Memory is the process of maintaining information over time.

(Matlin, 2005)

Memory is the means by which we draw on our past experiences in order to use this
information in the present (Sternberg, 1999).
Memory is the term given to the structures and processes involved in the storage
and subsequent retrieval of information.
Memory is essential to all our lives. Without a memory of the past we cannot ope
rate in the present or think about the future. We would not be able to remember
what we did yesterday, what we have done today or what we plan to do tomorrow.
Without memory we could not learn anything.
Memory is involved in processing vast amounts of information. This information t
akes many different forms, e.g. images, sounds or meaning.
For psychologists the term memory covers three important aspects of information
processing:
statges of memory
1. Memory Encoding
When information comes into our memory system (from sensory input), it needs to
be changed into a form that the system can cope with, so that it can be stored.
Think of this as similar to changing your money into a different currency when
you travel from one country to another. For example, a word which is seen (in a
book) may be stored if it is changed (encoded) into a sound or a meaning (i.e.
semantic processing).
There are three main ways in which information can be encoded (changed):
1. Visual (picture)
2. Acoustic (sound)
3. Semantic (meaning)
For example, how do you remember a telephone number you have looked up in the ph
one book? If you can see it then you are using visual coding, but if you are re
peating it to yourself you are using acoustic coding (by sound).
Evidence suggests that this is the principle coding system in short term memory
(STM) is acoustic coding. When a person is presented with a list of numbers and
letters, they will try to hold them in STM by rehearsing them (verbally). Rehe
arsal is a verbal process regardless of whether the list of items is presented a
coustically (someone reads them out), or visually (on a sheet of paper).
The principle encoding system in long term memory (LTM) appears to be semantic c
oding (by meaning). However, information in LTM can also be coded both visually
and acoustically.
2. Memory Storage
This concerns the nature of memory stores, i.e. where the information is stored,
how long the memory lasts for (duration), how much can be stored at any time (c
apacity) and what kind of information is held. The way we store information aff
ects the way we retrieve it. There has been a significant amount of research re
garding the differences between Short Term Memory (STM ) and Long Term Memory (L
TM).

Most adults can store between 5 and 9 items in their short-term memory. Miller
(1956) put this idea forward and he called it the magic number 7. He though tha
t short-term memory capacity was 7 (plus or minus 2) items because it only had a
certain number of slots in which items could be stored. However, Miller didn t spe
cify the amount of information that can be held in each slot. Indeed, if we can
chunk information together we can store a lot more information in our short-term
memory. In contrast the capacity of LTM is thought to be unlimited.
Information can only be stored for a brief duration in STM (0-30 seconds), but L
TM can last a lifetime.
3. Memory Retrieval
This refers to getting information out storage. If we can t remember something, i
t may be because we are unable to retrieve it. When we are asked to retrieve so
mething from memory, the differences between STM and LTM become very clear.
STM is stored and retrieved sequentially. For example, if a group of participan
ts are given a list of words to remember, and then asked to recall the fourth wo
rd on the list, participants go through the list in the order they heard it in o
rder to retrieve the information.
LTM is stored and retrieved by association. This is why you can remember what y
ou went upstairs for if you go back to the room where you first thought about it
.
Organizing information can help aid retrieval. You can organize information in
sequences (such as alphabetically, by size or by time). Imagine a patient being
discharged from hospital whose treatment involved taking various pills at vario
us times, changing their dressing and doing exercises. If the doctor gives thes
e instructions in the order which they must be carried out throughout the day (i
.e. in sequence of time), this will help the patient remember them.
Criticisms of Memory Experiments
A large part of the research on memory is based on experiments conducted in labo
ratories. Those who take part in the experiments - the participants - are asked
to perform tasks such as recalling lists of words and numbers. Both the settin
g - the laboratory - and the tasks are a long way from everyday life. In many c
ases, the setting is artificial and the tasks fairly meaningless. Does this mat
ter?
Psychologists use the term ecological validity to refer to the extent to which t
he findings of research studies can be generalized to other settings. An experi
ment has high ecological validity if its findings can be generalized, that is ap
plied or extended, to settings outside the laboratory.
It is often assumed that if an experiment is realistic or true-to-life, then the
re is a greater likelihood that its findings can be generalized. If it is not r
ealistic (if the laboratory setting and the tasks are artificial) then there is
less likelihood that the findings can be generalized. In this case, the experim
ent will have low ecological validity.
Many experiments designed to investigate memory have been criticized for having
low ecological validity. First, the laboratory is an artificial situation. Peo
ple are removed from their normal social settings and asked to take part in a ps
ychological experiment. They are directed by an 'experimenter' and may be place
d in the company of complete strangers. For many people, this is a brand new ex
perience, far removed from their everyday lives. Will this setting affect their

actions, will they behave normally?

Often, the tasks participants are asked to perform can appear artificial and mea
ningless. Few, if any, people would attempt to memorize and recall a list of un
connected words in their daily lives. And it is not clear how tasks such as thi
s relate to the use of memory in everyday life. The artificiality of many exper
iments has led some researchers to question whether their findings can be genera
lized to real life. As a result, many memory experiments have been criticized f
or having low ecological validity.
_
n response to the trend to abolish teaching of cursive in schools, about a year
ago I posted an article on what I thought were the developmental benefits of han
dwriting (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201303/why-writing-ha
nd...). That post has generated over 230 comments and is still active.
Now there is evidence that handwriting of lecture notes, compared to typing on a
laptop, improves learning by college students. Following up on prior studies th
at indicated relative ineffectiveness of taking notes by laptop, researchers Pam
Meuller and Daniel Oppenheimer provide clear evidence that handwritten note-tak
ing produces better learning in college students.
They reported three experiments that compared the efficacy of college students t
aking notes by handwriting or with a lap top. Those who used handwritten notes t
hat they studied later scored significantly higher than students using laptops,
including fleet typists who took vastly more copious notes. Handwriters took few
er notes overall with less verbatim recording. There are many possible explanati
ons, beginning with the "less is more" idea in which too much information produc
es cognitive overload. Notably, when the typing students were told to avoid verb
atim notes, they still did it. This suggests that there is something about typin
g that leads to mindless processing. Handwritten notes involve more thought, re
-framing, and re-organization, all of which promote better understanding and ret
ention. The manual act of handwriting requires more engagement with the subject
matter. Finally, handwritten notes capitalize on the use of drawings and of pers
onalized spatial layout of the notes. Memorization involves not only what the in
formation is, but where it is spatially located.
}
Moon Walking With Einstein is the title of a recent memory improvement book writ
ten by Joshua Foer, a reporter of memory championships. Foer became so entranced
by watching astonishing memory feats in the contests that he decided to learn t
he secrets. After talking to memory athletes, he started practicing the techniqu
es and within a few years became a memory champion himself. You could do that to
o!
Memory athletes are those seeming freaks of nature who enter contests to see how
fast they can memorize the sequence of four shuffled decks of cards or how long
a string of digits they can memorize. But memory athletes are not freaks. They
are ordinary people like Foer, you, and me who have learned some gimmicks that m
ake possible the seemingly impossible.
Here, I will describe the simplest and easiest gimmick to use. I call it SVO, wh
ich stands for SUBJECT (or actor or agent), VERB, and OBJECT. This is the intuit
ive way we think with our language. Usually the subject is a person, which is wh
y others call this technique POA for person, object, action). But animals or ina
nimate things can do things too. The trick is to visualize, using lots of imagin
ation, an actor doing something relating to an object as in moon walking with Eins
tein. Memorization is made easy because the images are so bizarre and vivid.
I will illustrate the principles with Foer's method for memorizing the sequence
of a deck of cards. He didn t explain his method completely, deliberately I think,
because he probably did not want to be drummed out of the elite memory athlete cl

