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Having a good memory is a competitive advantage that everyone wants to have.
Being able to remember the correct answers for a test.
Being able to answer any question from your boss without having to make any consultations.
Remembering people’s names, passwords, the greatest moments in your life.
If you want to achieve all that, it’s crucial that you understand how your memory works.
First, you need to understand how your brain records, stores and then retrieves information.
Knowing all of this, you’ll be able to use different techniques to carry out these procedures
in a more efficient way.
These processes are relatively complex.
That’s why I’ve created four special episodes from the Study Arata series, so you can understand
in detail how your memory works.
In today’s conversation, we’ll have an overview of how your memory works.
In the next three episodes, we will see in detail each of the three specific procedures
in the creation of memories.
All set?
Then let’s begin by remembering.
Your memory works like a funnel that only stores the more important things.
Let’s recap what we learnt in the last episode of the Study Arata series [source: https://arata.sestudy18],
which was about the types of memory: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
Sensory memory is linked to your five senses.
Everything you see, hear, smell, feel, touch or taste stays in your memory for a very short
period of time.
It’s so short, it stays up to a few seconds.
Every second our brain is picking up thousands of stimuli through our five senses.
It would not be possible to memorise everything that happens around us, all the time.
When our brain detects more relevant information, the short-term or working memory comes into
play.
While your sensory memory is defined by the time it stores information in our minds, short-term
memory is more connected to the quantity of information that it’s able to keep.
Usually, the short-term memory is able to store seven units of information.
For example, let’s say someone tells you their phone number but you have nothing to
write it down with.
You could keep repeating that number so you won’t forget it until you find something
to write it down.
When you’re repeating this number in your head, you’re trying to move that information
from your short-term memory to your long-term memory.
Long-term memory stores information for a longer period of time.
It’s important to explain that when we say long-term, we’re making a comparison with
your sensory memory, which lasts a few seconds.
That’s why even a couple of days may be considered long-term in memorisation.
But, depending on the relevance of the information, your memory may be able to keep it for years
in your mind.
You can think about the three types of memory as if they were a filtered funnel.
Everything that your five senses can pick up comes in from the top of the funnel.
In the middle of the funnel, there’s a very limited amount of information that is being
kept by your short-term memory.
And just the most important and relevant information is able to pass the funnel and be sorted in
your long-term memory.
This transition of the information from short-term memory to long-term memory is called encoding.
Encoding is moving information from your short-term memory to your long-term memory.
Let’s go back to the telephone number example.
Someone told you a number but you weren’t able to write it down.
You repeated the number so you wouldn’t forget it until you found something to note
it down.
When you keep mechanically repeating something in order not to forget it, you’re trying
to send that information from your short-term memory to your long-term memory.
This process is called encoding.
Anytime you’re studying something or learning about something new, you’re encoding new
information in your long-term memory.
Mechanically repeating something to store it in your memory is a really intuitive way
of encoding.
But it’s not so efficient, since your brain isn't actively involved in the task.
In order to store information so you can remember it in the future, you need to use techniques
that actively involve your brain.
One of those techniques is grouping.
When you put similar information in the same category, you’re using the grouping technique
to encode that information.
Another technique is using a mnemonic system.
Every time you’re using a device to remember whatever you’re learning, you’re using
mnemonics.
There are many types of mnemonics.
You can form sentences, acronyms, songs, mental images… anything that could help you remember
that information in the future.
Self-reference is also a good encoding technique.
With it, you can use personal items to associate with what you’re learning.
Thanks to this personal involvement, it becomes easier to remember information in the future.
Lastly, there’s also a technique called spaced repetition.
It is a way of organizing your study process, spacing your learning sessions through time
in order to encode better.
In the next Study Arata series episode, I’ll talk about each one of these encoding techniques.
For the time being, you only need to understand that encoding is moving information from your
short-term memory to your long-term memory.
Once the encoding is done, your brain begins the storage process.
