PROFESSOR DENNIS’S TIPS FOR ENHANCING MEMORY

1

Become an expert in an area you want to remember. “Experts are able to code new memories in ways that protect them from interference from other memories and thus improve performance,” says Professor Simon Dennis, of the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences.

2

Focus on encoding. For example, when you meet someone new, try to use their name in conversation before you part.

3

Create routines so you don’t have to remember things. For example, always put your keys in the same place so you needn’t remember where you left them each time.

4

Forgot why you entered a room? “This is typically a failure of short-term memory and occurs because you start thinking about something else,” he says. Try retracing your steps to put yourself back into the context where you decided to enter the room – this acts as a retrieval cue. 5

Put yourself back into the state you were in when you were encoding the memory. Professor Dennis says this is even true for alcohol. “If you are inebriated when you learn something, it is actually better to become inebriated again if you want to recall it. However, the best recall occurs when you are sober at both study and test.”