Human Memory [ An Introduction ]
" Memory is the cabinet
of imagination, the treasury of reason,
the registry of conscience and
council chamber of thought ”
I keep in mind my mother's vegetable backyard
when I was a kid, callus plants tall like skyscrapers. I remember whilst I knocked
down of a tree and everybody from the neighbor's grill hurried over to observe
if I'd wrecked a bone. memorize, memorize... the verb itself is elegiac. The idea
of reminiscence is so exciting that we've approach with additional descriptions
for it than for any other cerebral experience.
Early hypothesis envisage a memory
"engram," a truthful manuscript written by the body to explain long-ago
experiences. Freud popularized descriptions of reserved memoirs, experiences actually
obscured in the pits of the intuitive. Contemporary descriptions are conquered
by correlation to computers, in which the individual mind is a hard disk that
stores practice in electronic archives and folders. Distinctive of biology, the
fact is at formerly more intricate and extra stunning than any of these metaphors.
How does the brain stock up
information? What type of reminiscence
do people have? How simple is it for you
to memorize certain things? It's thought that humans have two main sort of memory:
short-term and long-term.
Scientists do not yet recognize numerous stuff
about human memory and many of
the thoughts and hypothesis regarding it
are still fairly contentious. The subsequent argument stresses a few of the
more extensively decided upon thoughts.
For instance, most scientists agree that it is very useful to describe
human memory as a set of STORES which are "places" to put
information, plus a set of PROCESSES that that act on the stores.
A very simple representation may include 3
different stores:
- The Sensory Information Store (SIS)
- The Short-Term Store (STS)
- The Long-Term Store (LTS)
and 3 processes
- Encoding (putting information into a store)
- Maintenance (keeping it "alive")
- Retrieval (finding encoded information)
A hypothesis of human memory ought not only
identify a set of procedures and stores, but also be able to help out answer
questions such as how long it will take to recover reachable information and
when information will be forgotten. To do this, the hypothesis must identify specifications
of the processes and stores.
--- in other words, a highest amount of
information that it can clutch at a
certain point in time. If we recognize a store's capability and what
occurs when that facility is surpassed, we will be capable to envisage that
certain information will be
forgotten at specific times.
The majority people consider that their
memories get inferior as they get older. This is true only for people who do not
use their memories properly. Memory is similar to a muscle, the further it is
used, the healthier it gets. The more it is abandoned, the poorer it gets.
Memory works by creating links among
information, fitting details into psychological compositions and frameworks.
The more you are vigorously remembering, the more facts and frameworks you
hold, the more extra facts and ideas will slot easily into long term memory.
Whilst in learning, the majority public
have to utilize their reminiscences intensively - just to keep in mind details
and pass exams. Whilst public leave full time education, they lean to end to utilize
their memory as vigorously, and so it begins to get flabby.
Modern computers program memory as a enormous
range of self-governing, digital bits of information that are "randomly reachable."
Functionally, this means that your computer can carry up your best friend's
phone number without accessing any information regarding what your best friend seem
like or how you convene. The human brain stores memory in a very different way;
recalling your best friend's phone number may very well bring to mind your
friend's face, a pleasant conversation that you had, and the title of the movie
that the two of you are going to see. While computer memories are discrete and informationally
simple, human memories are tangled together and informationally complex.
Our memories are rich because they are
formed through associations. When we experience an event, our brains tie the
sights, smells, sounds, and our own impressions together into a relationship.
That relationship itself is the memory of the event. Unlike computer memories,
a human memory is not a discrete thing that exists at a particular location;
instead, it is an abstract relationship amongst thoughts that arises out of
neural activity spread over the whole brain.
But how is the memory relationship actually
made? The process from both a biological and a behavioral perspective is
critically dependent on reinforcement. Reinforcement can come in the form of
repetition or practice; we remember that two plus two equals four because we've
heard it so many times. Reinforcement can also occur through emotional arousal;
most people remember where they were when they heard that John F. Kennedy was
shot because of the highly emotional content of that event. Arousal is also a
product of attention, so memories can be reinforced independent of context by
paying careful attention and consciously attempting to remember.
Reinforcement is important in forming
memories because it moves the memory relationship from short-lived categories
to longer-lasting ones. For example, if you met a man called John Byrd at a
party, you'd see his face, hear his name, and you'd be aware of the social
context of the event. At first this information is loosely held in immediate
memory, just long enough for the event to play itself out. Immediate memories
are held in various modality-specific regions of the brain, meaning that
immediate visual memory is probably held in visual parts of the brain,
immediate auditory memory in auditory parts of the brain, and so on.
If you paid attention during the
introduction, the relationship between sight, sound, and awareness is brought
together into working memory, somewhere in the prefrontal lobe of the brain.
When the event moves from immediate memory to working memory, certain features
will be lost. You probably won't remember background conversations from the
party, and you may not remember the color of the Mr. Byrd's shoes. The loss of
distracting information is an important feature of human memory, and is
critical for efficient storage and recollection of experiences.
At this point you might rehearse the event
by saying the name to yourself, or by making up a mnemonic (John Byrd, who has
a big hook nose like a bird). The mnemonic and the rehearsal cause the memory
to move from working memory into long-term memory, a change that starts in the
brain's hippocampus. The process of converting working memory into long-term
memory is called consolidation, and again, it is characterized by the loss of
distracting information. Several days after meeting Mr. Byrd you may not be
able to remember what color his tie was or whether he wore a wristwatch, but
you will still remember his face, his name, and the person who introduced you
to him. The consolidation phase of memory formation is sensitive to
interruption; if you are distracted just after meeting Mr. Byrd, you may have
trouble remembering his name later.
So to recap, the event of meeting John Byrd
started out in immediate memory, spread out in various modality-specific
regions of the brain. Reinforcement through attention caused the relationship
between sight, sound, and context to consolidate into working memory in the
prefrontal lobe. Further reinforcement through practice caused more
consolidation, and the most critical relationships in the event (the name, the
face, and the context) were tied together in the hippocampus. From there, the
memory relationship is probably stored diffusely across the cerebral cortex,
but research on the actual location of memory relationships is still
inconclusive.
Why Memory Doesn't Work!
Another reason for memory getting
apparently worse is that outside academia information tends not to be as
clearly structured as it is in education. The clear presentation and organization
of a good lesson or training course provides a structure that is almost a
mnemonic in its own right. Where information drifts in as isolated facts, it
will normally be forgotten simply because it is not actively fitted into a mnemonic.
Again, as people grow up they are trained
out of spontaneous, imaginative behavior: most peoples' jobs depend on them
being predictable and reliable far more than on them being imaginative. An
important feature of memory, though, is the imagination that allows you to
construct the strong mnemonic links between things to be remembered and the
cues for their recall. Of course be reliable, but keep your imagination fresh
at the same time!
