Short Term Short Term Memory Memory TechniquesTechniques

What is Memory?What is Memory? On a basic level, memory is a mental activity for recalling information that has been learned or experienced. This involves receiving, retaining, and retrieving data and resembles the processes of computers. Since humans are not computers and do not assemble information in the same way, we must use different ways of remembering information. One might think of the process as the 3 R’s of memory:

• Registration• Retention• Retrieval

Registration:Registration:The brain registers messages from the world through our eyes, ears, and touch sensors. This ‘stimuli’ is held for a fraction of a second in the part of the brain that processes sensory memory. Unless you pay attention to the image/data for approximately eight uninterrupted seconds to encode it in short-term memory, it will be lost. The slightest interference at this stage will remove the newly accessed information from our consciousness. This might be the reason your teachers are always telling you “Pay Attention!”

Retention:Short-Term Memory (STM) is the brain’s ability to remember information this is actively “In Use.” It is similar to the ‘working memory’ on a computer. STM allows you to perform activities suchas calling a phone number you’ve just looked up. However, like computers STM doesn’t reliably hold on to information, and there is no mental “save” button to push while working. Like a computer, youhave a limited capacity for storing information in STM – approximately seven items for about two minutes. If STM tries to acquire more items it can handle, the middle items will often be displaced. This is whypost it notes, or writing pads are useful in writing down short lists, i.e. shopping lists or to do lists.

**Once items are Registered and Retained in STM they move into Long-Term Memory – like putting information onto a hard drive on you computer. Long-Term Memory (LTM) has a limitless capacity to retain information for an extended amount of time. This is why you can remember information from a previous class easily if you’ve learned it and stored the information in LTM.

Retrieval:• Finding information becomes the issue. Is

the memory you seek in an accessible folder in your brain’s hard drive or randomly scattered all over your mental ‘desktop?’ This occurs when you think of something that you know….it’s on the tip of your tongue, but you just can’t remember it. This is a retrieval issue. It means you paid attention – you

• Registered it, Retained it, you put it somewhere in your brain, but you can’t get it out. Retrieval difficulty can be frustrating. Remember! You have a database full of information, and your brain may have to search

• through many decades of storage to find the relevant information.

Does memory naturally decline with age? If so, why?

• Some forms of memory do decline with age. As we grow older, there is a decrease of blood-flow to the brain, and less efficient oxygen and protein metabolism.

Why does this result in memory issues?

One theory is that older adults fail to encode environmental cues as easily as younger adults – their brains have a difficult time of placing information in the appropriate files. While tasks might be more difficult to perform – the memory of how to do them is intact.

How do thoughts and emotions affect memory?How do thoughts and emotions affect memory?

“Wearing your heart on your sleeve” may actually help with your memory. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology foundparticipants who consciously suppressed their emotions had a more difficult time recalling information than those who allowed themselves to react to emotionally stimulating films. However, those who were neutral in their emotions (not too happy or too sad) could also remember material easily.

Hiding your emotions requires continuous self-monitoring, tapping your mental resources critical in forming memories. But, defusing emotions at the outset appears to help you pay closer attention, allowing your STM to be effective in retaining data for future retrieval.

A positive outlook also strengthens your capacity for memory retrieval.

Telling yourself you have a bad memory:1. Produces distracting emotions2. Lowers your expectations for success3. Decreases you motivation to use methods in helping you build better

memory skills.

When you tell yourself, “I’ll never remember this,” you are sending your brain feelings of worthlessness and fear, hampering your ability to remember. By the same token, positive mental feedback sets up an expectation of success!

What are the ways I can improve my memory?

Memory makes use of triggers known as mnemonics. These include:

*Images *Tastes*Colors *Touch*Structures *Positions*Sounds

*Emotions*Smells

*Language

To make mnemonics valuable:To make mnemonics valuable:1. Use positive, pleasant

images as the brain usually blocks unpleasant images.

2. Use vivid, colorful, sense-laden images – these are easier to remember than drab ones.

3. Use all your senses to code information. Remember mnemonic triggers contain smells, sounds, tastes, movements, feelings, and pictures.

4. Give your image three dimensions, movement and space to make it more vivid. You can use movement to either maintain the flow of association, or to help you remember actions.

5. Exaggerate the size of importance parts of the image.

6. Use humor! Make up jokes using facts and figures you need to recall.

7. Make up rhymes to remember data.

8. Symbols can code complex messages quickly and effectively. (red traffic lights, pointing fingers, road signs, etc.)

Once you’ve mastered mnemonics, the following can help you Once you’ve mastered mnemonics, the following can help you improve your memory at any age:improve your memory at any age:

a) Attention and Intention: Pay attention to what you’ve learned, and decide to remember it. We learn best when we have a strong motivation for committingthe material to memory.

b) Relate to what you know: How does the new information relate to concepts with which you’re familiar? Decide to emphasize memory devices, visualization, or reciting. Possibly read data aloud, esp. if they are grouped rhythmically.

c) Become the teacher: Grasp the basic idea and explain it to someone else in your own words.

d) Organize: Make notes, and remember that seven items is the max. for STM.

e) Visualize: Your brain thinks with words and pictures, so give it both.

f) Talk to Yourself: Reciting as you read and reviewing notes OUT LOUD increases attention and motivation, and creates a stronger neural trace of memory by utilizing more senses.

g) ASAP review: Go over notes/data right after the class. This only needs to

take about five minutes.

