|
|
 |
[ 50 Item(s) displayed from page 112 ]
| Quotations - Learn | [Quote No.69377] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"The principal activities of brains are making changes in themselves." - Marvin Minsky
(1927 - 2016), American cognitive and computer scientist concerned largely with research of artificial intelligence, co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AI laboratory, and author of several texts concerning AI and philosophy.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69381] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Mistakes are part of your life; it is impossible to live a mistake-free life! You have made mistakes and you shall make mistakes! Just let them be fewer and smaller!" - Mehmet Murat Ildan
21st century Turkish playwright, novelist and thinker.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69390] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Universe is a giant wave and mankind needs a giant breakwater: ...science [objective truth about Nature]!" - Mehmet Murat Ildan
(1965 - ), Turkish playwright, novelist and thinker.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69392] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Intense feeling too often obscures the truth. [So more light and less heat!]" - Harry S. Truman
US President
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69394] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Skepticism, doubt and questions begin the search for objective truth:] Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance." - George Bernard Shaw
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69403] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"In science the important thing is to modify and change one's ideas as science [theory and proof] advances." - Herbert Spencer
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69407] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us." - Socrates
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69408] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"We have to be willing to wrestle with paradox in pursuing understanding." - Harold Evans
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69409] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Good ideas are elusive and must be captured in flight.... Jot down a good thought the moment after it lights up your mind.
" - Henry Hazlett
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69416] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"I think the prime reason for existence, for living in this world, is discovery." - James Dean
(1931- 1955), American actor.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69458] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Freedom of thought, speech, expression and press versus censorship and propaganda:] Only oppression should fear the full exercise of freedom.
" - Jose Marti y Perez
(1853-1895)
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69461] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Freedom of thought, speech, expression and press versus censorship and propaganda:-] The freedom to express varying and often opposing ideas is essential to a variety of conceptions of democracy. If democracy is viewed as essentially a process – a way in which collective decisions for a society are made – free expression is crucial to the openness of the process and to such characteristics as elections, representation of interests, and the like." - Jonathan D. Casper
The Politics of Civil Liberties, 1972.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69462] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Freedom of thought, speech, expression and press versus censorship and propaganda:] The loss of liberty in general would soon follow the suppression of the liberty of the press; for it is an essential branch of liberty, so perhaps it is the best preservative of the whole." - John Peter Zenger
(1697-1746), German printer and journalist in New York City. Zenger printed The New York Weekly Journal. He was accused of libel in 1734 by William Cosby, the royal governor of New York, but the jury acquitted Zenger, who became a symbol for freedom of the press. This quote was from 1733.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69466] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Look closely... See with new eyes...
Don't just pass by what is familiar without a thought.
Pay attention and look closely.
There is beauty - there is discovery -
there in a whole new world hiding
beneath the face of the familiar.
Your Close Attention Will Be Richly Repaid!" - Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69468] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking." - Haruki Murakami
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69473] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[While it were best if it were simple, logical and clear, often it seems...] Philosophy is the ungainly attempt to tackle questions that come naturally to children, using methods that come naturally to lawyers." - David Hills
He is a philosopher, working as regular faculty in the Department of Philosophy, Stanford University, USA.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69474] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Authority must always be questioned; hypotheses can never be taken for granted; truths must be demonstrated or they are not truths at all. For only beginning with skepticism and doubt can build the solid structure of the objective truth that empowers and frees us from the false limits to achieving our desires for good. Therefore the following motto of The Royal Society, which has been at the forefront of scientific endeavour for more than 350 years, since receiving its royal charter from Charles II in 1662,which is Latin for 'on the word of no one':] 'nullius in verba'." - The Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69479] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"If you aren't sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better!" - John Carmack
American computer programmer and video game developer. He co-founded the video game company id Software and was the lead programmer of its 1990s games Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, and their sequels.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69484] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth.
" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69501] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"There are in fact [at least] four very different stumbling blocks in the way of grasping the truth ... the example of weak and unworthy authority, longstanding custom, the feeling of the ignorant crowd, and the hiding of our own ignorance while making a display of our apparent knowledge." - Roger Bacon
(circa 1214 - 1294) English Philosopher.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69505] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Only the educated are free [to make truly informed choices so long as they are also free from force or fraud]." - Epictetus
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69507] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[For objective truth about nature and life:] The ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment...not authority." - Thomas Huxley
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69521] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Be a continuous learning machine." - Charlie Munger
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69536] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"We don't know where we're going, we don't know what's going to happen, but no one can take away from you what you put in your own mind [your chosen 'mindscape' of what you enjoy and understand to be true]!" - Edith Eger
(1927 - ), Edith Eva 'Edie' Eger is a psychologist practicing in the United States. Born to Hungarian Jewish parents, she is a Holocaust survivor and a specialist in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Her memoirs entitled 'The Choice - Embrace the Possible', published in 2017, became an international bestseller.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69539] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Powerful Study and Learning Methods:
1-The SQ3R Method:
The SQ3R method is a reading comprehension technique that helps students identify important facts and retain information within their textbook. SQ3R (or SQRRR) is an acronym that stands for the five steps of the reading comprehension process. Try these steps for a more efficient and effective study session:
Survey: Instead of reading the entire book, start by skimming the first chapter and taking notes on any headings, subheadings, images, or other standout features like charts.
Question: Formulate questions around the chapter’s content, such as, What is this chapter about? What do I already know about this subject?
Read: Begin reading the full chapter and look for answers to the questions you formulated.
Recite: After reading a section, summarize in your own words what you just read. Try recalling and identifying major points and answering any questions from the second step.
Review: Once you have finished the chapter, it's important to review the material to fully understand it. Quiz yourself on the questions you created and re-read any portions you need to.
2-The PQ4R Method:
This method takes an active approach to learning that improves memorization and understanding of the topic. Similar to the SQ3R method above, PQ4R is an acronym that stands for the six steps in the process.
Preview: Preview the information before you start reading to get an idea of the subject. Skim the material and read only the headers, subheadings, and highlighted text.
Question: Ask yourself questions related to the topic, such as, What do I expect to learn? What do I already know about this topic?
Read: Read the information one section at a time and try to identify answers to your questions.
Reflect: Did you answer all of your questions? If not, go back and see if you can find the answer.
Recite: In your own words, either speak or write down a summary of the information you just read.
Review: Look over the material one more time and answer any questions that have not yet been answered.
3-The Feynman Technique:
The Feynman Technique is an efficient method of learning a concept quickly by explaining it in plain and simple terms. It's based on the idea, 'If you want to understand something well, try to explain it simply.' What that means is, by attempting to explain a concept in our own words, we are likely to understand it a lot faster.
How it works:
3a-Write the subject/concept you are studying at the top of a sheet of paper.
3b-Then, explain it in your own words as if you were teaching someone else.
3c-Review what you wrote and identify any areas where you were wrong. Once you have identified them, go back to your notes or reading material and figure out the correct answer.
