How to Memorize Anything (6 page)

Strong associations with prior knowledge, clear, vivid, imagery followed by a periodic revision plan are the key steps for retaining any information for longer duration.

3.
RECOLLECTION:
The ability to recollect and use stored information when required is called recollection. Indeed, every action or words we speak are the result of recollection or retrieval of our memories. This process will also yield better results only if the registration and storage of data has been done in an organized and systematic manner. The state of mind at the time of recollection is also a key factor in the process of retrieval.

T
HE
S
TORY OF
E
VERY
M
OTHER

Sheelu is very upset. In spite of working hard with her son, Aditya didn’t perform well in his Science exam. She had helped him revise all the question–answers, a night before, was very much sure of him doing well in the exam, but she was astonished when he told her that he had forgotten the answers while writing the exam, though after coming back home he was able to tell the right answers. She couldn’t understand why this always happened with him.

As a parent or a student, almost all of us have faced such a situation of helplessness. If we carefully analyze the situation, the problem is not of forgetting, but is of not being able to recollect at the right time, i.e. while taking the exam. Had it been the problem of forgetfulness, how could he recall after the exam? That proves that the answer was there in his memory but he could not recall it at the time of exam when it was most required. Now why did that happen? Because his state of mind at home and the state of mind while giving the exam were not same.

So memory is not just a function of the brain, it is very well guided by the faculty of the MIND,
the creator of thoughts.
By conscious efforts, we can have a better control over our state of mind, thereby resulting in better recollection.

This shows us that all the three stages of memory are equally important. Inefficiency in any of the stages may lead to poor results/memory.

TYPES OF MEMORY

A. ON THE BASIS OF RETENTION PERIOD:

Based on the retention time, Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin developed a multi-store model of memory in 1968, where they categorized memory in 3 types:

1. SENSORY MEMORY
   
2. SHORT–TERM MEMORY
   
3. LONG–TERM MEMORY
   

1. Sensory memory: I
t is a fleeting type of memory, which works as long as your senses are experiencing a thing. For example: you are looking out of your window watching vehicles passing by, birds flying in the sky, etc. The moment you turn to start doing some work, you will not be able to remember anything unless you have filed any particular information into your short term memory. Whether it is the feel of an object, the smell or sensation of anything, it is all there in the sensory memory for a very brief period while your sense is active.

2. Short-term memory (STM)
: It holds a small amount of information, typically around seven items or even less for a short period of time, from 10 to 15 seconds, or sometimes up to few minutes. You could probably remember the names of seven people, but once there were more names you would start to forget. We often use this as a tool to remember phone numbers for just long enough to dial them or to remember the direction to an unfamiliar destination. STM helps you recall for as long as you keep thinking about it actively.

Short-term memory is transient and easily interrupted. Therefore, concentration is an important ingredient for keeping things in mind.

For example,
you look up a phone number from your address book, and just as you are about to dial the number, you hear someone coming in through the front door. It is likely that you will have to look up the number again. This is because your active memory has been interrupted and you have momentarily lost concentration.

3. Long-term memory (LTM)
: It lasts from months to years. The data from short-term memory can be transferred to long-term memory by continuous usage and repetition. For example, frequently called phone numbers are remembered because you have used or repeated that number many times. LTM is like a huge hard disk of a giant computer where unlimited information can be stored for a lifetime.

Certain incidents in our life are naturally remembered for a long time. Such events can be negative or positive.
For example,
if we have participated in a school or college competition and won, this memory will almost remain forever. Similarly, if we had a life threatening accident and hardly managed to survive, this event is also almost impossible to forget.

B. ON THE BASIS OF WAY OF INPUT OF INFORMATION:

1. Auditory:
   When we remember lectures, dialogues or stories we have
   heard
   , it becomes an auditory memory.
   
2. Visual:
   When we remember events which we have
   seen
   , it becomes a visual memory.
   
3. Kinesthetic:
   The information which is stored in the nerves and muscles and has a movement attached to it is known as kinesthetic memory. While driving a car we change the gears and apply breaks without looking down due to kinesthetic memory. The same is true for eating, walking, dancing, swimming, playing piano, etc.
   

C. ON THE BASIS OF TYPE OF INFORMATION:

As a child, I was very fond of watching movies. I remember in one of the movies the actor met with an accident and was taken to hospital with serious head injuries. After getting treatment when the actor regained consciousness, the doctor asked him his name and how it all had happened. He answered that he could not recall anything, not even his name, profession, family, nothing. He happened to lose his memory. But the next day, in the movie, he was reading a newspaper. I wondered when he had lost his memory, how could he remember the language he was speaking and how it was possible for him to read a newspaper?

Later when I studied about the human brain, I learnt that our brain have separate parts to deal with information that comes from different senses or different periods or have different levels of importance. A business appointment, the way to a friend’s house, or your mother’s birthday will all be stored in different parts of the memory.

Based on the kind of information, memory can be categorized as:

1. Semantic memory
   : This is concerned with the storage of factual knowledge like Canberra is the capital of Australia or like paper is made from wood, etc.
   
2. Episodic memory
   : This is a personal memory for episodes and events; like where I was last night, our last summer vacations, my graduation day at college, etc.
   
3. Procedural memory
   : This is concerned with learned actions and skills, like swimming, dining, stopping automatically on seeing red traffic light etc.
   

After learning this, I got to understand that mostly in accidents
, episodic memory is lost, i.e. their personal memory is lost.
That’s why they are able to remember all other things, forgetting the people and events related to their personal life.

T
HE
B
RAIN AND
M
EMORY

Information can be verbal, visual, tactile, olfactory, or emotional. Different kind of information are received, processed, and stored in different locations:

• Most of our memories are stored in the cortex (the outer part) of the brain.
  
• The left side of the brain is involved more in verbal memory and the right side more in visual memory.
  
• Short-term memory processing takes place in the frontal lobe.
  
• The process of recording new memories takes place in the temporal lobes.
  
• Visual information enters the brain through our eyes and is processed at the back of the brain, in a place called the occipital lobe.
  
• Auditory information comes in through the ears and is processed by the temporal lobes.
  
• Spatial information is also processed in the parietal lobe, the top part of the brain.
  
• There are also special areas that are involved in language, processing emotional memory, and forming habits.
  

In the next chapter, we will learn how information should be fed into the brain so that we can harness its maximum potential. It’s just like learning to arrange various things in the almirah so as to utilize the available space in the best possible manner.

2

ATTENTION—A KEY TO MEMORY

Do you remember the day you bought your first car?

Or met your life partner for the first time?

Or won a medal in school?

Well, I am sure you remember that special day in complete detail. Isn’t it surprising that without any knowledge of memory techniques, you are able to remember an event that happened years ago whereas if I ask you about the clothes you wore last Monday, your mind will go blank? Well, there are many situational and natural factors that affect our efficiency of remembering things.

Memory has two principal components to it:
Recording and Recalling
. When new information is safely ‘embedded’ in the brain, we say it has been
‘recorded’
. The recorded information needs to be
‘recalled’
to say that we have ‘memorized’ that information. Stored information that cannot be recalled is like things thrown into a bottomless pit—it is there, but one doesn’t know where.