Remember As Easy As One, Two, Three

By Brain Training Guide

Stage One: Association

Your brain is an associating machine. We learn best by linking a new piece of information with something we already know.

For example, learning to drive a car with a clutch took most of us quite a while. There were many stalls and times when we would roll back when starting on a hill.

After much practice we mastered the use of the clutch. In fact, we could do it automatically. Then, when we sat in another car with another clutch we were easily able to learn how to use that clutch smoothly and safely.

Why was it so much quicker to learn to use the second clutch? Research says that our brains were able to connect the experience of the first clutch to the learning of the second clutch.

Where else can we find examples of the brain learning and associating with previously learned information? Languages. People who speak many languages say that they become easier and easier to learn. Music. People who play many musical instruments state that learning the second and third instruments was much easier than the first one. Our brains work best when they can make connections with information already learned.

Basically, if you need to learn something new you will learn it more quickly and remember it better by associating it with something you already know.

Step Two: Rehearsal

Practice does make perfect. The active practice is really our brains transferring information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory.

Most of us will be familiar with studying for tests, some of us learned by writing things out over and over, others learned by reading the material several times, and others repeated things out loud over and over until they memorized it.

One reason why people find mnemonics attractive is that mnemonic strategies capitalize on the mind’s ability to learn by association.

Step Three: Retrieval

The final stage of memory is Retrieval. The first two steps focus on putting information INTO your memory. This stage is all about getting information OUT of your memory.

When we forget there are usually two causes. The first cause is a result of us not learning the material in the first place. The second cause is that we can’t recall the information we learned. Have you ever been frustrated with yourself because you know you know something but you can’t remember it at the moment? Well, if you can relate, then you know what it feels like to forget where you placed a memory.

Summary

If you want to improve our memory, begin by realizing the process of learning and remembering involves three separate steps.

When you first learn something new, link it to something you already know. The act of associating something old with something new will help you remember it.

The second step is to rehearse, or review, the information a few times so that it can transfer from your short-term to your long-term memory.

When you need to Retrieve the information, think of the association you made in step one. Thinking and visualizing about the association becomes the link to the memory.

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