3d-Lastly, if there are any areas in your writing where you used technical terms or complex language, go back and rewrite these sections in simpler terms for someone who doesn't have the educational background you have.
4-Retrieval Practice:
Retrieval practice is based on the concept of remembering at a later time. Recalling an answer to a question improves learning more than looking for the answer in your textbook. And, remembering and writing down the answer to a flashcard is a lot more effective than thinking you know the answer and flipping the card over early.
If you practice retrieval, you are more likely to remember the information later on. Below are some ways you can implement the retrieval process into your study routine.
Utilize practice tests: Use practice tests or questions to quiz yourself, without looking at your book or notes.
Make your own questions: Be your own teacher and create questions you think would be on a test. If you're in a study group, encourage others to do the same, and trade questions.
Use flashcards: Create flashcards, but make sure to practice your retrieval technique. Instead of flipping a card over prematurely, write the answer down and then check.
5-Spaced Practice:
Spaced practice (also known as 'distributed practice') encourages students to study over a longer period of time instead of cramming the night before. When our brains almost forget something, they work harder to recall that information. Spacing out your studying allows your mind to make connections between ideas and build upon the knowledge that can be easily recalled later.
To try this technique, review your material in spaced intervals similar to the schedule below:
-Day 1: Learn the material in class.
-Day 2: Revisit and review.
-Day 3: Revisit and review.
-After one week: Revisit and review.
-After two weeks: Revisit and review.
It's important to start planning early. At the beginning of each semester, schedule some time each day just for studying and reviewing the material. Even if your exams are months away, this will help you hold yourself accountable.
6-Mind Mapping:
If you're a visual learner, try mind mapping, a technique that allows you to visually organize information in a diagram. First, you write a word in the center of a blank page. From there, you write major ideas and keywords and connect them directly to the central concept. Other related ideas will continue to branch out.
The structure of a mind map is related to how our brains store and retrieve information. Mind mapping your notes instead of just writing them down can improve your reading comprehension. It also enables you to see the big picture by communicating the hierarchy and relationships between concepts and ideas.
So, how do you do it?
Grab a blank sheet of paper (or use a tool online) and write your study topic in the center, such as 'child development.'
Connect one of your main ideas (i.e., a chapter of your book or notes) to the main topic, such as 'developmental stages.'
Connect sub-branches of supporting ideas to your main branch. This is the association of ideas. For example, 'Sensorimotor,' 'Preoperational,' 'Concrete operational,' and 'Formal operational.'
TIP: Use different colors for each branch and draw pictures if it helps.
" - usa.edu
[Refer https://www.usa.edu/blog/study-techniques/ ]
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69549] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." - Marie Curie
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69551] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Once we [realize we] are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our mind, our duty is to furnish it well. [Just as we try to create a beautiful, stimulating and supportive physical home, so we should also try to create the best 'mindscape' of attitudes, knowledge and skills for our inner life, that supports us living our best life for the good of us all.]" - Peter Ustinov
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69555] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Poem about the search for objective truth:]
Errors like straws upon the surface flow:
Who would search for pearls must dive below.
" - John Dryden
(1631-1700), poet and dramatist.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69548] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Powerful Study and Learning Methods - improving your memory:]
...
The Science of Memory:
First, let's talk about how memory works, so we can understand the science behind these memorization techniques.
If memory - or how our brains make and recall memories--seems mysterious to you, you're not alone. Scientists and philosophers have been trying to figure out how human memory works [1] for at least 2,000 years - and they're still making new discoveries. For example, in 2016, British scientists won the largest prize for neuroscience in the world (1 million Euros) for their work on memory [2] - the discovery of a protein in the brain that plays a key part in memory formation and memory loss. There's still lots to discover and understand.
Still, we do know that there are basically three stages or steps to memory processing: encoding, storage, and recall.
-1- Encoding:
The first step to creating a memory is called encoding: It's when you notice an event or come across a piece of information and your brain consciously perceives the sounds, images, physical feeling, or other sensory details involved.
Let's take, for example, your first trip to Las Vegas. Your memory of that event is formed by your visual system (noticing extravagantly designed buildings and lush landscaping, for example), your auditory system (the ringing of the slot machines), and perhaps smell (the distinctive scents pumped into each casino [3]).
'Research suggests we remember things better and retain them longer when we associate meaning to them using semantic encoding.'
If you attach meaning or factual knowledge to any of this sensory input, that's called semantic encoding. For example, if you associate the Bellagio Resort and Casino in Vegas with its location on a map or the fact that the dancing fountain show takes place every 30 minutes, you're encoding the Bellagio with semantic memory.
This is good to know because research suggests [4] we remember things better and retain them longer when we associate meaning to them using semantic encoding.
-2- Storage:
All of these little bits and pieces of information are then stored in different areas of your brain. Your neurons (the nerve cells in your brain) pass signals to each other about what you perceived, effectively 'talking' with each other and building either temporary or long-lasting connections. It's that neural activity and the strength of those connections that make a memory, neuroscientists believe.
There are two kinds of memory: short-term and long-term. Short-term or working memory is like your brain's scratchpad. It's when your brain temporarily stores information before either dismissing it or transferring it to long-term memory - for example, remembering what you want to order for lunch before calling the takeout place. Once your food is delivered and eaten, your brain can let go of that info. Long-term memories are those memories you hold on to for a few days or many years - things like how to ride a bike or the first dinner you had with the first person you fell in love with.
Both kinds of memories can weaken with age [5] because the brain loses cells critical to those connections between neurons over time - but that's not inevitable. As with muscle strength, you can exercise your brain; with memory, it's 'use it or lose it.'
-3- Recall
And finally, to retrieve a memory, your brain 'replays' or revisits the nerve pathways created when the memory was formed. Repeatedly recalling information helps strengthen those connections and your memories, which is why techniques like reviewing your notes or using flashcards help you retain information.
However, when you remember something, it's not an exact reproduction of the first time you experienced an event or came across a fact, because your own awareness of the current situation gets mixed in with the memory. As The Human Memory [6] explains:
'Memories are not frozen in time, and new information and suggestions may become incorporated into old memories over time. Thus, remembering can be thought of as an act of creative reimagination.'
That's also why people can have false memories, or their memories of events might change over time.
Now that we know some of how memory works, we can use that understanding to improve our memory. We'll start with the lifestyle changes we can make, since they can improve more than just our memory, and then go over specific memorization techniques.
Lifestyle Changes That Can Improve Your Memory:
In general, increasing your overall health with better sleep, regular exercise, and better nutrition will improve your brain health--including memory - -as well as your physical health. These three things will give you the biggest bang for your buck in preventing memory loss and improving your memory overall.
1. Sleep on It
Here's an easy way to boost your memory: Get a good night's sleep or take a power nap after learning something new. One research study [7] found that people who slept for 8 hours after learning new faces and names were better able to remember them compared to those who didn't get the sleep opportunity. And in an analysis of two research datasets [8], psychologist Nicolas Dumay determined that not only does sleep protect our brains from forgetting memories, it also helps us retrieve memories better.
