study latin. Assuming the latin is fine, you can eliminate a lot of memorization by understanding that the name of the muscle may be connected to it's function, location and composition. So before recalling the string of latin letters it is worthwhile to imagine the body and where this muscle is located and what does it do there. It actually is pretty obvious in many cases. With this understanding the correct name may just jump at you. Otherwise you'll have to do the long chain of mnemonic conversions to remember the information that is already there.
Some other helpful concept is that the muscles come in pairs some bend and others straighten the joint. By the way, knowing how each joint moves can give you the good understanding of what kinds of muscles are needed to provide this movement. The longer you think about the more pieces of the puzzle come into place. That is what understanding is about. For that you may have to read the explanation on each of the muscles and what they do and what are they connected to. Memorizing the list is no good really.
You may argue that finding out all these connections is long and tedious. But that is what learning is about - to find out the underlying system, not to remember the collection of disjointed facts.

Hi all. This is probably my first post.

I took Anatomy last semester. It's important to understand the physiology & whatnot, but like jtrikster said the real challenge is absorbing a high volume of material in a short period of time.

I'm a fan of flash cards (a la Cal Newport's books). I write a question on one side, and the answer on the other. I also made a tremendous number of diagram flash cards for anatomy via photo manipulation (unlabeled diagram on one side, and a labeled diagram on the other). It worked for me, at any rate. I earned an A in the class.

I've read about half of the Harry Lorrayne book, and all of Kenneth Higbee's "Your Memory" (which is fantastic). Whenever I want to remember a large-ish number, I use the phonetic number system. I've also used Lorrayne's system to memory all 48 Laws of Power by the number of the law. I did this years ago, and I am a bit rusty on it. I find the tools useful, and I'll freely admit that my memory requires a bit o' jogging first before I have it immediately handy.

My two cents, at any rate. Good luck in Anatomy, jtrikster.

[ginkgo]

The best way to increase that kind of memory is to learn association techniques. That is what Kevin Trudeau uses so he can memorize the names of 100 people he has just met.

[Odysseus Ithaca]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

The best way to increase that kind of memory is to learn association techniques. That is what Kevin Trudeau uses so he can memorize the names of 100 people he has just met.

Honestly, what I did was an association technique.

I simply used a bunch of words that represented 1 through 48 and associated each law to a number. That way, if I wanted to remember that Law 14 is "Pose as a friend. Work as a spy." I could go directly to the 14th law rather than having to use the chain and count my way through.

I don't use that so much in my science classes. I try to understand the concepts & whatnot, and I make heavy use of flash cards. Sometimes I'll use mnemonic aids, but mostly I just drill things over & over (often with a timer).

I wonder if flash cards are the most efficient way to study, sometimes. I put very small chunks of information on each card, so I'll have several hundred for a given exam. There is an up front cost to producing them.

The advantages are that I have ways to use odd little bits of time for studying, I have a very valuable resource that can be useful after my exams, and it keeps my mind actively engaged with the material.

[ChaosKiwi]

Supermemo -the most efficient way to remember.

You can thank me later.

[Bole]

What worked for me was:

(This is for school, not really imporving memory with some fancy tecnhique)

1. Study subject, take notes (this was key for me), study notes but not memorize it. Basically you just have to develop deep understanding of the subject. Notes can be colorful, bold/normal, with mindmaps, etc, - this is a way to boost memory as you can later asociate information with sth, therefore making it easier to remember piece of information.
2. 12 hours before exam - load the information into your brain (RAM) by studying notes. Do this again 30 minutes before an exam. When exam comes, you have general understanding of the subject and you have stuff in your working memory to pull out. Then just improvize.

Works like a charm. At least for me.

[bbdream8]

Why don't you try some books from Tony Buzan on regards about mind mapping. It helps you to remember things easier.

Vincent
Personal Development Blogger

[Curtis2011]

I was debating whether or not to share this (whether or not to share my 'secret'), but there is a memory system/program that surpasses all others by far.


It is not an improve-memory-overnight easy thing to do. It involves dedicated work every day for a few months, just to complete the course. It is similar to saying "I want 6-pack abs" if you are currently 30 pounds overweight. For phenomenal results, you must be dedicated to a work out plan that works. This product is the plan that works for memory improvement. (People who have finished it can memorize entire books).


If you are interested in truly improving your memory, you can check out the program that is sold at School of Phenomenal Memory.

I guarantee you that it works. It is only you who must put in the effort to train your memory to be phenomenal. I have only completed 6 lessons out of the 60 lessons that are in this course, and a week ago I used the abilities I have developed already to get a 96 on an essay test in my economics class. It teaches you to develop a memorization skill that is by far the most efficient way to learn raw data that exists.




