You feel like you forgot what the last book you read was about? Can’t seem to learn a new language anymore? Or maybe you lately simply tend to forget the things you have run into?
The changes that occur in your brain, which come natural during the aging process, can slow specific cognitive processes. It happens to all of us. It makes it harder for us to learn new things as fast as we used to, and it can have a great influence on our memory and our ability to learn.
This was s a recurring thought that I was not able to get rid of from one day to the other. A month or two after I took an online course, I would have forgotten a significant part of what was learned. Waste of time… I hear myself thinking. It extended far beyond courses and happened with books, work, language skills, as well interesting articles that I found. It came to a point where I even became slightly annoyed by my own’s brain capabilities. A reality check, realising that I was no longer the same young mind, able to absorb new information like a sponge.
My efforts in learning were not necessarily rewarded which made me think, how can one learn and improve one’s memory in general. After consulting the infinite information sources online, a few books, many articles and finally summarizing my most important findings, I was able to come to an answer for myself.
Things that have helped me personally related to memory and learning.
1. Memory tricks
Memory tools help you create chunks and context. I don’t want to say that context is king, but it is fairly important during learning. We humans have an outstanding visual-spatial memory ability that we developed throughout the years, starting from the earliest day of the Homo Sapiens. This is a reason that we tend to learn better in images than in words. Think about analogies, metaphors, and other memory tricks like the ‘Memory Palace technique’.
The core of the memory palace technique is based on using this outstanding visual-spatial skills to your benefit by transforming information (that is tough to grasp) into images. You associate certain pieces of this information to a place that you are familiar with, e.g., your house. The transformation from the information into an image allows you to visualize it on a certain location in the house. This is then followed by the next part of this visualization method which consist of walking through your house. By imagining myself walk through my house, you run into objects (thus pieces of information) you wanted to remember. An example can be a grocery list.
I started off with grocery list and before you know it you can use it in many different settings. If you treat your brain like a muscle, you will reap the rewards. You don’t build muscles in one day which applies to the brain/memory as well. It takes practice.
2. Overlearning vs. Multilearning
Overlearning is the part of learning where you repeatedly focus on the same piece of information or the same skill you want to learn. It is beyond simply understanding the content. It is about deliberately learning a certain chunk of information until you understand the why, how, and what. Not just the solution to the problem but also why to use one method over the other.
This allows you to gain a deeper understanding in the subject you are trying to grasp. It allowed me to differentiate between certain chunks of information but also to find similarities. I was able to build bridges between concepts that I did not even know were related in any way. Result: more efficient neural processes and improved problem solving.
Overlearning is not to be confused with multilearning which I would describe as the evil brother of multitasking, related to learning. Over and over, I have fell for this trap due to my curious mind. My interests are very broad and often when I read something, I end up with five of my tabs open in my browser on a certain term I ran into. Before I was able to realise it, I had already lost the attention for what I was reading, and my focus was gone. Learning too many things at the same time can result in learning absolutely nothing.
Undivided attention is needed to be able to learn effectively which can result in a certain state of ‘flow’. This is where I would look up the word flow and find a mountain of information on this subject. Instead, I came to learn that writing it down instead is what worked best for me. There is no rush in learning what flow means as you are reading this article. By writing it down, you take it off your mind and you can look it up at a later stage. Simple, but effective.
3. Spaced repetition
I remember that when I first ran into spaced repetition, I was very surprised by the sheer simplicity of this concept. It makes perfect sense that we forget a lot of the information that we learned on day one. I understood this concept, but I never took the time to think it through thoroughly.
In high school and college, I was a champ in procrastination and my social life often was a priority. I remember to learn for exams last minute to be able to pass with a sufficient. Two weeks later I would have forgotten the majority and I now in hindsight, I realise that this clearly not the best way to go about things. I saw that some people around me still knew the content they learned whereas I did not. This is where spaced repetition came to light. The same people have taken their time to learn more effectively from the get-go. Taking the time to learn and spreading it out over a longer period allowed them to retain more of the information as they ‘revisited’ the same content more often.
Spaced repetition has since then allowed me to increase the retention and my general memory in many ways. There are platforms for this like Anki, software where you get asked the same question on a flashcard after a certain period, based on how well you know the flashcard. There is a whole algorithm based on how difficult it was for you to remember it the last time.
This remembered me of a website I used back in the day to learn language and more specifically vocabulary. I did not realise that this could be used for so much more. After elementary school, the education is specifically focussed on what you learn and not necessarily how you learn. Spaced repetition and reading about how to learn made me question the ways and methods I had followed for so long. Result: a more effective way of learning.
4. Environment and mindset
Minimalists were onto something a couple years back when talking about ‘decluttering’. A clear working space helps with the beforementioned focus as you limit the distractions within eyesight. In a way, you economize your brain so that you can pay attention to what you want to pay attention to. Keep your workspace tidy and create processes and systems to keep your information accessible and organized.
Another part of your environment is the noise and sound in your direct surroundings. Whilst a bit of background noise is harmless, too much can quickly divert your attention after which it can take approximately 23 minutes to get back at the level of focus you were before. Music is my hack to have a direct influence on my environment as I live in a place with quite some traffic. Music without lyrics to be specific. By using all your senses during learning, your brain is used to its maximum capacity and learning improves. Besides your senses like seeing and hearing, you can even influence your learning with scent. Try to put a distinct smell on your wrist the next time you learn something, e.g., a perfume or a scented candle. Take in the smell every now and then whilst learning. The next time you try to recall the information, use this same scent, and see for yourself.
By using all your senses, you use multiple neural hooks to attach your learning to. Another sense that I have found useful is believing in it. Go into a learning session enthusiastically and with a positive mindset. Believing in my ability to learn has potentially even made the biggest difference for me. There is a lot that can be done with just a tiny switch in your mindset.
Keep learning
You are never too old to learn. The day you tell yourself otherwise, you will see that your memory will decrease. If every encounter you run into can be seen as a learning opportunity, you will never stop learning.
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
- Albert Einstein
Lastly, the importance of learning something to others. The best way in my opinion to learn something is by teaching others. This way, the knowledge gained is put into practice by trying to explain something in your own words. You get to learn it twice because you explain it to others in the simplest of ways. The reason for writing this article is also to learn it to others. In the end, the most significant thing one can do on this planet is share information from one person to the next. Life is a learning process and what was learned by previous generations, was passed on to us to continue doing so with the generations to come.
