by Note from the publisher: The podcast that life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta followed, the medical science explores a few large and small mysteries of life. You can hear episodes Here.
(CNN) – Most of us are familiar with the frustration of forgetting – whether it has to struggle with a word about the tip of the tongue, laid important objects such as keys or glasses or even a strategy why they came into a room.
How can we do anything but forgotten – especially at a time when we are exposed to information between our life in the physical world and what electronically about smartphones, televisions, computers and much more?
The average American is estimated to be 34 gigabytes – or 11.8 hours worth information – daily information. Dr. Charan Ranganath wrote in his most recent book: “Why we remember: Memory’s power, on what is important to unlock. This number came from a report by the global information industry center from 2009 at the University of California in San Diego.
“The last time I looked up, the estimate has increased even more since then,” Ranganath recently told the CNN -Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in his podcast, which follows life. Ranganath heads the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California in Davis, where he is also a professor of psychology and neurosciences.
Far from remembering all of this information, he said that the science of memory shows that people are designed in such a way that they should forget. In fact, Ranganath’s book refers to the work of cognitive psychologist George Miller, who in an article from 1956 came to the conclusion that we can only keep an eye on seven articles (plus or minus two). (Subsequent investigations, wrote Ranganath, shows that the number is closer to three or four elements.)
“I think one of the misunderstandings out there … is that we should take everything around us around us,” he said. “In fact, our brain really work according to this business principle: to obtain as little information as possible and to create so much of this information.”
You can learn more about the nature of memory by listening to the complete episode of the podcast Here.
“It’s all about this economy and this great attention as this great filter to concentrate on the most important things,” he said.
“Sometimes it is the things they expect, and sometimes it is the stuff that violates their expectations – and there is the greatest meaning there,” he said. “But it also means that we sometimes miss things and in the end frustration because our attention was directed to the wrong place at the wrong time.”
When improving memory, it is not about filling further information in your head. “What I like to say is: don’t try to remember more, remember better,” said Ranganath. “Sometimes it means to remember better to learn less by heart.”
One way to do this, said Ranganath, was with a process called chunking – or many things in one. In this way we remember the Alphabet as well as our social security number and the names of the large lakes (the acronym Homes for Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior). By grouping these elements, you reduce the number of things you need to remember: instead of 26 separate elements, the alphabet becomes one.
Similarly, memory athletes – who are as many digits of Pi as possible or develop the order of a card game – will develop “strategies that enable them to put the information that they want to remember in this larger structure so that 10 things can become one thing,” said Ranganath.
What can you do if you have forgetfulness? Here Ranganaths are five tricks to form memories of events that are important. All you need to remember to “call a doctor!” He said via e -mail.
M is for the meaning
Add what you want to remember to do something important.
“You can remember information such as names if you can bind them into information that is important to you,” he said.
For example, if you are a fan of Greek mythology, you can link Ranganath’s first name Charan with Charon, the ferry of the underworld, who transports the souls of the dead across the Styx river at a price.
“And (you can imagine that I have people over the flow of the dead ferry,” he said.
Such lively pictures can help you to remember a name.
E is for errors
Test yourself. Even if you make a mistake, Ranganath said that experiment and error are one of the best ways to remember something.
“If you learn a new name or a foreign language word, advise you how the name could be, or advise you to the meaning of the word,” he said.
If you learn the answer, the brain can “adapt this memory to ensure that it is closer to the correct answer and is less associated with competing answers.”
D is for the distinctive power
Do it pop.
“As it is easier to find a pink post-IT note on a desk full of yellow notes, it is easier to find memories that stand out from other memories,” said Ranganath.
For example: “If you lay down your keys, take a moment to take care of a detail like a sound or a unique visual hint,” he said.
It will make a big contribution to helping them to remember where they put them, he said when they desperately try to leave the door.
I am for meaning
Use the fact that the brain has adapted to significantly created moments.
“We keep memories of events that are important – in the biological sense,” said Ranganath. “If we have experiences that are rewarding, scary or embarrassing, chemicals such as dopamine, noradrenaline or serotonin are released, which promotes plasticity.” These neurotransmitters help to consolidate the experience in their memory a little more.
Curiosity can also play a role.
“We found that the curious effect has a similar effect on memory,” he said, noting that curiosity activates “dopamine-fire areas of the brain” and promotes learning.
“So before you learn, you will curious about the topic!” he said.
C is for the context
Use your senses to travel a little time.
“Our memories of events or episodic memories depend on where and when the event took place,” said Ranganath. “Therefore, she can put a song that played abroad abroad abroad in college in summer, or the smell of Essen that her grandmother used, which you used, immediately put her back into time.”
“If you try to remember an earlier event, imagine that at this place and at this point – how you felt like you have thought about, about the sights and sounds of the place – and you will put on a lot,” he said.
We hope that these five tips will help you to remember more and learn less by heart. Listen to the complete episode Here. And come with us next Tuesday for a new episode of the Chasing Life.
Sofía Sanchez from CNN Audio contributed to this report.
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