Imagine going to each section of the store, and see what it looks like. Because images are more powerful than words, you are apt to remember everything you need at the store as you follow your visualization.

According to a study completed at the University of Sussex, multitasking can actually shrink certain areas of your brain, and is linked to shortened attention spans.

Complete one task and then move on to the next. A study, completed at Massachusetts General Hospital , Harvard Medical School , and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , found that daily mindfulness exercises increased recall and allowed participants to tune out distractions by regulating sensory input.

Some studies have shown that working memory increases with daily exercise. It can also indirectly affect memory by improving mood, helping you sleep better, and reducing stress — areas that can affect cognitive abilities.

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New Issue! Get Back Issues Digital Issues Community New Contest! Guest Blogs Videos Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Home. ADHD Adults Getting Things Done How to Focus. Click to Read 4 Comments 💬. Save Print Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest. What Is Working Memory? The following are examples of how poor working memory affects your daily life: You want to join in a conversation, but, by the time the other person stops talking, you forget what you wanted to say.

You consistently lose your keys, cell phone, or wallet. You get lost easily, even when you were just given directions. You have trouble following a conversation because you forget what the other person has just said. You have many unfinished projects because you become distracted and forget about the first project.

You plan to do some work at home, but you forget to bring needed items with you. You have to reread a paragraph several times to retain the information. You miss deadlines at work because of your disorganization and inability to follow through on projects.

No matter what you do, you need your working memory to help you do it. How to Improve Working Memory Break big chunks of information into small, bite-sized pieces Focus on one or two of them before moving on to the next instruction. Use checklists for tasks with multiple steps You might create a checklist for your first hour at work.

Develop routines Create a routine when you return home from work. Practice working memory skills Use the brain training programs mentioned above or create your own. Experiment with various ways of remembering information You may remember a list more easily if you create a song or make up a rhyme.

Reduce multitasking According to a study completed at the University of Sussex, multitasking can actually shrink certain areas of your brain, and is linked to shortened attention spans. Use mindfulness to minimize distractions and sharpen working memory A study, completed at Massachusetts General Hospital , Harvard Medical School , and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , found that daily mindfulness exercises increased recall and allowed participants to tune out distractions by regulating sensory input.

Add exercise to your daily routine Some studies have shown that working memory increases with daily exercise. Save Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Previous Article Next Article. Perimenopause Problems: How Changing Hormones Exacerbate ADHD Symptoms. Email Address. Balance Ball Chair Buy product.

No matter what you're trying to memorize—a video script, the periodic table of elements, your grocery list—here are 11 memorization techniques you can use to strengthen your memory for any period of time.

If you want to first geek out on how memory works, keep reading. To jump straight to the memorization techniques, click on any of the links below. Acronyms and acrostics. Music mnemonics.

Rhyming mnemonics. Build a memory palace. Write it down. Use spaced repetition. Make visual connections. Share what you're learning. Get more sleep. Move your body. In order to truly appreciate the magic—I mean, science—behind memorization techniques, it's important to understand the basics of how memory works.

Since the intricacies of the human brain are well beyond the scope of this article and this writer's degree in French literature, let's break it down with a heavy assist from some very smart people. As neuroscientist Daphna Shohamy explains , "our memory is basically a record in our brain of something that happened in the past.

Encoding refers to how you learn and understand information. When you attach emotions and meaning to this information—referred to as semantic encoding —you're more likely to remember it and recall it later on. Storage refers to how much information is saved in your brain, where, and for how long.

There are two commonly highlighted memory stores: short-term memory STM and long-term memory LTM. Retrieval refers to how you access your memories. Think of your short-term memory as your brain's scratchpad. It's where your brain temporarily stores information about 15 to 30 seconds before either dismissing it or transferring it to your long-term memory.

In terms of accessing your long-term memories, your brain has four ways of doing this: recall, collection, recognition, and relearning. How your brain retrieves information depends on the availability of external clues or prompts or the lack thereof.