So memory in most people does get worse
with age, but only because it is allowed to. By continuing your education
throughout your life, by cultivating your mind and keeping it open to new
experience, by actively fitting facts into clear and flexible frameworks, and
by keeping your imagination working, your memory can get better and better as
you get older.
Doing this not only gives you a better
memory: think how many times you have heard this message in connection with
other self-improvement methods! An important thing to realize is that different
people learn in different ways. The way in which people learn is often a factor
determining the subjects they choose to study, instructors they relate to, and
careers chosen in life.
Memory Stores
Sensory Information Store (SIS)
In the relatively simple model of memory
presented here, sensory information
(from eyes, ears, etc..) enters the Sensory
Information Store (SIS) and is
either ignored or paid attention to. Ignored information doesn't last very
long.
New perceptual information quickly writes over (masks) the old, a
process sometimes described as
"interference." Attended
information is not
only protected from interference, it is
processed by higher-level mechanisms
that figure out what it means. For instance, information in the SIS might
indicate a bright red object somewhere
ahead. Attending to this information
might reveal that there it is a
stop-sign. Once information is processed
in
this way, it can be encoded into the
short-term store (STS).
Short Term Store (STS)
Usually, the STS is described as having a
limited storage capacity (seven,
plus or minus two items) that
"decay" and become inaccessible after a
relatively brief interval (estimates range
from 12 to 30
seconds). In
addition to decay, loss of information from
the STS can occur by interference
when new information displaces older
information. Interference does not
always cause information to be lost, but
may instead produce memory retrieval
errors in which one recalls information
that is similar to but not identical
with that which is needed.
Short-term memory is housed in the
hippocampus. This organ, extending from the midbrain hypothalamus like a
horseshoe, is considered the temporary storage unit for short-term memory and a
vehicle for long-term memory.
While Ebbinghaus studied retention over
long intervals, later experiments studied memory loss over periods of seconds
to minutes. Short term memory was postulated to explain temporary retention of
information as distinct from long term retention of information . Short term
memory acts to also store current sensory information and to rehearse new
information from sensory buffers. It has limited capacity (Miller's 7 plus or
minus 2). The probability of encoding in Long term memory has been directly
related to time in short term memory.
It is now believed that the loss of
information stored in short term memory has the same characteristics as loss of
information stored in long term memory. It happens quicker because it involves
information that is not learned as well. What we call the learning process is
transferring information from short term to long term memory and is a
physiological process.
Information can be maintained in STM for relatively
loon periods using
maintenance rehearsal (MR), a term
describing the act of mentally (sub vocally)
repeating the information to be
maintained. In many cases, the reason
one
wishes to maintain information in the STS
is to allow time for it to be
encoded into the long-term store (LTS), and
thus become more permanently
available.
However, maintenance rehearsal does not appear to be very
efficient way to get the memory into
long-term memory. Another memory
maintenance technique, elaboration
rehearsal (ER) seems to work better.
Long Term Store (LTS)
Long-term memory can store a very large
quantity of information and can
maintain that information for very long
periods of time. It holds many
different kinds of information including:
facts, events, motor and perceptual
skills, knowledge of physical laws, spatial
models of familiar environments,
attitudes and beliefs about ourselves and
others, etc. Many different factors
seem to affect the difficulty of accessing
a memory in the LTS. These factors
include: the similarity between current
conditions and those that existed when
the memory was stored, how recently the
memory was last used, its degree of
inter-relatedness to other knowledge, its
uniqueness relative to other LTS
information, and so on. Much scientific research remains to be done
to
specify the effects of these factors in
detail and to determine the mechanisms
by which they produce their effects.
Along with the amygdala, the hippocampus
also passes on certain memories to the cerebral cortex for long term storage.
The amygdala appears to play a large role in the memory of emotional
experience. Research indicates that long-term memories are not stored in one
specific place, but are stored throughout the brain as associative images. The
best research done to date on this has been by Karl Pribram who believes that
the brain acts as a holographic instrument able to take bits of information and
construct the whole from these fragments of memory.
A simple observation: We often need to
recall information that we learned long ago. How quickly and reliably we recall
it depends on:
Activation: How long since we last used the
information.
Strength: How well we have practiced it.
Experimental
Evidence: (Anderson
Delay
(number of intervening items) Degree
of Study
Less
Study More Study
Short (0-2) 1.11
seconds 1.10 seconds
Long (3 or more) 1.53 seconds 1.38 seconds
Memory Processes
Encoding
Encoding is an active process. It requires
selective attention to the material to be encoded. One question is at what
point in the process is the distracting material screened out:
early:
Broadbent (1958) binaural v
dichotic listening
- Binaural (2 messages but heard with both ears)...difficult to recall
- Dichotic (2 messages, one heard by one ear, other by other ear)...much
easier to recall one message and ignore the other
However, cocktail party phenomenon suggests
a late filtering. All messages are registered but only the ones with meaning
are actually put into memory. Another possibility is that where the filter
occurs depends upon the task. The more attention
capacity that is available at any one time, the more one can use meaning and
then the later input filter (selection) (Shiffrin, 1988).
Memories may then be affected by the amount
or type of attention devoted to the task of encoding the material. There may be
different levels of processing which occur and that some are deeper than
others, but there is no definition for what is meant by "deeper"
structural encoding (emphasis on the physical structural characteristics of the
stimulus) is a shallow level.
Phonemic Encoding (emphasis on the sounds
of the words) is an intermediate level
Semantic encoding (emphasis on the meaning)
is considered deep processing
Some other aspects of encoding are as
followed:
Elaboration=associating with other
information
Visual Imagery can be used to add richness
to the material to be remembered (also adds more sensory modalities)
Maintenance
Do we forget because the information is
gone, or do we forget because we can't access information that is still there?
It is difficult to distinguish the two. However, there is evidence that we
retain more than we can retrieve.
Experiment: (Nelson 1971) - Learn paired associates (numbers to nouns). Tested 2
weeks later to see which were remembered. Then given new material to learn that
had some of the forgotten numbers, both with and without their original nouns.
Results: Subjects relearned the original associations faster (in spite of
the fact that they could not recall them). Subjects relearned the original
associations faster (in spite of the fact that they could not recall them).
This suggests that some associative information was retained. One possible
interpretation: strength of memories decay gradually. If these strengths fall
below a certain threshold, we can't recall the information, but the remaining
memory trace is still there to facilitate relearning.
Is forgetting due to decay of unused
information, or to interference of new information with old information?
Different kinds of evidence are offered for each position.
A survey of forgetting research concluded
that the rate at which we forget information usually conforms to a power law:
we forget a lot at first, but over time the rate of forgetting diminishes.
Decrease in long-term potentiation follows
a similar power law. These facts are interpreted by some as evidence for a
physiologically determined decay rate.