ub to which he had been initiated. Not knowing his particular scheme, I will con
jure an illustration of how all cards can be visualized. For example, the suits
might be as follows:
Spades: Batman (black, darkness)
Clubs: Tiger Woods (re: golf clubs)
Diamonds: Diamond Jim Brady (diamond tie stud) or Zsa Zsa Gabor (who famousl
y said, Daaahling, always wear your diamonds, even to the grocery store. You neve
r know who you will run into ).
Hearts: Somebody you love
Then, to associate the card number with the suit, you could use the number code,
which is another tip that I will explain later. But as an illustration, the num
ber four is coded as rye, which can be a picture of a field of grain or a bottle o
f rye whisky, whichever you prefer. Thus, for example, the four of clubs would b
e visualized as Tiger Woods (SUBJECT) teeing off (VERB) on a bottle or rye whisk
y (OBJECT), instead of a golf ball. What does one do with the face cards? They c
an be converted to numbers too, Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13, Ace = 1 (Or 14
; the number code for one is tie and you don t want to get confused if you are using
Diamond Jim Brady as your code for diamonds.
Finally, Foer did mention that he clusters three sequential cards into one image
, so that he only has to memorize 17 items, with one item left over, instead of
52.
Well most of us aren t going to enter memory contests or card-count in Vegas (they
catch on to you pretty quick). So, how do we apply this to everyday life? You c
ould use this SOV approach to play a better game of bridge. But many events in d
aily life are better remembered this way.
First, a simple illustration:
Capital of Arkansas (Little Rock): most people know Bill Clinton was Governo
r of Arkansas. Visualize Clinton (SUBJECT) throwing (VERB) a little rock (OBJECT
) at Noah's ark ( ansas)
Now, here is a more complex example where you can string together multiple items
to be remembered:
Harvey s discovery of the circulatory system: Everybody knows that the heart i
s key, because it pumps blood. See the heart (SUBJECT) as pumping (VERB) blood (
OBJECT) out on to the main traffic artery, like a freeway. Imagine you as an ima
ge of Harvey (like Harvey the rabbit in the movie) riding in a boat in the blood
river. See the boat slow down and start to back up as it leaves on the off ramp
. Maybe you want think of the boat going through a hole ( ole for arteriole) to get
to the off ramp. Then see the boat stop at the stop light (covered with basebal
l caps capillary). Then, on green the boat goes back up on the access road (beca
use Harvey had gotten off too soon, in vain (vein). This schema also helps as a
metaphor for associating function at the various locations.
While all this seems bizarre, it works with great power. Facts and concepts memo
rized this way are robustly encoded and readily consolidated into lasting memory
because humans are visual animals. We have far more brain area devoted to visio
n than we do any other sense.
Another way to make the point is with the age-old phenomenon of fairy tales. Fai
ry tales often carry a moral that we want our children to remember. A few fairy
tales are even for adults, with the political protest embedded as a metaphor. In
any case, a fairy tale is easy to remember because it is visually vivid, with p
eople acting on or with things.

SVO is perhaps the most flexible memory device. Use it for simple memory tasks o
r for truly demanding memory challenges.
}
he chart below is telling: SAT scores have been flat for over 40 years while edu
cation spending has increased 140%. Though this is Texas, I have seen similar da
ta for other states.
At the national level, federal government educational spending has skyrocketed,
with no comparable improvement in educational outcomes.

Clearly, the data debunk the supposition that more money is needed to fix educat
ion. What about changing standards and curricula? What have we got to show for a
ll the reforms in the last 40 years such as Head Start, New Math, Nation at Risk
, Goals 2000, Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind, charter schools, Next Gener
ation Science Standards, and Common Core?
Could it be that we are trying to apply right answers to the wrong problems? If
money, revised standards and curricula, and high-stakes testing are not the real
problems, what is?
I think the real problem is that students generally lack learning competencies.
Amazingly, schools tell students more about what to learn than how to learn. I t
hink that such schooling has it backwards. In my view, the main goal of school s
hould be to motivate students to learn and to teach them how to do it. Good scho
oling also ought to cultivate good academic taste, that is, the ability to disti
nguish principle from fact, useful information from trivia, logical analysis fro
m specious argumentation, and intellectual excellence from superstition, myth, a
nd falsehood. With that accomplished most everything else will fall into place.
What do I mean by "learning competencies?" In this post, I will just identify th
e competencies needed for effective learning as follows:
Organization
Understanding
Synthesis
Memory
Application
Creativity
In a follow-on post, I will explain what I think teachers can do to promote stud
ent development of these learning competencies. The corollary is that Colleges o
f Education need to be doing more research on these competencies and provide mor
e instruction to pre-service teachers on how to teach learning competencies. In
short, what is the smart way to address the real problem in education?
]
I have written before about research that clearly demonstrates improved learning
after sleep. Sleep promotes the "consolidation" of recently acquired short-term
memories into more permanent memories. Impaired consolidation is a major probl
em in teaching and learning. Teachers often have to repeat the same instruction
again and again, and yet many children still do not perform well on high-stakes
tests. Anything teachers can do to improve retention of instruction would be use

ful, and that includes making school children aware that they probably need to g
et more sleep. The well-known change in sleep cycles during adolescence makes a
strong case for starting school later in the morning. But another issue is wheth
er or not naps during the school day would improve learning.
A recent study in Brazilian schools has addressed this question by having 371 6t
h graders take a nap after receiving a 15-minute lecture on intentionally novel
information that was not relevant to the normal curriculum. Students were then g
iven a surprise multiple-choice test on this content at three different times af
ter the lecture: 1, 2, and 5 days after the lecture. Scores were compared with
that of a pre-test on this material before the lecture.
Students were divided into a nap group, in which students were given sleep masks
and encouraged to try to sleep, lying down on mats in a quiet room. The other g
roup went to a regular class by their usual teacher after the lecture.
Not surprisingly, both groups showed improved scores (12 percent gain) when test
ed the next day. However, this gain disappeared by five days in the non-nap grou
p, whereas essentially no decline in test scores was evident at testing two or f
ive days later. Teachers would not be surprised that students soon forgot what t
hey are taught. In this situation, the preserved memory in the nap group was esp
ecially impressive, given that the study was designed to impair learning in both
nap and non-nap groups in four ways:
Students were not allowed to take notes.
Students were not encouraged to remember this information.
The lecture topic was not relevant to the curriculum.
Students did not know they were going to be tested.
If these constraints on learning had not been present, I suspect that the nap ef
fect would have been much larger. Moreover, there was no objective measure of ho
w much actual sleep each student had. Many might have just been resting. Data we
re not tracked by individual student, but rather averaged over the whole group.
Finally, multiple-choice tests were used, and these only test recognition memory
. If naps do improve memory, a larger nap effect might be seen with tests that c
all for students to generate a remembered answer, as in short answer or fill-inthe blanks tests.
While theory and experiments such as this suggest that napping could help studen
t learning, there are of course practical constraints. Time spent napping is tim
e that content cannot be presented.
My experience as an educational consultant in schools is that schools seem to co
nspire to make learning difficult. First, students are constantly over-stimulate
d and distracted, not only by social interactions, but by posters, pictures, and
do-dads placed conspicuously all over the rooms and in the halls. Many teachers
allow students to multi-task, for example, using cell and smart phones in class
. Classes are commonly disturbed by loud public-speaker announcements from the p
rincipal's office and by loud bells signaling the end of class. Immediately afte
r class, no quiet time is allowed for reflection on what happened in class. Stud
ents actually start tuning out about five minutes before the anticipated bell ri
ng, and the bell causes them to leap up, run out into the halls, and start socia
lizing. Then, of course, there is the emphasis on all manner of extracurricular
activities that occupy the minds of many students much more than curriculum. It'
s a wonder students learn anything.
Finally, few if any teachers
t to learn and on performing
to give teacher workshops to
learning competence in their

teach students how to learn. The emphasis is on wha

well on state-mandated test scores. I have started
help teachers realize the importance of developing
students. If students had better learning skills, t

