HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY QUICKLY IN 5 STEPS - GEOGRAFÍA - 2025

In this article I will explain how to improve your memory quickly with techniques and tricks based on Psychology. Having a fast, high-capacity memory is not only useful, desirable, and admired in our society, but in recent years it has become so extremely popular that it is on its way to becoming just another sport.

You may think that I am exaggerating but, the truth is that, throughout the world there are many memory championships every year, both by countries and internationals.

I will give you two incredible examples: 1-The world record for memorizing random words is 300 in 15 minutes. 2-The world record for memorizing random numbers is 1014 in 15 minutes.

Why can more numbers than words be memorized at the same time? In this article I will give you the answer to this and much more. Memory is comparable to magic because, in both disciplines, there are tricks.

• Is having a good memory a matter of giftedness or being "a genius"? Not.
• Is being a magician a matter of having paranormal powers? Not.

There are two fundamental keys to developing a good memory:

1-Know how it works

In the same way that we will not be able to use a computer well if we do not know how it works, we will not be able to use our memory well if we do not know how it works.

2-Train, train and train

Just as it makes us a titanic effort to speak in a second language learned the first times we do it, it will be very expensive to memorize a lot of information or very fast the first times we do it.

We will begin by clarifying What is memory? "It is one of the most intriguing complex functions of the brain, consisting of the ability to store

information and remember much of it at will" ².

The other side of the same coin is learning: “the process by which new information is acquired by the nervous system and can be translated into an observable result through changes in behavior” ².

5 Steps to improve your memory

1-Choose your star sensory modality

From the above definitions we can conclude that memory (memorization) and learning always go hand in hand.

As you can see, while the definition of memory talks about the brain, the definition of learning talks about the nervous system. What is the difference?

The nervous system, in addition to many other things like the brain, includes the peripheral sensory systems: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Sensory perception of information is the first step to memorization and learning.

What is the best of them to memorize?

First of all, you should know which is the sensory modality by which it is easier and faster for you to memorize the information you receive. On the other hand, even if you have a “favorite” sensory modality, on some occasions you will have to use another due to the nature of the task or stimulus presented.

Human beings instinctively use the sense of sight for almost everything, this being the most developed sensory modality in our brain (it occupies the entire occipital lobe!).

The sight is so fast and detailed that we can visually perceive a stimulus in less than 100 milliseconds! ³. Also, according to Grill-Spector and Kanwisher, as soon as you know something is there, you know what it is ” ³.

However, is sight the best sensory modality to memorize?

Although sight gives us more and more detailed information, hearing is much faster. It takes between 15 and 30 milliseconds to perceive a stimulus aurally! ⁴

Let's reflect on why the decision is controversial:

How long does it take to memorize the lyrics of a song? How long does it take to memorize a written poem? Which of these two tasks requires more effort?

It is not my intention to marginalize the other senses but, let's face it, we will not use them frequently to memorize because it is very rare that

information is presented to us in the form of smells, tastes or textures.

However, have you ever forgotten what it tastes like? And what does something smell like? Have you ever forgotten what the texture, temperature, etc. of some material?

Evaluate what is your "favorite" sense and, to train!

If we stay at the level of perceived information without doing anything else about it, the information would be stored in "sensory memory".

This information store is specific to the sensory modality, it does not require attention to the source of information for its storage, it has an almost unlimited capacity but only lasts for about 500 milliseconds.

Let's move to the next level, what do we need to do to store the perceived information?

2-Attention and motivation

What did you eat yesterday? What web pages did you visit today? When was the last time it rained?

Try to answer these questions. Surely this is information that you once knew but quickly forgot. Why? Because it is routine information, that you do not need to remember and that you care little.

Equally fascinating and important as our ability to memorize and learn is our ability to forget ².

If we did not systematically forget all the irrelevant information prioritizing what is important, our memory would be a chaos of inaccessible, noisy and unusable information.

How was your first kiss? How does betadine smell? What does the chorus of your favorite song say?

Try to answer these questions. As you remember this information, associated emotions will surely resurface.

These are very difficult memories to forget because they have left a very powerful mark on your memory thanks to the emotion and importance of them.

We see, therefore, that the other side of the coin of memory is oblivion.

What should we do to make sure we remember something? Perceive it and try to store it as if our lives were running out of it.

In our brain there is a set of interconnected and interrelated structures that is called the limbic system. Two fundamental brain structures for memory are part of this system: the hippocampus and the amygdala.

The key to the operation of this strategy is the function of the amygdala to "help" the hippocampus.

In emotional situations, the amygdala and the hippocampus interact in a subtle but important way ⁵. Through this interaction, the amygdala has the power to modulate both the encoding and storage of information by the hippocampus ⁵.

Vulgarly speaking, if the amygdala does not want to, the hippocampus will not store the information and, therefore, you will forget it without being able to do anything about it.

Your role in memorization is to tell your amygdala: "What I am learning right now is of the utmost importance and I have to remember it at all costs."