Why is this? It appears that sleep 'resets' our brains [9] and is critical for memory and learning. If you're sleep-deprived, the brain's neurons become over-connected with so much electrical activity that new memories can't be saved.
So this makes the case against late-night cramming for a test or staying up all night to rehearse your presentation. As the New York Times explains [10]:
'Hit the hay at your regular time; don't stay up late checking Instagram. Studies have found that the first half of the night contains the richest dose of so-called deep sleep — the knocked-out-cold variety — and this is when the brain consolidates facts and figures and new words. This is retention territory, and without it (if we stay up too late), we're foggier the next day on those basic facts.'
Naps count too! Researchers found that taking a nap of about 45-60 minutes immediately after learning something new could boost your memory 500%. [11]
So sleep on it. If your boss or co-workers catch you napping at work, just show them these findings.
2. Get Moving
Just as sleep is important for both your physical and mental health, so too is that other pillar of health: exercise.
Our brains rely on oxygen to function properly, and to get that oxygen, we need a healthy flow of oxygen-rich blood to our brains. Guess what? Exercise improves blood flow to the brain. Researchers at the National Institute on Ageing discovered that aerobic exercise, such as running, is linked with improved memory [12]. Exercise such as this triggers high levels of a protein called cathepsin B, which travels to the brain to trigger neuron growth and new connections in the hippocampus, an area in the brain believed to be critical for memory. The tests were done on mice, monkeys, and 43 sedentary university students who were forced to get fit for the study. Those subjects with the largest improvements in memory? You guessed it: those with the largest increase in cathepsin B after physical activity.
Don't rush to get your running shoes on just yet, though. After studying or learning something new, it might pay to wait [13]. Exercising about 4 hours after learning might be better for improving memory [14] than exercising immediately after. Scientists are still unsure why delaying exercise is more effective than working out immediately, but perhaps our brains need time to soak in new information before that brain-boosting exercise.
3. Improve Your Diet
We don't mean to sound like your mom or doctor with all this advice, but here's the last lifestyle-based recommendation: Eat healthier.
You've probably guessed it, but saturated and trans fats - the kind you get from red meat and butter - are linked to poorer memory. Just as cholesterol can build up in your heart's arteries, it can build up in your brain. Harvard Health explains [15]:
'The buildup of cholesterol plaques in brain blood vessels can damage brain tissue, either through small blockages that cause silent strokes, or a larger, more catastrophic stroke. Either way, brain cells are deprived of the oxygen-rich blood they need to function normally, which can compromise thinking and memory.'
Diets such as the Mediterranean diet, which consists mostly of vegetables and fruit, olive oil, seafood, and nuts - rich in healthy unsaturated fats - have been linked in numerous studies [16] to improvements in memory and lower rates of memory decline.
Ready to feed your brain? Here's the Mayo Clinic's guide to getting started with the Mediterranean diet [17].
Mnemonics Help You Remember More:
Beyond living a healthy lifestyle, specific memory techniques will help you better remember details of anything you're learning. 'Mnemonics' refers to any system or device designed to aid memory - usually, patterns of letters, ideas, or associations, such as ROYGBIV to remember the colors of the rainbow.
Here are some of the most common and helpful mnemonics:
4. Try Common Mnemonics
The most common mnemonics help you quickly remember words or phrases. For example, to remember the order of the planets orbiting the sun, you might have learned in grade school "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" (where the first letter of each word stands for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, respectively).
Here are some other examples:
--Acronyms or Expression Mnemonics: Similar to the planetary example above, thinking "Every Good Boy Does Fine" can help you remember the lines of the treble clef in music (EGBDF).
--Music Mnemonics: Music is a powerful mnemonic because it provides a structure for information and encourages repetition. It's a lot easier to remember a catchy song than it is to remember a long string of words or letters, such as your bank account password. (It's also why advertisers often use jingles to make their messages stick in your head. Don't get me started with that Kars4Kids jingle [18].) You probably learned the alphabet through the ABC song, and if you're studying a popular subject, chances are there's a song for that, like learning the 50 states in the USA with the Fifty Nifty United States song [19] or learning all the elements with the periodic table song [20].
--Rhyming Mnemonics: Perhaps you're familiar with the rhyme that starts with '30 days hath September, April, June, and November'? Rhymes are similar to music mnemonics. When the end of every line rhymes, it creates a song-like pattern that's easy to remember. One expression I learned from watching a cooking show: 'Looks the same, cooks the same' - a reminder to chop and dice ingredients uniformly for even cooking.
--The Rhyming Peg System: You can use number rhymes to memorize a list of items using the 'peg system' [21] (also known as the 'hook system'). In this system, for each number, you memorize an image of a word that rhymes with it. That image provides a 'hook' or 'peg' for things you want to remember, especially in order.
So, for example, let's say you had a grocery list of items to buy: milk, cookies, bananas, and bacon. With the peg system, you'd:
-1-First learn or create the rhyming peg. One = bun. Two = zoo. Three = tree. Four = Door. And so on.
-2-Form a vivid mental image of the rhyming object for each number. (What does that bread bun look like? What kind of shoe is it? What color are the leaves on the tree? What kind of hardware does the door have?)
-3-For each item on your grocery list, picture the rhyming object with your list item. For example, if the first item on your list is 'milk,' 'one' = 'bun', so envision a container of milk being squeezed between a giant bun of bread. Then see a box of cookies falling into a lion's cage at the zoo, a maple tree inside the store with bananas hanging off of a branch, and slices of bacon stuffed in the mailbox slot of a black door.
It takes some work and creativity to memorize a list this way, but you'll retain that information much longer than if you just tried to memorize the words in order. And once you've got the basic rhyming peg down, you can reuse this for any future lists.
Resources: Check out hundreds of mnemonic devices [22] you can use in everyday life or to learn a new subject.
5. Create a Memory Palace
'The number one technique that we top memory athletes use is still and will always be the memory palace. If someone were to learn one thing, it should be that.' - Nelson Dellis, four-time USA Memory Champion
The memory palace is a mnemonic device that's as tried-and-true as it gets - and deserves a section of its own. Invented by orators in ancient Roman and Greek times, the memory palace (or mind palace or 'method of loci') technique is both effective and enjoyable to use, whether you're trying to remember a speech you have to give, details of a case you're working on (a la Sherlock Holmes [23]), or your grocery list. In fact, four-time USA Memory Champion Nelson Dellis [24] - who claims to have an average memory - says that 'The number one technique that we top memory athletes use is still and will always be the memory palace. If someone were to learn one thing, it should be that.'
With the memory palace technique, you associate a location you're familiar with - such as your apartment, the block you grew up on, or the route you take to work or school - with the items you're trying to remember. It works because you're visually pegging (or 'placing') representations of what you want to remember in places you already have strong memories of.