he job of teaching would be much easier and student test performance would impro
ve automatically
}
In this series of posts related to memory problems, I have noted that the inform
ation in these posts is NOT devoted to any memory problems due to aging. Rather,
this information is in regards to memory problems that are specifically related
to brain injury as a result of disease, trauma or neglect. In last week s post 10
Ways to Improve Your Memory we explored strategies for dealing with memory proble
ms due to neglect. This post is focused on the proven methods and treatments tha
t can improve your memory problems resulting from disease or trauma, such as tra
umatic brain injury, concussion, stroke, MS and Parkinson Disease.
The various methods and treatment are classified into three areas: conventional,
complementary and alternative. This classification is based on insurance reimbu
rsement. Almost 98% of conventional methods are covered by insurance, while at l
east 50% are covered by complementary and 0% for alternative approaches.
1) Cognitive Therapy (CT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Both methods are covered under insurance, yet are very different. Cognitive Ther
apy is done by a Speech and Language Pathologist, while Cognitive Behavioral The
rapy is done by a mental health professional, such as a licensed psychologist or
licensed social worker. Cognitive therapy (CT) is the assessment and treatment
of cognitive skills, including memory, attention and executive functioning (plan
ning, sequencing, organizing, initiating, problem-solving, decision-making and s
elf-awareness). Through the education and training of compensatory strategies, c
ognitive therapy helps you complete daily tasks with greater independence and se
lf-confidence. Making strategic adjustments to your environment, for example, en
ables you to be more efficient and focused in daily function.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that helps people
change how they think, feel, or act in order to improve their mood, reduce stres
s, or achieve other important health and life goals. Some goals may be specific,
such as reducing worrying or procrastination, whereas others can be more genera
l, such as figuring out why one s life seems to lack meaning, passion or direction
, and figuring out what to do about it. There are three parts to CBT:
How you think (cognitive) can and does change your behavior.
The way you think may be monitored and altered.
The desired behavior change may be affected through changes in the way you t
hink.
2) Medications
If prescribed by an M.D., most are covered by insurance, such as methylphenidate
(Ritalin) and dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine) can be very effective for attention
problems. Amantadine (Symmetrel) is a drug that affects the action of brain che
micals called neurotransmitters and that is sometimes used to treat people with
Parkinson s disease. These medications have side effects, but if they are effectiv
e, the benefits may outweigh the disadvantages.
Prevagen, a brain health supplement, has been shown to help alleviate memory and
sleep problems by binding to calcium cells and reducing damage done by the body s
diminished production of calcium-binding proteins. The active ingredient respon
sible for this work is apoaequorin, a protein found in jellyfish. The regular ve
rsion of Prevagen can be purchased at a health food store, while a professional,
more potent version is sold through medical practices. As always, it is extreme

ly important to consult with your neurologist before using any over-the-counter

medication.
3) Special Need Educator/Tutor
Some state, providence and school systems may reimburse the expense. If you were
in an automobile accident, it is important to have this included. A special nee
ds educator is trained in a wide variety of methods to help with memory issues.
4) Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
In many states, such as Florida, Texas and California to name a few, HBOT is cov
ered by your health insurance. Hyperbaric medicine, now called Hyperbaric Oxygen
Therapy or HBOT, was invented as a means of dealing with decompression sickness
. Breathing pure oxygen in an environment of increased pressure delivers twenty
to thirty times the amount to the body tissues. This method helps provide more
oxygen to the brain to enhance brain regulation. A subset of this is oxygen the
rapy or the personal oxygen bar.
5) Nutrition
Most insurance companies do cover a nutritionist or dietician. It is extremely
important to eat an anti-inflammatory diet that allows the brain to heal, elimin
ating refined sugar, corn syrup, and any grains that can be fermented or distill
ed. An increase of omega-3 from wild sockeye salmon and tuna is beneficial. Addi
tionally, spinach and other vegetables rich in antioxidants can help improve you
r memory. Coconut, olive oil, and avocado are good sources of fats that help the
brain heal and enhance your storage and retrieval capabilities. Drinking water
helps the brain, too.
6) Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback can help the brain to become regulated again and form new neural c
onnections needed for attention, concentration, storage and retrieval. This tech
nique uses a computer to give information to a person about his or her own brain
wave pattern in the form of EEG activity, in order to train the person to modify
his or her own brainwaves. When the brain is not functioning properly, evidence
of this usually shows up in EEG activity. Neurofeedback training (EEG Biofeedba
ck) assists a person to alter his or her own brainwave characteristics by challe
nging the brain to learn to reorganize and function better.
7) Exercise
Do what you can to raise your heart rate so that you can get more oxygen to your
brain.
8) Computer Programs
There are several computer programs and websites devoted to improving your memor
y, such as BrainTrain, EyeQ, and Lumosity. There are other programs, however the
ones I ve named are the ones that I know personally are very effective.
9) Alternative Approaches

Many advertisements state that certain herbs or homeopathic remedies can increas
e your memory. These over-the-counter products may help, but it is always best
to work with a knowledgeable practitioner rather than attempting to self-medicat
e. Even natural remedies can have serious side effects if not used properly. Dep
ending on your specific needs, a knowledgeable herbalist may recommend a product
such as ginkgo biloba, ginseng, super blue-green algae, black cohosh, or suan z
ao ren for memory improvement. Homeopathic remedies that may be recommended for
people with post concussion memory difficulties include Carbo vegetabilis, Silic
ea terra, Hyoscyamus niger, Phosphoricum acidum, Helleborus, and Calcarea carbon
ica.
Some people have found that taking certain nutritional supplements, such as 50 m
illigrams of vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) and 100 milligrams of coenzyme Q10 daily, h
as helped to restore memory. It is important to be aware, however, that excessiv
e amounts of vitamin B6 can damage the nervous system. As with any substance, it
is crucial to first confer with your physician to determine what dosage, if any
, is best for you.
Polarity therapy may be helpful in resolving attention and concentration problem
s, particularly if the practitioner has experience treating your particular symp
toms
Practical Suggestions
You can go on numerous listserves, Facebook, or do an organic search for methods
to help with your memory, including using sticky notes, writing things down and
repeating them over and over to yourslef, or using digital recorders. I have fo
und that many of these methods do work and you have to hunt and pick what is the
best for you. In next week s post, I ll dig deeper into practical suggestions that
can help with memory problems
What is important to know is that if you do the above nine suggestions, you WILL
see improvements in your memory. Remember that there is help and hope.
]
In my What Causes Memory Problems? I discussed the three causes of memory problems
: disease, trauma and neglect. In Are You Having Memory Problems? I presented the
3 essential aspects of memory: registration, storage and retrieval. This week s po
st and the posts that will follow are devoted to methods and treatment to improv
ing your memory.
The serenity prayer says, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cann
ot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference
."
Neglect is the one area you do have the ability to change. If you do the same th
ing every day in the same way, even as small as how you scramble your eggs, even
tually you lose neural connections. The reason people are able to hold certain m
emories long term is because these memories are based on cumulative memories, an
d the neural hubs and connections have grown and been reinforced. Events, dates
and names that are not reinforced in the present will be quickly lost because yo
u are NOT paying attention. Multitasking in this fast-paced world can cause you
not to pay attention to the road, resulting in an auto accident, causing a brain
injury, which can affect memory. Or you could be listening to music while walki
ng and never see the edge of the road or the oncoming traffic.

