Techniques for Improving Memory - 3

 

While there are many more activities and exercise that can be used to improve one's memory they are more of a practical nature and can be better demonstrated in one on one interactions, there is one aspect that I would like to talk about. And that is your Food Intake.

What you eat bears a strong resonance to how your Brain behaves. The brain is an organ of your body and so obviously need nutrition and oxygen to function effectively and efficiently.  In fact as much as a fifth of the body's daily calorie intake is consumed by the brain. 

All food is important, however there are certain foods that benefit Brain functioning and specifically memory. There are 2 important and specific nutrients that are supposedly connected to good Brain health, and they are Omega-3 fatty Acids and anti-oxidants. So food rich in these 2 will automatically aid in healthy brain function. So keep a look-out for these 2.

A good source of Omega-3 fatty acids are Oily Fish, Soya beans, Nuts & Seeds.

Anti-oxidants are found in Dark Chocolate, Berries, Nuts & Seeds (again!!),Broccoli and other Leafy vegetables.

So make sure to include these in your diet on a regular basis to ensure optimum Brain health.

Ciao!

*Nuts include - Almonds, Walnuts, Cashew nuts and Peanuts

Seeds include - Flax Seeds, Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds 

Techniques for Improving Memory - 2

Moving onwards....

The next technique to improve memory is - 

3. Mnemonics - This is useful for remembering sequential patterns of any kind. It is usually done by creating a simple word or phrase by using the first letters of a longer or complicated phrase that is difficult to remember or if you need to remember anything in a particular order or pattern. Acronyms are kinds of Mnemonics.

A simple example of this is BODMAS, as under,

You can create your own Mnemonic or Acronym based on your comforts, likes and areas of interest that will help you remember better. A good idea is to also involves a melody to it, especially if you are an auditory learner.

4. Visualization - Another great way to remember information is to visualize as much as possible. Whenever you hear or come across any new information try and create an image of it in your mind and use the association technique that we had mentioned in the previous article. It does not have to be a clear visualization; it can be an abstract one or whatever image the new information creates in your mind. To each his/her own. This is very personal, so it does not need to make sense; as long as you remember!

Ciao!

Techniques for Improving Memory - 1

 

Now that we understand what memory is, let's look at various ways in which you can enhance or boost your memory powers.

There are various ways. Let's talk!

1. Using more senses:

Usually information about anything reaches us through one or more sensory organs. To enhance the information in your memory better, attempt to utilize additional sensory organs to hard wire that information.

e.g. If you are hear something and want to remember it better, there are a few things that you can do. First and foremost, is to write it down, obviously. Ideally, write it down using a pen and diary, not type it. The physical involvement of your hands will serve as an additional enhancer to the memory.  Secondly, say it, as you are writing it down, audibly enough so that you can hear it in your own voice. And lastly look at it in your own handwriting, don't just read but look at the geometrical pattern the word/s make. And then read it again.

Similarly, attempt to use your other sensory organs as well to associate them with certain information or events.

And that's the second way of enhancing memory, which is,

2. Association:

Associate multiple things with each other to create a hook or anchor. You can either create pairs or groups of associations. Names with faces, popular culture, historical references, locations, humor and any area of personal liking for you; are good ideas for creating these associations.

e.g. If you meet someone called Steve, you might create an association with his face and that of Captain America's (Steve Rogers, for the uninitiated) and you'll probably remember his name forever, if you are a Marvel Fan!

There are some more ways... we shall discuss as we progress!

Ciao!!

Memory Defined and Rejigged!!

 

Let's talk about Memory.

Memory,  in my opinion, is the ability to remember and retrieve information that you have gathered through experiences. I am in an internal struggle to add a third R to it as well ... let me know your thoughts about it!!

So I'm rejigging my opinion to redefine Memory as the ability to Remember, Retrieve and Represent, the information that you have gathered through experiences.

Most people feel that Memory is just being able to remember information. I, however, am inclined to put the other 2 R's in the definition as I think they are an critical part of the memory abstract.

So, a person can claim to have strong memory if all 3 aspects are strong suits for him or her.

1. Remember - This involves storage of the information that has been gathered through experience. If we liken ourselves to a computer, then the data that we have gathered needs to be stored in a drive. This drive is the Human body. And I'm not just saying the brain, but the entire body since muscle memory plays a large part in this.

2. Retrieval - Now that you have stored the information gathered, you will need to find again, or else it does not matter. At times we face this issue, where we think we remember something but aren't able to grasp it. That's a "On the tip of my tongue" moment.