To use the memory palace technique:
-1-Imagine yourself standing your memory palace. Your home is a great one to start with, even if it's not a palace.
-2-Mentally walk through this palace noticing distinctive features you can use to store things you want to remember. Each stop on that path is a 'loci' you can peg the idea or object to. For example, your front door might be one loci, the table in your foyer a second loci, a lamp in your living room another. Commit those features to memory so when you think of your palace, the route and objects in it will be imprinted in your mind.
-3-Associate what you need to remember with the loci in your palace. If you had a grocery list, for example, at the front door you could picture milk flooding over the door from the inside, like a waterfall of milk. Then you get to the foyer and the table is buckling under the weight of all the chocolate chip cookies stacked on it to the ceiling. And instead of a lightbulb in your living room lamp, you see fluorescent yellow bananas.
It sounds pretty absurd, but as we'll discuss in more detail later, the more visual [colorful, big, etc], animated [exaggerated], and outrageous [emotional, funny, rude, sexy, etc] you can make [clearly visualize-imagine] your memories, the better.
Here's a video [25] from 2016 World Memory Championship winner Alex Mullen [26] describing in great detail how to 'attach' words to objects and locations in with the memory palace technique. You'll find yourself remembering these 20 words long after you watch the video.
6. Remember More with Chunking
Chunking is another mnemonic device that can make large amounts of information more memorable. You probably use it already. To remember or share a phone number, chances are you chunk the numbers so they're easier to remember: '888' '555' '0000' - rather than the more memory-intensive '8 8 8 5 5 5 0 0 0 0'. Research suggests that on average the human brain can hold 4 different items in its working (short-term) memory. But by grouping information into smaller sets, we can 'hack the limits of our working memory,' as The Atlantic puts it [27], to remember more.
The chunking technique [28] involves grouping items, finding patterns in them, and organizing the items. You might group items on your grocery list by aisle, for example, or look for connections between events in a historical period to create chunks of them, such as moments in the 1920s that involved the US Constitution.
Chunking works because our brains are primed to look for patterns and make connections. Brain Pickings explains [29]:
'Our memory system becomes far more efficient, effective - and intelligent - than it could ever be without such refined methods [as chunking] to extract useful structure from raw data.'
To put this into practice yourself, you could group vocabulary words for a new language you're learning by topic, organize items in a list by the first letter or by the number of letters they have, or associate items with the larger whole they might be involved in (e.g., apples, pie crust, brown sugar, butter = apple pie).
Everyday Memorization Techniques
In addition to memory aids or tricks like the ones above, there are also broader strategies that will help you better remember what you come across everyday - techniques that work no matter what you're trying to memorize.
7. Make New Connections That Are Visual (and Perhaps Outrageous).
Shattered glass. Stinky socks. Screaming, swaddled babies. When Dellis gave me a crash course on memorization techniques in preparation for the 2012 USA Memory Championship, the one thing that stood out to me across all of the methods he shared was how vivid - and often absurd - the images you create need to be to become fixed in your memory [30].
--Visualization is a key skill when it comes to memory. Names and numbers are hard to remember because they're abstract and our brains can't easily latch onto them. But our brains store and recall images much more easily.
Here are some visual tricks that work well:
Turn the sound of names into images: As soon as a stranger says, 'Hi, I'm Mike,' and you say, 'Hi Mike'--poof! You forget this person's name [31], because you haven't really associated that word with anything about that person (maybe it's been stored in your short-term memory, but probably not). You need to connect 'Mike' to something more.
With the memory palace technique and other memorization techniques that deal with symbols (such as letters and numbers), the best strategy is to turn something abstract into a sound and visual representation. Use the sounds in the word to turn it into an image. In the case of 'Mike,' you can think of a picture of a microphone. For multi-syllable names, create an image for each syllable. For 'Melanie,' you might think of a melon and a knee crushing it.
Then, the second step is to peg (or anchor) that image onto the place you will remember it. If your new friend Mike has unusually big eyes, you might imagine microphones bulging out of each of his eyes.
It's similar to the memory palace technique, but instead of anchoring new visual information to a location, you anchor it to a physical feature of whatever you're trying to remember.
--Animate the images: The more animated and vivid you can make these images, the better. Doing this creates stronger, novel connections in your brain between that word or number and an image.
Engage as many of your senses as possible: Remember how the brain begins the encoding process through your senses? You'll remember abstract things like names and numbers more if you tap into your sense of hearing, taste, and smell. In the Mike example, perhaps you'll hear audio feedback from the microphones. In the Melanie example, perhaps some of the fruit is gushing out of the melon and you can actually smell it.
When it comes to numbers, similar techniques apply. You can associate numbers 0-9 with images, which will help you better remember long strings of numbers. 0, for example, might be a donut; 1 could be a flagpole; 2 might be a swan. To remember the number 210, then, picture a swan swimming past a flagpole to pick at a donut. (Memory champions such as Dellis encode double- or triple-digit numbers with images [32] so they can memorize hundreds of digits in five minutes. For example, 00 equals Ozzy Osbourne, 07 is James Bond.)
Practice and learn more: Litemind explains how the major memory system for numbers works [33].
8. Write It Down, Don't Type It Out
Put away your laptop. You're more likely to remember notes you write by hand than those you type.
There are a few reasons why handwriting is preferable to using your laptop when it comes to memory. First, the physical act of writing stimulates cells at the base of your brain [34], called the reticular activating system (RAS). When the RAS is triggered, your brain pays more attention to what you're doing at the moment. When you're writing by hand, your brain is more active [35] in forming each letter, compared to typing on a keyboard where each letter is represented by identical keys.
Also, research has shown that when people take notes on their laptops, they tend to transcribe lectures verbatim [36]. Conversely, when taking notes by hand, we tend to reframe the information in our own words--a more active kind of learning.
Perhaps even better: Create mind maps [37] for topics you're learning. It combines the visual element - remember, our brains latch onto images - with handwritten words.
Make a note of it: Learn how to take effective notes [38] and combine paper notebooks with digital tools for productivity [39].
9. Use Spaced Repetition
You know how you can study for a test or learn something new, like interesting facts from a book, and then immediately forget what you learned? Unless we actively work to retain that information, chances are we'll lose it - in a matter of days or weeks. That's the natural exponential nature of forgetting, as depicted by the forgetting curve [40].
If you want to remember something for the long term, such as vocabulary in a foreign language or facts you need for your profession, the most efficient way to learn that material is spaced repetition. As Gabriel Wyner explains in his excellent book on learning languages, Fluent Forever [41], 'At its most basic level, a Spaced Repetition System (SRS) is a to-do list that changes according to your performance.'
