Improve Your Memory – Learn Faster, Retain more, and Unlock Your Brain’s Potential – 17 Scientifically Proven Memory Techniques for Better Daily Living

by Peter Hollins

Improve Your Memory is a book that sheds light onto exactly how memory works, what it likes, and how to take advantage of it.

How Memory Works

memory is our ability to process the external world and turn our experiences into information that is filed away for later use.

Memory allows us to learn from previous experiences and prevent us from making the same mistakes, and it also records our daily lives for analysis and examination.

memory is but activity between specific neurons in the brain.

If memory is a storage system that exists within specific neural pathways, then learning is about changing neural pathways to adapt one’s behavior and thinking to the emergence of new information.

Memory is how we store and retrieve information for use, and there are three steps to creating a memory. An error in any of these steps will result in knowledge that is not effectively converted to memory — a weak memory, or the feeling of, “I can’t remember his name, but he was wearing purple …” Encoding Storage Retrieval

Encoding is the step of processing information through your senses. We

If you are reading a book, you are using your eyes to encode information, but how much attention and focus are you actually using?

The more attention and focus to devote to an activity, the more conscious your encoding becomes — otherwise, it can be said that you subconsciously encode information,

How much focus and attention you devote also determines how strong the memory is, and consequently, whether that memory only makes it to your short-term memory, or if it passes through the gate to your long-term memory.

Storage is the next step after you’ve experienced information with your senses and encoded it. What happens to the information once it passes through your eyes or ears? There are three choices for where this information can go, and they determine whether it’s a memory that you will consciously know exists. There are essentially three memory systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Sensory memory is the first level of memory, and it stores information for only an instant.

This is literally just information about the senses, such as the way the chair feels, the wind from a car that passes you by, or the music playing in the background of an elevator.

Sensory memory is the biggest net in the sense that it catches just about everything about your current experience, but most of it disintegrates immed...

A small portion of information is then transferred from sensory memory to short-term memory. It’s impossible for everything to transfer because it would mean you remember everything about everything

Short-term memory is what we’re most familiar with, and it can retain information for roughly 20 seconds on average.

Think of your short-term memory as an Etch A Sketch pad that is shaken and erased every 20 seconds.

Long-term memory is where a photo is taken of that Post-It.

It is where memories become a real, physical manifestation as a result of neurons making connections. Long-term memory can be split into two main categories: explicit and implicit.

Explicit memories are facts and information, such as the capital of Romania (Bucharest) or the colors of the rainbow (ROY G BIV).

Implicit memories are habits, skills, and even muscle memory, like riding a bike, signing your signature, or brushing your teeth.

This is also called procedural memory — things you can pick up and do or recall after long periods of time as “second nature.”

The last step of the memory process is retrieval

So to recap and provide some structure, here is what the memory process looks like: Encoding Storage Sensory Memory Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Explicit and Declarative Memory Implicit and Procedural Memory Episodic Memory Semantic Memory Retrieval

All About Forgetting

we just want to get better at not forgetting.

There are generally three different ways you retrieve, or access your memories: Recall Recognition Relearning

Recall is when you remember a memory without external cues.

Recognition is when you can conjure up your memory in the presence of an external cue.

Relearning is undoubtedly the weakest form of recall. It occurs when you are relearning or reviewing information and it takes you less effort each subsequent time.

Forgetting is actually a blanket term for many errors related to memory, such as memory decay, failure to retrieve, poor encoding, motivated forgetting, retrieval interference, and brain injury.

Memory Decay

Memory decay is the simple, yet sad fact that memories, even long-term ones, will fade with time.

Typically, the rate at which memory decays follows a very specific pattern known as the forgetting curve, discovered and studied by Hermann Ebbinghaus.

Failure to Retrieve

This manner of forgetting is when there is a failure to retrieve because there is an absence of clues or hints.

The failure to retrieve means that memories are frequently tied into our environment, people, or even sensory experiences, and memory is rarely stored as a fact by itself.

Poor Encoding

Recall that encoding is when you experience information or stimulation. An example of poor encoding would be reading while you are simultaneously watching television, or listening to a lecture while shopping on your laptop.

You aren’t really paying attention enough for your brain to encode the information. Essentially, it means the information hasn’t quite entered your brain because your attention was split, or just not focused on the information itself.

You can also think of this as simple absentmindedness. You failed to pay attention, so there is nothing encoded for you to remember or recall.

Motivated Forgetting

Some people might want to overlook this aspect of forgetting, but it is worth a mention, at the very least.

Motivated forgetting is essentially the concept of memory repression.

It’s when the subconscious acts to protect itself from traumatic events and pushes unpleasant memories into the dark recesses of the mind.

Motivated forgetting is a defense mechanism that isn’t truly forgetting — it’s building a mental wall around something that is unpleasant to think about.

Retrieval Interference

According to retrieval interference, people forget because of interference from other learned information.

Memory is a fierce battleground where things are purged every day in favor of something else significant or rehearsed, whether intentional or not.