by Newworld E. E

Created on: February 15, 2011   Last Updated: March 29, 2012

To remember information indefinitely means to put information in your long-term memory. Although not everyone complains of faulty memory, for those who do, memory failure occurs when there is a break down in the encoding, storage and retrieval of information in the memory.

Avoiding this breakdown means improving your memory which can be done by following the steps below:

Developing interest

Developing an interest for subject, and reminding yourself the reason for knowing it can help to remember that subject; like having an emotional feeling for someone- a lover perhaps. Even when you close your eyes, that lover is there.

Paying attention

Be interested, pay attention and take mental and physical notes if necessary so you can review the material on a later time to help focus your mind.

Organization

Organization simplifies and makes easy for recalling or retrieval and so does it for our memory, like categorizing your grocery list into- meats, spices, dairy, and vegetables and so on. The main aim is chunking information to best fit for your memory.

Visualization

Making a mental picture of anything you wish to remember or even mapping it out can make that information stick deeper in our brain.

Verbalization

Repeating aloud is an important tool for foreign language students because saying the words or phrase forces you to pay attention to what you are saying; helps your teacher know how and where to correct you; and listening to yourself brings other part of your brain into play.

Connection or Association

Familiarizing something new with something already known like cherished memories makes remembering come natural.

Understanding

Having a thorough knowledge of something or concept means you are likely to remember it well and recalling will come spontaneous.

Consolidation

After developing interest, paying attention, verbalization and understanding, review what you have learned and your memory will be reinforced for retention.

Mnemonics

This is a practice that helps improves memory by storing information in our long-term memory. This tool combines the power of organization, visualization, and connection/association with something that can be easily related to, like a word, road, house and so on. And when you need that information, all you have to do is take an imaginary walk. Like a math student can define the sine (opposite/hypotenuse), cosine (adjacent/hypotenuse) and tangent (opposite/adjacent) of Pythagoras theorem by the acronym “Soh Cah Toa.”

Improving your memory is like learning a craft; the more you practice and train your skill, the better it gets even into old age.

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