Interference Experiments
Typical Experiment (A-D C-D paradigm):
Subjects all learn A-B association (between
items on list A and items on list B).
Experimental subjects learn A-D
associations (which use the same stimuli items as the A-B associations), while
control subjects learn C-D association.
Everyone is tested on A-B associations.
Typical Results: Experimental subjects take longer to learn their second set of
associations than controls, and make more errors on the A-B test. Experimental
subjects take longer to learn their second set of associations than controls,
and make more errors on the A-B test. These results are interpreted as evidence
that learning new associations to stimuli causes forgetting of old
associations. However, interference does not happen with factual material when
the additional facts are redundant with (e.g., causally related to) the
original facts.
Fan Effect (a model) - Interference effects
can be modeled as weakening of spreading activation over multiple links in a
propositional network.
Stimulus activates concept nodes.- Fixed
(limited) amount of activation spreads from activated nodes over associative
links, divided equally between links. (Hence the more links, the less activation
per link.) Activation converges at propositional nodes (candidate responses)
until one emerges as the answer. Time to identify the response is inversely
related to level of activation.
Decay or Interference? Some claim that
interference can produce the appearance of decay although it appears, both
mechanisms are involved in forgetting or memory loss.
Retrieval
It is well established that people make inferences during retrieval, and believe that they saw or heard things that they in fact did not. People are more likely to erroneously think they read a sentence if it is an implication of something they read.
It is well established that people make inferences during retrieval, and believe that they saw or heard things that they in fact did not. People are more likely to erroneously think they read a sentence if it is an implication of something they read.
Effect of Prior Knowledge - People add other knowledge they have about the material studied.
Effect of Question Wording - Subjects shown film of automobile accident. Subjects asked: Did you
see a broken headlight? or Did you see the broken headlight? (There was
actually none.)
Results: Subjects more likely to respond yes to the broken headlight. Implications for
courtroom testimony!
Canadian neurosurgeon, Wilder Penfield, was
probing the temporal lobes of patients plagued by epileptic seizures when he
discovered that touching certain parts of the brain caused the patient to
remember vividly previous experiences.
In Penfield’s words the memories he
discovered as he probed the patient’s brain were, "They were electrical
activation's of the sequential record of consciousness, a record that had been
laid down during the patient’s earlier experience. The patient
"re-lived" all that he had been aware of in that earlier period of
time as in a moving-picture ‘flashback’." Because I am blessed with an
eidetic memory, this is exactly what I experience when I choose to remember
something perfectly. I simply allow myself to return to the original experience
and it comes back completely refreshed. Penfield also concluded with his
experiments that the brain stores everything its owner has ever experienced in
its original form. Sigmund Freud also believed that, "in mental life
nothing which has once been formed can perish." Everything you've ever
experienced is there in the subconscious.
Another Way to Categorize Memory
Another way to categorize memory is to
divide memories about what something is from memories about how something is
done. Skills like catching a baseball or riding a bicycle are called non-declarative memories because we
perform those activities automatically, with no conscious recollection of how
we learned the skills.
Declarative
memories, on the other hand, are memories of facts
and events that we can consciously recall and describe verbally.
Categorizing memory temporally and
functionally makes sense from the clinical and biological perspective; patients
with various amnesias may have difficulty with one particular type of memory and
not with others. Moreover, scientists have discovered that different brain
structures are specialized to process each category of memory, suggesting that
these categories are not merely convenient for discussion, but are based in the
biology of how we remember. Understanding how memories are formed in each
category and how some memories move amongst categories can help to focus
strategies for improving memory and learning.
Creativity and Memory
Creative thought could not exist without
memory. Though creativity is usually thought of as a spontaneous original
response, the ability to remember one’s past experience and use it as a
springboard for new potentials is necessary. Without a clear understanding of
what is already known, how could you know that you’d discovered something
unknown? This is especially the case in problem solving. Creative artistic
inspiration draws more on aesthetic considerations. Yet both are dependent upon
the remembrance of known experience as a platform for new creations.
You realize that if you can learn to be
consciously present in each moment, you will be able to recall anything you
chose by simply returning to that moment in thought. Perhaps it is the
retrieval process we need to focus on not how to retain certain memories. If
you consider how much information is impinging your brain at any one moment it
is staggering. We must select from the continual onslaught of information and
impression bombardment what we chose to integrate with our conscious thought.
This is why I feel that focused intent is the key to memory retention and
retrieval. Though a good sound and healthy brain is necessary for this to
function properly.
What this has to do with creativity is that
a truly creative person is never handicapped by losing the wisdom of prior
experience. What the truly creative mind does is access that certain idea which
has already been offered to consciousness. Then become relaxed, open and free
to allow anything new that memory has yet to resolve. All problems are solvable
if you are patient and know that the solution lies in your intent to find it
and your willingness to be open to it.
In summary, three very important things are
necessary to enhancing creative thought utilizing previous experience as stored
memory. One is that you need a healthy energized brain; two is that you need to
be present with interest for anything you chose to remember later, or use for
future creative experience and three, a relaxed state of mind is the greatest
vehicle for creative thought. A relaxed mind is simultaneous with a light
heart. Both conditions will foster spontaneous creativity and make life a joy
in the process.
Some Beliefs About Human Memory
There have been many belief systems
suggested, to account for the operation of human memory:
Mind is like a video tape
The mind records in very complete detail
every event during a person's lifetime, much like a video tape. Retrieving a
memory is similar to searching for a scene in a video tape: one selects the
correct cartridge, fast-forwards to the episode of interest, and observes the
scene. It does not matter how a memory from the past is accessed, whether
through direct memory, or with the aid of hypnosis, "truth serum",
guided imagery, etc. By whatever method it is accessed, it is exact and reliable.
One example of this belief system occurred
during the police interrogation of Paul R. Ingram of Olympia WA
This belief system reinforced the recovered
memory therapy (RMT) movement, which regards many adult emotional problems as
being caused by repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse. Many RMT
therapists believe that certain childhood memories are stored precisely and in
complete detail in an area of the brain that is normally inaccessible; the
memories are repressed. This is sometimes believed to be limited to only sexual
abuse memories. However, hypnosis, guided imagery and similar therapies are
believed to be able to unlock these memories and recall them in pristine detail
as they actually happened.
Mind is reconstructive
Events are imperfectly remembered. Many
events are not remembered at all. Some events are remembered initially but
later gradually forgotten. A trigger (e.g. an article in a newspaper, a
photograph of a friend etc) might bring back a recently forgotten memory.
However, most events eventually become permanently lost and can never be
retrieved.
It is impossible for the brain to store
complete details of every event. It simply does not have the storage capacity
to hold that amount of data. Rather, only a minimal amount of information is
actually stored in the brain. When we recall a memory, our mind will
automatically "flesh out" the recollection by inventing details of
the event, based on previous similar experiences. This process is largely
unconscious; we are not generally aware of it happening.
