Everyday Memorization Techniques
- Make new connections that are visual (and perhaps outrageous): Turn the sound of names into a visual representation and anchor it to a physical picture of whatever you want to remember; Animate the images to easily remember them; Engage as many of your senses as possible.
- Write notes or lectures down instead of typing them, to activate your brain and senses. Creating mind maps could also help you remember.
- Use spaced repetition, from short to long time spaces when recalling/reviewing an information.
- Share what you're learning, so you can prepare and organize your knowledge, and improve your understanding.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
- Encoding - the stage when the brain consciously acknowledges information based on our senses. When we attach meaning or factual knowledge to any of this sensory input, that's called semantic encoding which makes us retain memories longer.
- Storage - it is when information is stored in different areas of the brain, thanks to the neurons that connect every time we perceive information.
- Recall - when our brain "replays" or revisits our memory even though it is not as exact as the first one.
- Get a good night's sleep or take a power nap after learning something new, to help retain and retrieve memories better. Sleep deprivation and acquisition of too much information will not help you save those memories.
- Get moving, to improve the flow of oxygen-rich blood in your brain and to trigger neuron growth and new connections in the brain - critical for memory.
- Improve your diet. Fats from food can build up the brain, resulting to poor blood flow.
Any system or device designed to aid memory:
- patterns of letters or words (common mnemonics)
- ideas (memory palace)
- associations (chunking)
- Acronyms/Expression Mnemonics are sets of letters or words that correspond to certain words or meaning.
- Music Mnemonics are catchy songs or jingles that help you to remember long string of words or letters.
- Rhyming Mnemonics refer to the rhymes of the end of every line that create a song-like pattern.
- The Rhyming Peg System: In this system, for each number, you memorize an image of a word that rhymes with it. That image provides a "hook" or "peg" for things you want to remember, especially in order.
With the memory palace technique, you associate a location you're familiar with—such as your apartment, the block you grew up on, or the route you take to work or school—with the items you're trying to remember. It works because you're visually pegging (or "placing") representations of what you want to remember in places you already have strong memories of.
... refers to the grouping of information into smaller sets, to easily remember them based on the patterns or organization each segments form.
RELATED IDEAS
If you are struggling to memorizing the whole decision making process in the correct order for the short answer section on your upcoming psychology exam, or anything similar, you should try out this method!
Also known as “The Memory Palace, it consists of associating each item you’re trying to remember with a specific image and a place. You can imagine the items lying around in places that have a personal meaning to you.
A random sampling of the world’s most successful people will show one common trait: a love of reading. Because reading is the easiest way to continue the learning process.