To date, almost all organs of our body have been studied. The exception to the rule is the brain and the functions it performs.
Researchers and doctors have always been interested in issues related to the work of the brain, namely, thinking, logic, and the human ability to be creative and memorize.
How memory works, how much information is stored in the head, why some people grasp everything on the fly, while others have to stubbornly cram the material - read about all this in our article.
Memory as the basis of cognition
Memory is the unique ability of the brain to accumulate, store and reproduce the information received. It is interesting because, due to its lack of knowledge, it gives scientists a wide front for research. It is difficult to imagine how many opportunities will open up beforehuman, if he knows what her secret is…
What happens?
Scientists distinguish two types of memory: short-term and long-term. Here you can draw a parallel with the computer. The first is similar to RAM and is designed to solve problems at a given time. The second - "reminds" a hard drive, where all important information is stored. True, unlike computer memory, human memory has a limited capacity.
The cerebral cortex is responsible for short-term memory, the hippocampus (part of the limbic system of the brain) is responsible for long-term memory.
Individual features of memory
Nature has endowed absolutely every person with the ability to memorize and reproduce information. Only for all individuals, this process occurs in different ways: one person is able to view the text once and retell it in detail, while the other will have to delve into the essence of what they read for more than one hour.
True, it is possible that the first one will forget the content of the text the next day, while the second one will deposit it in the subcortex (in long-term memory) and emerge at an important moment.
Why is that? Because each individual has a unique brain, which means that everyone's thought processes proceed in their own way.
It is partly the individual differences in memory that make people special. This is clearly seen in the productivity of memorization and types of memory. Let's take a closer look.
Learning productivity
Implies the speed, strength and accuracy of memorization. Another importanta feature of the productivity of memorization is the ability of a person to quickly reproduce the material. Let's take a closer look at its characteristics:
- Speed is the amount of time it takes a person to learn a certain amount of information.
- Strength reflects how long the studied material will remain in your head, whether you quickly forget it, or, conversely, remember it forever.
- Accuracy reflects how close to the text you are able to reproduce the studied material. Do you remember the general meaning or, on the contrary, focus on the details? It's great if your memory is such that you remember both the general outline of the story and the bright details of the plot.
Types of memory by sense organs
Individual features of an individual's memory can be found in the next section.
From childhood, each person learns to perceive information in his own way. Someone clearly remembers the words of a song, someone is able to masterfully repeat a beautiful dance, and someone just looks at the table to understand the key points of its content.
Scientists have noticed this for a long time. To date, there are seven types of memory used by the senses:
- Visual memory is a person's ability to perceive and reproduce what he sees. The most common type of memory.
- Auditory memory - information is perceived by ear. It is well developed among musicians, conductors and translators. By the way, Mozart mastered it perfectly.
- Motor memory is finedeveloped in dancers. This is the ability of a person to reproduce the most complex dance movements. Michael Jackson had a unique motor memory.
- Taste memory is well developed among gourmets and wine tasters. These people perfectly remember and distinguish tastes. Such individuals can be bowed down in a good way: they will never touch low-quality food.
- Olfactory memory is the ability to subtly sense and distinguish smells. Perfumers own it 100%. But there are also just people who are acutely sensitive to smells. For such individuals, traveling by public transport in the summer turns into real torture.
- Tactile memory - the ability to remember the shape of an object after touching it. A fairly rare type of memory.
- Emotional memory is a rather interesting phenomenon. People with this type of memory perfectly remember all the vivid impressions. Here an interesting correlation arises: the stronger the emotions experienced by a person, the better he remembers information. The individual features of the memory of such people are of interest to scientists.
Form or meaning?
Features of human memory are also characterized by the way a person memorizes the necessary material.
In this section, we will look at why some people grasp information on the fly, while others spend their evenings studying textbooks. It is the individual characteristics of people's memory that are responsible for this. The former have a better developed logical memory, while others have a mechanical one. Let's try to figure out what isfundamental difference between them.
Mechanical memory
Mechanical memory refers to the storage of useful information in the form in which it was originally submitted.
If you are able to read a verse a couple of times and recite it without mistakes, you have this type of memory perfectly developed. The same applies to dance moves: a person with a developed mechanical memory will calmly reproduce them after one or two repetitions of the coach.