'You'll begin with short intervals (two to four days) between practice sessions. Every time you successfully remember, you'll increase the interval (e.g., nine days, three weeks, two months, six months, etc.), quickly reaching intervals of years. This keeps your sessions challenging enough to continuously drive facts into your long-term memory. If you forget a word, you'll start again with short intervals and work your way back to long ones until that word sticks, too. This pattern keeps you working on your weakest memories while maintaining and deepening your strongest memories. Because well-remembered words eventually disappear into the far off future, regular practice creates an equilibrium between old and new.'
The way to defeat forgetting is to use a spaced repetition system, with your own physical flashcards or with an app such as the Anki [42] or Pauker [43]. Digital apps are more convenient, naturally, but the act of creating your own cards - including finding images to tie to what you're learning - is a powerful learning experience. For both methods, daily reviews are ideal, but any type of regular routine will help you learn and remember faster.
Pro tip: Wyner shares these tips with us, particularly for learning a new language: Make your memories personal (don't just copy someone else's mnemonics) and make sure you can actually hear the sounds you're trying to remember. Here's his advice on how to create better flashcards [44].
10. Share What You're Learning [Refer The Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman's Learning Method]
Finally, there's the old adage that "the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else." When I asked the Zapier team what their favorite memorization and learning technique was, most people mentioned teaching, explaining, or even just mentioning something they learned to someone else.
This is the 'The Protégé Effect' [45]. As demonstrated in one study:
'As [students] prepare to teach, they organize their knowledge, improving their own understanding and recall. And as they explain the information to [a computerized character that learns from the students called Betty's Brain], they identify knots and gaps in their own thinking. A 2009 study of Betty’s Brain published in the Journal of Science Education and Technology found that students engaged in instructing her spent more time going over the material and learned it more thoroughly.'
Bonus Tip: Offload the Stuff You Don't Need to Memorize
The human brain is incredible. Because our neurons can store many memories at a time, our mental storage capacity is somewhere around the 2.5 petabytes (million gigabytes) range [46] - enough to hold three hundred years' worth of nonstop TV shows.
That said, while we don't run the risk of our brains getting full, there's tons of information we come across that we can simply offload to our digital tools [or written diary and 'To Do' list]. Memorizing information takes effort, so we should focus on the information that we really need to commit to memory. Evernote can stand in for your second brain [47] to help you remember just about anything, or you could use one of the plethora of other note-taking apps [48] to do the same.
Related: Use a book note-taking system to remember more of what you read [49]
Memory might still be a mystery to us, but studies have shown that the techniques above will help you retain more of what you learn. I don't have a photographic memory and sometimes still struggle to remember where I left my keys, but when I try to commit something to memory using at least one of the techniques above, it tends to stick in my brain.
NOTES:
[ 1] - https://human-memory.net/the-study-of-human-memory/
[ 2] - https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/01/british-win-neuroscience-prize-grete-lundbeck-tim-bliss-graham-collingridge-richard-morris ]
[ 3] - https://lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jan/11/hes-behind-casinos-scent-science/
[ 4] - https://books.google.com.au/books?id=mOxKUp6yBV8C&pg=PA339&lpg=PA339&dq=research+semantic+encoding+remember+more&source=bl&ots=FDB4iDjUxx&sig=Ml4VoOlHz-j9-UTJ9tpftjSdyN8&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=research%20semantic%20encoding%20remember%20more&f=false
[ 5] - https://www.helpguide.org/articles/alzheimers-dementia-aging/age-related-memory-loss.htm
[ 6] - https://human-memory.net/memory-recall-retrieval/
[ 7] - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1074742715001926
[ 8] - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010945215002099
[ 9] - https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/23/sleep-resets-brain-connections-crucial-for-memory-and-learning-study-reveals
[10] - https://archive.nytimes.com/parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/want-to-ace-that-test-get-the-right-kind-of-sleep/?mtrref=undefined&gwh=5C9CFCF603D2E62187A3C4B41F4DB428&gwt=pay&assetType=PAYWALL
[11] - https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/291282
[12] - https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(16)30247-9
[13] - https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/muscle-mnemonics/?
_r=0&mtrref=undefined&gwh=B1AA850FF53E38A09792FFA334D15FE9&gwt=pay&assetType=PAYWALL
[14] - https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)30465-1
[15] - https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/boost-your-memory-by-eating-right
[16] - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2016.00022/full
[17] - https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/mediterranean-diet/art-20047801
[18] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybJ6fS7ruuo
[19] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhDrGnjacvA
[20] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgVQKCcfwnU
[21] - http://www.thememoryinstitute.com/the-peg-system.html
[22] - https://www.mnemonic-device.com/#nav_menu-2
[23] - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/secrets-sherlocks-mind-palace-180949567/?no-ist
[24] - https://www.nelsondellis.com/
[25] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQErBhmh8ws
[26] - https://mullenmemory.com/
[27] - https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/using-pattern-recognition-to-enhance-memory-and-creativity/261925/
[28] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhZrQQeZ0WA
[29] - https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/09/04/the-ravenous-brain-daniel-bor/
[30] - https://lifehacker.com/how-to-train-your-brain-and-boost-your-memory-like-a-us-5897708
[31] - https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-remember-names/
[32] - https://www.nelsondellis.com/blog/2010/10/11/how-to-memorize-numbers
[33] - https://litemind.com/major-system/
[34] - https://lifehacker.com/why-you-learn-more-effectively-by-writing-than-by-typin-5738093
[35] - https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518
[36] - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797614524581
[37] - https://zapier.com/blog/mind-mapping-tutorial/
[38] - https://zapier.com/blog/better-note-taking/
[39] - https://zapier.com/blog/digital-and-paper-note-taking-systems/
[40] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgetting_curve
[41] - https://www.amazon.com/Fluent-Forever-Learn-Language-Forget/dp/0385348118
[42] - https://apps.ankiweb.net/
[43] - http://pauker.sourceforge.net/
[44] - https://blog.fluent-forever.com/gallery/
[45] - https://ideas.time.com/2011/11/30/the-protege-effect/
[46] - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-memory-capacity/
[47] - https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-use-evernote/
[48] - https://zapier.com/blog/best-note-taking-apps/
[49] - https://zapier.com/blog/best-book-note-taking-system/
WEBSITES - that may also be helpful include -
http://www.thememoryinstitute.com/index.html
https://www.nelsondellis.com/
https://mullenmemory.com/
BOOKS - that can also help include -
-'Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything', by Joshua Foer.
-'The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play', by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas.
-'Good memory--successful student!: A guide to remembering what you learn', by Harry Lorayne.
-'The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential', by Tony Buzan and Barry Buzan.
" - Melanie Pinola
These notes are adapted from the article, 'The Science of Memory: Top 10 Proven Techniques to Remember More and Learn Faster', published June 6, 2019. [Refer https://zapier.com/blog/better-memory/ ]
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Here are some other examples:
--Acronyms or Expression Mnemonics: Similar to the planetary example above, thinking "Every Good Boy Does Fine" can help you remember the lines of the treble clef in music (EGBDF).
