In terms of improving memory, most of us prioritize the input of new information. However, it’s equally important to understand how to forget less information. In other words, retention and acquisition go hand-in-hand.
The process of forgetting is best understood through the Forgetting Curve, which illustrates the relationship between time and how well our brains store information.
As you can see, the information you learn disappears exponentially after initial input. You can generally expect to forget 90% of what you learn within one month if you don’t make the effort to remember.
Your brain may be wired to forget a lot of information, but luckily there’s a way to combat that tendency. Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneer in the field of memory science, discovered that our rate of memory decline falls each time we reinforce the information that we previously learned. He called this the spacing effect.
You can use the spacing effect to your advantage by using spaced repetition to memorize information. Instead of absorbing a large amount of information at once and trying to hang onto it, spaced repetition entails breaking that information into small chunks and reinforcing it consistently over an extended period of time.
Not only has the spaced repetition method been proven to combat the forgetting curve, but it makes the task of memorization less intimidating by breaking down the seemingly impossible task of memorization into manageable chunks.
Suppose you’ve been studying for a lengthy exam in a dorm room or apartment. You’ve implemented all the right memorization techniques, you’re well-rested, well-fed and so on. But when you sit down at your desk in the classroom, you blank out.
Chances are you’ve fallen victim to context-dependent forgetting.
Research suggests that we’re prone to reduced memory performance when we attempt to recall information in a different environment from which it was encoded. However, you can reduce the effect of context-dependent forgetting with the context recall technique.
With this strategy, you encode information in the same environment (a classroom) in which you’ll be asked to recall the information at a later date. You might even wear the same outfit or drink from the same water bottle.
The context recall technique leverages state-dependent learning: the idea that we remember information more easily when our physiological states during encoding and recall are the same.
State-of-the-art terms like biohacking might grab your attention when you’re searching for ways to improve your memory, but sometimes the most effective strategies are as old school as you can get.
According to a study by psychologists Pam Mueller of Princeton and Daniel Oppenheimer of UCLA, writing notes by hand instead of typing them on a computer yields better memory retention and a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
The researchers asked a group of college students to listen to a lecture — some transcribed it on their laptops while others took a longhand approach. After the students had a week to review the material, those who took notes by hand performed significantly better than the typists in both factual recall and higher-order conceptual learning.
According to the APS, “…there is something about typing that leads to mindless processing. And there is something about ink and paper that prompts students to go beyond merely hearing and recording new information.”
With more than half of students using laptops during class time, swapping your machine for a notepad may be the easiest and cheapest way to get a leg up on your peers.
If you thought binging on french fries and ice cream only had physical consequences, think again. When it comes to boosting your memory, the food and drinks you put into your body crucial. In fact, they’re almost as important as the information you put into your brain. Here are a couple of science-backed tips for fueling your memory (literally.)
While many people use caffeine to help them wake up earlier or stay up later, caffeine’s memory-boosting benefits go beyond keeping you up for an all-nighter.
In fact, a recent study found that ingesting caffeine prior to creating new memories had little-to-no effect on people’s ability to retain them. However, when subjects took a 200-milligram caffeine pill (roughly two cups of coffee) after being asked to memorize a series of pictures, their memory recalls improved over a 24-hour period.
This might seem confusing: how could drinking a coffee after studying be more beneficial than keeping you awake beforehand? As we noted earlier, memories are quite fragile when your brain first records them, so if you’re able to stay alert in the hours after taking information in as opposed to crashing immediately, that memory has a better chance of surviving.
About 60% of the human brain is made of fat, half of which is the omega-3 variety that we rely on to build brain cells and process information. Harvard Medical School points out that “if saturated and trans fats are the food villains, then mono- and polyunsaturated fats may be the heroes in the dietary battle to preserve memory.”
If you want to optimize your diet to include brain-boosting omega-3s, here are a few options to consider:
Nuts (almonds and peanuts)
Baked or broiled fish (not fish sticks)
Olive oil
Avocados
Keep in mind that not all fats are the same. Don’t confuse omega-3s with saturated or trans fats that are present in fried foods and red meat.
If you scope out a university library in the middle of the night, you’re likely to find several zombie-like students trying to cram as much information into their brains as humanly possible. (Maybe you’ve even been that person).
While this might produce a short-term miracle for some, it’s far from being a sustainable strategy. Instead, you’ll want to give your mind ample time to rest in order to optimize your memory.
Think of memorization like physical exercise. You break down muscle tissue for an hour or so, then spend the next day or two recovering to come back stronger. The activity-to-rest ratios for memorization are different, but the principle remains the same.
It sounds counterintuitive, but your body is insanely productive when it sleeps. Whether it’s building muscle or retaining memories, the real magic happens while you lie motionless in bed. It’s tempting to forego sleep to “learn” more information, but sacrificing recovery time can cause all of that hard work to go to waste.
Research from the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School suggests that memories undergo a critical process called consolidation that can only occur during deep sleep. During the consolidation period, the neural connections and brainwaves that aid in the formation of memories become stronger and more active.
The debate over how much sleep humans need continues to rage, but Max Hirshkowitz, chair of the National Sleep Foundation Scientific Advisory Council, suggests that people ages 18-25 should get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night.
Needless to say, all-nighters aren’t your best bet for a sustainable memory. Adequate sleep is like a charger for your phone. It doesn’t matter how many cool apps you download or pictures you take during the day. If you don’t plug it in, it will crash when you need it most.
Another counterintuitive approach to improving your memory is practicing mindfulness meditation, which is generally used to slow the mind down.
While this is true to some degree, a group of researchers at Harvard Medical School note that people who meditate gain more control over alpha rhythm — a brainwave responsible for processing information.
During the course of a 12-week study, the researchers discovered noticeable changes in participants’ brain function. These included a superior ability to remember and incorporate new facts compared to the control group.
Though meditation is relaxing, it also functions as a workout for your hippocampus and frontal brain lobe. Both of these play key roles in long- and short-term memory recall. During these periods of relaxation, your information storage mechanisms multiply, enabling the mind to store new memories.
A separate study found that meditators improved their recall after eight weeks of mindfulness meditation and improved their standardized test scores after just two weeks. That’s quite the payoff for setting aside a few minutes each day to sit in silence.
Reference: { https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-improve-memory/ }
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