10 Suggestions for Maintaining Your Memory

Try the following 10 strategies to protect your memory and keep it strong.
1) Focus on Attending
If you are listening to someone, repeat or paraphrase what they have said along
with writing it down, if possible. Try different ways of attending, this helps m
ake new neural connections. In a Dale Carnegie course, the manual suggests that
you shake a person s hand and repeat their name upon meeting. Now with Skype and o
ther digital media this can be impossible, but you can still repeat information
out loud and take notes. There is research on whether typing information into a
computer or the actual act of writing on a piece of paper helps the attention pr
ocess along with proper storage. It is important to have undivided attention whe
n you are focused on the new information. The Chinese Ideogram for To Listen is ey
es, ears, undivided attention and a heart. If you are thinking, when someone is
presenting information, you often are not listening to what is presented. Also,
it is important to keep the task within your ability or understanding. It is ex
tremely hard to properly process and store information when you don t have a good
understanding of that information or meaning of what is being said.
2) Learn Novel ways of Thinking
Use it or lose it. Do crossword puzzles help? Yes. Does Luminosity and similar w
ebsites help? Yes. However, if all you ever do is crossword puzzles eventually o
ther areas of the brain and brain connections will die off. It s important to have
a balanced life of conversations with new friends, new routines, and taking dif
ferent routes when doing your morning run or bicycle ride. As mentioned above, t
hose connections you do use will get stronger, however if you aren t doing somethi
ng novel, the connections you re not using will die off. This is especially true i
f your brain injury is from disease and/or trauma. If you had a sport-related co
ncussion and you continue on the same path of recovery, the areas that are damag
ed due to the TBI may never recover. You need to use your brain as much as possi
ble in a variety of ways.
3) Stress Reduction
For many, this is one of the hardest things to do. There is extensive research o
n how stress affects your ability to attend, concentrate, store and retrieve inf
ormation. Add to this a disease and/or trauma and your brain just shuts down. He
art rate breathing is extremely important. The heart to brain communication syst
em is through the vagus nerve and the sympathetic afferents. Through controllin
g your breath, you are able to have control of your brain and higher brain cente
rs that influence registration, storage and retrieval. The emWave2 (link is exte
rnal) is a method to help you learn heart rate breathing. This method is not goi
ng to make the baby stop crying or make the leaky roof go away. Rather, it is go
ing to give you a tool to help you cope better, which reduces the stress, thus a
llowing you to attend, concentrate, store and retrieve information more effectiv
ely.
4) Nutrition
What you eat affects your brain. Eating an anti-inflammatory diet that is high i
n protein and Omega 3 really makes a difference. I go into great details about t
he foods to eat and the foods to avoid my book, Coping with Concussion and Mild
Traumatic Brain Injury (link is external). Also, in the Brain Health Recipes (li
nk is external) portion of my blog there is a wide variety of recipes specifical
ly to help your brain health and your memory. Lastly, as part of our integrative
team, we have an amazing nutritional educator.
5) Restorative Sleep
This area is extremely important, which is why I wrote a previous blog on sleep
and devoted an entire chapter to sleep in my book. It is essential that you go t
o bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time, if possible. Do

not have sound machines or the radio or TV going during the night. Sleep is the
first area that is most effected by disease, trauma and/or neglect related memor
y problems. Rescue Remedy sleep is very effective, as is taking a soothing bath
along with the heart rate breathing that helps reduce the stress in your life so
you can attain restorative sleep.
6) Exercise
This is a lot easier than you think. Park a block away from your office. Walk up
the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Buy a big medicine ball and bounce o
n it while watching TV or a movie. Try isometric exercise. Try Tai Chi exercises
. Move for a least 20 minutes a day!
7) Be Careful with Prescription Medication
If you had a brain injury, do NOT take any medication that will affect your cent
ral nervous system (CNS) unless it is LIFE or DEATH. Every medication has some s
ide-effects. Only use the medication, if and only if, the positive effects outwe
igh the negative. If you are in severe pain and need to take a medication for yo
ur pain, be aware it will affect your memory. There are major drug categories th
at will affect your memory including sleep aides, steroids, antiepileptic drugs,
tranquilizers, anti-anxiety drugs, and muscle relaxants to name a few. Again, b
e sure to use prescription medication and even some herbal remedies with caution
.
8) Alcohol, Wine, Beer and Drugs
This is a no brainersm! Use any of these, especially together, and lose your mem
ory. Period. This is especially true if you have had a form of disease or trau
ma to the brain. So, this is your choice. Now I m not saying I never have a drink
of wine on a Saturday night, but if I do, I understand the consequences and do n
ot plan to have a consultation or see a patient on Sunday.
9) Stop Smoking
With a brain injury there is a decrease of oxygen to the brain. When you smoke t
here is even less.
10) Reduce your Caffeine
This is a mixed area, because for some people with memory problems caffeine can
actually help in the short term to attend or focus, yet in the long run it can c
ause adrenal exhaustion, which effects retrieval of information.
Now you have a choice. You can continue to neglect yourself, which will definite
ly cause you some form of memory loss. This is especially true if you have a dis
ease or trauma to the brain. Or, you can take the 10 suggestions presented above
and make changes to improve your life and memory.
The next blog will present methods and treatments using conventional, complement
ary and alternative approaches for improving your memory as a result of diseases
and/or trauma. What is important to know is that there is a way.
}
Teaching, learning, and remembering don t have to be complicated. In my previous "
Memory Athlete" Tip #1, I described a strategy based on linking mental images to
particular locations in a familiar environment, such as one's home or yard. Her
e, Tip #2 describes my invention of a simple flash-card process that can help ac
complish all three educational processes in a computer slideshow file consisting
of only one slide. This one-screen file can serve as a single composite flash-ca
rd reservoir of information from which information can be organized and modified,
saved for on- or off-line study and always available for self-testing (in princ
iple, as is done with conventional flash cards). Conventional flash cards are ty
pically limited to factoids, with a word on one side and definition on the other

. But composite flash cards are fundamentally different because they provide a w
ay to capture and learn whole cohesively organized concepts as well as factoids.
Moreover, the new type of card captures many well-established principles of effe
ctive learning and memory (Klemm, 2012, 2013). Unlike the common teacher-centric
mode that stresses presentation and explanation, this new system incorporates t
he student-centered need to encode and remember presented information, all in th
e same visual and conceptual space.
The principle, as in Tip #1, is also based on the idea that remembering what the
information is depends largely on where it is. Here, mental images are pinned t
o specific spots in a table in PowerPoint and animated so that you can browse th
rough the items in proper sequence, one at a time.
The entire process is illustrated with nine key memory-improvement concepts in a
single PowerPoint slide that serves as a home page (Fig. 1). The memory-improveme
nt concepts, represented by clip-art icons in sequential left-to-right, top-to-b
ottom order are: 1) enhance motivation, 2) allocate learning time wisely, 3) org
anize learning material, 4) make nets of association, 5) don t overload working me
mory, 6) reduce memory interference, 7) don t multi-task, 8) think about what is t
o be memorized, and 9) self-test. Readers can get construction details and downl
oad this actual slide show from a link at http://03908f9.netsolhost.com/thinkbra
in/educational-consultant/ (link is external) (scroll down to the bottom until y
ou see "Klemm cards").

Fig. 1. Edit view of a PowerPoint slide containing basic information about nine
key concepts of effective learning and memory. In slide-show play mode, the obje
cts (icon and associated text block) are coded for animation, so that each icon
and associated bullet list appear in turn upon a mouse click. The opening screen
in show mode will ordinarily be blank or contain the very first icon at upper l
eft. Icons can have hyperlinks to other sources of information. Mouse click on a
n icon links to an enlarged corresponding bullet slide and its hyperlinks.
To illustrate the reasoning in Fig. 1, the mental image of the first icon convey
s the self-evident idea that the fellow without a parachute is highly motivated
to hang in there. To mentally link the bullet points, a learner could visualize hi
m praying he doesn t slip loose, helping him to believe he can hang on. Then imagine
him clutching more desperately than he needs to, just to fight boredom. Then when
he lands safely, he can be visualized as celebrating by playing his A game in bas
ketball. As another example, the second icon of an alarm clock conveys the idea
of managing time. Imagine seeing the clock set 10 minutes before the hour ( 10 min
ute rule ). Then picture multiples of such a clock ( reserve lots of time ), each appe
aring as fast as possible ( don t procrastinate ). Space the clocks apart ( space learni
ng ). Silly, yes, but that is what makes such imaging memorable.
The spatial organization of the icons makes it easy to remember them and even th
eir sequence. During recall required by self-testing or examinations, rememberin
g the images automatically brings up the associated bullet-point ideas. To accel
erate the speed at which icons can be memorized, a learner can think of associat
ional links between icons. For example in Fig. 1, after seeing the motivation ic
on, an association can be made with the next icon (clock) by imagining that the
parachuting people are looking at a clock to time how long it will be before the
y hit the ground.
Options for Use
Organizing and Presenting Information. The instruction mode is shown on the righ

