How to Improve Long Term Memory

Source: wikiHow

Staff
Co-Authored

It can be difficult to commit things to your long-term memory, resulting in memories, facts, and other information getting lost over time. Luckily, there are lots of ways you can prevent this! For example, you can change the way you approach new information in order to successfully remember it in the long-term.

Memory devices are helpful ways to improve long-term recall, and a few simple lifestyle changes can also make a big difference.

1. 1 Focus intensely on the new information. You’ll be more likely to remember something in the future if you give it all of your attention while you’re trying to learn it. Don’t try to multitask.^[1]
   • Minimize distractions by turning off the TV, switching off music, and putting your phone somewhere you can’t see it. Limiting the number of things competing for your attention helps new information move from your short-term to your long-term memory.
   • Try asking your roommate or family to give you some quiet time. If you have kids, see if someone else can watch them for a while so you can have an uninterrupted study session.
2. 2 Take a break after learning something new. Just sit quietly or meditate for a few minutes. Avoid distractions or trying to get other things done during this time, as it will interfere with the process of building the new memories you’ve just formed.^[2]
   • Taking a nap after a study session can help you remember it later! Research has shown that when mice go to sleep after learning a new task, new neural connections are formed in their brains.^[3]
3. 3 Review information right before bed. Studies suggest that your brain uses sleeping hours to review and select what you will be able to recall in the long-term. For this reason, you can improve your long-term memory recall by going over information that you want to retain right before you go to sleep.^[4]
4. 4 Organize information into related clusters. Information is stored in your memory in chunks, so group similar items together and memorize these smaller chunks individually.^[5]
   • For example, if you’re trying to remember a list of items to buy at the grocery store, group them into categories like “produce” and “dairy products,” and try to memorize each category separately.
   • Rearrange your study material into related categories. Try typing up an outline, highlighting similar ideas with the same color highlighter, or copying information onto index cards and making a different pile for each concepts.^[6]
   • Occasionally mix up all the information from your different sections, and study the material out of order. This can help you notice new connections between more distantly related topics.^[7]
5. 5 Space out your study sessions. Your ability to remember things can drastically improve if you have many small study sessions over a longer period of time, as opposed to spending a large chunk of time cramming all of the information at once.
   • Each time you review something, you will remember it better, so when first memorizing something repeat it often, and over time you can review it with less frequency. For example, when learning a new fact, first repeat it five seconds later, then thirty seconds later, then two minutes later, and so on.^[8]
   • Even if you only have a little bit of time to study, it helps to space out your material as much as possible within one study session. For example, don’t review the same few items over and over again, and then move on to the next few. Instead, go over each item once, and after you’ve covered all of the information go back and review everything again.^[9]

1. 1 Form associations between new and remembered information. If you can link new ideas with previously established ones, then you can increase the chance that new memories will be formed. Try coming up with a familiar picture, song, joke, or rhyme that you can associate with the new material.^[10]
   • Form a picture in your mind that includes the new fact. For example, if you’re meeting someone named Peggy, picture them with a pirate hat, eye patch, and peg leg.^[11]
   • Try making an acronym or acrostic to learn multiple pieces of information in order. Invent a sentence where the first letter of each word stands for a word you’re trying to remember. A popular example is used by music students learning the order of notes on a treble clef staff, where the phrase “Every Good Boy Does Fine” represents the notes “EGBDF.”^[12]
   • Come up with a rhyme that contains the information you need to remember. For example, “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”^[13]
   • It’s helpful to come up with an association early on, when you’re first learning the information. The more associations you can create, the more likely it is that the new fact will stick in your memory.^[14]
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