Improving Our Memories

            There are some exceptional people who have extremely good memories.  Some of them are so good that psychologists decided to study how they remember things so well in the hope of helping those of us who have not been blessed in the same way. 

            In short-term memory, we are able to maximize its limited space by putting information together.  As we are better able to do this, we are able to take in more information for quick and immediate recall.  This phenomenon is called “chunking.”  We often use previous experiences to “chunk” bits information into one unit, enabling us to put in more information in the limited space available. 

            Mnemonic devices are the strategies that have been identified as strategies that can aid people develop better long-term memories.  It is a way of making sense of the new information that would enable us to store information effectively, so that we are able to recall them quicker and more efficiently.  Some of these mnemonic devices are as follows: 

-   Acronyms – using the first letters of a string of words as a cue to remember the ordered set of words (e.g., ROY G. BIV are the colors of the rainbow in order). 

-   Categorical clustering – putting all words that go together under one label to condense the information and make them easier to recall. 

-   Interactive Images – Imagining two things that are moving or interacting with each other, something preposterous perhaps, such as, an a house walking away from its place, and connecting them to the concepts that need to be remembered.

-   Method of Loci – Going through a familiar place in your mind (e.g, the way to your room from the entrance of your house) and associating objects that you come across along the way with steps that you need to remember. 

            Apart from mnemonic devices, being able to rehearse the same set of information over and over again and in different contexts can help one master the knowledge well.  It is important to give various kinds of meaning to the same set of information to ensure that it will be remembered across different kinds of contexts. 

            Good restful sleep is also thought to be an important factor in ensuring that what one has learned will be integrated into one’s memory for a long time.  This is probably one of the reasons why cramming will only get one so far.  Cramming is often done in a heightened state, usually in the brink of anxious fear that one has not yet finished what one needs to cover for an exam.  As such, it works only in the short term.  After the exam, most people who cram will tend to forget most of what was studied. 

            In the end, there is no substitute for repeated practice and making meaning of what one wants to remember.  Even if the meaning placed on what on is making sure to remember is rather personal, it will still be remembered well.  After all, the only things that are absolutely real to us are our personal experiences.   We need to rely on prior knowledge so that we are better able to integrate new information learned.  The more organized the information we have, the better they will also be remembered.