Memorization And Capacity Building
I know what it is
like to forget someone's name. In my time, I have forgotten appointments,
telephone numbers, speeches, punch lines of jokes, directions, even whole
chapters of my life. Up until recently, I am the most absentminded, forgetful
person you could imagine. I’ve seen many people and my friends around whom good
at remembering. Every time when I arrive my classes at universities, I always
ask myself if I remember all the lectures my professors taught? At the same
time, I feel so sad and rather hopeless because I know exactly I am a serious
forgetful student. Until today, I received an assignment on a topic “Capacity
Building” that forced me to search hardly on internet. I also remember a story
related to my forgetful memorizing so I try to search the keys to be good at
this. I decided putting the title “Memorization and Capacity Building”. The aim
of this assignment is that to remind me every time to practice and develop my
ways of study to succeed in memorizing.
I hope you will
enjoy it. Let’s learn and understand together!
I. Brain Hacks to
Learn and Memorize Things Faster
Being able to
pick up skills quickly is critical in today’s workplace.
Whether
you’re a student, a professional, a parent, or a retiree — all of us are
learning new things everyday. It could be how to play the guitar, a new
language, how to find the square root of a number, or how to speak in front of
an audience without losing your cool. Our minds are constantly evolving with
new information.
There are
many causes of your brain memory loss:
2. Age
3. NOT ENOUGH STOMACH ACID:
Vitamin B12,
found in foods such as meats, fish and dairy products, is known for its
important role in producing red blood cells, but it’s also thought to be linked
to healthy memory.
4. HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE:
If you’re
under 45 and forgetful, it might be worth having your blood pressure taken.
5. UNDERACTIVE THYROID
6. STATINS:
Using
cholesterol-lowering pills to improve the memory.
7. MENOPAUSE:
dwindling oestrogen
levels seem to be a problem — particularly just before the menopause begins.
8. MIGRAINE:
This is not
a common problem and episodes tend to occur only once — memory should start to
return within 24 hours.
9. LONG-HAUL FLIGHTS:
Long-haul
travel can leave you feeling shabby and fuzzy. 'It's thought the problems all
arise from a lack of consistent sleep.
10. CHEMOTHERAPY:
Unpleasant
side-effects of chemotherapy is possible memory loss.
11. PREGNANCY
12. ANAESTHETICS:
The joy of
an anaesthetic is that you don’t remember a thing when you wake up — but, it
seems, that memory loss could go on for longer than you’d expect. Surgery
itself may also play a role in the memory loss, causing a profound inflammatory
response throughout the body, including the brain.
13. EPILEPSY:
The brain
condition that causes seizures and affects around 500,000 Britons can be a
contributory factor in memory loss.
14. ARTHRITIS OR ASTHMA DRUGS:
Corticosteroids
are drugs taken by countless thousands for a variety of reasons from asthma to arthritis. Corticosteroids can actually
kill off brain cells, shrinking the brain and in particular the hippocampus.
This kind of memory loss is rare.
15. DEPRESSION:
The reason
your recall of certain events may be somewhat fuzzy after a night drinking is
because alcohol has a toxic effect on the hippocampus, an area in the brain
which forms memories. It relates to depression that is linked to low levels of
brain chemicals such as serotonin and norepinephrine, which relay messages.
People like
to joke that the only thing you really “learn” in school is how to memorize. As
it turns out, that’s not even the case for most of us. If you go around the
room and ask a handful of people how to memorize things quickly, most of them
will probably tell you repetition.
That is so
far from the truth, it’s running for office. If you want to memorize something
quickly and thoroughly, repetition won’t cut it; however, recalling something
will. The problem is that recalling something requires learning, and we all
learn in different ways. Below are some universal steps to mastering the art of
recalling so that you can start memorizing a ton of data in a short amount of
time.
