subject: Guidelines to Improve Your Memory [print this page] The brain is like a computer's CPUThe brain is like a computer's CPU. It stores information that we acquire from our daily activities, routines and experiences. These information are stored in the hippocampus or the memory center of the brain. Like the computer, in order for the brain to recovery the data, it should be encoded first. But the process is not as simple as it may seem. The brain filters information it takes so that it will not suffer from information overload. Information that are fragile are not really that important like every ad you saw on TV, every dish you ordered from the restaurant, every phone number you just called are stored in short term memory and you eventually forget these after a few minutes or hours. Information that are relevant and meaningful for you are stored in long time memory. Some of these information are the restaurant where your crush usually eats lunch, the material you are studying for the exam and the first day you learned how to ride a bike. Long-term memory requires effort to recall. Below are some of the techniques to encode the information in the brain, be stored in the long-term memory and be retrieved easily.
Memory recall can be improved by paying attention. You cannot retrieve something from your brain if it was not encoded there. One way to encode the thought in your brain is to pay attention. The brain needs approximately eight seconds to encode the thought in the memory center or hippocampus. This means that multitasking is prohibited if you have to concentrate. If you are the type of person who gets easily distracted by noise or other environmental factors, try to receive the information in a quiet place.
In order to make the recovery of information from your brain much easier, relate the information to what you already know. You can do this by relating the new information with the previous information that was already stored in your brain. This works as easily as linking your new lesson to your previous lesson.
You can practice organizing information to improve your memory. This can be done through writing information on your address book or calendar. It is also best to take down notes about complicated materials and reorganizing them in categories. You can also use pictures to improve the learning process.
These are some of the techniques you can apply in order to improve memory recall. Next time, recalling materials for the test, the name of a person, or remembering details from your business meeting is much easier to do.
