LESSON 2: How to Improve Short Term Memory Power

August 11th, 2008

Tips to Remember Important Data (Tel number, birthday etc)

1. Be interested in whatever it may be- your interest in the data is of utmost importance

No one can remember anything for long unless he has an interest in the particular subject. Nobody can ever remember anything just by looking at it once. One must look for something interesting (or maybe a double meaning) or a fact in whatever one is reading. It helps your memory to retrieve the information about that person later more easily

While reading something difficult or boring, we often start drifting from the topic to something else. This can be eliminated by keeping a pen and paper by your side whenever you sit down to study. As soon as you find yourself getting distracted, start writing on the paper. This really helps in maintaining your concentration.

2. You must be totally focused in whatever you do.
All your concentration must be at one place if you want to remember something or transfer something from your short-term memory to long-term memory. Our short-term memory cannot hold much information and thus it is always better to transfer the data from our short-term memory to long term memory as efficiently as possible. Just focus your attention to what you want to retain and not on what you don’t want to remember.
3. Elaborating a subject or a word or a phrase is a very effective, tried, and tested method for remembering anything.
Add details wherever possible in your mind or make the image more colorful in your mind. It helps retain the information much better and longer. Try to add certain extra objects to the subject in your mind. For example if you want to remember the name of the a Nobel laureate Gunter Grass, you can imagine a guy carrying a gun of grass to take the award. Such a vivid and colorful image will always remind you of the name (gun=Gunter, grass= Grass) Or maybe if you want to remember some topic’s title u can use the initials of the words to make it sound funny like Rust and Corrosion Analysis= RusCoran or anything that you can remember.
4. Try to make associations between things that you already know and things that are new to you.

Although most of the time the associations are done unconsciously but if done on a conscious level, it can help remember even difficult matter and that too much more easily. Also try to make as many associations as possible because the more the number of associations the more strongly it will be embedded in your mind. For example if you are introduced to someone called Charlie, you can try to associate him with Charlie Chaplin or someone else with the name of Charlie whom you already know.

Following the above-mentioned four points, you will surely be able to retain information for much longer and in a more organized manner. Moreover, there are also new ways to exercise your brain through scientifically designed games to improve your memory. These Brain Fitness Program can improve not only your memory power but also touches on other aspects like cognitive control, speed process and attention.

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Thank you for reading Lesson 2.  For the next lesson, I will discuss how backtracking can be useful to  improve your memory power.

LESSON 1: How to Improve Short Term Memory Power

August 9th, 2008

Tips to Remember Names Easily

Remembering people’s name is a must skill in socializing.

Sometimes we want to put a name to a face and just can’t seem to do it. Sometimes we want to put a name to a face and just can’t seem to do it. This is often embarrassing for some people who may spend a few minutes engaged in a conversation with a person, yet does not remember the person’s name. The person may wait for the opportunity hoping that the person will spill out his/her name, yet it doesn’t happen.

What can we do? Here are some helpful tips to improve your memory power :

1.) It is wise to repeat the name and recite the name.
For instance, “Hi my name is Maggie.” You repeat by saying, “Hi Maggie” Now quietly say the name again in your mind. Don’t use your lips as you think silently the name in your head. As you start using this strategy soon you will start recalling names of people you meet.

You can also ask the other person to repeat or recite his/her name. Just say to the person, “so your name is…”and asks the person to spell the name, or else pronounce the name as it sounds, particularly if you are not clear of the spelling. This is great way for improving memory power to remember names.

2.) You can also use visualization tactics to recall names.
As the person gives his /her name, visualize the person in your mind. You can picture the person’s name written on the front of the person’s shirt in an awkward color.

3.) If you are talking to a person and can’t remember, his/her name makes an apology and let them know you can’t remember their name. This will relax the tension, and will give you the advantage of listening this time, so the next time you see the person you will remember their name.

4.) You can also use associating objects or parts of the person to recall names.
For instance, you are trying to recall the name of a person you meet last week. You can’t recall the name. Vision the person in your mind. Think of the hair, parts of the body, face or anything that stands out in your mind to help you remember.

These are just a basic helper in sharpening the mind and helping you recall names, however other strategies like brain fitness program and memory power games are now available online to regularly exercise andstimulate the brain.

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