5 useful memorization techniques
Memory is a tricky instrument. Every day we forget more information than we store, and it seems life is a constant process of learning and then forgetting. Memory is a difficult tool to master well, because we’re not naturally programmed to remember everything we come across. While it can’t be developed or grown organically, the memory you do have can be improved by learning certain habits and tricks that can hone your existing memory into a sharper tool.
Easy memorization doesn’t come naturally to everyone, though some people are better are memorizing facts, figures, dates, names, and procedures than others. Students for whom memorization comes easier to have an advantage in schoolwork, since so much of test-taking is memory driven, around facts, or given in the form of essay tests for which students have to cull detailed information quickly. Luckily, even for those whose memory retrieval doesn’t arrive at the drop of a hat, there are certain tips and tricks you can use to access your memories faster and more easily.
The following are 5 great mnemonic devices and tools that can help you grow your memory.
5. Write it out.
To better remember a piece of information, it helps to write it out. Writing down the fact establishes familiarity of it in your mind. Then, going back and reviewing the fact, after you’ve already written it out, establishes it further. The more linkages you can put in your mind – when it comes to a focused piece of information – the more likely it will be that the information will be retained. Furthermore, by writing the information out, the more likely it is that you are integrating that information into muscle memory. It definitely helps, in the arena of written essay-type exams, to teach yourself to write out select information, because you will be asked to do it later on, when your memory is really put to the test.
4. Rhythm and Rhyme.
Making rhymes and rhythms may seem childish, but it is a surefire way to put something into memory. Remember the ‘30 days hath September’ rhyme? Making rhymes can help you retain information, because rhymes are a novelty that make dull information (how many months have 30 days) more interesting. Writing your own rhymes to match with information can help you greatly, not just by remember the rhyme later, but even in the act of coming up with the rhyme, which re-familiarizes the relevant information in your mind.
3. Acronyms and acrostics.
An acrostic is a sentence where every first letter (”My Van Exploded, My Jeep Stopped Underneath New York” can help you remember the order of the planets) of every word in the sentence is associated with another specific message. An acronym is a word form where the each letter of the word is associated with the first letter of another word. ROY G BIV is a useful acronym that helps students remember the color spectrum. Acronyms and acrostics are fun and useful mnemonic devices that have been known to help many people remember key information.
2. Meditation.
Now, meditation is an odd one to throw in here. Why meditation? Meditation can help improve memory ability in many ways. First, concentrating on information, or paying detailed close attention to information, during meditation can help hardwire that information into your brain. But not only that, studies have shown that meditation or practicing mindfulness has helped people focus better, have longer attention span, and retain stronger memories. Meditation increases blood flow to regions of the brain that help store memories, and in doing so, it can really help exercise your brain in the art of holding on to information.
1. Review.
Review is a given in any memorization technique. Like everything, memory takes practice. Just as you can’t expect to become a piano virtuoso overnight, nor can you expect to remember information at any given moment, just on the basis of mindpower alone. Memory has nothing to do with intelligence. It has everything to do with the ability to focus your brain to remember key details, and to get your brain to the point where it can do that requires almost daily practice. Before memory can be retrieved, it has to be encoded in your brain. Think of reviewing information as a way of encoding that information. You are putting it in your brain through practice, study, and review, to be pulled out later during memory retrieval. Unless you encode your information into memory, there is no way you can store it for use later. So practice is the single most important aspect of having a strong memory.