Mechanical memory attaches:
- translators;
- linguists;
- polyglots;
- to conductors;
- to musicians;
- dancers.
This type of memory also has a minus. Let's try to clearly demonstrate it with an example.
Man performs the same physical exercise to improve posture while standing. He taught me exactly how to do it right. But then the coach asks to change the position and start performing a similar exercise in the prone position. This is where a problem may arise. A person remembers the technique exactly, but does not understand the essence of the exercise. Only logical memory can help in this case, we will talk about it further.
Logical memory
Denotes the ability of a person to understand the meaning of the studied material. How to determine if nature has rewarded you with logical memory? Pretty simple. If you study any text and quickly grasp the main idea, that is, you are able to isolate the most important thing from many, many words, you are a happy owner of it.
Students with this type of memory do not studysenseless cramming of tickets for the exam, but try to read them thoughtfully and understand what is at stake. This way of mastering the material is more productive: you not only begin to really navigate the topic studied, but also keep invaluable knowledge in your head for a long time.
The same applies to exercise. Before starting to randomly repeat the execution technique after the trainer, it would be more logical to delve into its features (for example, to understand what muscles it is designed for). After that, the learning process will go much faster and more interesting.
Interesting ways to train memory
The problem of forgetfulness is one of the most common in people. There are a great many reasons why we can forget something, ranging from a banal lack of sleep to excessive immersion in our thoughts.
You should not blame yourself for forgetting to turn off your computer again, take the necessary papers or call your relatives. You need to try to find the cause of your absent-mindedness and effectively eliminate it.
Now we will give four interesting memory exercises:
- Keep a sprig of rosemary or rosemary-based essential oil with you. It has long been proven that smells evoke memories in people. For example, the scent of cut grass is associated with childhood and a sense of peace for many people. But the smell of rosemary is recognized as special. Scientists from Northumbria University have proven this empirically.
- Play association. Try to link new informationto what is already in memory. Let's say you need to remember some date (for example, the number 11). Imagine that the units are two thin silhouettes walking ahead of you down the street. The same applies to the memorization of foreign words. You want to learn how to say dandelion in English. Find these flowers, look at them and say out loud a few times dandelion.
- Go for a walk. It has been proven that being in the fresh air has a beneficial effect on the state of memory. The most interesting thing is that this only applies to moderate physical activity: strength training is incapable of this, scientists from the University of Illinois came to this conclusion.
- Learn a foreign language. In this way, you not only develop your brain, but also acquire a useful skill.
It should be remembered that there are age-related features of memory. Only the person who is constantly interested in something and is fond of something can avoid them.
Development of memory in children
To train the brain of a small child, only the sincere desire of the parent to engage in the development of his baby is important only half an hour once a day. A child needs to be engaged from childhood: the development of memory in children occurs before the age of 10.
Features of children's memory are similar to those of adults. It is best to develop a child from early school age: a small person is already ready to perceive information in a playful way.
Here are the most effective memory exercises:
- "Picture". The child is shown a photo for a few seconds(interesting and colorful) and then removed. Next, the parent asks the child to tell in their own words about the image taken away on it.
- "Find the Difference". Children's magazines always have a ready-made page with similar exercises, look there more often.
- "Memorize the sequence." 7 objects are laid out in front of the child in a certain sequence. For a while he remembers them. Next, you ask him to turn away for a while and change the arrangement of objects. Then ask what has changed (preferably remember the sequence yourself).
Those simple exercises develop visual memory.
How to memorize material quickly and effectively?
Everyone remembers what the night before a responsible exam is like: the very moment when you need to stuff your brain with a huge amount of information in 5-6 hours (it will be forgotten anyway, but the task does not become less important).
Let's share useful tips that really work.
- Visualize information with a diagram or drawing.
- Draw a parallel. If the material being studied is really complex, compare it with something simple and understandable. Any complex thing can be decomposed into several simpler ones.
- Build a chart. Self-systematization of information is the right way to successfully master the material.
- Draw a picture in your head about the subject being studied. Suitable for people with a good imagination.
- Write thematicnotes. It’s good if you manage to come up with such three or four words, from which the general information on the ticket will gradually pop up in your head.
- And lastly, cramming the material a little. This method works very often.
