The tools in this section help you to improve your memory.

They help you both to remember

facts accurately and to remember the structure of information.
The tools are split into two sections. Firstly you'll learn the memory techniques themselves.
Secondly we'll look at how you can use them in practice to remember peoples names, languages,
exam information, and so on.
As with other mind tools, the more practice you give yourself with these techniques, the more
effectively you will use them. This section contains many of the memory techniques used by
stage memory performers. With enough practice and effort, you may be able to have a memory
as good. Even if you do not have the time needed to develop this quality of memory, many of the
techniques here are useful in everyday life.

Mnemonics
'Mnemonic' is another word for memory tool. Mnemonics are techniques for remembering
information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall: A very simple example is the '30 days hath
September' rhyme for remembering the number of days in each calendar month.
The idea behind using mnemonics is to encode difficult-to-remember information in a way that is
much easier to remember.
Our brains evolved to code and interpret complex stimuli such as images, colors, structures,
sounds, smells, tastes, touch, positions, emotions and language. We use these to make
sophisticated models of the world we live in. Our memories store all of these very effectively.
Unfortunately, a lot of the information we have to remember in modern life is presented
differently - as words printed on a page. While writing is a rich and sophisticated medium for
conveying complex arguments, our brains do not easily encode written information, making it
difficult to remember.
This section of Mind Tools shows you how to use all the memory resources available to you to
remember information in a highly efficient way.

Using Your Whole Mind to Remember

The key idea is that by coding information using vivid mental images, you can reliably code both
information and the structure of information. And because the images are vivid, they are easy to
recall when you need them.
The techniques explained later on in this section show you how to code information vividly,
using stories, strong mental images, familiar journeys, and so on.
You can do the following things to make your mnemonics more memorable:

Use positive, pleasant images. Your brain often blocks out unpleasant ones

Use vivid, colorful, sense-laden images - these are easier to remember than drab ones

Use all your senses to code information or dress up an image. Remember that your
mnemonic can contain sounds, smells, tastes, touch, movements and feelings as well as
pictures.

Give your image three dimensions, movement and space to make it more vivid. You can
use movement either to maintain the flow of association, or to help you to remember
actions.

Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image

Use humor! Funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than normal ones.

Similarly, rude rhymes are very difficult to forget!

Symbols (red traffic lights, pointing fingers, road signs, etc.) can code quite complex
messages quickly and effectively

Designing Mnemonics: Imagination, Association and

Location
The three fundamental principles underlying the use of mnemonics are imagination, association
and location. Working together, you can use these principles to generate powerful mnemonic
systems.
Imagination: is what you use to create and strengthen the associations needed to create effective
mnemonics. Your imagination is what you use to create mnemonics that are potent for you. The
more strongly you imagine and visualize a situation, the more effectively it will stick in your
mind for later recall. The imagery you use in your mnemonics can be as violent, vivid, or sensual
as you like, as long as it helps you to remember.
Association: this is the method by which you link a thing to be remembered to a way of
remembering it. You can create associations by:

Placing things on top of each other

Crashing things together

Merging images together

Wrapping them around each other

Rotating them around each other or having them dancing together

Linking them using the same color, smell, shape, or feeling

As an example, you might link the number 1 with a goldfish by visualizing a 1-shaped spear
being used to spear it.
Location: gives you two things: a coherent context into which you can place information so that
it hangs together, and a way of separating one mnemonic from another. By setting one mnemonic
in a particular town, I can separate it from a similar mnemonic set in a city. For example, by
setting one in Wimbledon and another similar mnemonic with images of Manhattan,
]we can separate them with no danger of confusion. You can build the flavors and atmosphere of
these places into your mnemonics to strengthen the feeling of location.
MindTools.com - Join Our Community!
Our first memory techniques, the Link and Story Methods, show how effective these ideas can
be. To read about these, click "Next article" below. Other relevant destinations are shown in the
"Where to go from here" list underneath.

