The 3Rs of Remembering
The 3 Rs of Remembering
Many people complain about having a bad memory. But your memory doesn't have an off and on switch - it's a process and if you know and use the process you'll improve your ability to remember.
The following is a 3 step process to remembering,known as the 3Rs of remembering:
1. Register
Poor registration is one of the biggest mistakes made with memory.
To register means to lock in information. Imprint it. Encode it. The next time you meet somebody new it is the process of actively remembering that person's name. You might say the name a couple of times in conversation, you may visualise another person with the same name, or you might silently repeat that person's name to yourself.
A student may study just by reading and doing nothing else. This isn't effective registration. Reading and taking notes, or making a mind map, or talking into a digital voice recorder and playing the information back to themselves later are more effective methods.
The more you overdo it when initially learning anything, the better your recall will be.
2. Retain
Time is one of enemies of memory. Most forgetting occurs within approximately the first 24 - 48 hours. So one of the best ways to forget something is to simply not do anything with that information!
To retain information and transfer it to your long-term memory, you must review it. This rule holds true within all contexts of memory. If you meet somebody and want to remember their name in one week, you must actively review that person's name, ideally within the first 48 hours of the original meeting. If there is a long gap between initial learning and recallthen a number of reviews is recommended.
3. Recall
Recall is the test of memory. If you've put effort into steps one and two, it's more likely you'll accurately recall information.If you have poor recall ask yourself how well you've actively registered and retained the information.
View memory as a process and by putting in a little more effort, you'll reap greater rewards.