8 Ways to Trick Your Brain into Remembering What You Study

Tricks for Learning and Remembering · 1. Use your mind's eye · 2. Learn in bite-sized chunks · 3. Clench your fists · 4. Use your nose · 5. Build a ... ZenkitBlog ZenkitStory Howto’s FeatureSpotlight ProjectManagement Login Signupforfree English Products ZenkitProjects ZenkitHypernotes ZenkitBase ZenkitToDo Zenforms Zenchat BacktoSuite Company AboutUs Newsroom PressKit Academy Careers FindaPartner CustomerStories Enterprise BookyourDemo Service Tutorials Newsletter Affiliate GDPR SecurityPractices KnowledgeBase Contact Everyonewhohasevertakenanexamisfamiliarwiththatsinkingfeeling:thetotalblanktriggeredbyaquestionyoudon’tknowtheanswerto.  Strugglingtorememberstudymaterialisacommonproblemfacedbypeopleallovertheworld.Tryingtomemorizeinformationbyreadingandrereadingtextbooks,however,isn’ttheonlyanswer–orthemosteffective.  Apartfromavarietyoftechniquesandmethods,liketheZettelkastenmethodforgrowingandmanagingyourknowledge,orparticularappsusefulaseducationaltools,thereareafewtricksyoucanteachyourselftohelpyouremembertheinformationyoulearn. Inthisarticle,we’lldelveintohowyourmemoryworks,howyoulearnandretaininformation,andhowyoucanturnyourbrainfromasieveintoasuitcase. Howdoesyourmemorywork?   Theprocessofmakingmemoriesconsistsofthreesteps:  Encoding Storage  Retrieval Wecansplitthesememoriesintotwotypes:declarative/explicitandnondeclarative/implicit.  Declarativeorexplicitmemoriesusuallyrefertotheprocessofdeliberatelystoringinformationforaspecificreason.Non-declarativeorimplicitmemoriesarethosewemakesubconsciously.Forexample,theabilitytotieourshoelacesornavigateagrocerystore.  Creatingandstoringmemoriesisacomplexprocessusingmanyareasofthebrain.It’sinfluencedbyalloursenses,aswellastheemotionsconnectedwiththeinitialexperience.  TricksforLearningandRemembering Studentsneedtolearnandrecallinformationonaregularbasis,especiallyaroundexamtimes.Many,unfortunately,havedifficultymemorizingandrecallinginformation,whichcanleadtonegativeeffectssuchasfrustrationandlowself-esteem.Knowinghowtotakesmart-notesisthusagoodtechniquetopractice. Whilelearningandrelearninginformationworksuptoapoint,thereareanumberofotherlifehacksthatcanmaketheprocessalittleeasier.  We’veputtogetherashortguidewithsomeexamplesthatcanhelpyoumakethemostofyourbrain’sabilities.  1.Useyourmind’seye Mostpeoplehavea“mind’seye”.Inotherwords,theabilitytoimaginepicturesandvisualsingeneral.Usingimagestohelpusrememberinformationisaveryeffectivemethod.  Dr.JuliaShaw,apsychologistandscientistatUniversityCollegeLondon,advisespeopletogofor“juicymentalimages”thatengagealltheirsensesandevokestrongemotion.Inherbook,TheMemoryIllusion,Dr.Shawexplainsthatvisualmemoriesstickbetterwhentheytriggeranintenseemotion,sometimesevenanunpleasantone.Bytyingdatatoimages,theprocessofmemoryretrievalcomesmoreeasily.  2.Learninbite-sizedchunks Itiscommonsensethatit’seasiertorememberthingswhenthey’rebrokendownintosmaller,moremanageablesections.Thisruleapplieswithallkindsofinformation,fromphonenumberstolistsofvocabularyorgrammarrules.  Asequenceofnumbers,forexample,cangetbrokendownintosetsoffour,whichcouldthenbeattachedtoimages.Bycombiningthenumberswiththeimages,youcreateanassociationbetweenthetwo,andthishelpsyourmemoryretention. 