Memory Improvement technics

It's a general situation - you meet someone new, and then moments later you've forgotten their name! Names, passwords, pin and telephone numbers... the list is endless - with so much to memorize is it really possible to improve how much you can remember?.
Everyone either he is student or a layman want to improve his memory.We always in the search of some technics or any method that can be beneficial in improving our memory.Before you study for your next exam, you might want to use a few strategies to boost your memory of important information. There are a number of tried and tested techniques for improving memory. There are some technics or tips can be useful to improve your memory.

1. Focus or concentrate your attention on the materials you are studying.
Attention is one of the major part of memory. In order to improve short memory to long term memory you need to actively read this information. Try to study in a place free of disturbance such as television, music, and other diversions.
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2. Avoid cramming study regularly
Many research has shown that students who study regularly remember the material far better that those did all of their studying in one marathon session.

3. Structure and organize the information you are studying.
Always structure and organize the information you are going to remember for a long term. Try grouping similar concepts and terms together, or make an outline of your notes and textbook readings to help group related concepts.

4. Utilize mnemonic devices to remember information.
Mnemonics are techniques for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall:Mnemonic devices are a technique often used by students to aid in recall. A mnemonic is simply a way to remember information. For example, you might associate a term you need to remember with a common item that you are very familiar with. The best mnemonics are those that utilize positive imagery, humor, or novelty. You might come up with a rhyme, song, or joke to help remember a specific segment of information. The idea behind using mnemonics is to encode difficult-to-remember information in a way that is much easier to remember.
Our brains evolved to code and interpret complex stimuli such as images, colors, structures, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, positions, emotions and language. We use these to make sophisticated models of the world we live in. Our memories store all of these very effectively.
Unfortunately, a lot of the information we have to remember in modern life is presented differently – as words printed on a page. While writing is a rich and sophisticated medium for conveying complex arguments, our brains do not easily encode written information, making it difficult to remember. The key idea is that by coding information using vivid mental images, you can reliably code both information and the structure of information. And because the images are vivid, they are easy to recall when you need them.



5. Elaborate and rehearse the information you are studying.
In order to recall information, you need to encode what you are studying into long-term memory. One of the most effective encoding techniques is known as elaborative rehearsal. An example of this technique would be to read the definition of a key term, study the definition of that term, and then read a more detailed description of what that term means. After repeating this process a few times, your recall of the information will be far better.

6. Relate new information to things you already know.
When you are studying unfamiliar material, take the time to think about how this information relates to things that you already know. By establishing relationships between new ideas and previously existing memories, you can dramatically increase the likelihood of recalling the recently learned information.

7. Visualize concepts to improve memory and recall.
Many people benefit greatly from visualizing the information they study. Pay attention to the photographs, charts, and other graphics in your textbooks. If you don’t have visual cues to help, try creating your own. Draw charts or figures in the margins of your notes or use highlighters or pens in different colors to group related ideas in your written study materials.

8. Teach new concepts to another person.
Research suggests that reading materials out loud significantly improves memory of the material. Educators and psychologists have also discovered that having students actually teach new concepts to others enhances understanding and recall. You can use this approach in your own study by teaching new concepts and information to a friend or study partner.

9. Pay extra attention to difficult information.
Have you ever noticed how it's sometimes easier to remember information at the beginning or end of a chapter? Researchers have found that the position of information can play a role in recall, which is known as the serial position effect. While recalling middle information can be difficult, you can overcome this problem by spending extra time rehearsing this information or try restructuring the information so it will be easier to remember. When you come across an especially difficult concept, devote some extra time to memorizing the information.


10. Vary your study routine.
Another great way to increase your memory is to occasionally change your study routine. If you are accustomed to studying in one specific location, try moving to a different spot to study. If you study in the evening, try to spend a few minutes each morning reviewing the information you studied the previous night. By adding an element of novelty to your study sessions, you can increase the effectiveness of your efforts and significantly improve your long-term recall.
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Healthy habits to improve memory
Treating your body well can enhance your ability to process and recall information.
Healthy Habits that Improve Memory
Regular exercise • Increases oxygen to your brain.
• Reduces the risk for disorders that lead to memory loss, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
• May enhance the effects of helpful brain chemicals and protect brain cells.
Managing stress • Cortisol, the stress hormone, can damage the hippocampus if the stress is unrelieved.
• Stress makes it difficult to concentrate.
Good sleep habits • Sleep is necessary for memory consolidation.
• Sleep disorders like insomnia and sleep apnea leave you tired and unable to concentrate during the day.
Not smoking • Smoking heightens the risk of vascular disorders that can cause stroke and constrict arteries that deliver oxygen to the brain.

