Monday, December 23, 2013

Mastering Your Memory

By Hedrick Lepsch


Many times we look at people with photographic memories and say to ourselves "I could never do that". The truth is that there are techniques out there that can be applied by normal people and help them do just as amazing mnemonic feats.

There are a few things you'll want to remember: getting enough sleep and keeping a proper diet will be two of the best things you can do for yourself. As a student, these things might not always be a possibility, but try-it probably won't be as hard as you think.

Information obtained by our brain is stored in various places, depending on the nature of that information. The brain then creates neural pathways or individual pieces of road by which the information is accessed. Each piece of road leads to only one bit of information, however many pieces of road may be attached to a single bit of information.

As we develop more neural pathways to the information stored in our brain, we are able to access more at an increasingly efficient level. Each time we retrieve information in a new way, whether it is memorized facts for a test, or the movement required to run a race, we are creating new neural pathways to old information. The more pathways to a single piece of information, the stronger our memory of that information is.

You should take it upon yourself now to eat what you need in order to take the best care of your brain. The other things that you can do to help your memory deal more with how you study-you can't just eat a few cans of nuts and wind up with a photographic memory. Like anything, you need to work at it one day at a time.

If you can connect information back to things that you already know and relate to then you will be able to pull it back out of your memory box. This can be tough if you don't practice using your imagination. This is really where all of your creativity can be a huge asset. Memorizing takes creative ways at memorizing information and spitting it back out when you need to.

There are so many different mnemonic techniques but all of them have one major similarity. It really takes a lot of practice to see results. You can't just expect to be running at full speed when you haven't learned how to use the technique all the way yet. With each technique it gets easier the more you do it, just like a sport or anything else you do. You can build habits and get your mind in the right frame so that when information pops up you are taking it all in and remembering the details.

Utilizing a few additional techniques can help you as you practice your memorization skills. Reciting information repeatedly is helpful but take the time to also write down what you are trying to remember. You may also try using visualization and association tricks to help you remember the facts you need to recall. And above all else, practice. Continuing to use these skills will only strengthen your ability to obtain, retain, and recall information on command.

Very few people have what you'd call a "photographic memory." If you're reading this, it's pretty likely that you're one of the people that don't. Although you won't be able to recite long pieces of poetry in your first week, you will be able to improve your memory to the point that these things will give you few problems. Eventually, you will get to that point if you keep working at it.




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