Now that you understand the basics of how memory works, you can use that information to improve your memory. Mnemonic devices are learning strategies used to boost your memory.

Whether or not you realize it, you probably use mnemonics in your daily life to help you retain and recall information. I'll start with some of the most common mnemonic devices before moving on to other memorization tactics.

You may already be familiar with acronyms and acrostics as a mnemonic device. This method requires you to create a new word or group of words by taking the first letter of each word and putting them together. For example, to remember the names of the planets in our solar system, you might use this acrostic mnemonic: m y v ery e ducated m other j ust s erved u s n oodles.

In this example, the first letter of each word corresponds with the first letter of each planet, respectively. My partner knows all the words to House of Pain's Jump Around —yet he can't remember what I asked him to pick up from the grocery store an hour ago. Because it's easier to remember a catchy song than it is to remember a long string of meaningless words or letters, such as a grocery list yelled to you while you're halfway out the door.

The next time you need to remember something, try pairing that information with a tune you're already familiar with. And if you just so happen to need help memorizing the periodic table of elements, look no further than the periodic table song. Similar to music mnemonics, rhyming mnemonics take advantage of catchy beats and patterns created by ending each line with a rhyme to help you retain information.

Here's a rhyming mnemonic I still use to this day to help avoid spelling errors: "I before E except after C. Sadly, clever rhymes don't come naturally to me. If you're in the same boat, here's a little trick: let AI-powered tools like ChatGPT do the heavy lifting for you.

Have you ever repeated a phone number out loud by grouping numbers together? For example, "six, four, seven, triple five, eleven, twenty-one" instead of "". This is chunking. It's another mnemonic device that involves grouping individual pieces of information—like long strings of numbers—into larger, more memorable groups.

And chunking isn't just limited to aiding the memorization of numbers. Another practical application of chunking would be grouping items on your grocery list by aisle. Or if you're learning a new language, grouping new vocabulary words together by category.

The memory palace technique, also known as the Method of Loci, is another popular mnemonic device. This technique involves mentally mapping out a physical space you're familiar with a memory palace and "placing" images representing the information you're memorizing in various spots or loci.

Loci is the plural form of locus , which means "place" or "location. Choose your memory palace. Select a space that you're incredibly familiar with e.

Identify distinct loci throughout your palace. Mentally walk through your palace, and pick different locations where you can "place" unique images more on that in step 3. For example, the door to your coat closet, the lamp in your living room, and the dog bed in your guest room.

Assign images to specific locations. Let's say you're trying to remember this grocery list: milk, chocolate chip cookies, and bananas. Place images of each of those items at your chosen locations. Or, to make it more memorable, create vivid images representing each item and place those at different locations.

The more animated and outrageous, the better. For example, you could picture a waterfall of milk pouring over your closet door, your living room lamp teetering on top of a mountain of chocolate chip cookies, and a dog juggling bananas while standing on its bed. While this technique may sound absurd, it does work.

Just take it from five-time USA Memory Champion Nelson Dellis , who uses the memory palace technique to help him quickly remember a full deck of cards, in sequence. Reciting information is a useful way to memorize something fast because it forces you to actively engage with the information as opposed to passively taking everything in , which, in turn, increases your ability to remember and recall it later on.

Here are some practical ways to add reciting to your memorization toolkit. While typing your notes might be faster and more convenient, especially if you have to take in a lot of information, there are advantages to doing things the old-fashioned way i.

In a study , researchers Pam A. Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer examined the effects on learning and retention when students took notes by hand versus on a laptop. In terms of generative note-taking e. The researchers suggest two possible reasons. First, there are fewer possible distractions, such as checking emails or social media, when writing notes.

Second, generative note-taking encourages students to reframe the information into their own words, which aids in encoding. Spaced repetition is a memorization technique that involves reviewing the same information at increasing intervals until that information is embedded into your long-term memory.

If you've ever tried to learn a new language using apps like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, you've used spaced repetition. Here's a simple way to apply this technique. Let's say you're learning another language and you need help remembering new vocabulary.

