Aug 28, 2024
Best books or sites on training memory?
I think the best thing to do is learn about how memory works. I'm not really sure what books to suggest, but pursuing these ideas might be helpful, and forgive me if there are any errors because I'm going off memory. The first thing you need to know - the most spoken about and cited model - is the idea of active, short-term, and long-term memory. Your active memory can usually store around 7 pieces of information at a time, depending on your genetics, and only lasts for a few seconds. You can increase the amount of information you can store at a time in your active memory by "chunking" information (like remembering phone numbers by breaking them into parts), but I imagine you're more interested in more long-term memory. If you pay attention to it, the information can pass into the short-term for around 2 minutes, and from there if the information is important it is encoded in the long-term memory. Another often cited model of memory in psychology is that of the computer model. It maps on somewhat to the previous model. Put simply - your memory stores information and retrieves it at a later date, like a computer saves files. It needs to convert stimuli (e.g. what your eyes see, what your ears hear...) into a kind of format it can understand, like a computer interprets stimuli into binary that can be read. This would be considered the encoding stage, which is necessary for information to move into your active memory. It then needs to store the converted stimuli, like saving a document, which it will only do for information it considers relevant. This would be the storing stage. Finally, when you look to remember something, if it has been stored in your memory, you need to retrieve it, like finding a file. This is the retrieval stage, and it is like a series of connections in your brain. This is of course just a model, but an accessible and useful one. As a result, if you have memory problems, it may be due to either the encoding, storing, or retrieval.
In general, there are a few things you can do to improve your memory of information. Your brain is more likely to store information if it feels the information is relevant to you; so when engaging with new material it's best to try to consider it in relation to what you already know and in the context of your own life. If it's too abstract or separated from you, your brain might not see any point in remembering it. Likewise, retrieval is faciliated by the amount of connections any piece of information has in your brain. Engaging with information in multiple modes (e.g. speaking, writing, hearing) when encoding the information will make it easier to retrieve the information later due to the increased connections. Your long-term/stored memory is theoretically limitless, but only as useful as what you store and what you can retrieve. There are also certain effects to how likely you are to remember things. In any given session of "learning", you are more likely to remember the things and last things you engaged with, so it's best to tackle difficult/important things first/last. There are other things but this is already too long. Basically Kunst's comment.
agree with lowiqmarkfisher that SRS is good and the rest is probably genetic. there's probably little you can do to improve your general memory. however, there are a few techniques that make it easier to memorize specific information. memory craft by lynne kelly goes through a few of these. moonwalking with einstein talks about memory techniques, but it's mostly a journalist's account of competitive memorizers. https://artofmemory.com/ has a library of resources. most of the techniques mentioned in these resources will make it easier to remember linear information or lists, and you have to work at it every time you want to memorize new information. but these techniques really get into the turbo-autist zone. if your goal is just to memorize more ideas and concepts generally, your best bet is reading, writing, explaining it to people, connecting the info to existing memories, and SRS. aside: memory, note-taking, and information processing techniques in medieval and renaissance europe is a super interesting subject. see kelly's book above and also this paper (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17496977.2010.492611) for more info. i guess you really touched a nerve with this topic. i didn't intend to write so much.
IMO it's spaced repetition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition The rest is genetics probably.
De Umbris Idearum - Giordano Bruno