Practicing a wide variety of techniques helps improve cognitive functions across the board.
We humans all use a variety of senses to gather information and the more ‘vivid’ and cross sensational that input is, the more likely we will retain the information in the brain longer term. We see, we touch, we smell, we hear and we taste. We tend to organise things and we also experience emotions; happiness, sadness, anger and so on and it is perhaps components of all these things together that become lodged in our minds, by way of brain chemistry, as recoverable memories.
We know that memory champions use a variety of techniques to store and retrieve ‘data’ in their quests for recognition as superbrains; yet the very same people face the same mundane challenges to do with where the car keys were last placed or why they decided to walk down a particular aisle in the supermarket. So it appears that in most cases, if you specifically wish to remember things, that is any things, practice using a system until it becomes second nature and recognise that the interplay of all your senses and processing methods can contribute to more efficient retrieval.
In essence, it seems we take inputs from all our senses; we process (logically, emotionally) and over the years we each evolve serendipitously, what you might call a developed learning style:
- Visual
- Aural
- Kinaesthetic
and a preferred learning environment:
- Social
- Solitary
So there we have it, all things being equal, you are going to get the best out of your brain by using all available inputs, developing logical and emotional processes and cultivating your ability to operate in different learning environments. The final key component is the desire / drive to progress and the recognition that practice makes perfect. After all Mozart didn’t become the pre-eminent 18th century composer that we know him as today, without practicing from before the age of five; Bill Gates didn’t excel in the computer industry without constant involvement with technology from the age of 13; in fact pretty much anybody that got good at anything, immersed themselves in it at a young age and worked away at it for a long time.
So, as regards getting the best out of your brain here are a few suggestions:
- Understand why you are seeking to remember things. Do you just have a deep desire to know things? Do you wish to show off a bit? Do you desperately want to qualify?
- Seek to use all your senses when learning and thereby enhance capabilities across all learning styles. Actively ask yourself what am I seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling. Make up fantastical stories around those senses and associate them with the new data.
- Recognise the value of interaction and the purpose of reflection and drive yourself to engage in both on a daily basis.
- When processing, think logic AND emotions; continuously build on your logical faculties and expose your emotional connection to the work.
- Remember, practice memory exercises through repetition and it is repetition that drives the chemistry of long term memories so consider using a program like this to keep you interested and focused.