Before we
start, you need to establish something: are you an auditory, visual, or
experiential learner? If you’re an auditory learner, then the most effective
way for you to grasp information is by hearing it. As you can imagine, visual
learners favor seeing something in order to learn it, and experiential learning
types are more akin to learning from events and experiences (or, doing
something with the material). Most of us are a combination of at least two of
these categories, but I will denote which step is most favorable to your most
agreeable learning style so that you can start to memorize things quickly and
efficiently.
Step 1:
Preparation
To optimize
your memorization session, pay close attention to which environment you choose.
For most people, this means choosing an area with few distractions, though some
people do thrive off of learning in public areas. Figure out what is most
conducive to your learning so that you can get started.
Step 2:
Record What You’re Memorizing
This is
especially useful if you’re trying to memorize information from a lecture. Use
a tape recorder to track all of the acquired facts being spoken and listen to
it. If you’re trying to memorize a speech, record yourself reading the speech
aloud and listen to yourself speaking. Obviously, this is most helpful for auditory
learners, but it’s also handy because it ensures that you’re getting more
context from a lecture that will help you learn the information faster.
Step 3:
Write Everything Down
Before you
start trying to recall everything from memory, write and re-write the
information. This will help you become more familiar with what you’re trying to
memorize. Doing this while listening to your tape recorder can also help you
retain a lot of the data. This is most useful for experienced learners.
Step 4:
Section your notes
Now that you
have everything written down in one set of notes, separate them into sections.
This is ideal for visual learners, especially if you use color coding to
differentiate between subjects. This will help you break everything down and
start compartmentalizing the information being recorded in your brain.
Step 5:
Apply repetition to cumulative memorization
For each line
of text, repeat it a few times and try to recall it without looking. As you
memorize each set of text, be cumulative by adding the new information to what
you’ve just learned. This will keep everything within your short-term memory
from fading. Keep doing this until you have memorized that section and you are
able to recall the entire thing. Do not move on to another section
until you have memorized that one completely. This is mostly visual
learning, but if you are speaking aloud, then you are also applying auditory.
Step 6:
Write it down from memory
Now that you
can recall entire sections, write everything down from memory. This will
reinforce everything you just have just learned by applying it experientially.
Step 7:
Teach it to someone (or yourself)
The most
effective method for me when I was in school was to teach the information to
someone else. You can do this in a variety of ways. You can lecture the
knowledge to someone sitting right in front of you (or the mirror, if you can’t
convince anyone to sit through it) and explain everything extemporaneously. If
what you’ve learned needs to be recited verbatim, then do this in front of
someone as well in order to get a feel for what it will be like to recite the
text to the intended audience.
My favorite
method for this is creating tests for other people. Take the information and
predict what questions will come out of them. Use multiple choice, matching and
so on to present the data in test format, and see how someone else does. All of
this is experiential learning, since you are actually practicing and
manipulating the concepts you’ve learned.
Step 8:
Listen to the recordings continuously
While doing
unrelated tasks like laundry or driving, go over the information again by
listening to your tape recordings. This is certainly auditory learning, but it
will still supplement everything you’ve shoved into your short-term memory.
Step 9:
Take a break
Finally, let
your mind breathe. Go for a short time without thinking about what you just
learned and come back to it later on. You’ll find out what you really know, of
course, and this will help you focus on the sections you might be weakest at.
Step 10:
Association – The Biggest Secret
Associatin is
basically the art of linking a piece of information to something else. What’s
the first thing that hits your mind when I say the word SUMMER?
Did you think
about heat, ice cream, vacation, swimming or anything related to those
activities? We think about heat because we relate this word to the term summer,
it comes naturally without any real effort.
This is
perhaps the biggest memory secret around, learn how to associate the
information you want to remember with some piece of information that you won’t
forget. It works like a charm.
According to
the steps above if you can follow them exactly, you will feel yourself better
and better and success in your memorization in studying. Although, you must
have strong decision on your stand to improve your way of learning and try to
find more new experiences from other succeed people or experts. Wish you
success!
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