t side of Fig. 2. Cards can be created by a teacher, as the basis of a lecture,

or by a student, who constructs it from lecture and/or assigned learning resourc
es. Icons can be used as hyperlinks to separate slides that contain bullet point
s, text, or diagrams. Animating the objects allows them to be displayed one at a
time.
Figure 2. Logic flow diagram for use of the flash card in two different modes: o
n the left for a single flash-card study and self-test and on the right for expa
nded organization or presentation of learning material. A slide show developed a
s shown on the right can still be used for self-test from the single flash card h
ome.
A student or teacher could play the complete slide show, or whatever portion is
desired at a particular time, by mouse clicking through the icons and their bull
et lists, and launch into the detail slides by clicking on the ICON (as opposed
to blank space); each detail slide has links on it to return back either to the
bullet list or to the home flash card. A link is not needed to go to the next deta
il slide is not needed, as each slide in that path appears on a mouse click on o
pen space. Obviously, this same home card can be played for self-testing via the
flash-card mode process on the left of Fig. 2.
Before clicking, the teacher may want to ask the class what they think or know a
bout the role of motivation in learning. During or after explaining the bullet p
oints, the teacher may wish to pause before the next click to answer questions,
orchestrate class discussion, launch a traditional slide show, show a video clip
, conduct a demonstration, conduct a hands-on activity, or whatever. In an on-li
ne tutorial, a hyper-linked audio file could provide the instruction.
When all items in the home page are displayed, students see a grand overview of
the content, and, as with matrix notes, it should be easy to discern cross-cutti
ng relationships among the ideas. In Fig. 1, for example, students might discern
that organizing the material requires thinking hard about meaning and relations
hips or that multi-tasking creates interference effects.
Teachers can spread the instruction across multiple class periods from the same
card (after class one, for example, she would resume in class two where she left
off last in the flash card and repeat with each later class. Since each subsequ
ent class period brings up the original card, teachers can click on previously d
isplayed objects as a review. In an on-online environment, students can self-pac
e as they work their way through the card s information.
The teacher may want to tell students in advance to take notes as each icon is p
resented. After the lecture, the computer file (the single flash card) can be emailed to students, and they can modify the bullet points on the basis of the no
tes they took in class. Alternatively, if students have computers in class, they
can load their copy of the slide show and make notes directly in their copy. On
ce in their possession, students can customize the file and use it again and aga
in for study and self-testing (see below). A whole semester could be taught this
way, with each lecture based on its own single card.
Flash Card Self-study and Testing. Cards can be designed simply for study and se
lf-testing (left side of Fig. 2). Extra slides to expand on a given icon s mnemoni
c representation are added at will, and links to them can be created from any ic
on to an expanded bullet list, which in turn has hyperlinks to any number of ext
ra slides on that topic.
The same approach can be used by students to construct their own flash cards fro
m textbooks, videos, websites, or other information sources. This might be an im
proved way to document Web quests.

With a composite card constructed with each icon and text box tagged for animati
on, the learner simple clicks through one item at a time. Thus, the composite ca
rd serves as a study and self-test tool wherein the learner tries to memorize th
e icons and the ideas they represent. True self-testing is easily done when the
learner anticipates what should appear upon mouse click and then adjusts recolle
ction to correct any memory errors.
Students can study a card file in edit mode, which allows the student to see, al
l in one place, both the big picture and the fine detail of the information presen
ted in lecture or gleaned from other sources. One typical problem in education i
s that academic content is dumped on students as an overwhelming mass that obscu
res perspective and context. Students can easily feel like a rat lost in a maze.
But if they could look at the maze from the top view, they would easily see how
to navigate it. When students can see and think about the total display of info
rmation on the home page screen, they may find it easier to see cross-cutting re
lationships. Different icons can be substituted and re-arranged (first group the i
con and its text box) if needed to enhance the inherent meaning for a particular
student. The student can even add cells to the table and insert new material an
d links that were not included in the original information presentation.
Perceived Benefits
The advantages of this system would seem to include the following features:
Comprehensive. All manner of information can be packaged into a single card.
Intervals between mouse clicks can be used for other modes of information prese
ntation, discussion, and learning activities.
Compact. Everything is all in one place, viewable as a holistic display, yet
the user can drill down via the card s hyperlinks to extensive detail within the
slide show.
Flexible/extensible. Cards can be constructed for presentation of informatio
n from any source: lecture, books, websites, or whatever. A given card can be mo
dified at any point in time, by either the teacher or the student. Information c
ontent can be expanded simply by adding new table cells. Major topics can have t
heir own separate and independent cards. Teachers can readily adapt the system f
or on-line or in-class teaching.
Organized cohesively. Ideas are organized as topics, and subtopic ideas are
shown as associated bullet points. Sequential order is preserved (left to right,
top to bottom). When the user drills down to a detailed bullet point slide, retu
rn hyperlinks quickly lead back to the home page.
Studied quickly. Students can view everything at once and zoom in on parts t
hat need further thought or rehearsal. Students can modify any part of the slide
as needed during the study process.
Self-tested in flash-card style. Students can anticipate what should appear
upon the next click and check to see if they had it correct. Any needed modifica
tions are quickly made on the fly during self-testing. This design discourages s
tudents from glossing over the memorization process by looking over material witho
ut really forcing a self-generated answer.
Embodied key memorization principles. This one approach captures a wide rang
e of generally accepted principles that facilitate memory. Students and teachers
are enabled and encouraged to:
Condense content is to essentials ( less is more ?Sss et al. 2002; Norretranders,
1998). Memory capacity is limited and easily overwhelmed by too much informati
on. Moreover, memorization is facilitated by excluding information that one alre
ady knows or can figure out.
Organize material by arranging like items in the same row or order a sequenc
e in which rows are read left-to-right, top-to-bottom.
Chunk items in small groups by putting like items on the same row of the tab
le.
Represent ideas with images, which are far easier to memorize than words (Ri
gney and Lutz (1976).

Create a spatial organization that itself facilitates memorization (Vaughn,

2007; Sparrow et al. 2012). Composite flash cards are a form of method of loci, an
ancient technique that works because where information is provides important cu
es for what information is. Such cues help in both forming and recalling memory.
Because only a few images are on a given row, it is a trivial task to remember
the three or four images on a given row. To create location pegs for images on eac
h row, users could use the classical number coding system (Klemm, 2011), in whic
h row one would be indexed by an image of tie (as in neckties), row two by Noah (as
in the Ark), row three by ma, (as in mother), and so on. Thus, for example, in row
one a user can visualize a necktie wrapping around the several images on that r
ow. A user could also make a visual story line that begins with a tie linked to
an image of the first item on the row, which in turn is lined to the second item
, and so on.
Capitalize on the convenience of having all memory processes (encoding, cons
olidation, retrieval) operate in the same visual format and space in which infor
mation is presented. This composite card structure is akin to matrix note taking
, which offers the added advantage of making it easier to see cross-cutting rela
tionships that may go undetected in other forms of note taking (Kiewra et al. 19
91). The holistic display of all information makes it easy to perceive any one i
tem in the same context, while at the same time making it possible to see two or
more items in a new context.
Learners can self-pace study and review. Learners can easily self-test frequ
ently and do so in a much more powerful way than the common approach of just look
ing over the material. True self-testing is apparently under-utilized by the typi
cal student (Pyc and Rawson, 2010; Karpicke and Roedinger (2008).
The process of creating a composite card is engaging. Learners simply must t
hink about the material to decide what goes where, what images are most useful,
and what are the minimally useful number of key words. In my 50 years of learni
ng and teaching, I have become convinced that thinking about learning material i
s the best way to memorize it.
Easily constructed and modified. Anyone who knows how to use presentation so
ftware like PowerPoint can easily make, modify, and navigate the information con
tent.
}
Consider the volume of personal details in our lives that we remember accurately
, and over long periods of time: The names of friends, colleagues, and people in
our family; our own name, our birthday, and our addresses, past and present. We
remember when we first fell in love, the births of our children, the deaths of
our loved ones, where we work, the teachers who have influenced us, scenes from
movies, lines of poetry, the melodies and lyrics of hundreds of popular songs, a
stinging insult we received decades ago. Our first kiss.
Memory can have unsurpassed endurance. Specific memories can last longer than th
e documents that validate them, which can get lost or destroyed, or actual physi
cal structures, which deteriorate, grow dilapidated, and get torn down. Memories
of parents and grandparents live on long after we have become parents and grand
parents ourselves.
Why, then, do many of us emphasize and dwell on the inaccuracy of memory?
One answer is the availability bias. We are far more likely to recall instances
of flawed memories than instances of accuracy. We do not celebrate every time we
find our way home or accurately remember the names of our children, but we may
note very clearly making a wrong turn when visiting a colleague, misremembering
the name of a neighbor, or forgetting why we went into the garage.
Mistakes of memory are more newsworthy to us than everyday accuracy, just as cri
mes are more newsworthy than everyday legal behavior. We do not shout out our me
mory accuracies. (Ironically, remembering instances of faulty recall is a form o