Amnesia (from Greek ) is a memory condition in which memory is disturbed. In simple

terms it is the loss of memory. The causes of amnesia are organic or functional. Organic causes
include damage to the brain, through trauma or disease, or use of certain (generally sedative)
drugs. Functional causes are psychological factors, such as defense mechanisms. Hysterical posttraumatic amnesia is an example of this. Amnesia may also be spontaneous, in the case of
transient global amnesia.[1] This global type of amnesia is more common in middle-aged to
elderly people, particularly males, and usually lasts less than 24 hours.
Another effect of amnesia is the inability to imagine the future. A recent study published online
in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that amnesiacs with damaged
hippocampus cannot imagine the future.[2] This is because a normal human being, imagining the
future, uses past experiences to construct a possible scenario. For example, a person trying to
imagine what would happen at a party set to occur in the near future would use past experience at
parties to help construct the event

In anterograde amnesia, new events contained in the immediate memory are not
transferred to the permanent as long-term memory.

Retrograde amnesia is the distinct inability to recall some memory or memories of the
past, beyond ordinary forgetfulness.

The terms are used to categorize patterns of symptoms, rather than to indicate a particular cause
or etiology. Both categories of amnesia can occur together in the same patient, and commonly
result from drug effects or damage to the brain regions most closely associated with
episodic/declarative memory: the medial temporal lobes and especially the hippocampus.
An example of mixed retrograde and anterograde amnesia may be a motorcyclist unable to recall
driving his motorbike prior to his head injury (retrograde amnesia), nor can he recall the hospital
ward where he is told he had conversations with family over the next two days (anterograde
amnesia)
. Psychological repression, or simply repression, according to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic
theory, is the involuntary psychological act of excluding desires and impulses (wishes, fantasies
or feelings) from one's consciousness and holding or subduing them in the unconscious. Since
Freud's work in psychoanalysis, repression is now accepted as a defense mechanism[1] by
psychoanalytic psychologists; however, there remains some debate as to whether (or how often)
repression really happens[2] and mainstream psychology holds that true repression occurs only
very rarely.[citation needed]

The effects of amnesia can last long after the condition has passed; many sufferers claim that
amnesia changes from a neurological condition to a psychological condition, whereby the patient
loses confidence and faith in their own memory and accounts of past events.

In one study done by Peterson and Peterson participants were asked to recall trigrams (string of
three letters) at different time intervals after the presentation of the last letter in the trigram. To
make the trigrams impossible to pronounce the investigator used only consonants (e.g., DFB).
The participants were asked to count backwards to allow no time for rehearsal and for the
numbers to interfere with the recall of trigrams. Each of the participants were tested eight times
at each of the six delay intervals which totaled to 48 trials. The percentage of recalls decays over
time due to interference of the numbers they had to count backwards. From this study Peterson
and Peterson concluded that short term memory exists for a few seconds if the participant does
not make an active effort to retain the information."
This theory along with the decay theory have been proposed as reasons for why people forget.
Evidence for this theory comes from paired associate learning, as well as from Jenkins and
Dallenbach's 1924 experiment where they researched forgetting in two students over the period
of eight hours.

Contents
[hide]

1 Types
o

1.1 Proactive interference

1.2 Retroactive interference

1.3 Output interference

2 See also

3 References

[edit] Types

According to the theory there are three kinds of interference: proactive interference, retroactive
interference and output interference. More emphasis, however, is placed on proactive and
retroactive which often happens in our everyday life and dealings.
[edit] Proactive interference

Underwood (1957) provided early evidence that things you've learned before encoding a target
item can worsen recall of that target item. In a meta-analysis of multiple experiments, he showed
that the more lists one had already learned, the more trouble one had in recalling the most recent
one. This is proactive interference, where the prior existence of old memories makes it harder to
recall newer memories.
Proactive interference can be potently demonstrated with the Brown-Peterson paradigm (Brown,
1958; Peterson & Peterson, 1959). A single Brown-Peterson trial consists of a study list, a
retention interval and then a recall period. The study list might consist of a handful of related
items (such as a handful of animals or occupations), presented individually every few seconds.
For the duration of a short retention interval, subjects are then asked to perform an engaging
distractor task such as counting backwards in sevens (to minimize rehearsal). Finally, subjects
are asked to recall the items from this study list.
Usually, subjects' back side recollection is nearly perfect for the first trial, but perform
increasingly poorly on subsequent trials that use study lists drawn from the same category. This
is the proactive interference effect described earlier. In other words, even though the lists from
previous trials are now irrelevant, the fact that they were studied at all is somehow making it
harder for subjects to recall the most recent list.