One interesting phenomenon can occur when
the memory is being recalled as a result of questions by a therapist or
interrogator. Their suggestive questions can distort this "fleshing
out" process. The mind can add new components to the memory that are
unrelated to the original event. Even more interestingly, these distortions
will later re-enter the client's memory, and will probably emerge during
subsequent recalls.
Mind is distributed through the
body
The human mind is not all confined to the
brain. It is rather distributed around the body. For example, the foot has an
elementary brain that will automatically operate the accelerator of a car in
order to keep the car moving at a constant speed without any conscious
involvement of the brain. A woman who has experienced severe trauma will store
memories of that event in those cells in her body which were involved in the
attack. When she suffers a flashback, these "body memories"
reconstruct the violence as if it is currently happening to her. This belief
system is promoted by some feminists.
Mind is very selective in what it
remembers
Jennifer Freyd, a professor at the University of Oregon
History of Beliefs About the Mind
In the early years of the 20th century, Sir
Frederick Bartlett, a British psychologist from Cambridge
The pendulum swung towards the video camera
theory by the middle of the 20th century. Dr. Wilder Penfield, a Canadian
neurosurgeon from Montreal
Recent work by Elizabeth Loftus, an
American psychologist from the University
of Washington Bartlett
Other Recent Findings About Memory
Ancient Belief: Consciousness is
not a function of the brain
Karl Pribram hunted for years for the
particular engrams or physical spaces in the brain where memories are housed.
What he discovered is that memory is non-local. Working with Karl Lashley they
discovered working with rats that no matter how much of the rat’s brain was
removed the animal could still perform a variety of tasks. Therefore, long term
memory was not stored in specific locations in the brain after all. Another
scientist who is documenting his own research in this area is Dr. Paul Pietsch.
Again, science is beginning to agree with the ancient wisdom teachings that
consciousness is not a function of the brain, but something that is processed
through the brain, yet exists in a domain beyond the material world.
Pribram, along with Rupert Sheldrake tapped
into the understanding that though the brain is the hardware necessary for
processing consciousness that manifests as mind, this elusive mind can exist in
a non-local presence around the human body. Memory can be electrochemical, but
it can also be that etheric substance that science is just gleaning as a very
subtle frequency that surrounds the human body and brain. From all his research
Pribram came up with his theory of the holographic brain. The best book
available that explains all the research in this area in laymen’s terms is
Michael Talbot’s The Holographic Universe.
Hypnosis Researches
"Hypnosis researchers such as Ernest
Hilgard, Martin Orne, Nicholas Spanos, and Robert Baker have shown numerous
times how easy it is to produce pseudo memories in experimental subjects who
will state with great conviction that the suggested events actually
occurred."
Researchers at Northwestern University
A typical adult is unable to remember
events which occurred prior to 42 months of age. Memories from events that
happened during infancy (0 to 24 months) are unknown.
There appears to be no evidence for the
existence of distributed memory throughout the body. No structures external to
the brain have ever been found that could remember and recall events.
The
study of the human mind is currently in its infancy. It is an exciting area of
study that will lead to greater understanding in the future.
Other Facts about Memory
Organization of Material
Retrieval of information is better if the
information is organized in some manner supporting systematic search, such as
in hierarchies.
Method of Loci
The ancients remembered things by imagining
taking a familiar walk, and placing the things to be remembered at locations
along the way. This method works because it organizes the material to be
remembered and it encourages elaborative processing and memorable imagery.
Context-Dependent Learning
Physical and emotional context may be
inadvertently coded as retrieval cues, along with the intended cues.
Consistent with this idea, various studies
show that recall is better when tested in the same context (physical or
emotional) as in which learning took place. Some benefit has been found
studying for important exams in the same room as they will be taken. However these results are variable.
Working with Mnemonics
'Mnemonic' is another word for memory tool.
Mnemonics are methods for remembering information that is otherwise quite
difficult to recall. A very simple example is the '30 days hath September'
rhyme. The basic principle of mnemonics is to use as many of the best functions
of your brain as possible to store information.
Our brains evolved to code and interpret
complex stimuli such as images, colors, structures, sounds, smells, tastes,
touch, positions, emotions and language. We use these to make sophisticated models
of the world we live in. Our memories store all of these very effectively.
Unfortunately information we have to remember is almost always presented in
only one way - as words printed on a page. While language is one of the most
important aspects of human evolution, it is only one of the many skills and
resources available to our minds.
Mnemonic techniques are more specific
memory aids. Many are based on the general memory strategies that were
presented earlier. Although it can be easiest to remember those things that you
understand well, sometimes you must rely on rote memory. The following
techniques can be used to facilitate such memorization.
ACRONYMS
You form acronyms by using each first
letter from a group of words to form a new word. This is particularly useful
when remembering words in a specified order. Acronyms are very common in
ordinary language and in many fields. Some examples of common acronyms include
NBA (National Basketball Associations), SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater
Breathing Apparatus), BTUs (British Thermal Units), and LASER (Light
Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation). What other common acronyms
can you think of? The memory techniques in this section, for example, can be
rearranged to form the acronym "SCRAM" (Sentences/acrostics,
Chunking, Rhymes & songs, Acronyms, and Method of loci).
Let us suppose that you have to memorize
the names of four kinds of fossils for your geology class: 1) actual remains,
2) Petrified, 3) Imprint, and 4) Molds or casts. Take the first letter of each
item you are trying to remember: APIM. Then, arrange the letters so that the
acronym resembles a word you are familiar with: PAIM or IMAP.
Although acronyms can be very useful memory
aids, they do have some disadvantages. First, they are useful for rote memory,
but do not aid comprehension. Be sure to differentiate between comprehension
and memory, keeping in mind that understanding is often the best way to
remember. Some people assume that if they can remember something, that they
must "know" it; but memorization does not necessarily imply
understanding. A second problem with acronyms is that they can be difficult to
form; not all lists of words will lend themselves equally well to this
technique. Finally, acronyms, like everything else, can be forgotten if not
committed to memory.
SENTENCES/ACROSTICS
Like acronyms, you use the first letter of
each word you are trying to remember. Instead of making a new word, though, you
use the letters to make a sentence. Here are some examples:
My Dear Aunt Sally (mathematical order of
operations: Multiply and Divide before you Add and Subtract)
Kings Phil Came Over for the Genes Special
(Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Genus, Species)
Can you think of other examples? Like
acronyms, acrostics can be very simple to remember and are particularly helpful
when you need to remember a list in a specific order. One advantage over
acronyms is that they are less limiting. If your words don't form
easy-to-remember acronyms, using acrostics may be preferable. On the other
hand, they can take more thought to create and require remembering a whole new
sentence rather than just one word (as is the case with acronyms). Otherwise,
they present the same problem as acronyms in that they aid memorization but not
comprehension.
