A few years ago you knew a good list of phone numbers and now you have to check your phone’s address book when someone asks you for one that isn’t your own. You have a lot of information stored in your phone’s memory and you store less and less in your own.
This means that we exercise our memory less because of new technologies. As neuroscientist Richard Restak explains in his latest book, “The Complete Guide to Memory,” this has consequences, but something can be done about it. Simply by trying to set small challenges for the brain. For example, trying to memorize the shopping list at the supermarket or the prices of the products you use the most.
Memory psychologist Daniel Schacter says that memory malfunction can be broken down into seven fundamental transgressions, or sins.
The sins of memory
- Fugacity. It is basically a weakening of memories. Somehow you lose the sharpness of the memory and its details.
- Lack of attention. In this case memory and attention do not interact well and, for example, you forget where you left your cell phone.
- Blockade. You try to recover information and there is no way no matter how much attention you pay. They usually unlock over time.
- Misattribution. Basically it is attributing a memory to the wrong sourceIt is very common, perhaps you remember an anecdote but you think it happened to you with someone else.
- Suggestibility. They are memories that are acquired as a result of some questions or comments when trying to remember and in some ways you can end up deceiving yourself.
- Biases. It is about retrospective distortions caused by current information or belief. You sort of edit your own memories based on what you know now.
- Persistence. It is unpleasant and refers to a recurrent unintentional memory retrieval and that brings back disturbing information or memories that you don’t want to have or would like to forget. This is very common in cases of post-traumatic stress.
Tips to fight against this
One trick to try to retain information better is to visualize it. If you want to remember a name or a word, imagine it written downvisualize it with a certain font. This is not about doing complex things, but about small activities that require the brain to exert itself. Another great help are game books with activities, there are some for adults, but some for children would also be useful. Or even simpler; do crossword puzzles, word searches or sudokus.
Another great exercise to train the mind is reading. Everything you read counts. But especially fiction books, as they require more effort in terms of imagination.
Some memory failures are due to attention problems. Try to be present in what you do, without being distracted by several tasks at once. Put your senses in the now. Sleep problems also cause memory lapses, because the mind needs to rest, and when it doesn’t, it has its consequences.
Likewise Depression is one of the main causes of memory loss which a large part of the population suffers from. In this sense, the brain is not functioning well or with all its capacities and is not able to manage information equally.
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Tags: Advice, Health, Science, Healthy Living