Memory problem??
Question: i am 33. I think I takes long to memorize anything and I am not able to retain it for long. Especially this is with my studies. But as for as anything practical is concerned I have a good pickup. somethime I am not able to get the name of peoples whos name i know very well. their picture is in my mind but with no name. sometimes while talking suddenly i loose control over the topic i am talking about. though i am talking right but i dont know why i start feeling that i am not party of that conversation. I consulted the doctor but he said it is all god gifted and he cannot do anything. Can anyone give me a suggestion what to do.
Answers: I have a Psychology degree in Cognition, Learning, and Memory. I'm going to throw a few things out there and hopefully one or more will be helpful.
The first thing you should look at is whether or not there is some kind of cause that's not really the memory itself. Are you getting enough sleep? Is it good sleep, or frequently disturbed? Are you prone to things like headaches that can distract you when you try to learn things? Do you have trouble concentrating, sitting still, or paying attention? Any drugs or drinking? Were you born prematurely? Did your mother drink while she was pregnant? Have you ever had a serious illness or injury? If any of these things apply to you, it's a good idea to consult a specialist (not just a regular doctor) who can administer tests for learning disabilities. Minor learning disabilities are often undiagnosed because people just think that they aren't good at something. It's worth checking out, and they can often give you resources to help.
Now if it doesn't seem to be a learning disability...then it's a good idea to look at some things that can improve learning and memory for ANYONE. It's helpful to understand a little bit of how memory works.
From what you've described, it sounds like you're having trouble transferring information from short-term to long-term memory. Short-term memory involves information that the brain stores for a very short amount of time (about 5-15 seconds, roughly). In order to keep short term information for longer than this, it's necessary to remind your brain about it. An example of this is when you recite a phone number over and over again until you can find a pen and paper. If you didn't repeat it over and over, the information would quickly be lost. You really can't keep much information in short term memory because it's constantly being replaced by new information.
The kind of information you seem to be having trouble storing is long-term memory, and particularly transferring information from short-term into long-term memory. Storing information in long-term memory is called encoding . I'll go over some things that can help make it easier for you to encode information and then remember it when you need it.
Long-term memory has limited storage as well. You don't remember every single second of every day of your entire life. Your brain is constantly making decisions about what kinds of information should be stored and which kinds of information aren't important enough to store. This is why you only remember pieces of any event.
When you store information, your brain is actually connecting that information to other information that you have already stored. Example: You know what a dog is. You can see several different breeds of dogs and understand that they are all dogs even though they look different. Imagine you saw a kind of dog that you'd never seen before. You remember information about the new dog because your brain is connecting it to all the other dog information that you already knew. These connections become stronger with practice, the number of times you have to remember them. If you started seeing this new dog over and over...you'd remember it more easily each time because the connection is growing stronger.
The strength of connections can be applied in many situations, and there are things that you can do to make them stronger. A general rule: the more active you are in the learning process, the stronger the connections will be.
Imagine you're in a classroom and your teacher is giving you information. Listening is good, but it's a fairly passive thing to do. Writing down what you hear adds another level of activity. Now you are hearing AND writing. This makes the connection stronger. Then you go home and read your notes. This strengthens it even more.
This is the point where many people stop. For some people, this is enough to remember something. But not everyone. For people who need more...they have to become even more active in learning. The next step would be reading the notes OUT LOUD. Now you have heard them in class, written them down, read them at home, AND spoken them. When you speak them...you can write them down again. I have a sister with a learning disability who has to copy her notes three or four times (by hand!) in order to store the information. Writing things out by hand always works better than typing to store information. Why? Because typing is more passive than tracing every single letter with a pencil. You just hit a key and then forget about it. You can tape-record information so you can listen to it again. This can be done with information that someone else is telling you, or information that you are telling yourself to remember. Draw pictures of things you are trying to remember. Make charts, outlines, mind maps...anything that makes you an ACTIVE PARTICIPANT in encoding the information. It's not just saying things over and over to memorize them. It's UNDERSTANDING something over and over to strenthen the connection to things that you already know. You want to learn. Not memorize. Want to be REALLY active? Teach the information to someone. Nothing makes you learn something as well as explaining it to someone else. You're speaking, hearing, and interacting with the other person by answering their questions. This makes the encoding super strong.