Storage is the ability your brain has to store information from encoding to retrieval.
Once the information is encoded in your long-term memory, it needs to stay stored until you
want to use that information.
When you encode something, a memory trace is physically engraved in your nervous system.
A memory trace is a physical change in your nervous system that represents an experience
you’ve had.
This memory trace is stored in your brain until you try to remember that information.
The healthier your brain is, the easier it’ll be to store that information.
Therefore, having a healthy life will positively influence your ability to remember things.
Having a balanced diet, doing exercise, challenging your brain by learning new things and having
a good night sleep are the most highly recommended activities to have a good memory.
With a healthy brain, you can increase your retention period.
The retention period is the time between the moment when you encode information, and the
time you try to use that information.
When we say we want to have good memory, what we all want to have is the ability to access
these memory traces at the exact moment we need them.
This last procedure is called retrieval.
Retrieval is the ability to access memories whenever we need them.
When you’re taking a test and you need to know the right answer, you’re using a retrieval
process to remember the information that was encoded in your long-term memory.
There are three ways to retrieve information from your memory: free recall, cued recall,
and recognition.
These three ways are in order from the hardest to the easiest one.
It’s more difficult to recall information freely, it is a little bit easier if you have
some cues, and it’s even easier if your job is just to recognise information.
The hardest way of retrieval is free recall.
Free recall is when you’re trying to remember something without any type of help.
Many times, when we try to do that, we go blank.
We forget what we were trying to recall.
To avoid that, your brain usually uses some clues left in the encoding process.
For example, let’s say you used a mnemonic device to encode information in your long-term
memory.
When trying to recall it, you use the mnemonic device as a clue to remember the encoded information.
This is the cued recall.
The third and last way of retrieval is recognition.
When using recognition, you remember something when you see that information among other
data.
This is a comparison process.
You compare what you have in mind with the things you’re seeing.
The best recognition example are multiple choice questions.
For example, let’s say you’re taking a multiple choice exam about the Roman Empire.
And you come across a question like “Who was the first Roman emperor?”
The options are “Julius Caesar, August, Tiberius and Caligula”.
The work your brain has to do is simply to compare what you’ve studied with the presented
options and RECOGNISE the correct answer.
By the way, do you know the correct answer?
If you said Julius Caesar, you’re wrong.
Your brain played you.
Julius Caesar had an important role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into
the Roman Empire, but the first Emperor was August.
You have probably studied this in school.
So, why were you not able to remember and recognise the correct answer now?
This happens because our brain doesn’t work like a computer, we don’t save information
and recall it exactly as it was first recorded.
Everything that happens from the time we encode the information to the moment we try to retrieve
it, affects our memories.
That’s the reason why many specialists say memories are not exactly retrieved, but rebuilt.
When you remember something, that memory is always rebuilt with some modifications.
These small changes depend on your emotional state, your humour, the references you’ve
taken over time.
Understanding how memory works is essential to increase your ability to learn.
The ability to learn new things is the most important skill you can have to improve your
personal and professional growth.
When we talk about learning new things, we’re basically talking about being able to remember
learned information whenever we need it.
A student that’s able to remember everything they studied when taking an exam.
A professional that remembers every single procedure when their boss asks them a question.
An artist that’s able to remember their references when creating art.
An athlete that remembers all of their training at the time of the game.
This is why memorisation has an important place in the learning process.
This is also why understanding the details about how your memory works is essential to
learn more and better.
In the next three episodes of the Study Arata series, we’ll see in detail how each procedure
of creating memories work: encoding, storage, retrieval.
Today you had an overview of how everything works, but there are still many details to
uncover…
You’re able to improve your memory, enhance your intelligence and learn everything you
want.
In order to do that, you need to understand how your brain works and apply the right techniques
to improve your cognitive abilities.
Arata Academy is launching a new course to help you learn all of this.
You can check our Intelligence course right now by clicking https://arata.se/intelligence