HOW TO CAPTURE YOUR ATTENTION I

 

As you have learnt in previous episodes; the process involved in attention is more than what you can pick from the surface. It starts from learning and it graduates from learning to memory and then from memory to retrieve it. Below are tips to successfully gain and capture your attention.

• Learn to engage your Conscious mind more: Learn to practice mindfulness.  Most often people engage details absent-mindedly and expect that such stick into their memories. For pieces of information to get into the human long-term memory which is by far the most reliable, you have to consciously engage the information. In my book on the Myths and Facts about the mind, I wrote extensively on the conscious mind. You can get it to help you understand how your consciousness works. 
• Understand the concept of learning and how it works for you; When I started the discuss on attention, I explained how we differ in the way we learn and retain pieces of information, certain individuals learn and encode easily in specific environments whilst others learn and retain pieces of information well in a different environment. If these two individuals are placed in the same environment to learn the same thing at the same time the result and productivity they will both achieve will be entirely different. You need to discover yourself and not just discover but actively practice what you have discovered.

Drop by next week for more tips!

Long term II

 

Hello Great minds and welcome back!

Last week, I stopped on the subject of transferring short term memories into long term. So today, I will be giving practical ways to do such.

REHEARSAL

 Rehearsal can help move memories from short-term to long-term memory. For example, you might use this approach when studying materials for an exam. Instead of just reviewing the information once or twice, you might go over your notes repeatedly until the critical information is committed to memory.

CHUNKING

Chunking is one memorization technique that can facilitate the transfer of information into long-term memory. This approach involves organizing information into more easily learned groups, phrases, words, or numbers. For example, it will take a large amount of effort to memorize the following number: 65,495,328,463. However, it will be easier to remember if it is chunked into the following: 6549 532 8463.

MNEMONICS

Easily remembered mnemonic phrases, abbreviations, or rhymes can help move short-term memories into long-term storage. A few common examples include:

ROY G BIV: An acronym that represents the first letter of each color of the rainbow—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet

I before E, except after C: 

A rhyme used to remember the spelling of common words

Thirty days hath September...: 

A poem used to remember how many days are in each month

Another mnemonic strategy is the method of loci. The method of loci involves mentally placing the items you are trying to learn or remember around a room—such as on the sofa, next to a plant, or on the window seat. To trigger your memory, you then visualize yourself going to each location, triggering your recall for that information.

Long term memory

 

Hello Great minds!

Welcome back!

Last week, I was able to draw the curtain on short term memory and in this week's episode, i'm starting on the Long term memory.

LONG-TERM MEMORY

Long-term memory refers to the memory process in the brain that takes information from the short-term memory store and creates long-lasting memories. These memories can be from an hour ago or several decades ago. Long-term memory can hold an unlimited amount of information for an indefinite period. 

      How to transfer pieces of information from short term memory into long-term memory

Long-term memory has a seemingly unlimited capacity that lasts years while short-term memory has a brief and limited capacity. Short-term memory is limited in both capacity and duration therefore, For a memory to be retained, it needs to be transferred from short-term stores into long-term memory. Although there has not been any proven direct mechanism to achieve this there are well-researched practices. More recently, researchers have proposed that some mental editing takes place and that only particular memories are selected for long-term retention. Factors such as time and interference can affect how information is encoded in memory. The information-processing view of memory suggests that human memory works much like a computer. In this model, information first enters short-term memory (a temporary holding store for recent events) and then some of this information is transferred into long-term memory (a relatively permanent store), much like information on a computer being placed on a hard disk.

Short Term Memory II

 

SHORT-TERM MEMORY LOSS

     For most people, it's common to occasionally experience an episode of memory loss. We may miss a monthly payment, forget the date, lose our keys, or have trouble finding the right word to use from time to time. If the loss is beginning to happen consistently like you notice you are forgetting things often, it can be irritating, frustrating, and frightening. Short-term memory loss may even make you worried that your brain is too reliant on devices like your smartphone rather than your memory to recall information. However, mild memory loss doesn't always indicate a problem, and certain memory changes are a normal part of aging. Short-term memory loss can also be caused by other, non-permanent factors, including:

• Alcohol or drug use
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Grief
• Fatigue
• Medication side effects
• Sleep deprivation
• Stress

    If you are concerned about memory lapses or any other brain changes, talk to your healthcare provider. They can give you a thorough exam to determine what might be causing your symptoms and recommend lifestyle changes, strategies, or treatments to improve your short-term memory. Or it could be that you are not applying techniques to further process pieces of information well this will be discussed under long-term memory.