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Memory and our Brain - is there any relation?

By: Greg Frost

Your mind is an amazing resource, but as you grow older you will find that your memory is greatly affected. A great way to build up your memory is to understand that each improvement as a succession of little victories to be built upon each other.

Classification

Your memory can be classified into 8 different types: Episodic, Factual, Semantic, Sensory, Instinctive, Skill, Collective, and Past Life memory. These divisions describe the function that every single part of the memory is responsible for. For example, factual memory is responsible for remembering facts such as the date of Christmas is the 25th of December. Skill memory is interesting, in that all skills require your memory as well. Learning to ride a bike, or baking, involves using your brain to remember each particular skill.

One other way of classifying your memory is in terms of duration – Short term, Long term and sensory memory. Short term memory refers to the recent memory, and is often held only for a very short period of time. A common example would be when you have a chance to relate to many new acquaintances, cursorily introduced at a party. Long term memory, on the other hand, can be thought of as a database where whatever knowledge or information you received is kept at. Sensory memory is conveyed through your senses of sight and sound, where you keep these “images” in your mind.

Brain

Fast learners or people who are able to remember many facts are normally classified as the more intelligent group. However, is intelligence and memory even related at all? There is not much difference between you and your neighbor, or someone else half the world away. What then accounts for this difference in intelligence? Your memory plays a key role in acting as a resource for you to draw upon the knowledge you have learnt, and put them together to reason. Through the use of memory together with new experiences, you will find that an individual who learns from mistakes will not repeat a similar mistake again. Again, this is the memory at work, giving you the ability to remember and hence avoiding the error.

Aging

To be in possession of a clear mind is a precious thing. Whilst the aged are more prone to suffering dementia, it can be reversed before it reaches an advanced stage. Keeping a healthy diet, exercising, sleep and having the right amounts of nutrients can help you to avoid dementia. Elderly people are more unlikely to have severe problems with memory enhancement skills if they are confident in their abilities and work to improve their memory. Just as physical exercise increases your muscle mass, constant exercising of your mind will help you to improve your brain.

Learning
When acquiring new knowledge or learning a new skill, it is always helpful to have another person to learn it together with. By sharing knowledge, engaging in discussions and teaching each other, it is inputted into to your mind that the information is helpful and this helps you to store it in the long term memory. Keep in mind that systematic learning does not equate to memorizing by rote, rather it is more like developing a process that will aid you to recall the information that you have learnt easily. There various kinds of ways to help your brain create such linkages.

Confidence
Lastly, confidence is an important factor when aiming to improve your memory. Being more confident, you will be able to overcome momentary memory loss. Confidence can change the way you learn, and makes a great impact to your learning process

Always begin by first identifying what type of memory you want to improve, and then asking yourself how to go about doing so. Your mind has different types of memory, and exercises to improve one type may not be effective if it is not the right memory classification that you want to work on.

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About the Article Author

Greg Frost is a coach that helps people prevent memory loss and develop photographic memory using unique memory techniques. For more information on how you can improve your memory, visit this site: www.photographic-memory.org

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