Another thing that is important is the context of the information. If you want to learn a new vocabulary words, don't ever use the dictionary. There is no connection between all of the words you are learning. Do you ever read your books out loud? When you find a word that you don't know, do you say it to yourself? Can you look at the information around the word to guess at what it means? Write it down. Look it up. After you have looked up the word---go back to where you originally saw the word and reread the section and include the word with its meaning.
Use memory tricks whenever you can. ( i before e except after c ) If there isn't a trick for what you want to learn...make one up. Don't be afraid to try these even if it seems silly. Often the sillier they are, the better they work.
When you meet new people, get some information about them and write down their names and the things you learn. Go home and tell someone about the people you met. Re-write your information.
Get information from more than one source. Don't just read books. Read newspapers, magazines, signs, watch the news on TV or read it on the internet. The more times you run into a piece of information, the better you will be able to remember it. See an interesting news story on TV? Go look it up on the internet and read the news articles. Go to other websites and research to find out more. When you learn new information, teach it to someone else. Teaching the new information provides another level of using the information and helps you to retain it better.
It seems funny...adding more information when you're having trouble remembering the little stuff already. But it's how your brain works. Each time you add new information about something...you're more likely to remember the something itself.
Trying to memorize song lyrics? Listen to the songs over and over. Sing along. Write the lyrics down. Teach someone else the lyrics. Be an active learner.
These are all things that you can do to help your brain store information. The more you practice these, the easier and more natural they become. Everybody learns differently.
If you find that these things don't help at all...you really should see a specialist. Talk to your doctor and ask him/her to recommend someone. Memory abilities are not just god-given . Some people are born with more aptitude in memory than others but it is still possible that the memory issues are caused by something beyond your control. There are lots of tests that can be used to figure out exactly what may be causing you trouble.
Hope this helps. Good luck! =)
~~~~Psychology Major
how about adult attention deficit disorder---there are medications for that---go c a different doctor
Possibilities:
ADHD - Inattentive - or another type of ADHD
Petit Mal (Absence epilepsy, Complex Partial seizures, etc.)
CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder)
Other
Answers: I have a Psychology degree in Cognition, Learning, and Memory. I'm going to throw a few things out there and hopefully one or more will be helpful.
The first thing you should look at is whether or not there is some kind of cause that's not really the memory itself. Are you getting enough sleep? Is it good sleep, or frequently disturbed? Are you prone to things like headaches that can distract you when you try to learn things? Do you have trouble concentrating, sitting still, or paying attention? Any drugs or drinking? Were you born prematurely? Did your mother drink while she was pregnant? Have you ever had a serious illness or injury? If any of these things apply to you, it's a good idea to consult a specialist (not just a regular doctor) who can administer tests for learning disabilities. Minor learning disabilities are often undiagnosed because people just think that they aren't good at something. It's worth checking out, and they can often give you resources to help.
Now if it doesn't seem to be a learning disability...then it's a good idea to look at some things that can improve learning and memory for ANYONE. It's helpful to understand a little bit of how memory works.
From what you've described, it sounds like you're having trouble transferring information from short-term to long-term memory. Short-term memory involves information that the brain stores for a very short amount of time (about 5-15 seconds, roughly). In order to keep short term information for longer than this, it's necessary to remind your brain about it. An example of this is when you recite a phone number over and over again until you can find a pen and paper. If you didn't repeat it over and over, the information would quickly be lost. You really can't keep much information in short term memory because it's constantly being replaced by new information.
The kind of information you seem to be having trouble storing is long-term memory, and particularly transferring information from short-term into long-term memory. Storing information in long-term memory is called encoding . I'll go over some things that can help make it easier for you to encode information and then remember it when you need it.
Long-term memory has limited storage as well. You don't remember every single second of every day of your entire life. Your brain is constantly making decisions about what kinds of information should be stored and which kinds of information aren't important enough to store. This is why you only remember pieces of any event.