f accurate memory.)
Another reason we emphasize the
curacy of eyewitness testimony.
typical of all personal memory.
ents is simply not something we

faultiness of memory is the well-documented inac

But we should not treat eyewitness testimony as
Remembering details from brief, unanticipated ev
do very well.

Fleeting glimpses of unexpected events occur every day and are forgotten every d
ay because there is no reason to remember them and no consequences for forgetting,
unless they become important after the fact, as in the case of a crime. Researc
h on eyewitness testimony is vitally important, with life-and-death consequences
, but we should not extrapolate errors in eyewitness testimony to characterize a
ll of personal memory.
Recently, during a discussion of autobiographical memory in my class on cognitiv
e psychology, one of my students asserted that all memory is constructed, that i
t is an ever-changing, unreliable fiction. When another student challenged this
assertion, the first student insisted she was correct, saying she had read about
memory constructions in one of our assigned articles. When pressed, she cited t
he particular author and title, inadvertently revealing the inherent inconsisten
cy of an extreme constructivist position: She had accurately remembered the arti
cle on inaccurate memory.
Even those who emphasize the faultiness of memory need accurate memory to suppor
t their skepticism. How are childhood memories shown to be incorrect? Often by c
omparing them to the memories of parents or older siblings, which are assumed to
be accurate.
More broadly, if memories did not represent interpretations of past events, we c
ould never converse about shared experiences with friends or family. We could ne
ver satisfactorily discuss the news or movies or sports or findings from researc
h studies. We could, in fact, never reference anything, unless the evidence was
physically right in front of us.
My plea for the accuracy and durability of memory is not a cri du coeur so much
as a cri de l esprit. Of course memory has weaknesses: We exaggerate, we blend dif
ferent events, we allow general knowledge to intrude on specific memories, we fo
rget sources of information, we have trouble remembering some names (and passwor
ds). But memory illusions do not discount all of memory any more than visual ill
usions discount all of perception.
We have not evolved to misremember the world. Our memory can be an accurate repr
esentation of what we have perceived and interpreted. All I ask is that we occas
ionally take the time to appreciate how truly remarkable and accurate memory can be.
All unreferenced images are in the public domain and taken from en.wikipedia.org
]
Most people don't want to be memory athletes, but they would like to remember th
ings more easily and reliably. These techniques can accomplish that. Besides, th
ey're fun.
Ancient Greek orators were noted for their ability to give hours-long speeches f
rom memory. How did they pull off such astonishing feats? Since images are much
easier to remember than words, they invented a visual imaging technique through
which thoughts were mentally captured as images in the mind s eye, and they recall
ed what was to be said by recalling the images.
One common imaging technique is known as a "method of location" (MoL). This tech
nique is also called "Memory Palace." Mental images are attached to certain loca
tions in a three-dimensional space imagined in the mind s eye. The idea is to use

objects in a familiar area as anchor points or pegs for hanging the mental image
s of what you are trying to remember. Surveys of competitive memory athletes revea
l that 9 out of 10 use some kind of imagined location device. [1]
Use a memory palace
Here is a simple example: Consider the living room of your apartment or house. Y
ou are very familiar with each object and its location. You use these as mental
pegs, which is easy to do, because you already know what they are. You can just
mentally walk about the room and see each familiar object. In turn, one at a tim
e, attach a mental image of what you are trying to remember on the object peg in
the room. For example, suppose you identify the front door as a starting point.
The first object encountered might be a recliner chair, then a lamp, then a sof
a, then a coffee table, then the TV set, and so on. Now suppose you want to reme
mber a day's to-do list. You might remember the trip to the post office by imagi
ning the mailman at your door; the doctor's appointment by seeing a stethoscope
lying on the recliner; the grocery store by seeing the lamp making a stalk of ce
lery sprout; the bookstore trip by seeing books stacked on your sofa; the kids'
soccer practice by seeing them kick the ball into the sofa; the evening PTA meet
ing by seeing a TV film crew filming you there; and so on.
You can use other locations or maps, such as your body, specific places in your
car, or highly familiar routes in your backyard or at work. To recall these stor
ed items, simply retrace your steps. Like fishing lines, each memory is hooked t
o a location and you just reel them in.
These techniques work, even for older people with no formal memory training. A r
ecent survey that tested the usefulness of image location in older people found
it effective in improving their memory capability. In a recent TED talk, Kasper
Bormans described using a virtual reality replica of their home to help patients
with Alzheimer s disease store the memory of their loved one s faces using the MoL.[4
] Although generally used to remember objects, numbers or names, the MoL has als
o been used in people with depression to successfully store bits and pieces of h
appy autobiographical memories that they can easily retrieve in times of stress.
[2] (link is external)
Modernizing the Mnemonic
In 2012, a team of Canadian researchers gave the ancient MoL mnemonic a 21st-cen
tury facelift. [3] (link is external) The team constructed several detailed virt
ual-reality environments to serve as loci, rather than asking MoL learners to ge
nerate their own. Researchers allowed 142 undergraduate volunteers only five min
utes to familiarize themselves with the virtual environment before giving two-th
irds of them instructions in using the MoL to memorize 110 unrelated words. A th
ird were told to pick a familiar environment; a third were allowed to use the vi
rtual environment they just navigated; and third didn t receive any specific instr
uctions on memory techniques.
Both MoL groups outperformed the controls. They were 10 to 16 percent more accur
ate in their recall, and students who used the virtual environment performed jus
t as well as those told to generate their own landmarks, even though in both gro
ups the students admitted they weren't diligent in using MoL. (It does take prac
tice.)
The main point is that people can improve their memory ability by learning to us
e MoL. Although with age the brain gradually loses the flexibility to change in
response to training, many studies show that MoL successfully slows memory decli
ne in the normal aging population. Why this happens had been a mystery until recen
tly.