EXERCISE: PRACTICE USING ACROSTICS
1. Try making up a sentence (acrostic) to
remember the five mnemonic techniques discussed in this section.
2. Now come up with acrostics for several
of the main sections of a chapter from one or your textbooks.
RHYMES & SONGS
Rhythm, repetition, melody, and rhyme can
all aid memory. Are you familiar with Homer's Odyssey? If you are familiar with
the book, then you know that it is quite long. That is why it is so remarkable
to realize that this, along with many ancient Greek stories, was told by
storytellers who would rely solely on their memories. The use of rhyme, rhythm,
and repetition helped the storytellers remember them.
You can use the same techniques to better
remember information from courses. For example, even the simple addition of
familiar rhythm and melody can help. Do you remember learning the alphabet?
Many children learn the letters of the alphabet to the tune of "Twinkle,
Twinkle, Little Star." In fact, a student demonstrated how she memorized
the quadratic formula (notorious among algebra students for being long and
difficult to remember) by singing it to a familiar tune!
Using these techniques can be fun,
particularly for people who like to create. Rhymes and songs draw on your
auditory memory and may be particularly useful for those who can learn tunes,
songs, or poems easily. Like the other techniques in this section, however,
they emphasize rote memory, not understanding. Also, when devising rhymes and
songs, don't spend too much time creating them. Use these techniques
judiciously and don't let them interfere with your studying.
METHOD OF LOCI
This technique was used by ancient orators
to remember speeches, and it combines the use of organization, visual memory,
and association. Before using the technique, you must identify a common path
that you walk. This can be the walk from your dorm to class, a walk around your
house, whatever is familiar. What is essential is that you have a vivid visual
memory of the path and objects along it. Once you have determined your path,
imagine yourself walking along it, and identify specific landmarks that you
will pass. For example, the first landmark on your walk to campus could be your
dorm room, next may be the front of the residence hall, next a familiar statue
you pass, etc. The number of landmarks you choose will depend on the number of
things you want to remember.
Once you have determined your path and
visualized the landmarks, you are ready to use the path to remember your
material. This is done by mentally associating each piece of information that
you need to remember with one of these landmarks. For example, if you are
trying to remember a list of mnemonics, you might remember the
first--acronyms--by picturing SCUBA gear in your dorm room (SCUBA is an
acronym).
You do not have to limit this to a path.
You can use the same type of technique with just about any visual image that
you can divide into specific sections. The most important thing is that you use
something with which you are very familiar.
EXERCISE: METHOD OF LOCI
1. If someone reads a list of unrelated
words to you, just once, how many do you think you could remember? Give it a
try. Have someone read a list of 10 words to you at a slow but steady pace
(about 1 word per second). Rather than using any of the memory techniques
presented here, simply try to concentrate on the words and remember them. How
many words did you remember?
2. Now take a few minutes to identify a
path or object that you can use in the method of loci. Familiarize yourself
with each of sections of your path or object. Mentally go through each of the
loci (locations) and visualize them as best you can. Remember, it is important
to be able to visualize and recall each location readily. Once you have done
this, have your friend read you a different list of words. This time, try to
create visual images of the words associated with one of the locations. This
may not come easy at first, but with practice you should be able to create
these visual images more readily. If you find that you are having difficulty
coming up with the images quickly, practice on some more lists until you have
improved. Chances are, when you become familiar with using this technique, you
will be able to remember many more words (maybe all 10 items).
3. Practice the technique to sharpen your
skills.
CHUNKING
This is a technique generally used when
remembering numbers, although the idea can be used for remembering other things
as well. It is based on the idea that short-term memory is limited in the number
of things that can be contained. A common rule is that a person can remember 7
(plus or minus 2) "items" in short-term memory. In other words,
people can remember between 5 and 9 things at one time. You may notice that
local telephone numbers have 7 digits. This is convenient because it is the
average amount of numbers that a person can keep in his or her mind at one
time.
When you use "chunking" to
remember, you decrease the number of items you are holding in memory by
increasing the size of each item. In remembering the number string 64831996,
you could try to remember each number individually, or you could try thinking
about the string as 64 83 19 96 (creating "chunks" of numbers). This
breaks the group into a smaller number of "chunks." Instead of remembering
8 individual numbers, you are remembering four larger numbers. This is
particularly helpful when you form "chunks" that are meaningful or
familiar to you (in this case, the last four numbers in the series are
"1996," which can easily be remembered as one chunk of information).
Okay, it may not be a mnemonic, but
repeating is still a great memory aid. Remember the children's game "I'm
going on a picnic and I'm bringing...." As each new object is added, the
old objects are repeated. People can often remember a large number of objects
this way. When remembering a list of things, you might try a similar concept.
Once you are able to remember 5 items on your list without looking, add a 6th,
repeat the whole list from the start, add a 7th, and so on. It can be quite
intimidating to see long lists, passages, or equations that you are expected to
commit to memory. Break up the information into small bits that you can learn,
one step at a time, and you may be surprised at how easy it can be. You might
even utilize grouping techniques, like those discussed earlier, to form
meaningful groups that you can learn one at a time.
Utilizing Complete Mind to Remember
By coding language and numbers in striking
images, you can reliably code both information and the structure of
information. You can then easily recall these later.
You can do the following things to make
your mnemonics more memorable:
- Use positive, pleasant images. The brain often blocks out
unpleasant ones
- Use vivid, colorful, sense-laden images - these are easier to
remember than drab ones
- Use all your senses to code information or dress up an image.
Remember that your mnemonic can contain sounds, smells, tastes, touch,
movements and feelings as well as pictures.
- Give your image three dimensions, movement and space to make it
more vivid. You can use movement either to maintain the flow of
association, or to help you to remember actions.
- Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image
- Use humor! Funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than
normal ones.
- Similarly rude rhymes are very difficult to forget!
- Symbols (red traffic lights, pointing fingers, road signs,
etc.) can code quite complex messages quickly and effectively
Designing Your Mnemonics
The three fundamental principles underlying
the use of mnemonics are imagination, association and location. Working
together, you can use these principles to generate powerful mnemonic systems.
- Association
- Imagination
- Location
Working together, these principles can be
used to generate powerful mnemonic systems. Hopefully once you have absorbed
and applied these techniques you will understand how to design and apply these
principles to your field to design your own powerful, sophisticated recall
systems.
These principles are explained below:
Association
Association is the method by which you link
a thing to be remembered to a method of remembering it. Although we can and
will suggest associations to you, your own associations are much better as they
reflect the way in which your mind works.
Things can be associated by:
- Being placed on top of the associated object
- Crashing or penetrating into each other
- Merging together
- Wrapping around each other
- Rotating around each other or dancing together
- Being the same color, smell, shape, or feeling
Whatever can be used to link the thing
being remembered with the image used to recall it is the association image.
