Memory is the ability to remember things. People considered to have 'good' memory are able to store and retrieve lots of information at will. Memory can be affected by a number of factors. For example memory can be diminished by lack of sleep and stress and it can be enhanced by a number of techniques.

You can improve your memory just like you can build a muscle, by exercising that part of the brain responsible and, like body building, it takes patience and hard work.

There are various theories on how our brains work. Craik and Lockhart in their Processing Theory of Memory state that the more you concentrate on something and the more devices you use to store information, the better you remember. Atkinson and Shiffrin suggest a Two Stage Theory of Memory that claims repetition is the key to an effective memory.

 

Before the advent of the written word, memories were handed down from parents to children by means of stories, often allegorical, or songs or visualised by means of drawings on the walls of caves.

In order to remember something we must first take the information in through our senses. Some people remember what they see much better than what they hear and for others the reverse is true. We can be grouped as visual memorisers, auditory memorisers and less frequently as kinesthetic memorisers.

How well we remember is linked to how well we learn and each of us has our preferred learning style. We learn by association so linking words with images or colours [if you are a visual memoriser] or with melodic or rhythmic sounds [if you are an auditory memoriser] or with movements [if you are a kinesthetic memoriser] can be most effective.

The ability to visualise with near 100% accuracy is called eidetic or photographic memory. Very few individuals have this talent, one such was the mathematician John Von Neumann who at eight years old allegedly could memorise the names, addresses and telephone numbers of an entire page in a telephone directory and he retained this ability all his life.

Visual memorisers tend to learn rapidly and reproduce what they have learned with confidence even though they may change the information or muddle it up. They deal with the subject matter by visualising it and are less likely to use memory strategies such as classifying, associating or making comparisons than auditory memorisers. Auditory memorisers tend to be less confident even when their memory is accurate.

Discover what type of memoriser you are

Buzan suggests the following:

• Primacy - the first part of a piece of information normally has significant impact - this why introductions and abstracts are often the most memorable parts of essays and reports respectively

• Recency - the last part of a piece of information taken also has significant impact, we remember best what we learnt most recently hence the need for structured revision

• Bizarre - or unusual facts tend to be memorable so linking facts to extraordinary phrases, words or concepts can aid memory

• Repetition - learning by repeating is commonly known to aid memory

Discover whether your memory is better than you think?

Although memory involves absorption, assimilation, retention and recall of facts, the best way to improve memory is to improve the way we take information in the first place. Try out the following:

Enhancing the visual memory

• use mental images or scenarios

• use the layout and position of words and images on a page as in flow charts, tables, lists and mindmaps

Enhancing the auditory memory

• use sound by tape recording your lectures or your voice speaking, chanting or singing

Enhancing the kinesthetic memory

• use movement by writing things down especially in mindmaps or repeating practical procedures

Enhancing association

• use meaningful associations such as boat, ship, yacht [similar sense]; boat, holiday, friend [past connection]; free, freedom, freethinker [similar root], day-night [comparisons]; light-feather [characteristic]

• use mnemonics such as ROYGBIV: Read On Your Gondola Boat In Venice for the colours of the spectrum: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

• use memory hooks by devising stories, exaggerating sizes, numbers or activities