. Nutrition and Memory improvement
You probably know already that a diet based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and “healthy” fats will provide lots of health benefits, but such a diet can also improve memory. Research indicates that certain nutrients nurture and stimulate brain function.
• B vitamins, especially B6, B12, and folic acid, protects neurons by breaking down homocysteine, an amino acid that is toxic to nerve cells. They’re also involved in making red blood cells, which carry oxygen. (Best sources: spinach and other dark leafy greens, broccoli, asparagus, strawberries, melons, black beans and other legumes, citrus fruits, soybeans.)
• Antioxidants like vitamins C and E, and beta carotene, fight free radicals, which are atoms formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. Free radicals are highly reactive and can damage cells, but antioxidants can interact with them safely and neutralize them. Antioxidants also improve the flow of oxygen through the body and brain. (Best sources: blueberries and other berries, sweet potatoes, red tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, green tea, nuts and seeds, citrus fruits, liver.)
Omega-3 fatty acids are concentrated in the brain and are associated with cognitive function. They count as “healthy” fats, as opposed to saturated fats and trans fats, protecting against inflammation and high cholesterol. (Best sources: cold-water fish such as salmon, herring, tuna, halibut, and mackerel; walnuts and walnut oil; flaxseed and flaxseed oil)
Because older adults are more prone to B12 and folic acid deficiencies, a supplement may be a good idea for seniors. An omega-3 supplement (at any age) if you don’t like eating fish. But nutrients work best when they’re consumed in foods, so try your best to eat a broad spectrum of colorful plant foods and choose fats that will help clear,

Here are 10 Research-proven tips for a better memory, recommended by Harvard Medical School.

1. Believe in yourself : People who are exposed to positive messages about preserving memory into old age do better on memory tasks.
2. Economize your brain use : Take advantage of calendars, planners, maps and file folders. Designate a place at home for your glasses, keys and other items of frequent use.

3. Organise your thoughts : Information broken into smaller chunks such as city code and area code of a phone number is easier to remember than a single long list.

4. Use all your senses : The more senses you use while learning something, the more of your brain will be involved in retaining the learning.

5. Expand your brain : Widen the brain region involved in learning by reading aloud, drawing a picture or writing down the information you want to learn.

6. Repeat it aloud : Repeat it aloud, something which you just heard or thought about.

7. Space it out : Spacing out your learning instead of cramming in a short period is very valuable especially while learning complicated information.

8. Make a mnemonic : Mnemonics such as acrostics is a creative way to remember information. Another helpful mnemonics is to create story linking the items you want to remember.

9. Challenge yourself : Engaging in activities that require you to concentrate and tax your memory will help you maintain skills as you age. Do crossword puzzles, try new recipes, travel and undertake projects or hobbies that require skills you aren't familiar or comfortable with.

10. Take a course : Memory improvement courses are becoming more common. Select a course that focuses on practical ways to manage everyday challenges. Stay away from courses that center on computer or concentration games. Choose one, run by health professionals or experts in psychology or cognitive rehabilitation.

