Techniques to Increase Your Memory : Short Term Memory

Article by Christian Wallace

Have you ever been put in a situation when someone vaguely familiar comes up to you to say hello and you can’t recall the person’s name or your association with him even if your life depended on it? Have you been introduced to someone minutes ago then moments later you can’t recall the person’s name? Can you recite your social security number now? Don’t you wish your mind is like a computer wherein the addition of more memory chips would boost its capacity?

In a nutshell memory is the mental process of recalling information and events that you have learned and experienced. However, the process of storing and recalling information is not that easy. The mechanism of the brain is complex and up to now new discoveries are made about the functions and abilities of the brain.

Short term and Long term Memory

There are two kinds of memory: short term memory and long term memory. Short term memory deals with the ability of the mind to store information for a few seconds or a few minutes. This is the span of time that it takes for you to dial a phone number that you have just looked up or to look at a list of items that you need to buy. Short term memory was meant to be for if you remember every single phone number that you have dialed or remembered all the prices of goods that you saw in stores or remembered every single dish that you have cooked or retained the exact texts of the books that you have read, your brain would have been “full”. The human brain was meant to hold from 5 to 9 items in its short term memory. This is why you can easily remember a phone number for a few seconds to minutes and this is why you would have a hard time remembering a 12 to 16-digit account number.

Long term memory entails information that you made a conscious or unconscious effort to retain because it’s important and meaningful to you (facts about family and friends); you need it (materials and procedures for school or work); or it made an emotional impact. There are three types of long term memory – episodic, which are personal memories; semantic, which are facts not limited to time and place and procedural memory which involves routines like driving, playing a musical instrument, riding a bike and any other activity that don’t require conscious effort to recall.

Three Stages of Forming Memory

Acquisition is when new information goes in the brain. The key in retaining this new information is for you to concentrate on the new information. If you don’t pay attention the new information will just goes in one ear and out the other.

Consolidation is when you’ve concentrated enough for the new information to be encoded in your brain the hippocampus will send the necessary signal for the brain to store the encoded information to long-term memory.

Retrieval happens when you need to recall the memory. Your brain will activate the same nerve cell path used in storing the data. The more you retrieve the information the more it would be easier for you to recall it. Think of memorizing a song. The more times you sing it the easier it is for you to recall the lyrics each time.

Techniques on improving memory

Barring injury, disorder or disease, you can improve your ability to retain and recall memory. The more you “work-out” your brain, the better are your chances of improving your retention and recall. There are brain exercises that you can do to improve memory. One example is brushing your teeth using your non-dominant hand or getting dressed with your eyes closed. There are online sites that have details on brain exercise.

There are mnemonic techniques that you can use to improve memory. Mnemonics are clues to help you remember things with the use of association by visuals, words, or a sentence. For example, you can associate a flower to person with the name Daisy or Rosie. Remember Every Good Boy Does Fun – EGBDF ? These are the keys of the lines in a music staff. What about remembering how many days are there for each month of the year? “Thirty days hath September, April, June and November…” Until now there are still a lot of persons who recite this poem to remember the number of days per month. With this type of memory technique has no limitations as you can make up as much visual or word association you want in. The downside is, you might have to recite each made-up mnemonics every time you need to recall.

Chunking is one way remembering figures and words. The items that need to be memorized are approached in small divided parts. For example the figure 356295389 is better memorized when divided as 356 -295 -389 or 25- 62- 95 -389. A list of names like Rose, Sharon, Maybelle, Rebecca, Rita and Sylvia can be arranged as 3R, 2S and an M to better facilitate memorizing it. However, chunking might be limiting as the brain’s Short-term memory can only take in 5 to 9 new items.

Meditation is another way of improving your memory. Empty your mind of all trash. As your grow in meditation you will have an increased perception of things all around you. Your senses will be heightened as stress is eliminated. A relaxed mind will have the ability to easily absorb new thoughts and ideas thereby improving memory. The downside is you need to learn how to meditate first.

Eat nutritious food and take vitamins B 1-6-12, E, C and folic acid to protect neurons and fight free radicals. Sleep well and exercise.

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