Hacking Your Brain to Enhance Memory

Hacking Your Brain to Enhance Memory.

There is no such thing as a good or bad memory, there is just a trained memory and untrained memory.”

Jim Kwik

We are born with a gift which becomes more valuable to us with every year we live – our ability to remember. Without this gift it would be impossible to develop language (or any other) skills, relationships or our personal identity.

So, what is memory? How does it work and how can we train it to become even better?

In psychology, memory is defined as the faculty of encoding, storing and retrieving information from the world around us. The three important categories of memory (sensory memory, working memory and long-term memory) and relationships between them are illustrated by the memory map below.

The terms working memory and short-term memory are often used interchangeably. However, they are not exactly the same.

Short-term memory is a type of memory that stores a very limited numbers of items of information for a brief period of time, usually for 15-30 seconds. According to a classic theory proposed by George Miller (1956), the average number of items of information an individual can hold in their short-term memory is about seven (plus or minus 2).

Working memory is an alternative model of short-term memory developed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974). To put it simply, working memory combines “short term memory” and “executive attention” (a function that regulates the quantity and type of information that is either accepted into or blocked from short-term memory). Unlike short-term memory, working memory allows us to manipulate and process information while it is being stored for up to 30 seconds.

Although both short term memory and working memory have limited capacity, we still can train and improve them by doing brain training exercises such as dual n-back, memory matrix games, or brain training games.

Other strategies to improve working memory in people of all ages include:

• Breaking chunks of information into small, bite-sized pieces and grouping them together in a logical way;
• Using checklists for tasks with multiple steps;
• Developing routines for everyday activities (it helps to find your car keys effortlessly if you routinely place them on the same spot on entering your home);
• Practising memory skills;
• Experimenting with different ways of remembering information (for example, matching lists with a song or a rhythms, or visualising items on the lists).

Our long-term memory contains information which is stored in the brain for longer periods of time (from minutes to years) and exists outside our immediate consciousness. It contains facts as well as impressions, emotions, actions and much more – there is no limit to how much information our long-term memory can hold; it is potentially life-long. According to Northwestern University psychology professor Paul Reber, our brains have the capacity to store up to 2.5 petabytes of data. It is the equivalent of three million hours of TV shows – or about the same storage as nearly 2,000 of 512GB iPhones (one of the largest sizes currently available). And yet we forget things all the time – names of new people we meet, scheduled appointments or important facts, especially now that we rely so much on Google as an external memory aid with some unpleasant consequences for our memory.

You can free yourself from this dependency and retrain your brain to sharpen your memory and to boost your mental performance for years to come. Here are some of the brain hacks you can use to achieve this.

• Pay attention – as Harry Lorayne pointed out in Ageless Memory and his other books, one of the key reasons for forgetting is that we are not paying attention to the information as it comes in. Attention and memory cannot operate without each other, according to research. You can see this reflected on the Memory Map above. Challenge yourself to pay attention to other people’s names or important bits of information in the article you read and you will surprise yourself by how much more you will remember as result of doing so.
• Use sleep as your superpower – according to this and many other studies, processing memories during sleep not only helps to lessen their weakening but also supports problem solving, creativity and emotional regulation.
• Use your motor system (which is interlinked with our senses) when learning something new – as you can see on the memory map above, this will help you to commit this new learning to your long-term memory. One example of using this hack is writing notes by hand.
• Exercise – even if it is a few 20-minute walks a week. This will help you to increase the size of the hippocampus in your brain and to improve your memory, according to research.
• Use visualisation to create mental associations between new information and something that is already stored in your long-term memory. It works because brain creates new connections between neurons while you are visualising things and concepts. These new connections will allow you to remember information better and to retrieve it more easily when needed.  Read this article for helpful tips on how to use visualisation effectively.
• Have a go at Mind Mapping – according to research, mind maps can improve memory by 10-15%.
• Keep stress at check – there is plenty of evidence that stress can affect how memories are formed and recalled. It can impair your working memory and learning and prevent the formation of long term memories. Practising breathing and other relaxation techniques can help mitigate this negative impact.

You can find more about the neuroscience-informed approach to enhancing your memory in this article, this video with 10 brain hacks from Jim Kwik and the Huberman Lab Podcast.

There is also a great book Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer which is a must read for everyone who is serious about using their brain to enhance memory.

Want to know more about brain hacking? My next article will follow soon!