Forgettful?
Tips & tricks to help you remember
Why do we forget?
Retrograde amnesia is being unable to remember events before an injury.
Hippocampal damage- hippocampus is where new memories are formed.
Interference- 2 types are Retroactive and proactive interference.
Retroactive- new material interferes with information already stored
Proactive- information already stored interferes with new material
Situational factors- trying to remember something in a different situation.
Reconstruction- memories are reconstructed with incorrect information.
How can you enhance your memory?
Ways to improve your memory:
Practice memory skills- practice, practice & more practice! Read it, write it down, rehearse it!
Be confident- having self-doubt will cause you to be anxious, anxiousness will cause you to forget!
Minimize distractions- studying for a test? get rid of all those noisy distractions!
Stay focused- pay attention to details.
Use mental imagery- need to remember your teacher, Mrs. Green's name? Picture her lying in the GREEN grass. Put an image to the name.
Rely on more than memory alone- write it down, post it on your fridge, use a calendar, post your important dates in clear view.
STM & LTM
Do these work for STM or LTM you ask?
To get information into your LTM you must use rote rehearsal. This is used in both STM and LTM. This will help to remember even minute things into LTM such as phone numbers.
Even more effective is elaborative rehearsal.
Much like Rote, but elaborative links new information to something we already know, helping to store this information into our LTM.