Has your memory been letting you down more often lately? Follow a few simple but unexpected rules to strengthen it, and you should see results soon, says psychology and neuroscience researcher Elva Arulchelvan of Trinity College Dublin.
How does memory work, and what can we do to use it more effectively? Luckily, decades of research provide clear answers to both questions, Arulchelvan says.
Memory works in three stages:
- lasts only a few milliseconds, registering raw information such as visual images, sounds, and smells.
- Working (short-term) memory holds and processes a small amount of information for a few seconds or longer.
- Long-term memory stores information more stably, from minutes to a lifetime. That storage includes both explicit memories (facts and events) and implicit memories (skills, habits, and emotional associations).
Different brain regions are involved in each of these stages, reports Science Alert.
Working memory often serves as the access channel to , but it has limits. In 1956 American psychologist George Miller suggested that we can hold only about seven “chunks” of information in working memory at once. Not all scientists agree with that exact number. Limitations of working memory affect how effectively we learn and remember information.
Here are five simple steps to improve both working memory and long-term memory.
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Put your phone out of sight
reduce working memory capacity. Even the mere presence of a phone nearby lowers performance on tasks that require remembering and logical thinking.
Even resisting the urge to check messages uses mental resources. That’s why researchers sometimes call smartphones a “brain drain.”
So if you need to concentrate, put your phone in another room. When the phone is out of sight, it frees up mental resources.
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Stop intrusive thoughts
can take up valuable mental space. When you worry or get distracted by intrusive thoughts, part of your working memory is already occupied.
Relaxation and meditation training benefit working memory and overall performance by reducing stress. If meditation feels difficult, try breathing techniques such as cyclic sighing.
Inhale deeply through your nose, hold your breath for a second, then slowly exhale through your mouth. Repeat this exercise for five minutes to calm your nervous system and prepare to take in information.
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Chunk information into manageable parts
You can expand working memory by grouping information into meaningful chunks. You already do this when you remember phone numbers or lists of words — breaking long sequences into smaller pieces makes them easier for the brain to recall.
The same principle helps during a presentation, making it easier for an audience to remember key points. The “grouping” method means combining, for example, ten case studies into three or four themes. Give each theme a short headline and one key takeaway.
Organizing information into meaningful patterns reduces cognitive load and improves recall.
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Use cues to pull information from memory
In the 19th century German psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus showed how quickly we forget after learning: within 30 minutes we lose about half of newly learned material, and we lose even more by the next day. Ebbinghaus called this the forgetting curve, The Conversation reported.
There is, however, a way to learn lots of material more deeply in a short time: practice retrieving information from memory.
“When preparing for a talk or exam, instead of rereading your notes, repeatedly test how well you remember the material. Use flashcards, answer questions, or try to explain the material out loud without notes,” Arulchelvan says.
Memory works by association. Each successful retrieval links that material to new examples and contexts, creating more cues to access the information.
When we forget a fact, it usually hasn’t disappeared; we just lack the right cue to retrieve it.
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Give your brain a break
Research shows memory works better when learning or practice sessions are spaced over time. When preparing for an exam, interview, or similar test, leave deliberate breaks and .
Memory is not just raw intelligence; it’s also strategy. Small changes in how you study or work can have a big impact on how well you remember important information.
Photo: Unsplash