--Music Mnemonics: Music is a powerful mnemonic because it provides a structure for information and encourages repetition. It's a lot easier to remember a catchy song than it is to remember a long string of words or letters, such as your bank account password. (It's also why advertisers often use jingles to make their messages stick in your head. Don't get me started with that Kars4Kids jingle [18].) You probably learned the alphabet through the ABC song, and if you're studying a popular subject, chances are there's a song for that, like learning the 50 states in the USA with the Fifty Nifty United States song [19] or learning all the elements with the periodic table song [20].
--Rhyming Mnemonics: Perhaps you're familiar with the rhyme that starts with '30 days hath September, April, June, and November'? Rhymes are similar to music mnemonics. When the end of every line rhymes, it creates a song-like pattern that's easy to remember. One expression I learned from watching a cooking show: 'Looks the same, cooks the same' - a reminder to chop and dice ingredients uniformly for even cooking.
--The Rhyming Peg System: You can use number rhymes to memorize a list of items using the 'peg system' [21] (also known as the 'hook system'). In this system, for each number, you memorize an image of a word that rhymes with it. That image provides a 'hook' or 'peg' for things you want to remember, especially in order.
So, for example, let's say you had a grocery list of items to buy: milk, cookies, bananas, and bacon. With the peg system, you'd:
-1-First learn or create the rhyming peg. One = bun. Two = zoo. Three = tree. Four = Door. And so on.
-2-Form a vivid mental image of the rhyming object for each number. (What does that bread bun look like? What kind of shoe is it? What color are the leaves on the tree? What kind of hardware does the door have?)
-3-For each item on your grocery list, picture the rhyming object with your list item. For example, if the first item on your list is 'milk,' 'one' = 'bun', so envision a container of milk being squeezed between a giant bun of bread. Then see a box of cookies falling into a lion's cage at the zoo, a maple tree inside the store with bananas hanging off of a branch, and slices of bacon stuffed in the mailbox slot of a black door.
It takes some work and creativity to memorize a list this way, but you'll retain that information much longer than if you just tried to memorize the words in order. And once you've got the basic rhyming peg down, you can reuse this for any future lists.
Resources: Check out hundreds of mnemonic devices [22] you can use in everyday life or to learn a new subject.
5. Create a Memory Palace
'The number one technique that we top memory athletes use is still and will always be the memory palace. If someone were to learn one thing, it should be that.' - Nelson Dellis, four-time USA Memory Champion
The memory palace is a mnemonic device that's as tried-and-true as it gets - and deserves a section of its own. Invented by orators in ancient Roman and Greek times, the memory palace (or mind palace or 'method of loci') technique is both effective and enjoyable to use, whether you're trying to remember a speech you have to give, details of a case you're working on (a la Sherlock Holmes [23]), or your grocery list. In fact, four-time USA Memory Champion Nelson Dellis [24] - who claims to have an average memory - says that 'The number one technique that we top memory athletes use is still and will always be the memory palace. If someone were to learn one thing, it should be that.'
With the memory palace technique, you associate a location you're familiar with - such as your apartment, the block you grew up on, or the route you take to work or school - with the items you're trying to remember. It works because you're visually pegging (or 'placing') representations of what you want to remember in places you already have strong memories of.
To use the memory palace technique:
-1-Imagine yourself standing your memory palace. Your home is a great one to start with, even if it's not a palace.
-2-Mentally walk through this palace noticing distinctive features you can use to store things you want to remember. Each stop on that path is a 'loci' you can peg the idea or object to. For example, your front door might be one loci, the table in your foyer a second loci, a lamp in your living room another. Commit those features to memory so when you think of your palace, the route and objects in it will be imprinted in your mind.
-3-Associate what you need to remember with the loci in your palace. If you had a grocery list, for example, at the front door you could picture milk flooding over the door from the inside, like a waterfall of milk. Then you get to the foyer and the table is buckling under the weight of all the chocolate chip cookies stacked on it to the ceiling. And instead of a lightbulb in your living room lamp, you see fluorescent yellow bananas.
It sounds pretty absurd, but as we'll discuss in more detail later, the more visual [colorful, big, etc], animated [exaggerated], and outrageous [emotional, funny, rude, sexy, etc] you can make [clearly visualize-imagine] your memories, the better.
Here's a video [25] from 2016 World Memory Championship winner Alex Mullen [26] describing in great detail how to 'attach' words to objects and locations in with the memory palace technique. You'll find yourself remembering these 20 words long after you watch the video.
6. Remember More with Chunking
Chunking is another mnemonic device that can make large amounts of information more memorable. You probably use it already. To remember or share a phone number, chances are you chunk the numbers so they're easier to remember: '888' '555' '0000' - rather than the more memory-intensive '8 8 8 5 5 5 0 0 0 0'. Research suggests that on average the human brain can hold 4 different items in its working (short-term) memory. But by grouping information into smaller sets, we can 'hack the limits of our working memory,' as The Atlantic puts it [27], to remember more.
The chunking technique [28] involves grouping items, finding patterns in them, and organizing the items. You might group items on your grocery list by aisle, for example, or look for connections between events in a historical period to create chunks of them, such as moments in the 1920s that involved the US Constitution.
Chunking works because our brains are primed to look for patterns and make connections. Brain Pickings explains [29]:
'Our memory system becomes far more efficient, effective - and intelligent - than it could ever be without such refined methods [as chunking] to extract useful structure from raw data.'
To put this into practice yourself, you could group vocabulary words for a new language you're learning by topic, organize items in a list by the first letter or by the number of letters they have, or associate items with the larger whole they might be involved in (e.g., apples, pie crust, brown sugar, butter = apple pie).
Everyday Memorization Techniques
In addition to memory aids or tricks like the ones above, there are also broader strategies that will help you better remember what you come across everyday - techniques that work no matter what you're trying to memorize.
7. Make New Connections That Are Visual (and Perhaps Outrageous).
Shattered glass. Stinky socks. Screaming, swaddled babies. When Dellis gave me a crash course on memorization techniques in preparation for the 2012 USA Memory Championship, the one thing that stood out to me across all of the methods he shared was how vivid - and often absurd - the images you create need to be to become fixed in your memory [30].
--Visualization is a key skill when it comes to memory. Names and numbers are hard to remember because they're abstract and our brains can't easily latch onto them. But our brains store and recall images much more easily.
Here are some visual tricks that work well:
Turn the sound of names into images: As soon as a stranger says, 'Hi, I'm Mike,' and you say, 'Hi Mike'--poof! You forget this person's name [31], because you haven't really associated that word with anything about that person (maybe it's been stored in your short-term memory, but probably not). You need to connect 'Mike' to something more.
With the memory palace technique and other memorization techniques that deal with symbols (such as letters and numbers), the best strategy is to turn something abstract into a sound and visual representation. Use the sounds in the word to turn it into an image. In the case of 'Mike,' you can think of a picture of a microphone. For multi-syllable names, create an image for each syllable. For 'Melanie,' you might think of a melon and a knee crushing it.