Write the word in your native tongue on a flashcard. Or, to make it more fun, sketch an image of the word. Then review the flashcards daily. As you become more consistent recalling your new vocabulary words, you can increase the time between reviews from daily to weekly to monthly.

If you need to create a lot of flashcards, you can also use apps, like Quizlet , to do the heavy lifting for you. Tapping into the power of imagery and storytelling can significantly boost your memory because it encourages you to establish stronger connections with the information you're trying to remember.

New Issue! Get Back Issues Digital Issues Community New Contest! Guest Blogs Videos Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Home. ADHD Adults Getting Things Done How to Focus. Click to Read 4 Comments 💬.

Save Print Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest. What Is Working Memory? The following are examples of how poor working memory affects your daily life: You want to join in a conversation, but, by the time the other person stops talking, you forget what you wanted to say.

You consistently lose your keys, cell phone, or wallet. You get lost easily, even when you were just given directions. You have trouble following a conversation because you forget what the other person has just said.

You have many unfinished projects because you become distracted and forget about the first project. You plan to do some work at home, but you forget to bring needed items with you.

You have to reread a paragraph several times to retain the information. You miss deadlines at work because of your disorganization and inability to follow through on projects.

No matter what you do, you need your working memory to help you do it. How to Improve Working Memory Break big chunks of information into small, bite-sized pieces Focus on one or two of them before moving on to the next instruction.

Use checklists for tasks with multiple steps You might create a checklist for your first hour at work. Develop routines Create a routine when you return home from work. Practice working memory skills Use the brain training programs mentioned above or create your own.

Experiment with various ways of remembering information You may remember a list more easily if you create a song or make up a rhyme. Reduce multitasking According to a study completed at the University of Sussex, multitasking can actually shrink certain areas of your brain, and is linked to shortened attention spans.

Use mindfulness to minimize distractions and sharpen working memory A study, completed at Massachusetts General Hospital , Harvard Medical School , and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , found that daily mindfulness exercises increased recall and allowed participants to tune out distractions by regulating sensory input.

Add exercise to your daily routine Some studies have shown that working memory increases with daily exercise. Save Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Previous Article Next Article. Perimenopause Problems: How Changing Hormones Exacerbate ADHD Symptoms. Email Address.

Balance Ball Chair Buy product. It's another mnemonic device that involves grouping individual pieces of information—like long strings of numbers—into larger, more memorable groups.

And chunking isn't just limited to aiding the memorization of numbers. Another practical application of chunking would be grouping items on your grocery list by aisle. Or if you're learning a new language, grouping new vocabulary words together by category.

The memory palace technique, also known as the Method of Loci, is another popular mnemonic device. This technique involves mentally mapping out a physical space you're familiar with a memory palace and "placing" images representing the information you're memorizing in various spots or loci.

Loci is the plural form of locus , which means "place" or "location. Choose your memory palace. Select a space that you're incredibly familiar with e. Identify distinct loci throughout your palace.

Mentally walk through your palace, and pick different locations where you can "place" unique images more on that in step 3. For example, the door to your coat closet, the lamp in your living room, and the dog bed in your guest room.

Assign images to specific locations. Let's say you're trying to remember this grocery list: milk, chocolate chip cookies, and bananas. Place images of each of those items at your chosen locations. Or, to make it more memorable, create vivid images representing each item and place those at different locations.

The more animated and outrageous, the better. For example, you could picture a waterfall of milk pouring over your closet door, your living room lamp teetering on top of a mountain of chocolate chip cookies, and a dog juggling bananas while standing on its bed.

While this technique may sound absurd, it does work. Just take it from five-time USA Memory Champion Nelson Dellis , who uses the memory palace technique to help him quickly remember a full deck of cards, in sequence.

Reciting information is a useful way to memorize something fast because it forces you to actively engage with the information as opposed to passively taking everything in , which, in turn, increases your ability to remember and recall it later on.

