Neuroscientist and psychologist Amishi Jha shared three brain exercises that help strengthen memory. Jha, who works in psychology at the University of Miami, said that the problems we think are related to memory are actually related to attention. The scientist who studied mind and attention recommended three exercises to strengthen memory. Let’s look at what these memory exercises are together.
1. Rehearsal
Use your attention to get the information. For example, the name of a person you just met, the most important information you learned in business education, or details of your fun moments.Gather your attention to throw all this information into long-term memory. Then review the details. For example, when we worked with reading slips at school, we were actually rehearsing reading. Similarly, the taste of a food you like, your graduation day or a rehearsal to review the details of the happy moment with your family is also a rehearsal.
2. Detailing
The concept of detailing describes the process of using attention to relate new information to what you already know. For example, think of an octopus right now. Now we call you “ahtapots have three hearts”. If you do not know this information in advance, you are now combining this information with the octopus image in your memory when you read the article. After that, when you talk about an octopus, you can tell the other person that octopuses have three hearts.
3. Consolidation
The rehearsal and detailing stages mentioned above enable the formation of the first memory. But after these stages, long-term memory needs to be formed. Consolidation involves reviving targeted brain activity. Reviving the learned information reinforces long-term memory traces.
Amishi Jha says that being constantly task-oriented negatively affects memory. We do not pay attention to the information we learn during the day, do not rehearse and detail. This prevents us from remembering new information. For example, while shopping, we suddenly receive mail to our phone, we create a draft to respond to the mail, and we do not pay attention to what is happening at the time. Because we are constantly task-oriented, we cannot support and consolidate memory. That’s why Jha advises those who want to strengthen their memory to be careful first.
