How Memory Works: Five Easy Steps to Improve Your Memory

As a researcher examining how electrical brain stimulation may enhance people’s ability to recall information, I am frequently asked how memory functions – and how it can be used more efficiently.

Fortunately, many decades of research have produced clear answers to both of these questions.

Memory broadly works across three stages, with distinct areas of the brain playing a part in each.

Sensory memory lasts for only milliseconds and records unprocessed input, including what we see, hear and smell. This information is initially handled by the brain’s five main sensory cortices – the visual cortex for sights, the auditory cortex for sounds, and so forth.

Working, or short-term, memory retains and works with a limited quantity of information for several seconds or longer. It is the brain’s mental workbench: the system that enables you to calculate in your head, follow directions and understand what you are reading. It therefore relies chiefly on the prefrontal cortex, at the front of the brain, which helps with attention, decisions and reasoning.

Long-term memory, meanwhile, keeps information on a more lasting basis, from minutes through to an entire lifetime. It encompasses both "explicit" memories, such as facts and personal events, and "implicit" memories, including skills, routines and emotional links.

For long-term memory, the hippocampus and temporal lobes – situated deep in the brain, at the sides of the head close to the temples – are particularly involved in memories of facts and life events. The amygdala, which is near the hippocampus, the cerebellum at the rear of the brain, and the basal ganglia deep within it, deal with emotional and procedural memories.

Working memory commonly serves as the conscious entry point to long-term memory, although it has clear constraints. In 1956, American psychologist George Miller suggested that working memory can hold only around seven "chunks" of information at once.

Although researchers still dispute the precise figure, the underlying idea remains: working memory has a limited capacity. That restriction can influence how successfully we learn and retain information.

Yet it is possible to make your memory work more effectively. These five straightforward steps can improve both working memory and long-term memory.

1. Put your phone away

Smartphones can diminish working memory capacity. Merely keeping a phone close by – even when it is face down and silenced – may impair performance in memory and reasoning tasks.

This happens because part of the brain continues to monitor the device in subtle ways. Even the effort of resisting notifications uses mental resources, which is why some researchers describe smartphones as a "brain drain". The answer is straightforward: when you need to concentrate, leave your phone in a different room. Keeping it out of sight genuinely releases mental capacity.

2. Stop your mind racing

Stress and anxiety can occupy important mental space. If you are concerned about something or diverted by rapidly moving thoughts, some of your working memory is already being used.

Mindfulness and relaxation training may boost both working memory and academic performance, likely because they lower stress. If meditation seems daunting, though, consider breathing exercises such as "cyclic sighing". Take a deep breath in through your nose, follow it with a second, shorter inhale, and then breathe out slowly through your mouth. Doing this repeatedly for five minutes can settle the nervous system and produce better conditions for learning.

3. Start chunking

The chunking method – arranging information into meaningful groups – can help anyone extend their working memory. You may already use it for remembering certain telephone numbers or word lists, by dividing lengthy strings into manageable chunks that can be recalled as small groups.

These same ideas can help an audience retain the central points of a presentation. For instance, chunking ten case studies could mean arranging them into three or four themes, each with a brief heading and one principal takeaway.

Use the same format on every slide: present one idea, include a small number of supporting details, and then continue. Structuring information into meaningful patterns lowers cognitive load and makes it easier to remember.

4. Become a retriever

During the 19th century, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus showed just how rapidly information is forgotten after it is learned. We lose approximately half of what we have learnt within around 30 minutes, with considerably more disappearing during the following day. Ebbinghaus named this the forgetting curve, represented by the light blue line in the chart below.

There is, however, a way to ensure more information stays with you when you need to learn a great deal within a limited time: retrieval practice.

When revising for an examination or preparing a talk, do not just read through your notes again. Instead, repeatedly test how much you can recall. Use flashcards, complete practice questions, or attempt to explain the content aloud without referring to your notes.

Memory operates through associations. Whenever you retrieve information successfully, you connect it with fresh prompts, examples and contexts. This creates additional cues for accessing the material and reinforces every memory pathway. When we "forget", the memory is often still there – we simply do not have the appropriate retrieval cue.

5. Give yourself a break

Studies indicate that memory works better when practice or study sessions are spaced apart instead of being concentrated together. When you are revising for an examination, make sure your revision timetable includes substantial periods away from studying. The dark blue line in the chart above shows how spreading practice sessions can help you retain more information over time by altering Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve.

One study indicates that the breaks between revision sessions should amount to 10-20% of the time remaining before your examination or presentation. For example, if your deadline is five days away and you are revising for hours each day, you should nevertheless have between half a day and a full day off between sessions. Put simply, do not push yourself too far – you are unlikely to gain the benefits!

If you retain only one point from this article on improving memory, let it be this: memory is not solely about intelligence; it is also about strategy. Minor adjustments to the way you work or study can significantly affect both how well you remember vital information and how long you retain it.

Elva Arulchelvan, Lecturer in Psychology and PhD Researcher in Psychology and Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.