dk books

Publishers of award winning reference

Understand and improve your memory

In order to improve your memory, you first need to understand how it works. Your brain processes all the information gathered by your senses and experiences and creates memories. Most of these are discarded, but the important perceptions, facts and skills are stored; enabling you to think, learn and be more creative.

It's easy to forget things if memories are not retained by linking them to what you already know or reviewing them several times. Memories are formed by electrical signals making connections between nerve cells so that they form a network. It's possible to improve your memory using special techniques that strengthen this network, making it easier to recall things that would otherwise be difficult to remember.

Top tips to improve your memory:

Pay attention

Memory is made up of three sections – sensory, short-term and long-term. All the data gathered from your senses enters the sensory memory – from here any information that's ignored is thrown out, whilst information that you pay attention to passes on into the short-term memory. You can't remember something that you never even knew, so if you don't pay attention, information will never enter your short-term memory. If you want to improve your memory and take in information, it is vital to concentrate and not allow yourself to be distracted.

Chunking

Some of the things you try to memorise mean nothing to you - they may be isolated facts or strings of numbers. Short-term memory has a limit of about five items, so dividing up long sequences of data into more easily remembered "chunks" helps you to remember them. This is the way that most people remember telephone numbers.

Make associations

Making links between objects – called association – can help improve your memory. You can make associations that match numbers to pictures, organise words into groups or link a person with an image so that you never forget a name – anything that makes it easier for you to remember. One way to memorise a list is to visualise a journey that you often take. Link each landmark on the journey with an item on your list – the stranger the result, the easier it is to remember! Then go through the journey in your head to remember the items.

Mnemonics

Another trick for remembering a set of words is to use their first letters to make up a sentence or mnemonic. For example, "map vipers eat many jungle snacks using nails" gives you the sequence of the planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. It's a ridiculous sentence, but these are sometimes the most memorable.