[edit] Retroactive interference

Retroactive interference occurs when later learning interferes with previous learning; i.e.,
learning new things somehow overwrites or obscures existing knowledge. A good example of
Retroactive interference is when you move and get a new phone number. When you try to
remember your old number, your new number gets in the way.
Cue-dependent forgetting, or retrieval failure, is the failure to recall a memory due to missing
stimuli or cues that were present at the time the memory was encoded. It is one of five cognitive
psychology theories of forgetting. It states that a memory is sometimes temporarily forgotten
purely because it cannot be retrieved, but the proper cue can bring it to mind. A good metaphor
for this is searching for a book in a library without the reference number, title, author or even
subject. The information still exists, but without these cues retrieval is unlikely. Furthermore, a
good retrieval cue must be consistent with the original encoding of the information. If the sound
of the word is emphasized during the encoding process, the cue that should be used should also
put emphasis on the phonetic quality of the word (Psychology Themes and variations, pg 282).
[edit] State-dependent cues

State-dependent cues are governed by the state of mind and being at the time of encoding. The
emotional or mental state of the person, such as being inebriated, drugged, upset, anxious, happy,
or in love, are the key cues.
The Decay theory , or deterioration theory states that when something new is learned, a
neurochemical "memory trace" is formed, but over time this trace tends to disintegrate, unless it
is occasionally used.
Decay theory suggests that the passage of time always increases forgetting (most scientists
believe that neurons die off gradually as we age.) However, there is one circumstance where old
memories can be stronger than more recent ones. Older memories are sometimes more resistant
to shocks or physical assaults on the brain than recent memories.
The decay theory along with the interference theory, motivated forgetting and retrieval failure
theory are four suggested reasons why people forget. Decay alone, although it may play some
role, cannot entirely explain lapses in long-term memory. A trace is formed by sensory neurons -this trace is a memory. When a person forgets, the trace is lost.
Another theory of forgetting in short-term memory, or STM, is the Displacement Theory which
suggests that new memory traces displace or erase old ones.
Abstract
Examined the effect of depressed mood on the accessibility of memories of past real-life
experiences of a pleasant or unpleasant nature. By means of a mood induction

procedure, 30 students (mean age 19.2 yrs) were made happy on one occasion and
depressed on another. The 2 mood states differed significantly on self-report, speechrate, and recall-latency measures. Stimulus words to which Ss had to associate past
pleasant or unpleasant experiences were presented in each mood condition, and
latency of retrieval was measured. Time to retrieve pleasant memories, relative to time
to retrieve unpleasant memories, was significantly longer when Ss were depressed than
when they were happy, suggesting a differential effect of mood on the accessibility of
these 2 types of memory. Results are considered in relation to state-dependent learning
and activation of memories, and their implications for models and treatment of
depression are discussed. It is suggested that cognitive models of depression need to
be extended to include a reciprocal relation between thought content and depressed
mood. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Long-term memory (LTM) is memory that can last as little as a few days or as long as decades.
It differs structurally and functionally from working memory or short-term memory, which
ostensibly stores items for only around 18 seconds (Peterson and Peterson, 1959). Biologically,
short-term memory is a temporary potentiation of neural connections that can become long-term
memory through the process of rehearsal and meaningful association. Much is not known about
the underlying biological mechanisms of long-term memory, but the process of long-term
potentiation, which involves a physical change in the structure of neurons, has been proposed as
the mechanism by which short-term memories move into long-term storage. Notably, the time
scale involved at each level of memory processing remains under investigation. As long-term
memory is subject to fading in the natural forgetting process, several recalls/retrievals of memory
may be needed for long-term memories to last for years, dependent also on the depth of
processing. Individual retrievals can take place in increasing intervals in accordance with the
principle of spaced repetition. This can happen quite naturally through reflection or deliberate
recall (a.k.a. recapitulation), often dependent on the perceived importance of the material.

