College is one of the most important undertakings in your life. You can spend 3, 4, 5 hours or more studying every single day! What if there was a better way?

Well guess what? You have the potential to be able to memorize, and remember, any information you need to, including entire textbooks! Memory is a skill, and it needs to be developed. You can’t get in shape by reading a book about lifting weights, and you can’t improve your memory by reading a memory book. Training is the only way to get into shape, and training is the only way to improve your memory!

If we are to undertake a study of memory improvement, we first need to have a basic understanding of how the brain deals with information. The brain uses several different processes to handle information. The thinking, memorization, and remembering processes.

 

Thinking Process:

The thinking process mainly consists of visual images. We think with images. This is such a natural process that you might not even realize that it happens, but information makes sense to us only if it can be represented with visual images. For example, here are two sentences:

• The book is on the table. When you read that sentence, an image of a book on a table was generated in your mind. In other words, the sentence evoked images in your mind. This is how you understand this sentence. Compare this to our second sentence:

• The qwimjal is on the parchik. Your mind has no images to relate with this sentence. With no visual representation, you don’t understand it.

 

Memorization Process:

The memorization process is directly connected with the thinking process. If you are able to ‘translate’ information into visual images, you can easily and efficiently memorize it. It’s easier to remember ‘The book is on top of the table’ than ‘The qwimjal is on top of the parchik’.

Let’s quickly examine just how your brain actually memorizes information. When you read the sentence ‘The book is on the table’, the images of ‘book’ and ‘table’ came into your mind, and a connection between those images was formed. Connections are created when two images are viewed together simultaneously in your mind.

 

Remembering Process:

All information is connected. When you remember one piece of the information set, the other piece is stimulated, and you remember.

Let’s return to our examples. If tomorrow I asked you the question ‘What is on the table?’, the connected information element is stimulated, and you would remember ‘book’. If, however, I asked you ‘What is on the parchik?’, there is no connection for your mind to grab hold of. With no connection, no recall is possible.

 

This is a simplified explanation of memory and how your brain works. For free memory-improvement tips, tricks, and techniques, along with more in-depth articles, visit these additional resources:

Z-Memory Resource Center

Secrets Of Phenomenal Memory E-Book

Squidoo Resource For Study Skills