You probably can remember your date of birth, the first primary school teacher’s name or the day you met your dream girl or prince charming. However, you may not remember what you had for breakfast yesterday. On the other hand, your memory gets weak as you age. These are a few mysteries of memory. Psychologists have paid close attention to them and they have come up with some tips to improve your memory.
Let’s start with a small test. Stop reading this article for a few moments and look around the place wherever you happen to be. Quite surprisingly your brain will register everything you see and every little sound you hear. All the information will be registered in your sensory memory, but you will forget everything in a day or two. There are ways to remember such fleeting memories.
One method is to pay more attention to what you wish to remember. Then the information will pass on to your working or short term memory. If you are a student, you can try this in the classroom. Pay close attention to what the teacher says and you will remember the information. In practice, however, most students take down notes without paying attention to the subject matter. As a result, they will forget everything when they leave the classroom.
Semantic memory
Short term memory does not help if you are preparing for an examination. You keep on attending classes long before the examination. Therefore, what you need is the services of your long-term memory. If you store some information in the long-term memory, you will recall it at any time in the future. According to psychologists, there are three types of long-term memory. When you are struggling to remember the name of the last king of Sri Lanka, you are grappling with your semantic memory.
It is quite amazing that you are able to retrieve specific information from the vast store of your semantic memory. One key organisational tool that allows you to recall information from your semantic memory is the association that you build between different pieces of information. In fact, your knowledge about any subject is stored in your semantic networks. Sometimes you will be surprised to learn how speakers and lecturers remember names, dates and events accurately.
You also have an episodic memory which involves events or scenes from your life. For instance, you never forget certain exhilarating events such as your first kiss or the first day of your employment. They always stick around until the end of your life. Similarly, you also remember very unpleasant events although you do not wish to keep them in your memory. Although some people tend to forget certain events in their old age, they will remember specific experiences in their lives. Even episodic memories can decline when you are not motivated to remember them.
I will never forget the day I learned how to ride a bicycle with the help of a friend of mine. Even after many decades I can still ride a bicycle thanks to my procedural memory or what is popularly known as muscle memory. When you ride a bicycle or drive a vehicle, you learn acquired habits or motor skills. You would never forget such motor skills because muscle memory is stored throughout the brain. Even Alzheimer’s patients retain their basic motor skills.
Loss of car keys
In the examination hall, you try to recall some fact that stubbornly eludes you. Some people forget where they kept their car keys. Sometimes we find it difficult to locate a particular book or a set of notes when we really need them. Many of us have faced such situations and do not know how to deal with such situations. Psychological help is at hand. If you have lost or misplaced your car keys, do not panic. Close your eyes and try to remember that last time you used the keys. Did you attend a function such as a board meeting or a funeral? Were you travelling alone or with someone else? What were you wearing? How was the weather on that day? When you try to answer such questions you will invariably go back in your mind and remember what you did on that day.
You are also likely to remember where you left your car keys. Try this method and you will reap good results. If you still feel clueless, imagine watching yourself entering someone’s house. Did you have the keys in your hand at the time? Did you linger on the doorstep? Answers to such questions would reveal where you left your car keys.
All your memories remain in your brain, but you should know how to hunt for them. Adopt a flexible attitude for this purpose. If you stay rigid, you will gain nothing. Replay the events backwards and forwards until you find a clue that leads to the recovery of the car keys. Your brain has remarkable abilities to go backwards and forwards. When you revisit your memories, you are very likely to find the answer. This kind of mental exercise cannot be done in a hurry. You need loads of patience. Sometimes, you may have to spend a few hours. Wait patiently until your memory finds the answer.
You also have a kind of flashback memories. For instance, some people can vividly remember the day terrorists bombed the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. There are others who still remember the dates when Diana was killed in a car crash or the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre. There are also personal events such as an accident or the day you were bitten by a vicious dog.
At the same time, remember that your memory is not infallible. What you recollect may not be accurate. This happens due to many reasons. For instance, we perceive events differently.
Try to recall the last wedding reception you attended. Where were you seated? What kind of food did you eat? Did you get drunk after a couple of drinks? Some of these events you will remember vividly, but not others. Sometimes, you listen to a lecture delivered by a leading politician. When you return home, you cannot remember anything he had said. Maybe you were not listening to him paying attention. Or you had no regard for the speaker.
Rock inscriptions
Memories are not like rock inscriptions. They undergo various changes. This may be one reason that you cannot recall certain information from your memory. One day, my eldest daughter pointed to a particular photograph of a baby and asked me who it was. She had forgotten that it was her own photograph taken when she was a baby.
All our memories do not stick forever. Some memories die away and others stick. If you really want to store something in your memory permanently, pay extra attention to it. Unless you seize information by focussing on it, it may slip past you instantly. It so happens that we do not remember the name of a person who was introduced to us some time ago. This happens when we do not pay enough attention to somebody’s name. One day when I was introduced to a foreigner, he repeated my name loud. That is another way to remember the name of someone introduced to you.
Students have to remember a mass of information when they prepare for an examination. If they want to remember the information, they have to practise and repeat it. Therefore, it is a good habit to discuss the notes with others. When you do so, you remember the information quite easily.
Robert Logie, Professor of Human Cognitive Neuroscience at Edinburgh University, Scotland says, “Thieves are more likely to remember the details of a stranger’s house. They will particularly see whether there is an alarm or a ‘Beware of the dog’ sign.” This goes to prove that if you take time to practise something, your memory will improve in that particular area of expertise.