In psychology, memory is an organism's mental ability to store, retain, and recall

information. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy,
including techniques of artificially enhancing the memory. The late nineteenth and
early twentieth century put memory within the paradigms of cognitive psychology.
In recent decades, it has become one of the principal pillars of a branch of science
called cognitive neuroscience, an interdisciplinary link between cognitive
psychology and neuroscience

The olfactory nerve, or cranial nerve I, is the first of twelve cranial nerves. The specialized
olfactory receptor neurons of the olfactory nerve are located in the olfactory mucosa of the upper
parts of the nasal cavity. The olfactory nerves do not form two trunks like the remaining cranial

nerves, but consist of a collection of many sensory nerve fibers that extend from the olfactory
epithelium to the olfactory bulb, passing through the many openings of the Cribriform plate of
the Ethmoid bone; a sieve-like structure.
Olfactory receptor neurons continue to be born throughout life and extend new axons to the
olfactory bulb. Olfactory ensheathing glia wrap bundles of these axons and are thought to
facilitate their passage into the central nervous system.
The sense of smell (olfaction) arises from the stimulation of the olfactory receptors by activation
from small molecules of different spatial, chemical, and electrical properties that pass over the
nasal epithelium in the nasal cavity during inhalation. These interactions are transduced into
electrical activity in the olfactory bulb which then transmits the electrical activity to other parts
of the olfactory system and the rest of the central nervous system via the olfactory tract.
The olfactory nerve is the shortest of the twelve cranial nerves and only one of two cranial
nerves (the other being the optic nerve) that do not join with the brainstem.
A bipolar cell is a type of neuron which has two extensions. Bipolar cells are specialized sensory
neurons for the transmission of special senses. As such, they are part of the sensory pathways for
smell, sight, taste, hearing and vestibular functions.
The most common examples are the bipolar cell of the retina, and the ganglia of the
vestibulocochlear nerve.[1] When used without further detail, the term usually refers to the retinal
cells.
Bipolar cells are also found in the spinal ganglia, when the cells are in an embryonic condition.
They are best demonstrated in the spinal ganglia of fish.
Sometimes the extensions, also called "processes", come off from opposite poles of the cell, and
the cell then assumes a spindle shape; in other cells both processes emerge at the same point.
In some cases where two fibers are apparently connected with a cell, one of the fibers is really
derived from an adjoining nerve cell and is passing to end in a ramification around the ganglion
cell, or, again, it may be coiled spirally around the nerve process which is issuing from the cell.
ganglion (pronounced /lin/, GANG-glee-n, plural ganglia) is a biological tissue mass,
most commonly a mass of nerve cell bodies.[1] Cells found in a ganglion are called ganglion cells,
though this term is also sometimes used to refer specifically to retinal ganglion cells.
In some dinosaurs, the ganglion in the pelvis was so large relative to its brain in its head that it
could almost be said to have two brains.[

