Memory for Success

How does memory work?


Memory is the mental process of storing and recalling information or experiences, but how does it actually work?

Memories are formed when certain connections are strengthened. The more different ways you think about an item or experience, the more efficiently it will be stored and the easier it will be to recall information.

Have you ever met someone and forgotten their name, only to remember it two minutes later when you thought about who introduced you or what they were wearing when you met?

These different cues act as ‘triggers’ which relate to the way your brain stored the memory of the name. The stronger these connections, the easier it is for you to remember information. These are very important for revision – how strongly information is stored will affect how easily it can be recalled in an exam situation.

What affects memory performance?

Memory can be helped or hindered by different aspects of our daily lives.

Diet: What you eat can affect your memory. The best advice is to eat a balanced diet and get regular exercise.

Stress: Stress is the enemy of memory performance. The chemicals released by the body when you feel under pressure interfere with your brains memory function, reducing your overall memory capacity.

Sleep: The amount of sleep you get is very important to effective memory performance. Late night studying or ‘pulling an all-nighter’ results in tiredness and interferes with learning and remembering.

Memory techniques for exam success

If we want to improve memory performance in exams, we need to look at ways we can make it easier to recall information from revision. Here are two of the many techniques you can use.

Journey method

The journey method works by forming a connection between the information you want to memorise alongside a mental list, making it easier to remember both pieces of information together. The method can be used in revision to remember the points of an argument or an essay in the correct order.

Imagine the house where you live and the front door as you walk through it. In your head, walk through the house visiting every room in turn. The key to this technique is to pick specific places in your house (individual rooms or specific pieces of furniture) so that as you walk round your house in your imagination, you visit each place in turn in the same order each time. You then need to form an association between these locations and the items you need to remember.

This method is a very flexible system and is only limited by the number of journeys that you can create in your mind.

Mnemonics

Mnemonics can be used as another method for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall. Mnemonics use rhymes, songs, acronyms etc. to encode information in a meaningful way.

The basic principle of mnemonics is to find something that sticks in your head and use it as the basis to remember whatever information you need. Just remember, mnemonics are only useful if they are easier to recall than the original information to be remembered. The key is to keep it simple!

Mnemonics are particularly useful as a method of memorising the complicated formulas needed for subjects such as Maths and Physics.

Handy hint

Get all the help & advice you can! More people than you think are willing to help, so go to your teachers, friends, family and don’t be afraid to ask!