HOW WE REMEMBER

1. Memory itself probably cannot be developed; however, improvement in remembering comes from correcting certain habits or thoughts so that we use our memory to its fullest potential. Remembering is like seeing; improvement in either function does not depend upon how much we use it but, rather, how we use it.

2. The first and most important rule for remembering is: cultivate the habit of close attention to the thing you wish to remember. Be sure you have a clear, sharp impression of the face, name, date, or facts, which you will need to know at a future time. If you wish to remember a fact, make it meaningful to you.

3. When we are learning, we should try not only to get a strong impression but to obtain as many different kinds of impressions as possible. Some people can remember colors distinctly, but have a poor memory for shapes. But anyone, by putting together and using all of the impressions our sense organs bring us about a thing, can remember it much more clearly than if we rely on sight or sound alone. For example, try reading your lesson aloud. In doing this, your eye takes in the appearance of the printed word, your ear passes the sound of the words to your brain, and even the tension of the muscle of your throat add their bit to the total impression which your mind is expected to store away.

4. Try to visualize it. Either remember a diagram or a picture of the material to be remembered, or take short notes about it, which you can visualize.

5. Intend to remember. The mere intention to remember puts the mind in a condition to remember, and if you will make use of this fact in studying you will be able to recall between 20 and 60 percent more of what you read and hear than you would if you were not actively trying to remember.

6. Think about it. A fact doesn't belong to you until you have used it. In making use of this principle, plan to spend not more than one-half of your study period in reading your lesson. Use the other half in doing something with what you learn. Think about what you have studied, write down notes on it, and explain it to somebody else.

7. Logical memory. One of the most important of all aids to the remembering process is the habit of associating a new idea immediately with facts or ideas that are already firmly lodged in the mind. This association revives and strengthens the old memories and prevents the new one form slipping away by anchoring it to the well-established framework of your mental world.

8. Remembering by brute force. We will forget more, on the average, during the first hour after learning that during the next 24 hours; and we will forget more, on the average, during the first day than we will during the next thirty days. Whatever is left after thirty days time, we will probably be able to hold on to without much further loss for years to come.

9. Reviewing is much more effective if carried out before memories have entirely escaped than it is after considerable time has elapsed. Repetitions should be strung out over as long a time as is available. We remember better if we pause a little between periods of study.

10. How much study? You should study more than enough to learn your assignment. Experiments have proven that 50% more resulted in 50% better retention. After a week had passed, it was found that extra work had salvaged six times as much of the material as in the case when it was barely learned.

Improving Your Memory

Information now increases at a rate of 13% a year.  It will soon jump to 40% a year.

With the enormous amount of new information which is becoming available to us, there is more and more that we are expected to remember. Technology is the culprit for creating this information output. We are going to need to keep our memory sharp in order to meet the information growth-- and keep our wits about us!

Here are some ideas for improving your memory

Repeat and repeat-- Say it out loud over and over again; or look at it over and over again. But be alert while you are doing it. Be in 'active' mode when you are repeating your information.  Personalize the information-- If at all possible, relate the information to something about yourself or your life. For instance, if you need to know a history date, see if it relates to a family member's birthday or another date which has personal meaning.

Use your imagination-- Draw a picture or a diagram in your mind of what you need to remember. For instance, if there are three people you must remember with a specific event, try to picture them there. Give the people and the places names you can remember. Then relate those names to their real names. By picturing the place and people at the time you need to remember, the facts will come back to you.

Use relationships-- Create a relationship of the information to information which you already know. For instance, if you are familiar with a period of history through a story you have read, you can then relate that information to a chapter in history.

Draw a diagram on paper-- Put the information in clusters of related facts. Then draw lines to connect the ideas. You will be able to better memorize all of the ideas if they are organized. You can also then picture the diagram and fill in the blanks as you need to.

Some other suggested techniques include the following:
Use the outrageous-- Be silly, if necessary. You might sing the information to a tune you know. Create a rap or a poem. When you use your imagination to a point of being silly, you will have little trouble remembering the information!
Look for something odd-- For spelling words, you might use this technique: break down the word or look for something unique about it. For instance, "capacity" becomes "cap a city." (You can then picture a city with a big cap on it!) Another example is that the word "bookkeeper" has three pairs of letters in it. The word "achievement" has the word "eve" in it.
Create an acronym out of the sentences or words you need to learn. For instance, the acronym of ICPAC stands for the Indiana College Placement and Assessment Center. Or make a sentence acronym of names or words you need to learn. An example of this would be "My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas," to remember the planets in order in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.
Link items--To remember a list of items, link the first item with the second, the second to the third, and so on.
Stack method-- Picture the items piled on top of one another and then unstack them in your mind as you have to recall them.
Path method-- Imagine a path and place items to be remembered along the path. For instance, if you need to remember the order of battles fought during a war, identify the battles along an imaginary path. It might be easier than trying to learn a list.

In order to memorize, you will need to have a clear mind, with no distractions taking place around you. Then concentrate on the material you want to learn.  You may need to review the material over and over until you have learned it through these memory techniques.

"Research shows people can remember 25 to 50 percent more simply by intending to remember," states Debbie Nelson, Human Resources Management Trainer at Indiana University. "It's a matter of focusing on remembering. There's no such thing as a bad memory-- only an untrained memory." According to recent studies, most people use only 3 percent of their brain.

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