Tips to improve short term memory
- Thread starter Gaze
- Start date
Depends on the kind of data :3
Personally I find creating "stories" or associating existing ones to things I'm trying to memorize is helpful. Like if I have to remember the letter "C" when I see a duck, I'll tell myself to think of "CD" because duck starts with D, and I'll tell myself to think of music and visualize a CD.
Being alert and not having tons of background thoughts to interrupt on conscious thought is always helpful. What sorts of situations did you have in mind?
Personally I find creating "stories" or associating existing ones to things I'm trying to memorize is helpful. Like if I have to remember the letter "C" when I see a duck, I'll tell myself to think of "CD" because duck starts with D, and I'll tell myself to think of music and visualize a CD.
Being alert and not having tons of background thoughts to interrupt on conscious thought is always helpful. What sorts of situations did you have in mind?
Sleep, drink enough water, get enough vitamins, calm your mind, and practice. Play some memory games or puzzles, since short term memory is more about raw ability than strategy, so you have to exercise it.
Try playing invisible Tetris or something. You have to remember what you stacked!
[video=youtube;UBz_sUk5k0k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBz_sUk5k0k[/video]
Try playing invisible Tetris or something. You have to remember what you stacked!
[video=youtube;UBz_sUk5k0k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBz_sUk5k0k[/video]
yeah, associating info with stories is a good one. I was thinking of everyday situations where there's a set of small tasks or steps to complete or a checklist or even just short new bursts of info that are mentioned everyday. For me, the toughest is learning new facts, details, or processes which are uncommon and unrelated to anything I've learned before. It's tough to make connections or associations without a systematic way of remembering information.
You probably want to work on mid/long term memory then, because short term memory is usually on the order of seconds. For extended tasks you can use more strategies like niffer mentioned.
I use Niffers method all the time.
As for learning facts. Try to take your time, break down what it actually means and try to understand and memorize it bit by bit. then, try to think of a scenario or similar where you need the information to comply.
As for learning facts. Try to take your time, break down what it actually means and try to understand and memorize it bit by bit. then, try to think of a scenario or similar where you need the information to comply.
If I can project it into my mind so I can see, then I have a better chance of remembering it longer. Say I have a few seconds to remember a string of numbers, I will spend those seconds picturing them as if I were reading them in my mind. They become objects. I might be able to recall them much later than otherwise.
Tin Man
"a respectable amount of screaming"
It could be due to a lack of concentration. I can memorize a vast quantity of information, but forget names and facts because I don't care or I'm not paying attention. I think finding out the reason why your memory in certain situations is poor should be your first priority.
Yes. I break the memory down into three types. Short, mid, and long. The longer you want to remember something for, the more attention you should pay and the more strategies you should use, like mnemonic devices and note taking.
With short term memory you only need to remember something for seconds, or minutes at the most. A healthy brain with good practice will get you by in most cases here - keep your minds sharp, it can get lazy.
Mid term memory is longer than short term, but shorter than 24 to 48 hours. You can use some more strategies here but there's no need to waste your time overdoing something that you don't want to remember forever - you'll just clutter yourself that way.
Long term memory is indefinite or permanent. For this you want to go all out, write things down, use visual memory, repeat things to yourself, make connections, use all the tricks you can. I remembered all my algorithms for puzzle cube solving by visually memorizing the patterns on the cube and attaching them as muscle memory triggers so that when I see the pattern I can instantly do the alg without thinking about it, and the alg is done with the same finger movements and holding the cube the right way every time so that I don't get sloppy and confused. This took a few months of practice to make them unforgettable.
I think this is my issue. I need to figure what I need to remember, why, for how long, and then figure out the how. I often find myself thinking everything is important so I don't prioritize what I need to know now vs. then. I end up giving almost every piece of information the same importance. So, yeah, I think I need to focus on what I need to remember now vs. what I should remember later.