Here are some practical ways to add reciting to your memorization toolkit. While typing your notes might be faster and more convenient, especially if you have to take in a lot of information, there are advantages to doing things the old-fashioned way i. In a study , researchers Pam A.

Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer examined the effects on learning and retention when students took notes by hand versus on a laptop. In terms of generative note-taking e. The researchers suggest two possible reasons. First, there are fewer possible distractions, such as checking emails or social media, when writing notes.

Second, generative note-taking encourages students to reframe the information into their own words, which aids in encoding. Spaced repetition is a memorization technique that involves reviewing the same information at increasing intervals until that information is embedded into your long-term memory.

If you've ever tried to learn a new language using apps like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, you've used spaced repetition. Here's a simple way to apply this technique. Let's say you're learning another language and you need help remembering new vocabulary.

Write the word in your native tongue on a flashcard. Or, to make it more fun, sketch an image of the word. Then review the flashcards daily.

As you become more consistent recalling your new vocabulary words, you can increase the time between reviews from daily to weekly to monthly. If you need to create a lot of flashcards, you can also use apps, like Quizlet , to do the heavy lifting for you.

Tapping into the power of imagery and storytelling can significantly boost your memory because it encourages you to establish stronger connections with the information you're trying to remember.

Here are some practical ways to do this. The use of visual stimuli is a common method used to learn and recall information. Here are some strategies you can use to enhance your visual memory. Turn the sound of names into images. If you have difficulty remembering people's names , try connecting their names with an image.

For example, if a stranger introduces himself as Mike, you might picture him holding a microphone. Animate the images. Similar to creating visuals for your memory palace, the more animated and vivid you can make your images, the better.

Doing this creates stronger connections in your brain between the word and the image. Continuing with the name train, let's take the name Melanie.

For this, you might visualize the person dressed in a gi, crushing a melon against their knee. I bet you won't forget that visual anytime soon. Let's say you're going to a dog training seminar.

Your best friend has a dog, and they want you to share some of your key takeaways after. So you furiously scribble down notes, ask questions, and scribble some more. This goes to the heart of the Protégé Effect , which suggests that people put in more effort to learn information when they know they're going to teach it to someone else.

Thank you for subscribing! Sorry something went wrong with your subscription Please, try again in a couple of minutes Retry. Show references Understanding memory loss: What to do when you have trouble remembering. National Institute on Aging. Accessed Nov. Larson EB. Risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia.

Livingston G, et al. Dementia prevention, intervention, and care. The Lancet. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Department of Health and Human Services. Watson NF, et al. Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: A joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society.

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Can I prevent dementia? Reducing your risk of dementia. Dementia risk reduction. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sleep apnea.

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Quiz yourself or ask a study partner to quiz you for additional practice in repetition and recall. Other popular mnemonics that can help you memorize content are acronyms and chunking.

Another way to commit new information to memory is by building a memory palace — a mnemonic device that associates information to be remembered with familiar locations or landmarks.

Read more: Improve Your Memory by Building a Memory Palace. Spacing out study sessions over time — a practice known as spaced repetition — has been shown to improve retention compared to cramming.

This technique involves reviewing material at gradually increasing intervals to reinforce learning and retention. Some of the strategies mentioned can be accessed right from your phone or computer. From flashcards you can build online to brain game apps you can download, technology is a tool that can help improve your memory.

If you do happen to forget, you know exactly where to look. Develop your capacity to learn with Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects from Deep Teaching Solutions. Interested in learning more about memory and memory techniques?

Dive into the scientific study of human memory with Understanding Memory: Explaining the Psychology of Memory through Movies from Wesleyan University. Both options on Coursera help you improve your memory and understand deeply how our brain works. Zhang, Jianfen, et al.

National Library of Medicine. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

What is memory? Can we control our memory? Here are a few favorites to test out:. Read more about games to improve and strengthen executive functioning skills for kids and teens. Have you ever considered how we can more easily remember song lyrics than text from a book? When we put words and information into a song, it can more easily be held in our brains for the short- and long-term.

