Some interesting facts about memory
by Dr Yip Swe Chooi
Q1) What is memory?
People often talk about their memory as though their memory is an object that can
be possessed. Memory isn't something that can be seen, touched or weighed like an
object. It is a mental process and not something you can hold in your hand.
Q2) How does our memory work?
We remember things by association. Each piece of information is linked to other
information in some way or another. The more you know about a particular topic the
easier it is to remember or to learn new things about that topic because you have
more "hooks" for the new information to hook on.
Q3) Why do most of us have a bad memory?
The truth is that most of us have a good memory. The memory performance does not
match the potential is because we do not practice using it efficiently or we do
not learn memory techniques to remember better.
Q4) How can we learn to remember better?
Since memory works by association, create an association between the information
will enable us to remember better. For example, if you want to remember the following
list:
hamburger-refrigerator-car-dictionary-
tiger-chair-radio-pencil
All you have to do is to visualize in your mind:
1. a hamburger shivering inside a refrigerator
2. a refrigerator is put inside a car.
3. a car crashes onto a giant dictionary.
4. a dictionary with pictures of tigers.
5. a tiger is sitting on a chair
6. a chair with a radio hanging on it.
7. turn on the radio with a pencil.
If you can form vivid associations, you will be surprised how easy it is to remember
the list. The idea is to be creative and visualize in your mind the associations
that connect the information together.
Q5) How can we visualize intangible words?
Substituting intangible words with other concrete words or phrases facilitate visualization
and thus makes it easier to remember. There are two ways to substitute words without
"built in image".
1. substitute with things or words that are in some ways related to the intangible
words.
e.g. education --- school
France --- Eiffel Tower
2. substitute with words that have similar phonetic sounds.
e.g. taciturn --- taxi turns
Portugal --- Port two girls
Q 6) How much information can we remember?
The storage capacity of the human brain is virtually limitless. It was estimated
that the number of patterns nerve cells could form was 1 followed by 800 zeroes.
Other researchers estimate that even this number is too small. This means that our
brains will never "fill up" with information.
Q 7) Does the adage "You can't teach an old dog
new tricks" apply to older adults as well?
Actually, the more accurate saying is : 'The quickest way to become an old dog is
to quit learning new tricks.' Our memory becomes less efficient as we grow older
and thus, older adults may not learn as quickly as their younger peers. On the other
hand, older adults have a lot more structures and more retrievable information to
compare new experiences to. The rich experience and knowledge base help many older
adults to perform mental tasks at the same or higher levels as young adults. However,
there are many negative effects of aging, such deterioration of the neuronal pathways,
and sedentary lifestyle that may impede the ability to remember things.
It is essential that older people enjoy an active social life in order to maintain
their memory. A recent study has shown that elderly people who took part in learning
new things had higher performance in unrelated memory tasks.
Q 8) Can music help us to remember better?
Many people believe that music can help us to remember better. This may not be true,
according to a study in Bradley University. In this study, one group of students
listened to music while studying and the other group studied in silence. After the
study session, half of each group relaxed while the rest did unrelated activities.
The following are the scores, based on a maximum score of ten.
Females Males
Music / relaxation 7.2 6.0
Music / activity 2.8 3.2
Silence / relaxation 8.8 8.0
Silence / activity 3.6 4.0
Part of the explanation for these findings is that music competes for the attentional
focus of the learner. If you have to listen to music while studying, it is better that you choose baroque music. Any music that competes with your attention will interfere with your memory.
Q 9) Can exercise improve our memory?
Exercise can help to improve the speed of remembering and recall. Simple movement
of the muscles stimulates the growth of axons which carry messages between neurons.
Research indicates that non-exercisers may be able to remember as much, but will
not be able to remember and recall as quickly as the exercisers.
Q 10) Is there a memory pill that we can take to improve our memories?
To date, it is still not available. Researchers and experts are working on it. Some
drugs can improve our memory but have dangerous side effects. The results of researches
on the effectiveness of other safer drugs are very encouraging.
Q 11) We would save a lot of time and effort
if we can learn in our sleep. How well does sleep-learning work?
There are several stages of sleep. It may be possible to learn some simple materials
in very light sleep but this is an inefficient way to learn. It is better to stay
awake if you want to study effectively. Sleeping immediately after learning enables
you to remember better than if you were to stay awake
during the same period of time.
Q 12) Is it true that some people possess photographic memory?
Memory is a learned skill more than an innate ability. The notion
of "photographic memory" is used by the general public and this refers to people
who can perform amazing memory feats.
Most psychologists do not believe in this popular notion of a photographic memory,
which is an objective reproduction like that of a camera photograph. Another valid
phenomenon which is somewhat similar to photographic memory is eidetic imagery,
which enables a person to duplicate a picture mentally if given a viewing time to
scan the scene.
Q 13) In most cases, the memory of young children
is not as good as that of young adults. Why is this so?
There are several reasons why young adults can remember better than
young children.
i) Young adults use some kinds of memory aids such as revision, imagery, association,
and acronym in remembering although many of them are unaware of using them.
ii) Young adults have a greater knowledge to start with than children. The more
knowledge they have on a topic, the easier it is to associate and compare what they
know to the new information.
iii) Young children are less willing to try to remember and to rehearse. They are
overconfident about what they can remember as compared to young adults. Young girls
are usually less confident than young boys in memory tasks and therefore more realistic.
Q 14) Many children often find it difficult to
spell correctly. Is there any method to overcome some of the worst spelling problems?
Yes. You do this in 4 stages.
1. keep a list of words that your child misspells most frequently. When you add
a word to the list, illuminate the letter that your child misspells.
2. ask your child to go over the list orally from time to time and visualize the
trouble spots.
3. make up a memory aid for each word. The memory aid helps your child to focus
and to compare the word to the word that he can spell. Make sure that your child
gets the spelling correct when he uses the memory aid. Give no more than five such
words in any one learning session. The followings are some examples:
wrong spelling correct spelling
a) accross -- across
i) There is only one 'sea' (c) across Singapore.
ii) 'a cross' is walking across the road.
b) accomodate -- accommodate
There's plenty of room to accommodate both cats (two c) and both mice (two m).
c) carefuly -- carefully
i) Driving carefully to hell (two 'l l' )
ii) Holding a pair of chopsticks carefully. (The image of chopsticks resembles two
'l l')
d) definate -- definite
I want a definite answer tonight (nite)
e) seperate -- separate
i) separate 'a rat'
ii) separate 'a parachute'
4. memorize the rules of spelling and the exceptions, such as 'i' before 'e';
except after 'c' or, when sounded like 'a'
a) Write 'i' before 'e' except after 'c'.
Examples:
ie ei
Believe Receive
Achieve Ceiling
b) Write 'ei' when the sound is 'a'
Examples:
Weigh
Neighbour
c) Some exceptions are:
Either
Weird
Protein
Seize
Leisure