The human brain holds a colossal amount of memories from childhood to the current time. Not only does it hold personal memories (long term), but is also expected to hold day to day things (short term), such as tasks; and in school years, plenty of other information. There are ways you can optimize your memory power.
- Pay attention – If you don’t pay attention to something you can never learn and keep that piece of information. It takes an average of eight seconds of focus to process a piece of information.
- Use your learning style – If you learn better by reading, read something over and over to learn it. Some people are better at hearing. In this case record a tape and play it back or try to convince a friend to read it to you. You can also try reading out loud.
- Use all the senses – Using as many senses as you are able to will help your brain because you will have more areas to recall the information from. If you read something out loud not only are you using sight, but sound as well. Also try to relate information to things like colors to the information you are learning.
- Relate information – Using the information you already know, make connections with the new information. Forming a sort of web with information will help you to recall it better. New knowledge builds on old knowledge.
- Space rehearsal – Review all the information you learn the day that you learn it and at intervals following. Spaced rehearsal is more effective than cramming.