Try making up a song about what homework needs to be finished or the steps to clean a room. Silly as it might sound, it just might work! Working memory is closely related to attention , given that it is considerably more difficult to juggle information in your brain when you are less focused.

Consider what some common distractions are friends, television, phone and come up with strategies for reducing them. Teach Coping Skills to Manage Stress.

While not directly related to working memory skills, kids and teens need strategies to help them manage stress in the moment. This is important because it can be stressful and overwhelming to work through challenges with any executive functioning needs.

Kids and teens and even adults cannot think clearly when stressed and overwhelmed. Teach and practice coping skills to help kids stay calm. These strategies might including using positive self-talk , writing in a journal, or reading.

Use this free coping strategies poster to practice and discuss some coping skills. Routines are structured and sequential activities to help get a task done. When we develop routines, we take the guess work out of tasks. This ultimately leaves more mental space for other more challenging things.

For example, a homework routine might include sitting down at the desk at pm, taking the homework log out, checking assignments, and starting right away.

This gives kids and teens a boost to finishing the assignments by taking the organization and planning piece out of the equation. Routines need to be practiced and practiced again. Further, routines really can be developed for anything from brushing our teeth at night to gathering materials for school the night before.

Just a few examples are:. Having conversations involves working memory because we have to think about what the other person is saying while also considering how we want to respond. With this, group chats are a healthy, fun, and meaningful way to boost working memory skills while also building relationships of course.

Mindfulness helps calm the body and mind. Recent research has shown that mindfulness training can help reduce stress and have a positive impact on working memory abilities.

A few ways to give mindfulness a try include:. One final note: Not every strategy will work for every student. Give a few a try. Teach, practice, and discuss them to see what works for your learners along the way.

I love this as a mum of 2 dyslexic children working memory has always been a challenge! Is there a link to the working memory poster? Any ideas. Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Share via: Facebook 0 Twitter Print Email More. Share this:. More Posts. 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.

Sometimes even just making flashcards of various terms you need to remember can help cement the information in your mind.

When you're studying unfamiliar material, take the time to think about how this information relates to what 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.

Use this approach in your own studies by teaching new concepts and information to a friend or study partner. Have you ever noticed how it's sometimes easier to remember the information at the beginning or end of a chapter? Researchers have found that the order 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. Another strategy is to try restructuring what you have learned so it will be easier to remember.

When you come across an especially difficult concept, devote some extra time to memorizing the information. Another great way to increase your recall is to occasionally change your study routine.

If you're accustomed to studying in one specific location, try moving to a different spot during your next study session. If you study in the evening, try spending 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. Researchers have long known that sleep is important for memory and learning.

Research has shown that taking a nap after you learn something new can actually help you learn faster and remember better. In fact, one study published in found that sleeping after learning something new actually leads to physical changes in the brain. Sleep-deprived mice experienced less dendritic growth following a learning task than well-rested mice.

So the next time you're struggling to learn new information, consider getting a good night's sleep after you study. Research suggests that both the Mediterranean and MIND diets may help prevent memory loss issues, and each of these dietary eating plans is rich in veggies, whole grains, and fish.

Many factors can contribute to memory issues, some of which include certain medical conditions, medication side effects, diet, head injury, and more. Winerman L. Study smart.

American Psychological Association. Manning JR, Kahana MJ. Interpreting semantic clustering effects in free recall. Forrin ND, Macleod CM. This time it's personal: the memory benefit of hearing oneself.

Cortis Mack C, Cinel C, Davies N, Harding M, Ward G. Serial position, output order, and list length effects for words presented on smartphones over very long intervals. J Mem Lang. Yang G, Lai CS, Cichon J, Ma L, Li W, Gan WB. Sleep promotes branch-specific formation of dendritic spines after learning.

National Institute on Aging. What do we know about diet and prevention of Alzheimer's disease? Do memory problems always mean Alzheimer's disease? By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book.

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