When you store information, your brain is actually connecting that information to other information that you have already stored. Example: You know what a dog is. You can see several different breeds of dogs and understand that they are all dogs even though they look different. Imagine you saw a kind of dog that you'd never seen before. You remember information about the new dog because your brain is connecting it to all the other dog information that you already knew. These connections become stronger with practice, the number of times you have to remember them. If you started seeing this new dog over and over...you'd remember it more easily each time because the connection is growing stronger.
The strength of connections can be applied in many situations, and there are things that you can do to make them stronger. A general rule: the more active you are in the learning process, the stronger the connections will be.
Imagine you're in a classroom and your teacher is giving you information. Listening is good, but it's a fairly passive thing to do. Writing down what you hear adds another level of activity. Now you are hearing AND writing. This makes the connection stronger. Then you go home and read your notes. This strengthens it even more.
This is the point where many people stop. For some people, this is enough to remember something. But not everyone. For people who need more...they have to become even more active in learning. The next step would be reading the notes OUT LOUD. Now you have heard them in class, written them down, read them at home, AND spoken them. When you speak them...you can write them down again. I have a sister with a learning disability who has to copy her notes three or four times (by hand!) in order to store the information. Writing things out by hand always works better than typing to store information. Why? Because typing is more passive than tracing every single letter with a pencil. You just hit a key and then forget about it. You can tape-record information so you can listen to it again. This can be done with information that someone else is telling you, or information that you are telling yourself to remember. Draw pictures of things you are trying to remember. Make charts, outlines, mind maps...anything that makes you an ACTIVE PARTICIPANT in encoding the information. It's not just saying things over and over to memorize them. It's UNDERSTANDING something over and over to strenthen the connection to things that you already know. You want to learn. Not memorize. Want to be REALLY active? Teach the information to someone. Nothing makes you learn something as well as explaining it to someone else. You're speaking, hearing, and interacting with the other person by answering their questions. This makes the encoding super strong.
Another thing that is important is the context of the information. If you want to learn a new vocabulary words, don't ever use the dictionary. There is no connection between all of the words you are learning. Do you ever read your books out loud? When you find a word that you don't know, do you say it to yourself? Can you look at the information around the word to guess at what it means? Write it down. Look it up. After you have looked up the word---go back to where you originally saw the word and reread the section and include the word with its meaning.
Use memory tricks whenever you can. ( i before e except after c ) If there isn't a trick for what you want to learn...make one up. Don't be afraid to try these even if it seems silly. Often the sillier they are, the better they work.
When you meet new people, get some information about them and write down their names and the things you learn. Go home and tell someone about the people you met. Re-write your information.
Get information from more than one source. Don't just read books. Read newspapers, magazines, signs, watch the news on TV or read it on the internet. The more times you run into a piece of information, the better you will be able to remember it. See an interesting news story on TV? Go look it up on the internet and read the news articles. Go to other websites and research to find out more. When you learn new information, teach it to someone else. Teaching the new information provides another level of using the information and helps you to retain it better.
It seems funny...adding more information when you're having trouble remembering the little stuff already. But it's how your brain works. Each time you add new information about something...you're more likely to remember the something itself.
Trying to memorize song lyrics? Listen to the songs over and over. Sing along. Write the lyrics down. Teach someone else the lyrics. Be an active learner.
These are all things that you can do to help your brain store information. The more you practice these, the easier and more natural they become. Everybody learns differently.
If you find that these things don't help at all...you really should see a specialist. Talk to your doctor and ask him/her to recommend someone. Memory abilities are not just god-given . Some people are born with more aptitude in memory than others but it is still possible that the memory issues are caused by something beyond your control. There are lots of tests that can be used to figure out exactly what may be causing you trouble.
Hope this helps. Good luck! =)
~~~~Psychology Major
how about adult attention deficit disorder---there are medications for that---go c a different doctor
Possibilities:
ADHD - Inattentive - or another type of ADHD
Petit Mal (Absence epilepsy, Complex Partial seizures, etc.)
CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder)
Other
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