Improve your memory
How your memory works
Short-term memory: focuses on what is happening now; the mind
filters out what's irrelevant.
Mid-term memory: the mind stores information that's bizarre,
unusual, shocking, important, interesting and that's relevant to
you in some way.
When doing any routine action, when you're doing it
automatically, like being on auto-pilot, let's say while you are
driving, if something unusual happens then you'll remember it
for a while - e.g. a deer running across the road. Other
mid-term memory events could be key scenes in a movie, or
someone being exceptionally kind or horrible when it's not
expected.
While reading this article, you may not find all of what your
reading interesting but you'll remember the parts that you find
of value to you, or that challenge you, or that you disagree
with.
Long-term memory: applies to actions you repeat on a regular
basis, like driving, or riding a bike, how to tell the time, how
to tie your shoelaces; you may have noticed how difficult it can
be to a child to tie their laces for the first time and how
easily and unconsciously you can do it now, without even a
conscious thought.
Memory is created by repetition or if something is important to
you.
I'm going to tell you a story about a lady called Karen, while
I'm telling it see if you can work out which parts of the story
are related to her short, mid or long-term memory:
Karen was on her way to an interview. It's a route she knows
well since she used to work near this place a few years back. On
the way she saw a shop window all smashed up, lots of police and
the sound of sirens screeching in the background. She started to
hurry past the scene, she felt uncomfortable, a bit shaken,
she'd never seen anything like that before; looks like there'd
been a robbery, maybe someone had got hurt, she shivered inside
as she scurried past. When she arrived at the building for the
interview, Karen was shown down a flight of stairs, along a very
long corridor, filled with some really beautiful and unusual
works of art; at the end of the corridor, in a small office, she
was introduced to Miss Loretta Higgins, who took her through to
the interview room and the interviewer.
>From Karen's story, which parts are short-term, mid-term or
long-term memory?
Do you have a good or bad memory?
We brain-wash ourselves by telling ourselves things like: "I
have an awful memory" or "I have a selective memory". Your brain
is like a sponge, it picks up millions of pieces of information
all the time all around us. When we believe we can't remember
often we are blocking parts of our memory, either because we've
brainwashed ourselves into believing we don't remember or it
doesn't serve us to remember something at that moment in time,
especially if it's a painful memory.
We also say to people: "Don't forget", and because the brain
doesn't process negatives we hear the word 'forget'. What you
could say is: "Please remember..."
Let me ask you a question: when you come home do you always put
your keys in a specific place? So you always know exactly where
they are, right? And what happens when you put them in a
different place, just that once? Just like your memories, you
haven't actually lost your keys or your memories, you simply
can't find them because they're not where you expect them to be
- so you say to yourself "I've lost my keys, I can't find them."
And we say the same about our memory, we brain wash ourselves
about our memory telling ourselves again and again what we can
or can't remember. Eventually, you do find the keys and often we
do recall many memories we think we've forgotten, sometimes only
moments later.
How memories are triggered
Our memory can be triggered in a number of ways using our 5 key
senses: - Visual association: where a picture reminds you of
something; e.g. a photo of the sea and sand may remind you of a
holiday. - Kinaesthetic association: where a feeling reminds you
of something; when someone tells a good joke and you start
laughing, it often sparks of other jokes and more laughter. -
Auditory association: where a sound brings back a memory, like a
song that's associated with a particular event or situation. -
Olfactory association: where a smell brings back a memory, a
lady's perfume - Gustatory association: where a taste brings
back a memory; your eating a delicious chocolate brownie with
hot fudge sauce and it reminds you of your last holiday to the
USA!
Everybody's memory is absolutely perfect!
You remember your home phone number because you've said it so
many times, you may not remember your mobile number because you
don't need to tell it to people, as soon as you ring them on
their mobile your number shows up and they save it! Therefore,
you don't need to remember it, so you don't!
Why are there things we don't remember? Because we tell
ourselves that we don't remember things. And our minds are like
perfect servants, whatever we tell it over and over again, it
follows our instructions.
If I were to ask you for the phone number of the previous home
you lived in, what's the 1st thing you tell yourself? "I can't
remember." So you won't remember; we do this repeatedly with
many things that we want to remember and then we tell ourselves
- I have a really bad memory, so you do! It becomes a
self-fulfilling prophecy.
What could you say differently to yourself so that you give
yourself the possibility of recalling that information? "I know
I know it because I used to say it so many times, I'm sure it'll
come back to me shortly." And maybe it will, or maybe it won't -
at least you're leaving the door to the possibility of
remembering it open rather than closing it without a 2nd chance.
There are four steps to learning and remembering:
Step 1: unconsciously unskilled Step 2: consciously unskilled
Step 3: consciously skilled Step 4: unconsciously skilled
If you have ever learnt to drive then this example will
demonstrate the above concept: at first we don't know that we
don't know how to drive; then we realise how much we don't know;
then we know how to drive and need to think through each step
consciously and carefully; and finally, we drive without
thinking about it, unconsciously.
There are things that we do, that we know and that we remember
automatically because we've repeated them so often, like
brushing our teeth, knowing which drawer in which cupboard to
find our clothes, routes that we take regularly, etc.
What knowledge or memories are so ingrained in your mind, that
you know and remember them automatically, easily and
effortlessly?
Remember - to help your memory: Change your belief and the words
you say to yourself. "I know that I know it, I'm sure I'll
remember in a short while." - keep the possibility open. And you
can say "Please remember.." instead of the term 'Don't forget..."