Also:

Originally Posted by CoolStuff

I dont really care about short term memory, if somethings important then I'll remember it.

If this were true, it would be possible to just skim through your book right before you take a test and get an A on it.

[Chillax]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

I was debating whether or not to share this (whether or not to share my 'secret'), but there is a memory system/program that surpasses all others by far.


It is not an improve-memory-overnight easy thing to do. It involves dedicated work every day for a few months, just to complete the course. It is similar to saying "I want 6-pack abs" if you are currently 30 pounds overweight. For phenomenal results, you must be dedicated to a work out plan that works. This product is the plan that works for memory improvement. (People who have finished it can memorize entire books).


If you are interested in truly improving your memory, you can check out the program that is sold at School of Phenomenal Memory.

I guarantee you that it works. It is only you who must put in the effort to train your memory to be phenomenal. I have only completed 6 lessons out of the 60 lessons that are in this course, and a week ago I used the abilities I have developed already to get a 96 on an essay test in my economics class. It teaches you to develop a memorization skill that is by far the most efficient way to learn raw data that exists.




Also:



If this were true, it would be possible to just skim through your book right before you take a test and get an A on it.

brah how does it work? I mean, what's the gist of it? So far it dosen't look like anything new, they are just teaching people to use the same old tricks they can learn themselves.

"From jokes and short stories on up to entire books and tutorials containing complex terminology. Complex texts are used as exercises. How can you memorize a paragraph of a text book in the shortest time possible? How can you memorize the content of a whole book? How can you remember forever the entire content of your speech or a lecture? The answer is simple: using your own Phenomenal Memory. (The texts are not remembered word-for-word, but are reproduced using your own words preserving the sequence of paragraphs and the exact information)."

That sounds a lot like some other methods.

[luckyluciano]

Lecethin took me from a B student to an A student. Ginko can help also but must be a high ratio extract. Drug store brands are crap.

[thaiduytrinh]

I also highly recommend "Your memory:..." by Higbee. It contains almost every techniques that you need to know.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Chillax

brah how does it work? I mean, what's the gist of it? So far it dosen't look like anything new, they are just teaching people to use the same old tricks they can learn themselves.

That sounds a lot like some other methods.

Well, I am not advertising it or being paid to, so do it if you want a phenomenal memory

I am just trying to help anyone out who wants to know what is a good memory-improvement product. This is a good one.


On your question of how it works- It works by providing step-by-step instructions of how to train your visualization abilities so that you can literally recall thousands upon thousands of details of information by encoding them into images in your imagination.

So, if you complete the whole course, you can memorize any amount of factual data, like a list of 500 names and phone numbers, or every bold word and its definition and what page it is on in your psychology book, or every math formula in your calculus book, etc. It teaches you how to record all of these into detailed images in your mind, that you can access at any time and in any order.

The only thing it can't be used is to memorize musical progressions. You can memorize musical scores, but not the sound itself, since they cannot be remembered via images. Although, Ruslan, the creator of Phenomenal Memory, is supposedly searching for a solution to that.

[Sarek]

I wanted to point something out concerning learning versus memory.

Yes to understand something will usually indicate if you learned something.

However, why would someone want a better memory? So they can remember information.

In my opinion tests CANNOT effectively pull out of you what you understand.
They are based on a memory format.

So memory is a very good thing for tests. Not to mention without memory you are going to have a very hard time remembering stuff.

[luckyluciano]

The Brain is made up of approximately 30% lecithin. The nervous system and cell membranes are coated with lecithin. Increase your lecithin content with lecithin supplimentation, approx 5 grams per day and you will reap the cognitive benefits, increase your ability to focus, plus a miriad of other health & wellbeing benefits. Really works & it's is cheap & effective. Try it for 30 days at 5 grams then get back to me. You will FEEL your brain thinking......amazing.

[Fullcrum]

Memory is cultivated with use and with using the entire brain. There are many things that can improve memory.

1. Diet. Eat omega-3 fatty acids like ALA, EPA and DHA. Eat lightly. Chinese medicine believes that a full stomach detracts from a full mind. They're not saying eat nothing, they're saying eat light fast-digesting food. For me, this means lots of fruits and greens, often in the form of green smoothies. Fruits have the simple sugars the brain runs on, and they require the least digestion to access. Less blood to the digestive tract means more blood to the brain.

