How to memorize information better: a description of effective techniques and methods

Memory - this is an amazing tool of consciousness, without which it is impossible to imagine the development of either a single individual or human society as a whole. Observations show that a good memory is one of those qualities that serve as the basis for personal growth and successful progress in life. NSlet's talk about how you can improve this tool.

Memory is a complex mental process and includes four stages:

• memorization;
• storage;
• reproduction;
• forgetting.

Specialists in the field of psychology and medicine have noticed that memory has one feature: if it is not used for its intended purpose and is not developed, it eventually loses its properties... This provokes the onset of other destructive processes that can affect the cognitive and mental functions of consciousness.

All people face the problem of memorizing a large amount of information in different situations, but its strengthening inevitably comes with age. With the correct development of human consciousness, memory progresses up to 25 years, in middle age it is kept at the same level, and in the elderly it gradually deteriorates.

In order to avoid the negative consequences of the memory impairment process as much as possible, it must be trained in the likeness of muscle training. The essence of training is simple - it is necessary to involve memory in work more and more often... For this, a large number of different methods and mnemonics have been invented.Before starting to master them, you should find out what memory is, and also what is the principle of memorization. Memory can be voluntary and involuntary.

1. Voluntary memorization occurs with the participation of the will of a person when it is necessary to assimilate information, and this requires an effort. Arbitrary memory, in turn, is divided into mechanical (memorization) and logical (meaningful).
2. Involuntary memory works without the participation of human will. Information is written into consciousness on its own. This usually happens under the influence of a strong impression and a lot of interest. Interesting, necessary and important information is memorized by a person by itself, and without any special effort.

In order for information to remain in memory for a long time or even forever, it must be subjected to analysis, comparison, consideration from different points of view, critical perception and processing. This means that quick and voluntary memorization is possible only when thinking and logic are connected.

In addition, memory can be divided into 3 types depending on the prevailing type of information perception.

• Visual (visual). Information is memorized mainly through sight, observation, examination.
• Auditory (auditory). Information is absorbed in the best way by ear (through listening).
• Tactile (kinesthetic)... A person in whom this type of memory predominates is best at remembering information through touch.
• Olfactory and gustatory... They are much less common in the form of the types of memory prevailing in a person. Memorization through smells and tastes often plays a secondary role. In some professions, it is these types of memory that play a major role, for example, a cook or a perfumer. Therefore, these types of information perception also lend themselves well to training and develop successfully.

To understand what kind of information perception prevails in a person, various tests are carried out. This is done for best results when a large amount of information needs to be memorized. For example, if a student knows that he is an auditor, then preparing for the exam, he either reads the information aloud, or listens to audio recordings of lectures. In the case when he is a visual, the text he read to himself will be well remembered by him only when he can present it in the form of specific visual images. But kinesthetics, for effective memorization, it is necessary to prescribe texts, since it is in the process of writing that information is recorded into consciousness.

Each of us is sometimes faced with the need to memorize a large amount of important information. For example, pupils and students before exams. Or people who have recently got a new job. They need a remarkable memory in reading and mastering all the documentation and information needed to enter the position. Of course, everyone wants to remember the information better and at the same time correctly, preferably the first time. Let's see what kind of techniques contribute to the fulfillment of such desires.

1. First of all, you need to decide what this information is for. If a person realizes that it is important and significant, then he usually sets a goal to remember it under any circumstances. When you fully understand the need to master this or that information, then the problem of large volume and short terms disappears automatically.This attitude towards memorization comes quickly and painlessly, while additional opportunities and reserves are activated.
2. Set aside the right time to master the information. Practice shows that there is the most favorable time for memorization. This is 1-2 hours in the morning after waking up, and also 1-2 hours in the evening before bedtime. During the day, when many streams of various information are directed into our consciousness, the process of memorizing a large amount of something specific is more difficult.
3. Understand... As mentioned above, only that information that is perceived meaningfully, and not just memorized, is remembered faster and better.
4. Concentrate on the brightest and most interesting episodes memorized information, at amazing, impressive, practically useful moments.
5. It is thesis to write out the most important things from the text in a certain sequence. Memorizing information from the first time is often a difficult process, so you can rely on a hint plan when rehearsing the learned information.
6. Discuss, transmit, and speak aloud information. Try to tell and explain the topic you are studying yourself to someone else. Find a listener and pretend you are a teacher or teacher. During the oral transmission of the studied information, the memorization process goes better and easier. And when the interlocutor asks questions, this is even more beneficial, the brain activates its work and begins to seek answers not in memorized notes, but with the help of its own logic. If there are no people willing to listen to you, speak the material out loud to an imaginary listener.
7. For better memorization of information, one must not just re-read it, but try to remember, only by peeping in the record.