3.Clenchyourfists Researchhasshownthatclenchingyourfistshasastimulatoryeffectonyourfrontallobe,makingiteasiertomemorizeandrecallinformation.Clenchingyourrightfistincreasestheactivityinthelefthemisphereofyourfrontallobe,whileclenchingthelefthasasimilareffectontherighthemisphere. 4.Useyournose Manypeoplehaveexperiencedthejoltofremembrancethatoccurswhenwecrosspathswithsomeonewearingthesameperfumeofarelativeorotheracquaintance.Theabilityofascenttoconjureupalmost-forgottenmemoriesisextraordinary.  Oursenseofsmellisoneofthemorepowerfulsenses.Usingthisasastudyhackcanrequireabitofcreativity,butit’sguaranteedtobeeffective.  5.Buildamemorypalace Theconceptofamemorypalaceormindpalace,firstusedthousandsofyearsago,hasrecentlyregainedtractionandcanactuallywork!  Thepremiseissimilartothatofusingmentalimagerytostoreandsortthroughlearnedinformationandothermemories.Thisprocessisjustalittlemoreelaborateandcomprehensive.  “Memoryathletes”,whoparticipateinfiercecontestsofmentalability,oftenuseamemory/mindpalacetomakeencodingandrecollectioneasier.Usingafamiliarenvironmenttostoreinformationcanbeextremelyeffective,nomatterhowoffbeatitsounds.  Amemory/mindpalacecanbeanyplacethatyouknowwell,suchasyourhouseorapartment,yourbedroom,oreventheworkplace.Bywalkingthroughthespace(mentally),youcanplacepiecesofinformationindifferentlocations,allowingyourmindtolinkthetwotogetherandmakerecollectioneasier.  6.Haveagoodnight’ssleep Itshouldn’tcomeasasurprisetolearnthatgettingenoughgoodqualitysleepisbeneficialwhenitcomestolearningandrememberinginformation.  Whatmanyofusdon’tknow,however,isthatyoucanusesleeptostrategicallyboostyourmemory.Astudyhasshownthatpeoplewhohadagoodsleepstraightafterlearninganumberofnamesandfaceshadbettermemoryretentionandrecallthanthosewhodidn’tgetsomeshut-eye.  Theroleofsleepinlearningandrememberinginformationcomesintoplaybothlong-termandshort-term.Busyschedulesthatleadtofeelingchronicallysleep-deprivedhaveanegativeimpactonconcentration,andabilitytorememberinformation.Intheshort-term,it’sproventhatstrategicnapscanimprovetheretentionofmaterialjustlearned.  7.Usemnemonics Mnemonicdevicesworkbyconnectingtheinformationyouneedtoremembertoanotherphrase,image,orotherdata.Usingamemorythatalreadyexistsasalinktonewlylearnedinformationmakeslearningandretentioneasier.  Oneexampleisthemnemonicusedbymusicstudentstorememberthesequenceofsharpsandflatsindifferentkeysignatures.  Thesentence,“BattleEndsAndDownGoesCharles’Father,”representstheorderofflatnotesinanygivenkeysignature.Reversed(“FatherCharlesGoesDownAndEndsBattle”),thesayingreferstotheorderofsharpsinanygivenkeysignature.  8.Talktoyourself Althoughthistipsoundsabiteccentric,researchhasshownthattalkingoutloudwhenlearninginformationimprovesencodingandrecallbyupto10%.  Studieshavealsosuggestedthatspeakingaloudhelpscognitiveengagementinamoregeneralsense.Researchparticipantslookingatascreencouldpickoutaspecificobjectfasterwhentheysaidthenameoutloud.    Thebottomlineisthis:Yourbrainremembersthingswhenthereisanassociationattached,andlearningdoesn’thavetoinvolvecommittinghugevolumesoftextorendlessfactstomemory.  Knowinghowtotrickyourbrainintorememberingwhatyou’restudyingmaytakealittlepractice.Butintime,you’llseetheresultsinaction.Habitsareformedthroughrepetition.Remember:Don’tbreakthechain!   ImagecreditsfromGabrielleHenderson, FadilahN.I.,LuxGravesviaUnsplash. 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