2. Desire. You must desire to learn the information, retain the facts and use it at a later time. Something cultivated in me at an early age that makes this easy is a "love of learning". Realize that genius is often the synthesis of concepts and principles from disparate fields (like Steve's synthesis of game development and personal development). Anything you learn can teach you a lot about everything. With this in mind, loving learning is easy. You want to learn everything possible about a subject because you know it can help you develop a greater understanding of the world and have the facts and support to back it up. If you can attach your memory exploits to your life purpose, you will go far places.

3. Physical state. Relaxation "dilates the senses" and expands awareness. Think of your mind like a funnel. If you're nervous and scattered as opposed to calm, confident and focused, the funnel is narrow and only a small amount of information can flow through. Why do children learn so quickly? One of the many reasons is that because they are unburdened by problems, worries, fears and debilitating anxieties (there are exceptions to every rule), their funnels are always open. This is key to learning like a sponge.

4. Confidence. You need confidence in your own mental abilities to allow yourself to focus on the task at hand. This comes back to being focused. Are you stressed that you cannot memorize something, or confident in your abilities to retain the information?

5. Whole-body learning. Engage all the senses when learning and memorizing. The previous example about pegging colors to actions in order to help on an anatomy exam was brilliant. I like music personally. I'll often play songs in my head when learning chunks of information and can recall it when replaying the music and intending to remember. Other times I'll visualize mental maps of concepts during a lecture and am able to work with it and spit it back if asked about it.
Why do mnemonic devices often work? In the same way that a map creates an accurate miniaturization of a landscape, mnemonic devices reduce the size of the "mental map" required to access information. The mnemonic device is then linked to the full concept in tree branch fashion. This great method of storing vast quantities of information is sadly only applied to linguistic intelligence by most of society. What's stopping you from linking concepts to colors? Sounds? It's not like a bunch of letters have anything more to do with a subject than a color, so you might as well use them both.

6. Understanding and synthesis. Information is better understood when placed on a logical skeleton, an efficient model for understanding. History notoriously lacks this, especially in schools. Often, one has to put in extra effort to synthesize meaningful causes.
Remembering the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 is not only useless but difficult without understanding that it reversed many of the New Deal labor gains instituted by FDR and his Congress in the 30s. Through understanding the cyclical nature of politics, remembering the time and purpose of various acts becomes childs' play.

7. Multiple-angles. There is no best way to memorize anything. Do what the military does and attack the issue from all angles. Chain and peg. Make a simple mind map, even one in your mind. Photoread several times. Rapid brainstorm for several minutes everything that comes to mind for a topic.

8. Emotional relevance. This is related to desire but more specific to memorization. One strategy I recently shared with a friend when memorizing a segment of the American Declaration of Independence was to attach emotional relevance and tone of voice to the document. I imagined Martin Luther King Jr. giving his I Have a Dream speech while reading it. Imagining his tonality and inflection allowed me to attach a stronger emotions to the words and therefore to more easily recall them when required.
Actors do this all the time with their lines. They can spend hours getting into the heads of their character and analyzing their deepest fears and desires.

9. Parts to whole. Often if you understand the components you can synthesize them into many meaningful combinations. Etymology and word origin are good examples of this. When you learn the meaning of Greek and Latin phrases, encountering them in vocabulary will seem less daunting. This practice also happens to be strengthened by use. Studying biology, English literature, chemistry, physics, history and all that good stuff, the same suffixes and prefixes are used and used again.
Another realm this applies to is the realm of equations. In trigonometry, everything relates to the sine and cosine functions. Just by knowing those two and understanding the relationships they can make, all the other trigonometric functions and values can be understood. I initially memorized my trig. values by visualizing the functions' graphs and then retracing their path with the numbers in place.

10. Overwhelming force. Focus on getting one topic at a time. Use everything you've got to attack the memorization problem from all angles until it is so deeply ingrained into your head it will never wear away. Consider in stone masonry that the finer details succumb to weathering and erosion first, leaving a fuzzy remnant of what once was. You can combat this by learning something effectively the first time.

11. Meditation and relaxation. A study in Intelligence Magazine (referenced in the article) talks about the cognitive benefits of meditation. Besides the million other positive things meditation does for the body, it improves creativity and fluid intelligence and, in my experience, memory.

12. Subconscious visualization. A crazier technique than the ones outlines above can be applied to any subject area of which a general or specific understanding is required. You lie down and spend 10-15 minutes visualizing whatever you want about a certain topic. Feel free to fantasize and make it relevant to you. An intention is set to "understand this topic more deeply", after which you let the subconscious run wild. When I had to understand the immune system in great depth, I visualized a 15 minute battle again foreign invaders, complete with all the cells doing their respective thing. Do whatever works for you. I happen to be a visual learner primarily and auditory learner secondarily, so these often factor into my techniques.