Memory through Association:Memory through Association:• Picture a microphone to

remember the name “Mike” or a cross for “Chris.” You can also try associating the information with a smell. After you develop the habit, it will be a snap and fun to remember information this way.

Memory through “Peg” words:Memory through “Peg” words:This works well for everything from playing cards to memorizing countries and capitals. You ‘peg’ a certain word or image to the material you want to recall, and the image itself becomes your mnemonic.

Memory through Acronyms:Memory through Acronyms:This is a well-loved way to memorizing lists. We’re all familiar with Roy G. Biv for the colors in a rainbow. The same technique will work for any list you need to remember. Be creative! You form acronyms by using each first letter from a group of words to form a new word. This is particularly useful when remembering words in a specified order. Some examples:

- NBA (National Basketball Association)- LASER (Light

Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)

Memory through Rhymes & Songs:Memory through Rhymes & Songs:

Rhythm, repetition, melody, and rhyme call all aid memory. How did you remember the alphabet? Through a song. Make up a tune for the information, or sing the words you need to remember to music you know and love. If it rhymes, so much the better. You could even learn material to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Whatever works, use it! Making rhymes or songs to remember information can be fun, particularly for people who like to create. Rhymes and songs draw on your auditory memory and may be particularly useful for those who can learn tunes, songs, or poems easily. Like other techniques in this section, however, they emphasize rote memory, not understanding. Don’t spend too much time creating songs and rhymes to remember data. Don’t let them interfere with your studying – if it doesn’t work for you, that’s OK, there might be another method listed in this workbook that will be of assistance to you.

Memory through Sentences/Acrostics:Memory through Sentences/Acrostics:

Like acronyms, you use the first letter of each word you are trying to remember. Instead of making a new word, though, you use the letters to make a sentence. Here are some examples:

1) Polly Eventually Makes Dad A Sandwich (mathematical order of operations: Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract)2) Kings Phil Came Over for the Genes Special (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Genus, Species)

Can you think of other examples? Like acronyms, acrostics can be very simple to remember and are particularly helpful when you need to remember a list in a specific order.

Memory through Chunking:Memory through Chunking:This technique is generally used when remembering numbers, although the idea can be used for remembering other things as well. It is based on the idea that short-term memory is limited in the number of things that can be contained. A common rule is that a person can remember approx. seven “items” in short-term memory. In other words, people can remember between five to nine things at one time. Notice: Phone numbers are seven digits for a reason.

When using chunking remember to decrease the number of items you are holding in memory by increasing the size of each item. For example, in remembering the number string 64831996, you could try to remember each number individually, or you could try thinking about the string as 64 83 19 96 (creating chunks of numbers.) Instead of remembering eight numbers, you are remembering four chunks of numbers.

Practice Makes Perfect:Practice Makes Perfect:Once you are able to remember five items on your list without looking, add a 6th, repeat the whole list from the start, add a 7th, and so on. Break up large lists, passages, equations into small bits that you can learn, one step at a time, and you may be surprised at how easy it can be.

How diet affects your memory:How diet affects your memory:What you eat makes a definite difference in your ability to process and recall information. Antioxidants, for example, touted for their overall immune-boosting properties, are also key brain boosters, because they improve the flow of oxygen throughout the body by fighting free radicals. Eating foods that are rich in fiber and nutrients also helps you resist and combat disease that affect your memory.

Some of the best Some of the best Vitamin C-rich, Vitamin C-rich, memory-memory-enhancing fruits enhancing fruits and vegetables and vegetables include:include:

•Cantaloupe Cantaloupe •Sweet Sweet PotatoesPotatoes•Black currantsBlack currants•AsparagusAsparagus•BlueberriesBlueberries•kalekale

Include red foods to your diet, which not only contain beta-carotene (a precursor of Vitamin A) but also stimulate, strengthen, and increase body temperature and circulation, which increases energy. Red foods affect your muscles, adrenal glands, bladder, lower limbs, and spine, making them idea for combating fatigue, fever, colds, etc. Psychologically, red foods ease depression, promoting a positive attitude, which aids memory.

Key red foods Key red foods include:include:•WatermelonWatermelon•TomatoesTomatoes•StrawberriesStrawberries•Red cabbageRed cabbage•CherriesCherries•RadishesRadishes

By using the above mentioned techniques to assist in your memory can increase your learning potential. These techniques not only help you become more efficient learners, but will help in all aspects of your life regarding memory.