3 Ways to Remember Anything

Facebook users around the world freaked out this week when rumors spread that some of their private messages now appeared to be public. (We don’t blame them for being upset—you certainly don’t want your dad seeing late-night messages to your hookup buddy.) But after reviewing the reports, the social network stated there was no evidence of previously private content being publicized, and lots of people backtracked on their claims.

What happened? Facebook networks were more intimate back then, so some people were incorrectly remembering how loose they once were with sharing personal details. In other words: People’s memories were being recalled in a much different context than when they were first ‘saved.’ A new study in The Journal of Neuroscience could explain why.

During three days of experiments, researchers at Northwestern University asked people to learn the locations of objects on a computer screen, then recall them the following day, and a third day.

All of the people incorrectly placed the objects on the second day and during the third day, 70 percent of placements were closer to day two placements—not the starting point. The wild part? People gave off neural signals that suggested a new memory was being laid in the brain—even if it was wrong.

When you recall a memory, there’s a possibility that your brain creates another memory of that retrieval, says Donna J. Bridge, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. When the details are confusing (like remembering something in a different environment, mood, or time), an incorrect recollection could become part of that original memory.

So the next time you need to remember something correctly, try one of these three tips. 

Look, Snap, Connect
This three-step method helps you create meaning, which leads to faster and more accurate remembrance, says Gary Small, M.D., a psychiatry professor at UCLA’s Semel Institute and co-author of The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program. ‘Look’ is a reminder to focus your attention; ‘snap’ is when you create images in your mind of what you want to recall later on, and ‘connect’ is a way to link up the mind pictures and make them more meaningful. Take Small’s example: If you have to buy eggs, stamps, and shoes in one trip and want to make sure you hit all three, imagine yourself holding a large egg with a stamp on it, and then watch the egg slip from your hands and break all over your shoe. He says the image of the wet stamp and eggshell on your shoe should be memorable enough. (Pro tip: If your errands include buying porn, picking up your stuff from your ex’s place, and finding an anniversary card for your parents . . . try something else.)

Tip of the Tongue
You know who’s jamming on the radio, but it’s escaping you. Grab your smartphone or a piece of paper and jot down all the clues you’re using to figure out the name (including a specific lyric from the song, the year you think it was released, or the name of the radio station). Tip-of-the-tongue experiences are from a memory that’s in there—you just haven’t retrieved it in a while, Small says. Your neurons are rusty, but you can reunite the pathways by using these triggers to jog your memory.

Use a Phrase for Passwords
In a way, the rise of the smartphone has meant that we store less information in our brains as long as we know how to retrieve it. (It’s Why Google Is Making You Stupid.) Small says the trick here is to how to choose your passwords wisely, no matter how many you have, by assigning a meaning to each of them. This way they’ll be easier to remember. A non-intuitive pattern like “My dog Rocky always makes me laugh” (the password would be: MdRamml) that alternates capitals or is made around the first letters of a phrase should suffice. 

http://news.menshealth.com/3-ways-to-remember-anything/2012/09/26/

Posted via email from Markham Real Estate Today with Asif Khan