As I always say, we must not forget that we are animals and, for an animal, what is important always has an emotional content. Have you ever felt that it is

easier to learn what you like and what attracts you?

Once the information has reached the hands of the amygdala, the security guard, we are about to archive the information in a higher-level warehouse than before. This is called "short-term memory."

Short-term memory is the most functionally sophisticated of memory stores available to humans.

However, it is not yet the definitive warehouse because it has two weak points: it has a capacity of 7 +/- 2 items and is only temporarily available for certain information (minutes).

It is in this warehouse where everything happens. Once the amygdala has let the information through the door, everything else is in our hands.

3-The importance of the association

The human capacity to recall relatively meaningless information is surprisingly limited (eg a list of 7 to 9 random numbers). This capacity, however, can be dramatically increased ².

As you will remember, at the beginning of the article I promised you that I would reveal the magic secret of memory. Well then, the time has come. The secret is the association.

The dramatic increase I am talking about is going from memorizing a list of 7 to 9 random numbers to memorizing a list of 1014 random numbers in 15 minutes (or more, who dares to beat the record?).

The secret of association is to give meaning to information and form groups with it. How to group and provide information to numbers?

My favorite strategy is dates, although a lower level strategy could be, for example, ages. You could also use math operations.

Something that we must never forget and what I already talked about, is that human short-term memory has an average store of 5 to 9 elements (the magic number 7 +/- 2) although training, we could reach an amplitude of 12 to 13 elements.

Numbers is the most complex example of memorization given their highly abstract nature. However with words it would be much easier.

With words, it is tremendously easy to form stories, it all depends on our creativity and imagination. I recommend you learn about the Loci method or other mnemonic strategies.

4-Establish memories: the role of repetition

In 2008, the work of Karpicke and Roediger had a great impact on the scientific community. They evaluated the two most widely used learning strategies at the world level: the repetition of information in the form of rereading and the memory of it repeatedly ⁶.

Both are forms of repetition, but their biological nature is completely different. The results were overwhelming and, best of all, it makes sense.

The repetition of the information in the form of rereading is totally useless while the repetition of it in the form of memory improves learning qualitatively and quantitatively (by qualitative I mean that it lasts longer in memory) ⁶.

Why?

To fully understand it I must introduce the concept of habituation.

Do you remember the amygdala? This our friend, does not like the irrelevant. It is a very VIP guard that will only let important information pass. If we reread the same information over and over again, we are asking the amygdala to tell the hippocampus the same thing a thousand times. What will happen? It will bar you from entering.

I'm being very metaphorical but this is exactly what happens. I am going to give a very familiar example.

The first day we carry our mobile (or cell phone) in our pocket, it bothers us and we know at all times that it is there. After two or three days carrying it in the same pocket, we will not realize that we carry it and we will even wonder incessantly, did I drop it?

The same goes for the watch, glasses, rings, etc. This is the phenomenon of habituation. The amygdala will stop telling the hippocampus that it is important.

In fact, he can even tell you the opposite: "don't pay any attention because this is not important, forget it." The hippocampus blindly trusts the amygdala, it has enough work to do.

What is effective then? Repetition through memory!

5-Remembering goes much further: concentration

I suppose you are wondering what does the hippocampus do then? Is it just the amygdala that decides?

The hippocampus deals with long-term potentiation (PLP) and long-term depression among many other fascinating things.

This year I had the pleasure of meeting Kenneth Myer, the current world leader of PLP, who worked in Oslo in Terje Lomo's laboratory at the time of its discovery in 1966 ⁷. It is my pleasure to convey what Myer told you.

PLP is the way in which the mammalian brain stores information.

Although the exact way in which this miracle is achieved and where the information goes is something that is still unknown, it is known that the hippocampus manages, through the rhythmicity of its electrochemical pattern, to create a momentary synchronization that will convert, to the information transmitted synaptically, into something unforgettable.

This can only be achieved if, in some way, we have the necessary concentration.

This is why it is said that to memorize you have to be at a moderate level of activation, that is, neither very anxious, nor very relaxed.

Why then does the repetition of the memory work?

It is information with open doors. So, make the effort to get it back from where it is and empower the amygdala and hippocampus again through their unerring teamwork.

References

1. Purves, A. (2004). Neuroscience. 3rd edit. Sinauer.
2. Grill-Spector, K and Kanwisher, N. (2005). Visual Recognition: as soon as you know it is there, you know that it is. Psychological science.
3. Kraus N, Kileny P, McGee T (1994) The MLR: clinical and theoretical principles. In: Katz J (ed) Handbook of clinical audiology.
4. Phelps, E. (2004). Human emotion and memory: interactions of the amygdala and hippocampal complex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14; 198-202
5. Karpicke, J and Roediger, H. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, vol. 319, no. 5865; pp. 966-968
6. Lomo, T. (2003). The discovery of long-term potentiation. Philosophical Transactions. Royal Society Lond B Biol 358 (1432): 617–620.