I remember when I was studying for exams at home, my parents thought it important that I had my own desk in a quiet space so that I could study in peace. They thought that by giving me somewhere permanent to study, I would be able to concentrate better, and therefore remember more. But that was a long time ago and we now know more about the way the brain stores memories! So what might have worked better?
In fact, we now know that our memories are stored by the same networks of neurones that were active when we were having the original experience. Thus, not only do you remember the material you are trying to learn, you also remember where you were when you learned it, and what you were seeing, hearing and feeling at the time. There are some important consequences of this:
- If you want to learn a number of facts, it is better to associate them with different places. This is so that they are more easily differentiated in your memory since they are associated with different contexts.
- It is easier to remember a number of different topics if you study a little of each rather than a lot of only one. This is because your brain remembers better when facts occur more than once and are associated with new ideas each time. Your brain then works to extract the common themes, which are then remembered.
- Your brain is trained to forget things that are unimportant. Something that is important is likely to occur more than once, so repeating small chunks prevents forgetting.
| Remember:1. Study
2. Move around 3. Mix it up 4. Repeat |
These ideas are based on research on the brain and memory. If you would like to know more, I will presenting more ideas on how to make memory sticky at our upcoming Showcase Event – ‘Essence of Kaizen’ on 1 November 2010 (check out our Events page). Or come to one of our Brain Friendly Learning workshops to hear how the latest research is being used to make training better.
Hi Trish,
I wanted to add a little to your sticky theories, from experience that I have. Some of it just gut feel, or observed success as well as brain friendly learning. I try to provide a piece of excitement with a key learning point, but not a joke. There is something about jokes or humour that makes the joke more memorable than the fact. No, offer a sensory experience to accompany the fact, something visible, something auditory or something which intrigues, excites or provides apprehansion. I think there must be something in the degree of association with the emotional states that strengthens the neurones and hence the recall (memory). The strategy you suggest can be enhanced, but it also requires some preparation or thought as to what would make it more memorable. That is the skill of the trainer, but a self taught discipline also. Do that learnign at a special location, celebrate the fact recall with an edible treat, punish your lack of recall with a loathed task, scent the paper that you made notes on, customise your notes into a mind map of personal triggers, make your verbatum response rhythmic or in verse, link a fact to a personal memory beause it reminds you of something, put a £1 in your treat jar and know that recall helped you have that meal out. I could go on, but get those habits into your own style of learning and see what it can do for you. I suppose I’m a bit obsessive, but this works for me.
Cheers
Bob