Then, the second step is to peg (or anchor) that image onto the place you will remember it. If your new friend Mike has unusually big eyes, you might imagine microphones bulging out of each of his eyes.
It's similar to the memory palace technique, but instead of anchoring new visual information to a location, you anchor it to a physical feature of whatever you're trying to remember.
--Animate the images: The more animated and vivid you can make these images, the better. Doing this creates stronger, novel connections in your brain between that word or number and an image.
Engage as many of your senses as possible: Remember how the brain begins the encoding process through your senses? You'll remember abstract things like names and numbers more if you tap into your sense of hearing, taste, and smell. In the Mike example, perhaps you'll hear audio feedback from the microphones. In the Melanie example, perhaps some of the fruit is gushing out of the melon and you can actually smell it.
When it comes to numbers, similar techniques apply. You can associate numbers 0-9 with images, which will help you better remember long strings of numbers. 0, for example, might be a donut; 1 could be a flagpole; 2 might be a swan. To remember the number 210, then, picture a swan swimming past a flagpole to pick at a donut. (Memory champions such as Dellis encode double- or triple-digit numbers with images [32] so they can memorize hundreds of digits in five minutes. For example, 00 equals Ozzy Osbourne, 07 is James Bond.)
Practice and learn more: Litemind explains how the major memory system for numbers works [33].
8. Write It Down, Don't Type It Out
Put away your laptop. You're more likely to remember notes you write by hand than those you type.
There are a few reasons why handwriting is preferable to using your laptop when it comes to memory. First, the physical act of writing stimulates cells at the base of your brain [34], called the reticular activating system (RAS). When the RAS is triggered, your brain pays more attention to what you're doing at the moment. When you're writing by hand, your brain is more active [35] in forming each letter, compared to typing on a keyboard where each letter is represented by identical keys.
Also, research has shown that when people take notes on their laptops, they tend to transcribe lectures verbatim [36]. Conversely, when taking notes by hand, we tend to reframe the information in our own words--a more active kind of learning.
Perhaps even better: Create mind maps [37] for topics you're learning. It combines the visual element - remember, our brains latch onto images - with handwritten words.
Make a note of it: Learn how to take effective notes [38] and combine paper notebooks with digital tools for productivity [39].
9. Use Spaced Repetition
You know how you can study for a test or learn something new, like interesting facts from a book, and then immediately forget what you learned? Unless we actively work to retain that information, chances are we'll lose it - in a matter of days or weeks. That's the natural exponential nature of forgetting, as depicted by the forgetting curve [40].
If you want to remember something for the long term, such as vocabulary in a foreign language or facts you need for your profession, the most efficient way to learn that material is spaced repetition. As Gabriel Wyner explains in his excellent book on learning languages, Fluent Forever [41], 'At its most basic level, a Spaced Repetition System (SRS) is a to-do list that changes according to your performance.'
'You'll begin with short intervals (two to four days) between practice sessions. Every time you successfully remember, you'll increase the interval (e.g., nine days, three weeks, two months, six months, etc.), quickly reaching intervals of years. This keeps your sessions challenging enough to continuously drive facts into your long-term memory. If you forget a word, you'll start again with short intervals and work your way back to long ones until that word sticks, too. This pattern keeps you working on your weakest memories while maintaining and deepening your strongest memories. Because well-remembered words eventually disappear into the far off future, regular practice creates an equilibrium between old and new.'
The way to defeat forgetting is to use a spaced repetition system, with your own physical flashcards or with an app such as the Anki [42] or Pauker [43]. Digital apps are more convenient, naturally, but the act of creating your own cards - including finding images to tie to what you're learning - is a powerful learning experience. For both methods, daily reviews are ideal, but any type of regular routine will help you learn and remember faster.
Pro tip: Wyner shares these tips with us, particularly for learning a new language: Make your memories personal (don't just copy someone else's mnemonics) and make sure you can actually hear the sounds you're trying to remember. Here's his advice on how to create better flashcards [44].
10. Share What You're Learning [Refer The Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman's Learning Method]
Finally, there's the old adage that "the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else." When I asked the Zapier team what their favorite memorization and learning technique was, most people mentioned teaching, explaining, or even just mentioning something they learned to someone else.
This is the 'The Protégé Effect' [45]. As demonstrated in one study:
'As [students] prepare to teach, they organize their knowledge, improving their own understanding and recall. And as they explain the information to [a computerized character that learns from the students called Betty's Brain], they identify knots and gaps in their own thinking. A 2009 study of Betty’s Brain published in the Journal of Science Education and Technology found that students engaged in instructing her spent more time going over the material and learned it more thoroughly.'
Bonus Tip: Offload the Stuff You Don't Need to Memorize
The human brain is incredible. Because our neurons can store many memories at a time, our mental storage capacity is somewhere around the 2.5 petabytes (million gigabytes) range [46] - enough to hold three hundred years' worth of nonstop TV shows.
That said, while we don't run the risk of our brains getting full, there's tons of information we come across that we can simply offload to our digital tools [or written diary and 'To Do' list]. Memorizing information takes effort, so we should focus on the information that we really need to commit to memory. Evernote can stand in for your second brain [47] to help you remember just about anything, or you could use one of the plethora of other note-taking apps [48] to do the same.
Related: Use a book note-taking system to remember more of what you read [49]
Memory might still be a mystery to us, but studies have shown that the techniques above will help you retain more of what you learn. I don't have a photographic memory and sometimes still struggle to remember where I left my keys, but when I try to commit something to memory using at least one of the techniques above, it tends to stick in my brain.
NOTES:
[ 1] - https://human-memory.net/the-study-of-human-memory/
[ 2] - https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/01/british-win-neuroscience-prize-grete-lundbeck-tim-bliss-graham-collingridge-richard-morris ]
[ 3] - https://lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jan/11/hes-behind-casinos-scent-science/
[ 4] - https://books.google.com.au/books?id=mOxKUp6yBV8C&pg=PA339&lpg=PA339&dq=research+semantic+encoding+remember+more&source=bl&ots=FDB4iDjUxx&sig=Ml4VoOlHz-j9-UTJ9tpftjSdyN8&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=research%20semantic%20encoding%20remember%20more&f=false
[ 5] - https://www.helpguide.org/articles/alzheimers-dementia-aging/age-related-memory-loss.htm
[ 6] - https://human-memory.net/memory-recall-retrieval/
[ 7] - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1074742715001926
[ 8] - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010945215002099
[ 9] - https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/23/sleep-resets-brain-connections-crucial-for-memory-and-learning-study-reveals
[10] - https://archive.nytimes.com/parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/want-to-ace-that-test-get-the-right-kind-of-sleep/?mtrref=undefined&gwh=5C9CFCF603D2E62187A3C4B41F4DB428&gwt=pay&assetType=PAYWALL
[11] - https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/291282
[12] - https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(16)30247-9
[13] - https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/muscle-mnemonics/?
