You Can Improve Your Memory by Dominic O'Brien

Author:Dominic O'Brien
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc

MEMORY AND THE SENSES

Incorporating all our five senses into whatever memory techniques we favor will make it easier for us to memorize and recall. Let us say that one of the techniques we use involves imagining a tree. When we summon up that tree in our minds, the more realistic our image, the more realized the memory. At the simplest level, we might conjure up merely a two-dimensional image of a tree. But if instead we imagine an oak, in full leaf, with a light wind whistling through its leaves, and the smells of summer all around, this will make a deeper impression. It will also give us more potential associations to make with any items alongside the tree.

As a general rule, the most powerful senses for recall are sight, sound, and smell. Sight is the basic interpretative sense, which we crucially use for navigation. Sound is the main method by which we communicate with others. Both sight and sound play a part in memorizing words and numbers, which otherwise can have an elusive abstract quality. Smell and taste are particularly powerful memory cues, possibly because these senses were once so important to our survival. Smell bypasses the thalamus region of the brain stem and connects directly with the neurons in the cortex – creating a direct route to our memory store. This is why a scent can instantly transport us back to a highly emotive event in our past, or remind us so strongly of a particular person. Spend some time trying to recognize the smells that have particular significance for you. Think of this as part of a sensory tuning designed to open up your mind more fully to your experiences – the beneficial effects for your memory training will follow on naturally.

THE MEMORY KALEIDOSCOPE

All too often we rely solely upon sight when conjuring something up in our minds. This visualization exercise is intended to help you appreciate the significance of the other senses. At the same time it stretches the imagination in ways that benefit the practice of memory techniques.

1. Close your eyes and imagine a complex yet readily identifiable item, such as a racehorse and jockey. Visualize the horse and its rider meticulously in your imagination – the colorful blouson of the rider, the harness and saddle, the fine, proud expression on the horse’s face, the jockey’s face shadowed under the peak of his cap.

2. In turn, think of aspects of touch, sound, smell, and taste associated with the image. For touch, you might think of the satiny texture of the jockey’s blouson, the smoothly groomed coat of the horse, the coarse hair of the mane; for sound, the galloping hooves and the cheering crowd; for smell, the leather and the sweat; for taste, perhaps a sugar lump fed to the horse before the race (feel at the same time the horse’s slurpy tongue on your fingers).

3. This is just one random example. Now think of other readily identifiable images to treat in the same way.

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