Thickening of the Brain

Any time the brain learns something, at any age, physical and chemical changes o
ccur. In 2010 a Norwegian team set out to look for the most obvious signs of MoL
-induced structural changes in the brain.
Expert instructors led 23 volunteers with an average age of 61 through an intens
ive eight-week training program. These volunteers managed to use MoL to remember
three lists of 30 words in sequential order in no more than 10 minutes, a remar
kable feat of memory. Meanwhile, members of a control group similar in age, sex
and education were instructed to live as usual for the eight weeks.
MRI brain maps identified a surprisingly large morphological change in the cereb
ral cortex of the MoL-trained volunteers.[5] (link is external) The amount of im
provement in memory performance correlated with the cortical thickening. A later
study by the research team showed that MoL training increased the integrity of
elderly participants white matter, compared to controls.
Rewiring the Brain
Two groups of researchers decided to determine whether MoL training alters brain
activity patterns. Scientists in Sweden recruited volunteers in their twenties
and sixties and tracked changes in their brain activity through PET scans as the
y adopted MoL to remember a list of random words. All of the younger volunteers bu
t only half of the older participants remembered roughly four more words than they
had in their initial test.[6] (link is external)
Scans of the older subjects who did't improve revealed a complete lack of activa
tion of MoL-associated brain regions during testing. Follow-up interviews reveal
ed that many of these participants found it difficult to associate the loci with
the words under the experiment s tight time constraints, became frustrated, and g
ave up. So while it's a promising technique for many, MoL is difficult, particul
arly for the older adults less able to generate and rely on a mental map of dist
inctive landmarks.
But I know from experience that practicing MoL improves one's imagination, and i
n turn, the ability to get more benefit from MoL. Besides, it's a more fun way t
o memorize.
+
Most people don't want to be memory athletes, but they would like to remember th
ings more easily and reliably. These techniques can accomplish that. Besides, th
ey are fun.
Several thousand years ago, ancient Greek orators were noted for their ability t
o give hours-long speeches from memory. How did they pull off such astonishing f
eats? They invented a visual imaging technique where thoughts were mentally capt
ured as images in the mind s eye and they would recall what was to be said by reca
lling the images. Images are much easier to remember than words
Use a memory palace
One common imaging technique is known as a method of location (MoL). This techni
que is also called "Memory Palace." That is, mental images are attached to certa
in locations in the three-dimensional space imagined in the mind s eye. The idea i
s to use objects in a familiar area as anchor points or pegs for hanging the men
tal images of what you are trying to remember. Surveys of competitive memory athl
etes reveal that 9 out of 10 use some kind of imagined location device.
Here is a simple example. Consider the living room of your apartment or house. Y
ou are very familiar with each object and its location in the room. You use thes

e as mental pegs, which is easy to do, because you already know what they are. Y
ou just mentally walk about the room and mentally see each familiar object. In t
urn, one at a time, you attach a mental image of what you are trying to remember
on the object peg in the room. For example, suppose you identify the front door
as a starting point. The first object encountered might be a recliner chair, th
en a lamp, then a sofa, then a coffee table, then the TV set, and so on. Now sup
pose you want to remember a daily "to do" list. You might remember the trip to t
he post office by imagining the mailman at your door, the doctor's appointment b
y seeing a stethoscope lying in the recliner, the grocery store by seeing the la
mp making a stalk of celery sprout, the bookstore trip by seeing books stacked o
n your sofa, the kids' soccer practice by seeing them kick the ball into the sof
a, the evening PTA meeting by seeing a TV program showing you there, and so on.
You can use other locations, such as body parts, specific places in your car, or
highly familiar routes in the yard or at work. To recall these stored items, si
mply retrace your steps. Like fishing lines, each memory is hooked to a location
and you just reel them in.
These techniques work, even in older people with no formal memory training. A re
cent survey that tested the usefulness of image location in older people found t
hat it was effective in improving their memory capability. A study people with s
uperior memory revealed that nine of 10 employed the method spontaneously.[1] (l
ink is external)
Although generally used to remember objects, numbers or names, the MoL has also
been used in people with depression to successfully store bits and pieces of hap
py autobiographical memories that they can easily retrieve in times of stress.[2
] (link is external)
Modernizing the Mnemonic
In early 2012, a team of Canadian researchers gave the ancient MoL mnemonic a 21
st century facelift. [3] (link is external) The team constructed several detaile
d virtual reality environments to serve as loci, rather than letting MoL learner
s generate their own. Researchers allowed 142 undergraduate volunteers only five
minutes to familiarize themselves with the virtual environment before giving tw
o thirds of them instructions in using the MoL to memorize 110 unrelated words.
Some were told to pick a familiar environment, while others were allowed to use
the virtual environment they just navigated. The other third didn t receive any sp
ecific instructions on memory techniques.
Both MoL groups outperformed the controls. They were 10 to 16 percent more accur
ate in their recall, and students who used the virtual environment performed jus
t as well as those told to generate their own landmarks, even though in both gro
ups the students admitted they weren't diligent in using MoL. It does take pract
ice to be good at it.
In a recent TED talk, Kasper Bormans described using a virtual reality replica o
f their home to help patients with Alzheimer s disease store the memory of their lov
ed one s faces using the MoL.[4] (link is external)
The main point is that people can improve their memory ability by learning to us
e MoL. However, with age the brain gradually loses the flexibility to change in
response to training. Nonetheless, many studies show that MoL successfully slows
memory decline in the normal aging population, but why this happens is a comple
te mystery. That is, until recently.
Thickening of the Brain
Any time the brain learns something, physical and chemical changes occur in the

brain, even in the elderly. Thus MoL should be able to change the brain for the
better. In 2010 a Norwegian team set out to look for the most obvious signs of M
oL-induced structural changes in the brain.
Expert instructors led 23 volunteers with an average age of 61 through an intens
ive eight-week long program. These volunteers managed to use MoL to recall three
lists of 30 words in sequential order in no more than 10 minutes, a remarkable
feat of memory! The control group
matched in age, sex and education
were instruc
ted to live as usual for the eight weeks.
MRI brain maps identified a surprisingly large morphological change in the cereb
ral cortex of the MoL-trained volunteers.[5] (link is external) The amount of im
provement in memory performance correlated with the amount of increased cortical
thickening. Similarly, a later study by this group showed that learning MoL inc
reased the integrity of elderly participant s white matter compared to controls.
Rewiring the Brain
Two groups of researchers decided to determine whether learning MoL alters brain
activity patterns. Scientists in Sweden recruited young volunteers in their twe
nties and elderly participants in their sixties and used PET scans to follow cha
nges in their brain activity as they adopted MoL to remember a list of random wo
rds. All of the younger volunteers but only half of the elderly
remembered rough
ly four more words than they had in their initial test.[6] (link is external)
What about the half of elderly participants who didn t improve? One important clue
was their complete lack of activation of MoL-associated brain regions during te
sting, prompting researchers to wonder whether these volunteer actually used the
MoL. A subsequent informal chat revealed that many older participants found it
difficult to associate the loci with the words under the experiment s tight time
constraints, felt frustrated and gave up.
So although a promising technique for many, MoL training is difficult, particula
rly for the elderly who are less able to generate and rely on a mental map of di
stinctive landmarks. But I know from experience that practicing MoL improves one
's imagination, and that in turn improves the ability to get more benefit from M
oL. Besides, it's simply a more fun way to memorize.
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1. When information is first acquired, it is tagged for its potential importance
or value.
2. Such tagging is influenced by multiple factors such as attention, old memorie
s, emotion, repetition, and purpose.
3. Images are easier to remember than words. The most powerful mnemonic systems
are based on representing ideas and facts as images.
4. Memories with impact get preferentially rehearsed, either through conscious w
ill or by covert (implicit) brain processes.
5. Rehearsal should occur with true self-testing, repeated often, and spaced ove
r time.
6. The re-call during self-testing launches a new round of consolidation that ca
n strengthen the original learning. Each re-consolidation episode builds on prio
r ones and strengthens the neural circuits that store the memory.
7. Sleep promotes conslidation of recent learning.
8. Effectiveness of recall during rehearsal is promoted by use of relevant cues,