Detection theory, or signal detection theory, is a means to quantify the ability to discern
between signal and noise. According to the theory, there are a number of psychological
determiners of how we will detect a signal, and where our threshold levels will be. Experience,
expectations, physiological state (e.g. fatigue) and other factors affect thresholds. For instance, a
sentry in wartime will likely detect fainter stimuli than the same sentry in peacetime.
Much of the early work in detection theory was done by radar researchers.[1] The psychological
theory was first published by Wilson P. Tanner and John A. Swets in 1954.[2] Detection theory
was used in 1966 by John A. Swets and David M. Green for psychophysics.[3] Green and Swets
criticized the traditional methods of psychophysics for their inability to discriminate between the
real sensitivity of subjects and their (potential) response biases.[4]
Detection theory has applications in many fields such as diagnostics of any kind, quality control,
telecommunications, and psychology. The concept is similar to the signal to noise ratio used in
the sciences, and it is also usable in alarm management, where it is important to separate
important events from background noise
Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of
behavior. Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning (also called
respondent conditioning, or Pavlovian conditioning) in that operant conditioning deals with the
modification of "voluntary behavior" or operant behavior. Operant behavior "operates" on the
environment and is maintained by its consequences, while classical conditioning deals with the
conditioning of respondent behaviors which are elicited by antecedent conditions. Behaviors
conditioned via a classical conditioning procedure are not maintained by consequences.[1]. The
main dependent variable is the rate of response that is developed over a period of time. New
operant responses can be further developed and shaped by reinforcing close approximations of
the desired response.
It's important to note that organisms are not spoken of as being reinforced, punished, or
extinguished; it is the response that is reinforced, punished, or extinguished. Additionally,
reinforcement, punishment, and extinction are not terms whose use is restricted to the laboratory.
Naturally occurring consequences can also be said to reinforce, punish, or extinguish behavior
and are not always delivered by people.

Reinforcement is a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with greater frequency.

Punishment is a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with less frequency.

Extinction is the lack of any consequence following a behavior. When a behavior is

inconsequential, producing neither favorable nor unfavorable consequences, it will occur
with less frequency. When a previously reinforced behavior is no longer reinforced with
either positive or negative reinforcement, it leads to a decline in the response.

Four contexts of operant conditioning: Here the terms "positive" and "negative" are not used in
their popular sense, but rather: "positive" refers to addition, and "negative" refers to subtraction.
What is added or subtracted may be either reinforcement or punishment. Hence positive
punishment is sometimes a confusing term, as it denotes the addition of a stimulus or increase in
the intensity of a stimulus that is aversive (such as spanking or an electric shock) The four
procedures are:
1. Positive reinforcement occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by a favorable
stimulus (commonly seen as pleasant) that increases the frequency of that behavior. In the
Skinner box experiment, a stimulus such as food or sugar solution can be delivered when
the rat engages in a target behavior, such as pressing a lever.
2. Negative reinforcement occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by the removal
of an aversive stimulus (commonly seen as unpleasant) thereby increasing that behavior's
frequency. In the Skinner box experiment, negative reinforcement can be a loud noise
continuously sounding inside the rat's cage until it engages in the target behavior, such as
pressing a lever, upon which the loud noise is removed.
3. Positive punishment (also called "Punishment by contingent stimulation") occurs when
a behavior (response) is followed by an aversive stimulus, such as introducing a shock or
loud noise, resulting in a decrease in that behavior.
4. Negative punishment (also called "Punishment by contingent withdrawal") occurs when
a behavior (response) is followed by the removal of a favorable stimulus, such as taking
away a child's toy following an undesired behavior, resulting in a decrease in that
behavior.
Also:

Avoidance learning is a type of learning in which a certain behavior results in the

cessation of an aversive stimulus. For example, performing the behavior of shielding
one's eyes when in the sunlight (or going indoors) will help avoid the aversive
stimulation of having light in one's eyes.

Extinction occurs when a behavior (response) that had previously been reinforced is no
longer effective. In the Skinner box experiment, this is the rat pushing the lever and being
rewarded with a food pellet several times, and then pushing the lever again and never
receiving a food pellet again. Eventually the rat would cease pushing the lever.

Noncontingent reinforcement refers to delivery of reinforcing stimuli regardless of the

organism's (aberrant) behavior. The idea is that the target behavior decreases because it is
no longer necessary to receive the reinforcement. This typically entails time-based
delivery of stimuli identified as maintaining aberrant behavior, which serves to decrease
the rate of the target behavior.[2] As no measured behavior is identified as being

strengthened, there is controversy surrounding the use of the term noncontingent

"reinforcement".[3]