10 Best Memory Improvement Tips

How to Improve Your Memory Using How to Study Tips

Sooner or later it happens to most of us, we experience a momentary mental blackout. You are watching TV and a very famous movie star comes on screen and you can’t remember his name. Then as your brain keeps running in the background and you continue to watch the show—the name comes to you. And of course most of us forget where we left our car keys once in a while.
And horror of horrors, your mind goes blank when you look at the first question on an exam.

Some time ago I began research into the subject of Statement Analysis. This is a study used by law enforcement and our nation’s intelligence agencies to detect deception. It is also very useful when working with witnesses to a crime who may not intend to be deceptive or to lie, they simply are unable to bring forward a clear picture in their mind of the event being investigated.

Ron Fisher, Ph.D., an instructor with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) developed a rather unique but simple technique called the Cognitive Interview. Here’s what he said about it:
The genesis of the cognitive interview was almost accidental. On several occasions, friends who had come to visit me at my apartment would misplace something. They would call me up later and ask me if it was in the apartment, and invariably, it was not. But through conversing with them and asking questions to help trigger their memories, they would then recall where they had misplaced the item.

I realized that through these casual conversations on the phone, I was using, although informally, the principles and theories that I was teaching in my memory course at the university. Not surprisingly, the techniques derived from these principles worked.

I then contacted a colleague, Ed Geiselman at U.C.L.A., and asked him who could use this skill of helping someone to remember details. His first response was police, since they spend much of their time solving crimes by getting witnesses to remember details about an incident or series of incidents.

I’m including this here because if cognitive interviewing techniques can be used to solve crimes, why not adapt the technique, with some modification of course, for use by students studying for better grades. This technique has been worked into cognitive psychology literature to improve memory, enhance recall and increase retention of information.
Below are 10 tips that offer promise for those facing a tough exam and even the day-to-day school assignments.

1. Focus. Begin by focusing your attention on the materials you intend to study. Your goal is to move this information from short term memory to long term memory. Like it or not, this attending to the study material must be done in a distraction-free environment. So turn off the TV, the stereo and your cell phone.

2. Avoid cramming sessions. The most productive study methods involve short study sessions. Spread out study times with breaks in between. You are not running a marathon. Use a Day Planner or your Google Calendar and block out specific study times. At first it will be best to experiment with the length of time each session takes. In short order you will hit on a time that produces the best results. In the beginning you may discover that the subject matter will set the tone and length of your studies. Academic research shows that students who establish a regular study routine allows you the time your brain needs to process the information.

3. Organize, organize and organize. Research indicates that when information is absorbed in a structured, organized manner, the mind creates memory in related clusters. By grouping similar concepts and topics in single clusters, you will be better able to recover the information when needed. Creating an outline combined with reading the related texts will facilitate this grouping of material.

4. Create mnemonic devices to foster memory. Mnemonics are substitutes for the facts you are trying to remember. But use mnemonics that are positive in nature. Imagery, novelty or human make good mnemonics. Visualize your lecturer standing before the class dressed in a Mickey Mouse costume as he describes a particular reaction in organic chemistry. Use a song, joke or poem as it may relate to the subject matter

5. Rehearse the material you are trying to absorb. Encoding information into your long term memory. A very effective method to accomplish this is the elaborative rehearsal. Try this: read aloud the definition of the key term, and then study the definition of that term. Read a more detailed description of what the term means. Then repeat this process a few times. In short order you will notice that your recall is strengthened.

6. All things are relative. When studying an unfamiliar subject think about how it relates to subjects you are already familiar with. Facts are much easier to recall when you relate them to facts you already know.

7. Visualization aids in memory recall. Many students have mastered the ability to visualize facts and events to their advantage. When studying the material pay close attention to photos, charts, maps and other graphics. If visual cues like these are missing, create your own in your own mind’s eye. Draw charts or figures in the page margins to stimulate recall. And of course don’t fail to use highlighters for emphasis.

8. Rehearse newfound knowledge. Find a willing participant and “teach this person what you have learned. Teaching your new concepts to others is a proven means to enhance your own understanding and recall.

9. Give the complex stuff extra attention. Complicated subjects deserve more than a glance. Some students claim it is easier to remember the material at the beginning and end of a chapter but have a real problem with what is in the middle. This serial position effect can be overcome by restructuring what you have learned. You will need to spend extra time rehearsing the information. What this dilemma may require is memorization of the subject matter.

10. Upset your routine from time to time. If you followed the tips above you blocked out specific times to study and maybe even when you take breaks. Toss aside the schedule for a day. Novelty will often rekindle your desire to learn so mix it up and try it out.

Have Fun While Learning