As an example: Linking the number 1 with a
goldfish might be done by visualizing a 1-shaped spear being used to spear a
goldfish to feed a starving family.
Imagination
Imagination is used to create the links and
associations needed to create effective memory techniques - put simple,
imagination is the way in which you use your mind to create the links that have
the most meaning for you. Images that I create will have less power and impact
for you, because they reflect the way in which we think.
The more strongly you imagine and visualize
a situation, the more effectively it will stick in your mind for later recall.
Mnemonic imagination can be as violent, vivid, or sensual as you like, as long
as it helps you to remember what needs to be remembered.
Location
Location provides you with two things: a
coherent context into which information can be placed so that it hangs
together, and a way of separating one mnemonic from another: e.g. by setting
one mnemonic in one village, I can separate it from a similar mnemonic located
in another place.
Location provides context and texture to
your mnemonics, and prevents them from being confused with similar mnemonics.
For example, by setting one mnemonic with visualizations in the town of Horsham UK Manhattan
So using the three fundamentals of
Association, Imagination and Location you can design images that strongly link
things with the links between themselves and other things, in a context that
allows you to recall those images in a way that does not conflict with other
images and associations.
Learning Styles Affects the Use of
Mnemonics
The way in which people learn affects the
sort of mnemonics they should consider using to store information.
The three main learning styles are:
- Visual
- Auditory
- Kinaesthetic
No-one uses one of the styles exclusively,
and there is usually significant overlap in learning styles. To discover your
learning style, click here (links to psychometric test)
Visual Learners
Visual learners relate most effectively to
written information, notes, diagrams and pictures. Typically they will be
unhappy with a presentation where they are unable to take detailed notes - to
an extent information does not exist for a visual learner unless it has been
seen written down. This is why some visual learners will take notes even when
they have printed course notes on the desk in front of them. Visual learners
will tend to be most effective in written communication, symbol manipulation
etc.
Visual learners make up around 65% of the
population.
Auditory Learners
Auditory learners relate most effectively
to the spoken word. They will tend to listen to a lecture, and then take notes
afterwards, or rely on printed notes. Often information written down will have
little meaning until it has been heard - it may help auditory learners to read
written information out loud. Auditory learners may be sophisticated speakers,
and may specialize effectively in subjects like law or politics.
Auditory learners make up about 30% of the
population.
Kinaesthetic Learners
Kinaesthetic Learners learn effectively
through touch and movement and space, and learn skills by imitation and
practice. Predominantly Kinaesthetic learners can appear slow, in that
information is normally not presented in a style that suits their learning
methods. Kinaesthetic learners make up around 5% of the population.
Memory Implications of Learning
Styles
Most literature on mnemonics assumes the
visual approach to learning styles - mnemonics are recommended to be as
visually appealing and memorable as possible. If you are an auditory or Kinaesthetic
learner you may find that this emphasis on imagery leads to ineffective recall.
In this case, try adjusting the mnemonics to suit your learning style: if you
are an auditory learner, use auditory cues to create your mnemonics. If you are
a Kinaesthetic learner, imagine performing actions or using tools as the basis
of memory techniques.
If you are an auditory or Kinaesthetic
learner, adjust these techniques appropriately to suit your personal approach
to learning.
Using Mnemonics to Learn More
Effectively
When you are creating a mnemonic, e.g. an
image or story to remember a telephone number, the following things can be used
to make the mnemonic more memorable:
- Use positive, pleasant images. The brain often blocks out
unpleasant ones
- Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image
- Use humor (perhaps linked with point 2)! Funny or peculiar
things are easier to remember than normal ones.
- Similarly rude or sexual rhymes are very difficult to forget!
- Symbols (e.g. red traffic lights, pointing fingers, etc.) can
be used in mnemonics
- Vivid, colorful images are easier to remember than drab ones
- Use all the senses to code information or dress up an image.
Remember that your mnemonic can contain sounds, smells, tastes, touch,
movements and feelings as well as pictures
- Bringing three dimensions and movement to an image makes it
more vivid. Movement can be used either to maintain the flow of
association, or can help to remember actions
- Locate similar mnemonics in different places with backgrounds
of those places. This will help to keep similar images distinct and
unconfused
- The important thing is that the mnemonic should clearly relate
to the thing being remembered, and that it should be vivid enough to be
clearly remembered whenever you think about it
Hints On Memory Techniques
This section covers a few general hints on
the use of memory systems:
One-Way or Two-Way links
Bear in mind that in some cases you may
want the link to work both ways - for example if you are using a peg system
(e.g. number/rhyme) to link 2 to Henry VIII, you may not want to always link
Henry VIII with the number 2 (i.e. the opposite way across the link).
If, however, you are linking the word the
French word 'chien' with the English word 'dog', you will want to ensure that
the link runs in the opposite direction - i.e. that the English word 'dog'
links with the French word 'chien'.
Remember to use location to
separate similar mnemonics
By setting an application of a memory
system in one location and clearly using that location as a background, you can
easily separate it from a different application of the same memory system set
in a different place.
Why mnemonics might fail
Typically you may forget things that you
have coded with mnemonics if the images are not vivid enough, or if the images
you are using do not have enough meaning or strength for you to feel
comfortable with. Try changing the images used to more potent ones, and read
the section on using mnemonics more effectively.
Retrieving lost information
You may find that you need to remember
information that has either been lost because part of a mnemonic was not
properly coded, or that simply was not placed into a mnemonic. To try to recall
the information, try the following approaches:
In your mind run through the period when
you coded the information, carried out the action, or viewed the thing to be
remembered. Reconstructing events like this might trigger associations that
help you to retrieve the information.
If the lost information was part of a list,
review the other items in the list. These may be linked in some way to the
forgotten item, or even if unlinked their positions in the list may offer a
different cue to retrieve the information.
If you have any information such as general
shape or purpose, try to reconstruct the information from this.
If all the above have failed, take your
mind off the subject and concentrate on something else completely. Often the
answer will just 'pop into your mind', as your subconscious has worked away on
retrieving the information, or something you have been working on sparks an
association.
Memory Tricks [ Unleashed ]
Memory techniques when applied correctly
they are so powerful that can improve your memory many times. Don't worry, they
have nothing to do with your mind - they are just tricks how to better remember
information.
Memory techniques are very simple. The best
part - they can be applied in just minutes. Memory techniques go deep in the
history - even ancient people used them. They were especially used by ancient
orators to remember long speeches.
Think about it. How could someone remember
a two hour long speech without memory techniques? I couldn't and I think you
couldn't either. But with memory techniques everybody can do that. Doesn't
matter how bad you think your memory is - you CAN remember a two hours long
speech with memory techniques.
You probably have watched memory experts on
TV performing mind blowing memory stunts like memorizing phone numbers or names
of 400 people audience. You can do that, too - when using memory techniques.