Courtesy Harvard Medical School

Forgetting

In our day today life everyone faces the common problem that is FORGETTING.
Causes of Forgetting
There are some subjective and objective conditions of forgetting. These we commonly call causes of forgetting. These causes hamper the processes of learning and retention.
• Length of the learning material is a factor of forgetting. The more is the time taken in learning, the quicker is the rate of forgetting. Attitude or interest of the learner is an important factor in forgetting. Prose pieces are learnt with much pains at the cost of much time. Forgetting in the case of prose materials sets in quickly.
• Under learning is another important causes of forgetting. If the lesson is half learnt, forgetting will be very quick.
• Injury or shock to the brain is another cause of forgetting. We all know about the shock of amnesia.
• Forgetting often takes place due to the influence of drugs. Narcotic drugs make the neurones ineffective. As a result drug addicts become forgetful.
• Retroactive inhibition is often the cause of forgetting. When we learn anything, some time is taken for its consolidation. We often try to learn lots of things within a short span of time, one after another. In all such cases later experience casts influence on the previous experiences. Many things become blurred and forgetting sets in. Hindrance in the previous learning owing to the effect of later learning is called retroactive inhibition.
• Forgetting may often set in due to mental fatigue. Long work of tiring mental work makes us mentally fatigued and exhausted. Our alertness is lowered. Forgetting becomes natural due to mental fatigue.
• Forgetting may also become regular for want of proper rest. Rest, pause helps in consolidation. Want of proper sleep is often the cause of forgetting.
• The psychoanalysts are of the opinion that “we forget because we want to forget!” We repress unpleasant memories into the unconsciousness. we want to forget the sorrows and horrors of life. So we forget them pretty soon.
Forgetting is often due to objective causes but mostly mental conditions are inherent in those cases. The influence of the unconscious mind is often active in making us forget. In order to minimize forgetting, we are to remove the possible causes of unconscious motivations for forgetting. To avoid forgetting we are to learn properly that would enhance our retention power.
There are six main reasons for forgetting
(1) ineffective encoding
(2) decay interference
(3) retrieval failure
(4) motivated forgetting
(5) physical injury or trauma.
Ineffective Encoding
The way information is encoded affects the ability to remember it. Processing information at a deeper level makes it harder to forget. If a student thinks about the meaning of the concepts in her textbook rather than just reading them, she’ll remember them better when the final exam comes around. If the information is not encoded properly—such as if the student simply skims over the textbook while paying more attention to the TV—it is more likely to be forgotten.
Decay
According to this theory memory fades with time. Decay explains the loss of memories from sensory and short-term memory. However, loss of long-term memories does not seem to depend on how much time has gone by since the information was learned. People might easily remember their first day in junior high school but completely forget what they learned in class last Tuesday.
Interference
refers to the idea that forgetting occurs because the recall of certain items interferes with the recall of other items Intrference theory has a better account of why people lose long-term memories. According to this theory, people forget information because of interference from other learned information. There are two types of interference: retroactive and proactive.
• Retroactive interference happens when newly learned information makes people forget old information.
• Proactive interference happens when old information makes people forget newly learned information.
Retrieval Failure
Forgetting may also result from failure to retrieve information in memory, such as if the wrong sort of retrieval cue is used. For example, Dan may not be able to remember the name of his fifth-grade teacher. However, the teacher’s name might suddenly pop into Dan’s head if he visits his old grade school and sees his fifth-grade classroom. The classroom would then be acting as a context cue for retrieving the memory of his teacher’s name.
Motivated Forgetting
Psychologist Sigmund Freud proposed that people forget because they push unpleasant or intolerable thoughts and feelings deep into their unconscious. He called this phenomenon repression. The idea that people forget things they don’t want to remember is also called motivated forgetting or psychogenic amnesia.
Physical Injury or Trauma
Anterograde amnesia is the inability to remember events that occur after an injury or traumatic event. Retrograde amnesia is the inability to remember events that occurred before an injury or traumatic event.

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LEARNING TIPS

Learning Tips 1
One sure way to become a more effective learner is to simply keep learning. An article reported that people who learned how to juggle increased the amount of gray matter in their occipital lobes, the area of the brain is associated with visual memory.1 When these individuals stopped practicing their new skill, this gray matter vanished.

So if you're learning a new language, it is important to keep practicing the language in order to maintain the gains you have achieved. This "use-it-or-lose-it" phenomenon involves a brain process known as "pruning." Certain pathways in the brain are maintained, while other are eliminated. If you want the new information you just learned to stay put, keep practicing and rehearsing it.

Learning Tip 2.
Learn in Multiple Ways
Focus on learning in more than one way. Instead of just listening to a podcast, which involves auditory learning, find a way to rehearse the information both verbally and visually. This might involve describing what you learned to a friend, taking notes or drawing a mind map. By learning in more than one way, you’re further cementing the knowledge in your mind. According to Judy Willis, “The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is. This redundancy means students will have more opportunities to pull up all of those related bits of data from their multiple storage areas in response to a single cue. This cross-referencing of data means we have learned, rather than just memorized.”

.Learning tip 3
Teach What You've Learned to Another Person

Teaching can improve your learning. By teaching to the rest of the class, your teacher hoped you would gain even more from the assignment. You can apply the same principle today by sharing your newly learned skills and knowledge with others.

Learning tip 4
Start by translating the information into your own words.
This process alone helps solidify new knowledge in your brain. Next, find some way to share what you’ve learned. Some ideas include writing a blog post, creating a podcast or participating in a group discussion.

Learning Tip5.
Utilize Previous Learning to Promote New Learning
Another great way to become a more effective learner is to use relational learning, which involves relating new information to things that you already know. For example, if you are learning about Romeo and Juliet, you might associate what you learn about the play with prior knowledge you have about Shakespeare, the historical period in which the author lived and other relevant information.
Learning tip 6.
Gain Practical Experience
For many of us, learning typically involves reading textbooks, attending lectures or doing research in the library or on the Web. While seeing information and then writing it down is important, actually putting new knowledge and skills into practice can be one of the best ways to improve learning. If you are trying to acquire a new skill or ability, focus on gaining practical experience. If it is a sport or athletic skill, perform the activity on a regular basis. If you are learning a new language, practice speaking with another person and surround yourself with immersive experiences.
Learning tip 7 .
Look Up Answers Rather Than Struggle to Remember
Of course, learning isn’t a perfect process. Sometimes, we forget the details of things that we have already learned. If you find yourself struggling to recall some tidbit of information, research suggests that you are better offer simply looking up the correct answer. One study found that the longer you spend trying to remember the answer, the more likely you will be to forget the answer again in the future. Why? Because these attempts to recall previously learned information actually results in learning the "error state" instead of the correct response.
Learning tip 8
Understand How You Learn Best
Another great strategy for improving your learning efficiency is to recognize your learning habits and styles. There are a number of different theories about learning styles, which can all help you gain a better understanding of how you learn best. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences describes eight different types of intelligence that can help reveal your individual strengths. Looking at Carl Jung’s learning style dimensions can also help you better see which learning strategies might work best for you.

