Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own commonsense.
---Buddha (563BC-483BC)
Characteristics of Memory
- Sensory – we remember things that involve our five senses. So, the more senses that get activate, the easier it will be to recall.
- Intensity – when something is more intensely funny, sexual, absurd, etc. it tends to stand out in our memories.
- Outstanding – things that are dull and unoriginal are more difficult to remember because there is nothing to distinguish them from all the other memories.
- Emotional – the amygdala – a round, pea-sized part in the middle of the brain - acts as a gate keeper, so when something happens that has high emotional content – positive or negative – the amygdale says, "This is important!" and we tend to remember it more easily.
- Survival – the brain is wired for survival. This means that anything we perceive as important to survival we will remember more easily. It's not just physical survival. Survival can include, emotional survival, psychological survival and financial survival.
- Personal importance – we naturally remember things that interest us and that have some personal importance.
- Repetition – the more often we recall information, the better we get at recalling on demand.
- First and last – the brain most easily recalls things from the beginning and the ending of any session or lecture.
Keys to Memory
- Pay attention – often times the biggest problem is that people's minds are not focused in the moment. Instead, they are thinking about something in the past of future.
- Visualization – create a visual in your mind because the brain thinks in pictures and concepts, not paragraphs.
- Association – find something to connect the information to…similar to word association. Ask, "What does this remind me of?"
- Imagination – get creative when visualizing or making associations.
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