3. Represent - This is something that everyone might not agree, is a part of memory, as long as the information is internally remembered and retrieved. The reason I am strongly inclined to place it along with the others as part of memory, is because without being able to represent facts or thoughts to the external world in a suitable manner for any benefit, the stored, remembered and retrieved data is eventually as good as forgotten!

Happy Birthday Zubin!!

Ciao!

Intelligence & Memory

 

Moving back to Emotional Intelligence...

Now that we have gotten the basic idea of what Emotions are let us move to the second word, 'Intelligence'!

Intelligence can simply be defined as the ability of a human being to learn something. This may be in terms of knowledge or skills. 

Knowledge pertain to gaining information about any thing i.e. the WHAT aspect. 

Skill pertains to gaining understanding of the process of the activity, i.e. the HOW aspect.

How well and how quickly an individual learns depends on how 'Intelligent' the person is. The level or intensity of the intelligence depends on how much the individual has applied his brain during his/her own  developmental phase of life.

The Intelligence of a person grows till he/she is about 15 years of age and then remains more or less constant for the rest of his/her life.

To be more detailed, Intelligence involves  lot of things and leads to positive results in a lot of aspects. It could be logical reasoning, problem solving, decision making, abstract thinking, language ability, mathematics and so on. The more intelligent you are the better you may be at the above things. 

You will also find individuals who have different levels of "Intelligences" for the various things listed above since Intelligence is more of a abstract working of the Brain than a clear cut mechanical mathematical calculation.

How much you are Intelligent, doing "what", will depend on the experience that an individual has gone through in the early stage of his or her life.

The exact working of the Brain is still filled with a lot of Mystery!

Memory on the other hand is a completely different skill and should not be confused with Intelligence. Yes, the Intelligence of a person might help improving memory, however they are two different skillsets. And we'll talk more about this in the forthcoming articles.

Ciao!!

The Five Senses & Synesthesia

 

In the previous article, we mentioned the senses. Let us process that.

Every human being has 5 sensory organs that carry the stimulus to the brain to produce an emotion and thereafter a feeling when it gets processed through thought. 

These 5 organs are responsible for the sense that we feel - 

1. Visual - What we 'See' through our 'Eyes'

2. Auditory - What we 'Hear' through our 'Ears'

3. Olfactory - What we 'Smell' through our 'Nose'

4. Gustatory - What we 'Taste' through our 'Tongue and Oral Cavity'

5. Tactile - What we physically 'Feel' through our 'Skin'

Any stimulus that is generated external to our bodies is received by the receptor cells of these organs and transmitted to our brain through the pathway of nerves or nerve cells. These pathways reach the Amygdala first, before they reach the pre-frontal cortex. And that's the reason our first reaction to everything external to ourselves is always Emotional.

That is something you cannot control. What you can control however, is how you choose to respond to these external stimuli. This is done by thinking, understanding and evaluating your choices of actions to be taken based on the situation and the time.

So respond... Do not react!!

Synesthesia

One additional thing I'd like to talk about here is the ability known as Synesthesia! This condition takes all the above and mixes it up. It is a rare ability in which our sensory organs experience each other. When you have the ability of synesthesia you are able to experience some of your senses through the non-respective sensory organs. This may be due to cross wiring of the nervous transmissions. 

For example, you hear shapes, you see tastes and so on. This is immediate and automatic and does not take any effort. It is more like a sixth sense and I'm sure it would be an interesting experience. Please be aware though, that this is not a disease or a disorder. It is, like I mentioned earlier, an ability that certain unique individuals are blessed to have!

Emotions & Feelings

 

Let us begin by understanding the difference between Emotions and Feelings. We tend to think that are the same and tend to use them interchangeably.

The difference lies between where the two arise. Emotions originate in the body whereas feelings originate in the mind. Let me explain...

Emotions are bodily functions that are immediate and arise as reactions to a stimulus. The origin is a little organ in our middle brain known as the Amygdala. They are based on the fight, flight or freeze reaction hardwired in us through evolution. They are automatic and cannot be controlled.

                                                                

Feelings on the other hand arise as the end of the process of thinking. It occurs when we let the senses from our sensory organs move to the pre-frontal cortex or the thinking part of our upper brain. This requires a conscious effort of not letting the Amygdala taking control of us, our behaviors and our actions. Feelings are a response more than a reaction. 

So emotions are automatically felt, whereas feelings are consciously thought!