There are many different systems and techniques for improving memory, which will help you learn how to easily absorb large amounts of information and keep them in mind for a long time. Let's give some examples and describe the schemes of the most effective of them.

Memory training according to the Cicero method is performed in a rather unusual way. It is based on work with abstract imagination. All of us can calmly and effortlessly imagine, for example, the familiar environment of our home or place of work, objects on the road and street on which we often walk. This information is written into our minds involuntarily. We can only use it to build strong associative links. That is, the information that we need to remember, we "place" in a certain sequence on objects that are well known to us.

The simplest and clearest example... I have to buy groceries at the store. Let's say there are 10 items of goods. Place them in your mind in a clockwise direction over 10 different kitchen items.

Mnemonics (or mnemonics) is the art of memorization. It includes many different special methods to help you master the skill of quickly and easily memorizing a large amount of information for a long time. One of the main foundations of these methods is association. Any information can be turned into visual, auditory or tactile abstract images, connected with objects already rooted in the mind. This is the principle that any mnemonic technique adheres to.

Storytelling is a way of conveying information and finding meanings through storytelling, narration of myths, fairy tales, parables, epics. These stories can be about fictional or real characters. Ask how the concept relates to effective memorization techniques. Everything is very simple.As already noted, information is always easier to remember if it evokes an association with any particular image or object. As such an image or object, some kind of story, meaningfully connected with memorized information, may well act.

The spaced repetition method is very effective when you need to quickly master a large amount of information (for example, before exams). You can use the repetition technique after the main study of the text according to the following principle:

• 20 minutes after studying;
• after 6-8 hours;
• in a day.

If it is necessary to memorize information for a long time, it must be repeated several times:

• once a day of memorization (the entire amount of information);
• after 3 days, repeat the main theses, say, the "skeleton" of the text;
• after 6 days, repeat the entire volume again, but in a different order.

Recommendations that will help you quickly remember new information and will contribute to its better assimilation are quite simple. Let's list them.

1. When mastering a large amount of information, it is necessary to do breaks every 20 minutes of study. The brain needs to rest and reboot. If you try to master the information at an accelerated pace, this method will not lead to anything good. Overloads will end up with the information being absorbed poorly or not at all. Even the information that was studied the day before can disappear at the moment when you need to extract it from your head.
2. Set aside a couple of hours to study the material, but during this time do not be distracted by anything else. Only during breaks, when you are resting, can you allow yourself to switch (for example, drink coffee, listen to classical music, which has a beneficial effect on the memorization process). And at the very moment of studying, concentrate as much as possible only on information.
3. Be aware that the phase of active work of consciousness falls on the morning hours (from 8:00 to 10:00) and in the evening (from 20: 00 to 23: 00). And during sleep, the information received during the day is actively synthesized, so the information studied in the evening is remembered better. And those invented tales about the fact that a book put under a pillow at night writes down the necessary material in our memory do not have any reasonable basis.
4. While studying information, you can walk around the room. This will even be a beneficial effect, since blood circulation increases during movement, and the brain is actively saturated with oxygen. This has a very good effect on the memorization process. And also in your free time from studying, you can take long walks, which also have a positive effect on mental activity.
5. If you are sick or unwell, do not bother and overload the weakened body with the study of information, because the effort will be in vain, the material will not be remembered or put off, no matter how hard you try.
6. When you feel very tired, and during the assimilation of information you are drawn to sleep, it is better to surrender to the natural needs of the body and sleep at least 30-40 minutes. Even a short sleep helps to increase the efficiency of memorizing information several times.
7. It is advisable not to postpone an important task until tomorrow, if it can be done today. The more you delay the moment of learning something necessary, the less time you will have to prepare and master the entire volume of information.