Actually it's very doable.
Memory techniques can improve your life in
many ways. You can remember more with them, cut your learning time and never forget
things you need to remember. You can also impress your friends with your
excellent memory and get a raise in salary at your workplace. There are many
ways in life how memory techniques can be applied.
Some of the tricks are discussed as
followed
Accelerate your Learning
Have you ever wondered why some people are
so much quicker at learning things? How they seem to remember complex things
with ease?
Despite popular belief, it is NOT because
they are smarter! No, it's because they know (and use) 2 simple learning
techniques that help them to learn quicker.
No-one wants to spend extra time studying.
Luckily these 2 techniques don't take much time at all. While other's may have
to study for hour upon hour, only to get average results, people using these
techniques can get outstanding results from just a few minutes a week.
The techniques aren't just for academic
study either. They can be used for anything, by anyone. Perhaps you are taking
ballroom lessons? Then use these techniques to quickly dance your way to the
top of the class! Or maybe you are studying a martial art?
Basically, these techniques will
dramatically accelerate how well you learn ANYTHING.
The 2 key techniques to accelerate your
learning are reinforcing, and reviewing.
Reinforcing
5 to 10 minutes after you have learnt
something (say right after you have had a lesson), you should write down what
you just learnt. This reinforces the learning, and improves how well you will
recall it later. If you don't do this, the lesson will quickly fade from your
memory. You won't forget everything, but you won't remember anywhere near as
much as you would by writing down some quick notes.
You DON'T have to write an encyclopedia.
Sometimes just a single word will do. No- one understands you better than you
do! Which bit of the lesson did you struggle with? Which bit do you think
you'll have trouble remembering? Write THAT down!
Don't worry about it being 100% accurate
either. If you learnt something new, but you can't exactly remember it, just write
it down the best you can. You can always fix it later if you need to. Writing
down something wrong is better than not writing down anything at all.
Reviewing
You should skim over your notes
periodically. How often is up to you, but I find that once a week works well
for me. The better you know the material the less often you have to review it.
Things from a year ago may only need reviewing every 3 months, but something
hard that you only just learnt may need reviewing every day until you start to
really understand it.
It's also worth reviewing right before a
lesson. If you are anything like me, you spend the first 5-10 minutes of any
lesson trying to remember where you were up to in the previous lesson. By doing
a quick review before hand, you can get up to speed before the lesson, and hit
the ground running. You won't waste any of your time during the lesson playing
catch-up.
Tools for Reinforcing and
Reviewing
Stated below are some best tools for
reinforcing and reviewing?
Paper-Based
This is the simplest option. Just buy a
little notebook, and write into it. Use a page per subject. The biggest
disadvantages to this option are that you can't edit, and you can't search.
Despite the disadvantages, this is still a good option, and definitely worth considering
if you don’t have access to a computer.
Word-Processor
This option requires a computer. Just use
any standard word- processor( even Microsoft notepad would do), and type your
notes into it. You may want to have different subjects in different files,
otherwise the file will get very long. This option has advantages over paper,
because you can edit what you have written, and you can search. The biggest
disadvantage is that it isn't very organized. You either end up with one big
file, or lots of files scattered around all over the place.
Don't Forget Your Memory
Remembering Things
I remember a birthday party I went to as a
child. There was a contest that involved looking at a table covered in 15
various items. After a few minutes, the things were taken away, and then we
each got a piece of paper and a pencil. The object was to write down as many
items as we could remember. I struck out after seven or eight, but one little
boy got all 15 items, and won the prize.
Only years later did I learn why he was
able to do that. His father had taught him a simple technique that none of us
other kids knew. All you have to do is tie the items together in an imaginative
story. Imagine, for example, that you want to remember a list of the following
things: milk, soap, forks, honey, and flowers.
Create a story, and see it vividly in your
head: You are in front of the bathroom sink, and you reach for the soap. The
soap dish is filled with milk, so you wash your hands with that, then comb
honey into your hair with a fork, pick up a bouquet of flowers and smile at
yourself in the mirror. Say each item as you review this "movie" in
your imagination, and you'll remember all five things, even the next day.
Some Other Memory Tricks
Start telling yourself to remember. If you just
learned a person's name, for example, tell yourself, "remember that".
This signals the unconscious mind to rank this input higher in importance.
Tell yourself why you want to remember
something, and how you will remember it. To remember a person, think about how
that person will be important to you in the future, where you'll see them next,
and anything you notice about them. Clearly seeing the importance of
remembering will help a lot, and the additional associations (where you expect
to see the person next, for example) will set the memory more firmly in your
brain.
Have you ever forgotten where you set down
your car keys? You have probably tried retracing your steps, or at least doing
it in your imagination. This works fairly well, but do you ever create the
scenario beforehand, so you won't forget? Try it. When you set down the keys on
the chair, see yourself walking in and setting the keys on the chair. You'll
remember where they are if you do this.
Create Good Memory Habits
Do you know what the biggest problem with
memory techniques is? Remembering to use them. No joke. Many popular methods
work, but if you don't have the habit of using them, you'll forget to when you
need them most. So if you take the time to learn a technique, make a conscious effort
to use it until it becomes automatic.
Improve Memory Up To 10 Times
I'm going to give you some hints how to use
memory techniques to make things easier to remember. I will only explain each
thing in one sentence just to give you general idea. When you use memory
techniques you completely eliminate rote memory. No rote memory is needed -
only imagination. The best part - remembering things with memory techniques is
interesting and you have extra motivation to do so.
Remembering shopping lists or long list of
items with memory techniques is a breeze. What you need to do is associate each
item with the next one in the list. You need to associate the two items in some
unusual way that stays in your mind.
Curse Rule
- The first is Connection method and an
extremely strong one. You are creating meaning for an item by connecting it to
something you know already. Do you have to remember somebody's address is 1225 Memory Lane
Another strong point with the Connection
technique is that it allows you to utilize information you already know.
- The second is Repetition. This is a very
simple technique and probably the one most used to remember something. However
- look closely at what you're really doing when you are repeating something.
You are forcing yourself to focus attention on something. That is one of the
most important steps in memorization. You forget most things simply because you
didn't remember them in the first place.
- Storytelling is another method. The
Greeks were great for this - remember the story of Narcissus and Echo. They
would take phenomena from everyday like and create a story around it. By
creating a story they are forcing your attention (see how important that is)
plus they are creating a link mechanism which I just mentioned above. All good
memory techniques play off each other and use the brain's natural memory
ability. Remember - these are techniques, not tricks!
- Rhyming is another technique. Admittedly
it takes some creative energy and a talent for forming rhymes, but if you have
that ability it is a very good way to remember things. The rhyme can have a
story as well.