Learning Tips 9
Use Testing to Boost Learning
Testing can be more beneficial than studying alone. Image by Clinton Cardozo.While it may seem that spending more time studying is one of the best ways to maximize learning, research has demonstrated that taking tests actually helps you better remember what you've learned, even if it wasn't covered on the test.3 The study revealed that students who studied and were then tested had better long-term recall of the materials, even on information that was not covered by the tests. Students who had extra time to study but were not tested had significantly lower recall of the materials.

Learning tip 10
Stop Multitasking
Multitasking can hurt learning effectiveness. It was thought that people who multitask, or perform more than one activity at once, had an edge over those who did not. However, research now suggests that multitasking can actually make learning less effective. In the study, participants lost significant amounts of time as they switched between multiple tasks and lost even more time as the tasks became increasingly complex.4 By switching from one activity to another, you will learn more slowly, become less efficient and make more errors. How can you avoid the dangers of multitasking? Start by focusing your attention on the task at hand and continue working for a predetermined amount of
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EXAM PHOBIA(Fear)

How to overcome exam phobia

It is a common experience of my teaching that more than 60 per cent of students suffer from an examinations phobia.It doesn't matter whether the student is intelligent or not. They all worry about forgetting or overlooking something or the other while appearing in an exam, not being able to recall important facts at the appropriate time and, most importantly, ending up with a low score or failing. And these fears become barriers in their performance, especially during exam time.I want to share through this piece some of the major reasons leading to exam phobia along with some ways that can come in handy in helping students beat the fear and enjoy the learning process.Most teachers as a general practice in schools target their teaching either directly or indirectly towards the exams. Being focused on that, they highlight the same for the students as well like emphasiszing the need to complete much of the syllabus before the exams, working on important topics that may come in the exams, revise the lessons before the exams, etc.The students too, as a result of this, feel that exams are the most important thing. With that settled, they too start focusing on exams while living with a feeling of dread instead of enjoying their classes.But before discussing ways to help students beat this fear, it would also be helpful to examine the facet of fear.Sometimes fear is related to a specific subject as a result of which your confidence may rise or fall only when tested in that subject.Students might also fear the punishment that would be awarded to them by their parents or teachers on getting low marks. Because if God forbid, they measure less on their expectations, they are not just punished for it by the teachers in the form of having to write the correct answer 10 times or sometimes even 100 but the parents too show their disappointment by ignoring them for several days.Another aspect is being retained in the same class on failing the finals. In addition to all this, the students know that the teachers always appreciate those who get the highest marks in class so simply getting good or average grades is not good enough.At this stage, when the students find themselves disinterested in their studies due to exam phobia, the role of the teachers in encouraging them to just do their best becomes even more important.So how can a teacher help the agonising young minds to lose their fear of exams? The following tips may come in handy: • Make your students aware of the fact that their getting less marks in the exams will not result in any kind of punishment. Help them realise that examinations are merely a segment of the learning process used to explore one's skills. Give the same message to the parents as well.• Do make the students understand that the process of learning is far more important than giving exams. If a student takes an active interest in his or her studies while not thinking about being tested on it later on, he or she would automatically gain good marks.• Appreciate even the slightest improvement in performances. It will enhance self esteem, making the child want to learn more and work hard to acquire more good grades. Also share the improvement in students with the parents which will also do away with the notion that teachers only call the parents when the child is failing in class.• Help them believe in their strengths. All children have their own sets of hidden potential. Help them realise their good points. For example, some students may have good handwriting, some might have good presentation skills and so on. Ask them to use the best of their already existing skills and abilities during the exam to get better results instead of thinking and worrying about self-created fears.• Help the students search out their own areas of weakness. Self assessment helps in finding out the area within oneself that needs improvement. For instance, I secured less marks in the exam because: (a) I made careless mistakes, (b) My presentation was not attractive, (c) My time management needs improvement, (d) I need to go through the concept with the teacher again and so on. After making them go through a process of self assessment, facilitate them to practically work on the weak areas either through tasks given in the classroom or through home work.