especially information that was associated with the original learning material.
_
Memory and learning go hand in hand. Although the two terms are not synonymous,
they are highly interrelated. In order to remember, a person s brain must first le
arn (encode) the information they will later remember (retrieval). When it comes
to learning concerns, whether a child has ADHD, a learning disability, anxiety
or some other emotional difficulty, parents most common question to me is How can
we improve his or her memory ?
Memory is highly impacted by learning style. Once a persons learning style is un
derstood and accommodated for, memory will improve. When people understand their
learning style, they can adapt how they learn to most efficiently use their bra
ins, including and improving their memory capability.
Here are ways to determine a person s unique learning style:
1. Psychological or neuropsychological testing offers formal insight into the br
ain through a set of standardized tasks that are administered and scored accordi
ng to testing standards. The results are compared with normative data offers a u
nique profile of a person s strengths and weakness in learning style compared to s
ame age peers. Basically, the test results offer a snap shot into a person s brain
functioning as it relates to their behavior and learning style.
2. The informal or non-standardized way of determining learning style is by reco
gnizing what type of learning is easy and intuitive compared to what type is dif
ficult for a person. This means recognizing what comes easily and naturally and
what does not.
When it comes to improving memory, knowledge of learning style is essential and
here are some basic guidelines:
1. Auditory learners are people that are best at listening and learning. These a
re the kids who love to listen to and comprehend difficult stories, but aren t abl
e to comprehend and therefore recall at the same level if they read the informat
ion from a book. They remember what they hear, especially in context. They pick
up languages easily because of the auditory component and their ability to copy
and memorize the sounds of what they hear. Auditory learners hear the informatio
n and when it's time to remember it and they recite an auditory script in their
head as part of recalling it.
2. Visual learners benefit from seeing what they need to learn and remember. The
y do better by watching a visual of information or reading information. They als
o tend to be inclined to problem solve with their hands. They like to see and ma
nipulate visual information, therefore learning visual problem solving strategie
s that can be recalled and applied in other situations where visual learning is
required. Visual learners prefer to see the information to be recalled and can c
reate a visual file in their brain to retrieve this information when necessary.
3. People with attention and executive functioning weaknesses are challenged by
being presented with different types of learning simultaneously. For example, if
they are introduced to a new person, they may not recall their name because the
y are hearing the name while visually processing their face. These two inputs co
mpete in an already overloaded brain, causing forgetfulness of the name. In addi
tion, ADHD people tended not to recall rote facts such as names of unfamiliar pe
ople because they rely on contextual cues to help them make the information more
meaningful and memorable.

4. People with executive functioning and or learning disabilities (not with lear
ning preferences such as auditory and visual learning preferences as described a
bove, but actual disabilities) often require repetition of information through a
variety of modalities- visual, auditory, tactical, sensory, as part of the enco
ding and retrieval process required for memory.
Most people do not have learning disabilities or executive functioning weaknesse
s and yet memory remains a challenge. Some people do not have a preferred learni
ng style; however, most people have some variability with strengths and weakness
es in their learning profile. The basic strategy of knowing and using ones prefe
rred learning style to reinforce memory is not practiced routinely today and yet
it should be.
Given the rate and the pace of life today it behooves people to know their learn
ing style and the learning styles of those around them with whom they rely on an
d communicate with routinely. People communicate most efficiently when informati
on is presented in a manner that is consistent with a person s learning style. Man
y miscommunications occur in relationships, both parent child and parent-parent b
ecause of misunderstanding of each other s learn styles and capabilities; all of w
hich impact memory.
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Getting a good amount of high quality sleep appears to deliver great benefits (l
ink is external) to memory. Sleeping well primes (link is external) the brain fo
r learning and retention, sharpening (link is external) focus and increasing att
ention span during waking hours. Research also shows sleep has a powerful influe
nce over memory. Time spent in sleep (link is external) especially deep, slow wave
sleep and REM sleep plays a critical role (link is external) in memory consolidat
ion, the process (link is external) by which newly acquired knowledge is convert
ed from short-term to long-term memory storage. This process not only embeds lon
g-term memories, it also clears the way (link is external) for the brain to take
in new information. In recent years we ve learned a tremendous amount about this
relationship between sleep and memory, and the importance of sleep in memory con
solidation.
How do sleep medications affect this critical function? Despite all the recent a
ttention paid to the role of sleep in memory, this is a question that has, until
now, received little notice. Researchers at St. Luke s Hospital Sleep Medicine an
d Research Center in Missouri investigated (link is external) the impact of pres
cription sleep aids on memory consolidation
Their results suggest that under some conditions, some commonly prescribed medic
ations for sleep may interfere with the memory-enhancing benefits of sleep.
Researchers examined the possible effects on memory of 2 different sleep medicat
ions: zolpidem (link is external) and zaleplon (link is external). Zolpidem is t
he active ingredient in several frequently prescribed sleep medications, includi
ng Ambien, Ambien CR and Elduar. Zaleplon is the active ingredient in the prescr
iption sleep aid Sonata. Both drugs belong to a class of drugs commonly known as
sleep hypnotics (link is external). They have a sedative effect that aids physi
cal relaxation, relieves tension and induces sleep.
The study included 22 adults who were free of sleep problems. Researchers had al
l volunteers sleep under 3 different 8-hour sleep periods during the course of t
he study:
With a bedtime dose of 12.5 mg zolpidem
With a middle-of-the-night dose of 10 mg zaleplon
With a placebo

Before and after each sleep session, researchers tested participants memory skill
s in two different (link is external) ways. They used word-pair association test
s to measure declarative memory. Most of what we think of as conscious memory is
declarative it is a form of memory that allows us to store facts, events, thought
s and ideas. They also tested procedural memory using a test involving finger ta
pping. Procedural memory involves recall for skills and tasks, most often using
the body. We use procedural memories constantly, without consciously thinking ab
out it, when we tie our shoes, brush our teeth, or type on our computers.
Analysis revealed changes to both types of memory consolidation after taking sle
ep hypnotic medication at bedtime. Participants performed worse on both declarat
ive and procedural memory tests after nights sleeping with the aid of zolpidem t
aken at bedtime, compared to nights with the placebo and nights with zaleplon ta
ken in the middle of the night. Researchers found no difference between the plac
ebo and the middle-of-night zaleplon dose, in terms of participants performance o
n memory tests.
These results indicate that using sleep hypnotic medication may interfere with a
nd diminish the brain s work to consolidate memory during sleep. The research also
suggests that timing may be a significant factor. Sleep medication taken earlie
r in the night at bedtime had a negative influence on memory, while medication taken
later in the night did not. This initial study has provided an important first
step in exploring the effects of prescription sleep aids on memory consolidation
and other sleep-related brain functions, raising several questions that deserve
follow up: Do dosage levels affect the influence of sleep medications on memory
? Is timing of dose important to its effect on memory consolidation, and why? Wh
at role might age, or gender, play in this apparent influence of sleep medicatio
ns on memory?
What s not in question? The importance of learning all we can about the effects of
prescription sleep aids. According to a recent report issued (link is external)
by the Centers for Disease Control, more than 9 million adults in the United St
ates use prescription medication for sleep. That s roughly 4% of the population re
lying on these medications to improve nightly rest. We re also learning more about
the complications that can arise from some prescription sleep medication. In ea
rly 2013, the FDA issued (link is external) a safety alert pertaining to zolpide
m, in response to research that showed certain nighttime dosages of the drug lea
d to excessive drowsiness in the morning. The research indicated that the standa
rd dosage of drugs containing zolpidem, when taken at night, posed a risk for ea
rly morning drowsiness and impairment of activities including driving. These ris
ks for impairment and drowsiness were highest for women. The FDA required the re
commended dosages of zolpidem be lowered for women. The FDA also urged physician
s to prescribe the lowest effective dose for all patients, and to fully discuss
the risks of morning impairment. Also in 2013, a report issued by the federal go
vernment s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) foun
d sharp increases (link is external) in the rise of emergency room visits that i
nvolved adverse reactions to zolpidem. The report included analysis of ER visits
nationwide between 2005 and 2010, during which period zolpidem-related cases in
creased by 220%.
Does this mean there is no place for prescription sleep medications containing z
olpidem or other sleep hypnotic drugs? No. Used on a short-term basis, with the
guidance of a physician, these sleep medications can help to break the difficult
and often intractable cycle of insomnia, and help get sleep back on track. For
most people, however, the best long-term strategy is to develop a strong, sustai
nable sleep routine that does not rely on prescription sleep medication. There s n
o question this takes work, but the rewards are worth it. Your sleep, your overa
ll health and perhaps your memory will be better for it.
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