- The last method is by Linking - linking
one item to something you already know. Remember how memory works. How often a
smell can bring back the memory of a certain afternoon a long time ago. Linking
or association is a way that was devised to utilize the way memory naturally
works. You're not forcing it - it's something you do naturally.
Remembering Numbers
with memory techniques you can remember
long digit numbers in minutes. The trick is to convert numbers into words.
There is a special phonetic alphabet with 10 sounds - one for each number. No
number is too hard to remember when you apply this technique.
Knowing how to remember numbers is a huge
advantage. You can remember telephone numbers, style numbers and prices in
minutes. No more taking notes, now you can keep telephone numbers in your mind.
Remembering people Names
with memory techniques it's a very doable
task. The trick is to associate each persons name with his face. Each time when
you see a persons face you will remember his name. To do so you need to find
one unusual feature of the persons face and associate it with persons name.
Remembering Everyday Details
Have you sometimes forgot where you left
your car keys or in which pocket do you keep money? With memory techniques you
can completely eliminate this problem. The trick is to be originally aware -
concentrate on what you are doing and you'll never forget a thing.
Memorizing Long Speech
With memory techniques this can be done in
minutes. The trick is to give keywords for each paragraph or logical part of
the speech and then link the keywords in a list. This way you will always know
about what to talk.
Memorizing Foreign Vocabulary
With memory techniques memorizing
sophisticated foreign words is very doable. The trick is to substitute the
foreign word with a word in your own language that sounds similar. Then
associate the meaning of the foreign word to the substitute word. This way you'll
be able to remember even the most sophisticated foreign words really fast.
Remembering Weekly Appointments and
Meeting Times
The trick is to associate the meeting with
the time of the day. This may sound quite confusing when expressed in one
sentence but is very doable when you know how to do it.
Remembering Anniversaries and
Historical Dates
Again it can be done with memory
techniques. The trick is to associate the historical date with the event. It
can be done when you know how to remember numbers. Again, it may sound
confusing when said in one sentence but is very doable when you know how to do
it.
As you understand, memory techniques can
make you life much better. With them you don't need to struggle to remember
vital information. You can apply memory techniques and remember everything
effortlessly and much faster.
Are you Getting the "Memory
Full" Message?
Lynn was tapped to head up the project team
for a major company restructuring. She began her first team meeting by
delegating steps and due dates to the various department heads. That's when she
noticed that one member, Bob, wasn't writing anything down. Lynn knew Bob was a
competent guy. Yet given the importance of this project his casual approach
concerned her.
So, after the meeting she pulled Bob aside.
"I don't want to tell you how to do your job," Lynn
You may not lose your mind, but are you
getting the mental "memory full" message a bit more often these days?
With a computer there is always the option to add memory or get a bigger hard
drive. Even if we could rely on memory, besides not being fool proof, there's
the problem of brain clutter, a concern that led Albert Einstein to conclude
that one should, "Never bother to memorize anything that is easily
accessible." So, what can you do?
Since the closest analogy to the human
brain is the computer it makes sense to look to it for solutions to the problem
of brain overload. But first it's important to fully understand the problem.
Here are some of the unwelcome things that
can happen when a computer's hard drive gets too full. As you can see, when
people try handling more information and performing more functions than we're
"programmed" to handle similar things can happen:
A too-full computer versus a
too-full brain
Computers give you error messages. We make
mistakes, forget to do something, things start "slipping through the
cracks". Computers run slower. We take longer to process tasks and
information, slow down, become mentally or physically sluggish, become
uncreative, become unproductive. Computers freeze. We procrastinate, become
indecisive. Computers crash. We get stressed out, experience a total mental
break down (extreme cases).
The problem of a too full hard drive lends
itself to a variety of solutions. These same solutions can apply to the problem
of a too full mind. Here are five overwhelm-busting techniques human's can
borrow from the computer:
Reboot
If you're getting lots of error messages or
your computer is running slow sometimes simply restarting or
"rebooting" can help. This same technique works well for people.
Sometimes the best thing you can do when you feel overloaded is to take a
break. Go for a walk. Find a quieter or just different space to work. If you're
experiencing major "brain strain" it may be time for a vacation.
Delete unnecessary files
With a computer you can free up space by
sending unnecessary files to the trash. How about all those "junk
files" on your mental hard drive? Do you keep reminding yourself to do
things that you think you "should do" but don't really need or want
to do - like arranging your vacation photos into a photo album, alphabetizing
your bookshelf, sending out holiday cards? When you "should on
yourself" you're not only piling guilt onto the overload but all this
extraneous stuff is taking up valuable mental real estate. Do yourself a favor
and delete them.
Call the help desk
When you experience a major computer glitch
you can always call some kind of help desk. The same is true with mental
overload. Delegate whenever you can. Don't manage anyone at work? If you live
with anyone over the age of five, you can almost always delegate more at home.
Download
Many "must keep" files that don't
need to reside on your hard drive can be downloaded onto a disk. You may not be
able to download your mental To-Do list onto a disk (at least not yet!) but you
can achieve the same effect by getting it out of your head and onto paper. The
way to keep your mind from getting overloaded in the first place is to
immediately download things as they pop up. Or in other words as we say at
Time/Design: If you think it, ink it.
If your mental hard drive is exceptionally
full you'll want to start with a complete Brain Download. The Brain Download is
an exercise in which you fully and completely empty your mind of all the things
you need or want to do both in your work and personal life. Big stuff, little
stuff. Things you have to do now, things you don't have time to get to right
now but are none-the-less taking up precious mind space.
To do a thorough download you should allow
at least 30 minutes. At some point in the process you might hit the
"overwhelm wall." Seeing how much you have to do can make you want to
throw down your pencil in despair. But if you push through this wall and
continue writing, ultimately you'll experience the benefits of a
well-functioning computer: Faster processing of information, fewer errors, less
need to call the help desk, and a greatly diminished risk of that your system
will crash.
But here's where humans have a definite
edge on computers. Downloading our brain allows us to enjoy additional benefits
like less likely to procrastinate, greater creativity, and the peace of mind of
knowing that nothing will slip through the cracks.
Defragment
The defragmenting function on a computer
rearranges files so your programs run faster. Right now the "files"
on your Download list are a jumbled list of To-Dos. You'll want to "Defragment"
your list by first organizing them into their proper category, for example,
work projects vs. home projects, things you need to do on a certain day verses
those that are due by a certain day and so on.
Next, put things into perspective by
prioritizing your list. After all, on the same list you probably have things
like buy new collar for Fluffy next to develop strategic plan. The simple
process of sorting through your list and putting each item into its proper
priority "file" can be tremendously freeing.
Finally, just as the defragmenting process
on a computer checks the drive for errors, taking the time to organize your
activities helps ensure that nothing will slip through the cracks!
In today's world, mental overwhelm is a
fact of life. Fortunately, by applying some simple techniques from the computer
world, you can avoid some of the costly consequences of a too full brain!
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