_r=0&mtrref=undefined&gwh=B1AA850FF53E38A09792FFA334D15FE9&gwt=pay&assetType=PAYWALL
[14] - https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)30465-1
[15] - https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/boost-your-memory-by-eating-right
[16] - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2016.00022/full
[17] - https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/mediterranean-diet/art-20047801
[18] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybJ6fS7ruuo
[19] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhDrGnjacvA
[20] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgVQKCcfwnU
[21] - http://www.thememoryinstitute.com/the-peg-system.html
[22] - https://www.mnemonic-device.com/#nav_menu-2
[23] - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/secrets-sherlocks-mind-palace-180949567/?no-ist
[24] - https://www.nelsondellis.com/
[25] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQErBhmh8ws
[26] - https://mullenmemory.com/
[27] - https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/using-pattern-recognition-to-enhance-memory-and-creativity/261925/
[28] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhZrQQeZ0WA
[29] - https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/09/04/the-ravenous-brain-daniel-bor/
[30] - https://lifehacker.com/how-to-train-your-brain-and-boost-your-memory-like-a-us-5897708
[31] - https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-remember-names/
[32] - https://www.nelsondellis.com/blog/2010/10/11/how-to-memorize-numbers
[33] - https://litemind.com/major-system/
[34] - https://lifehacker.com/why-you-learn-more-effectively-by-writing-than-by-typin-5738093
[35] - https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518
[36] - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797614524581
[37] - https://zapier.com/blog/mind-mapping-tutorial/
[38] - https://zapier.com/blog/better-note-taking/
[39] - https://zapier.com/blog/digital-and-paper-note-taking-systems/
[40] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgetting_curve
[41] - https://www.amazon.com/Fluent-Forever-Learn-Language-Forget/dp/0385348118
[42] - https://apps.ankiweb.net/
[43] - http://pauker.sourceforge.net/
[44] - https://blog.fluent-forever.com/gallery/
[45] - https://ideas.time.com/2011/11/30/the-protege-effect/
[46] - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-memory-capacity/
[47] - https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-use-evernote/
[48] - https://zapier.com/blog/best-note-taking-apps/
[49] - https://zapier.com/blog/best-book-note-taking-system/
WEBSITES - that may also be helpful include -
http://www.thememoryinstitute.com/index.html
https://www.nelsondellis.com/
https://mullenmemory.com/
BOOKS - that can also help include -
-'Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything', by Joshua Foer.
-'The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play', by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas.
-'Good memory--successful student!: A guide to remembering what you learn', by Harry Lorayne.
-'The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential', by Tony Buzan and Barry Buzan.
&thisCriteria2=Melanie Pinola&thisCriteria3=These notes are adapted from the article, 'The Science of Memory: Top 10 Proven Techniques to Remember More and Learn Faster', published June 6, 2019. [Refer https://zapier.com/blog/better-memory/ ]
&theme=Learn">Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69603] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Continuously learn and continuously improve:-] I've learned that mistakes can often be as good a teacher as success." - Jack Welch
Highly respected American business executive, chemical engineer, and writer. He was Chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69629] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"In time you will discover that all failing really does teach you something you needed to know- so you can regroup and stretch again, with ever more...nerve." - Jack Welch
Highly respected American business executive, chemical engineer, and writer. He was Chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69567] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Memory - 'repetition is the mother of memory, skill, and insight' - remember, use it or lose it:] There are the footpaths along the hills; if suddenly they be used, they become roads; and if, as suddenly they are not used, the wild grass fills them up." - Mencius
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69568] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers." - Alfred Lord Tennyson
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69580] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Continuously improve:-] Keep learning; don't be arrogant by assuming that you know it all, that you have a monopoly on the truth; always assume that you can learn something from someone else." - Jack Welch
Highly respected American business executive, chemical engineer, and writer. He was Chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69759] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Skeptical doubt is the beginning of wisdom:] There is no greater fool than he who thinks himself wise; no one wiser than he who suspects he is a fool." - Marguerite de Valois
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69763] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"As long as one keeps searching, the answers come!" - Joan Baez
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69833] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"I have this motto in life as well as in business, which is: every day, I'm lucky if I have learned something new and I'm doubly lucky if it hadn't cost too much." - Charles T. 'Chuck' Akre
American investor, financier and businessman.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.69979] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"The best leaders are the best notetakers, best askers, and best learners!" - Tom Peters
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70417] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Keep learning and improving:-] What's dangerous is not to evolve.
" - Jeff Bezos
Founder of Amazon
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70425] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Most people can learn a lot more than they think they can. They sell themselves short without trying." - Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk FRS is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; angel investor, CEO, and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; and co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70440] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Science:] Dispassionate objectivity is itself a passion, for the real and for the truth." - Abraham Maslow
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70534] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"People who say they are rational [should] know how things work, what works and what doesn't, and why. That's rationality. It doesn't help if you just know what's worked before, because if you know why, then you'll be better at it. So rationality is: Across a broad range of disciplines, you know what works and what doesn't and why!" - Charlie Munger
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70580] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[Continually learn and improve, grow and evolve:] I'm on a mission to figure out how the world works and to gain timeless and universal principles for dealing with it well. It's both a passion and a necessity for me." - Ray Dalio
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70594] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue." - Antisthenses
(445-365 BC), Greek philosopher.
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70599] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Keep ignoring feedback and life will keep teaching you the same lesson." - James Clear
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70601] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"[A story about the desire necessary to get real truth and understanding:]
It is said that a dispassionate young man approached the Greek philosopher and casually said, 'O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge.'
The philosopher took the young man down to the sea, waded in with him, and then dunked him under the water for thirty seconds.
When he let the young man up for air, Socrates asked him to repeat what he wanted. 'Knowledge, O great one,' he sputtered.
Socrates put him under the water again, only this time a little longer.
After repeated dunkings and responses, the philosopher asked, 'What do you want?' The young man finally gasped, 'Air. I want air!'
'Good,' answered Socrates. 'Now, when you want knowledge as much as you wanted air, you shall have it.'" - Unknown
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70625] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on." - Samuel Butler
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70635] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"The problems in the world stem from the difference between how we think and how the world works. [Discover the Truth and it will set you free to choose wisely!]" - Gregory Bateson
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70646] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Approach each new problem not with a view of finding what you hope will be there, but to get the truth, the realities that must be grappled with. You may not like what you find. In that case you are entitled to try to change it. But do not deceive yourself as to what you do find to be the facts of the situation!" - Bernard M. Baruch
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
| [Quote No.70653] Need Area: Mind > Learn
"Be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought. Every man is the lord of a realm beside which the earthly empire of the Czar is but a petty state, a hummock left by the ice." - Henry David Thoreau
(1817 - 1862) American Author
Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this Author
Start Searching Amazon for Gifts
Send as Free eCard with optional Google Image |
|
|
Learn Quotes
