Secrets of memory
Memory is a great property, without which it is difficult to imagine a person’s life. Thanks to memory, we use our own experience and the experience of previous generations in everyday life. Is there any way to improve it? What does it depend on?
Let's try to answer these questions.
There are two types of memory - short-term, or operational, and long-term. During the session, students manage to "push" into their memory a huge amount of information that disappears immediately after the exam. Patients with the so-called senile forgetfulness in great detail remember the events that occurred in early childhood or many years ago, but are not able to keep in mind what was half an hour ago.
The possibilities of memory are endless. It is believed that an adult can remember from twenty to one hundred thousand words. There are people with phenomenal memory. Alexander the Great remembered the names of all his warriors. Academician Abram Ioffe knew by heart the entire table of logarithms. It was enough for Mozart to hear a piece of music once to perform it and write it on paper. After listening to Allegri's Miserere (in 9 parts), he managed to memorize the entire score of this work, which was kept secret by the Vatican. At the second audition, Mozart found in his recording only a few incorrect notes. The same musical memory was also possessed by Sergei Rachmaninov. Conductor Arturo Toscanini remembered every note out of 400 scores. Winston Churchill knew by heart almost all of Shakespeare. Dominic O`Brien from the UK managed to remember the location of the shuffled cards of one deck in 38 seconds. Bill Gates remembers hundreds of codes for the programming language he created.
According to scientists, the memory of the human fetus begins to work 20 weeks after conception. During tests, a sound signal was sent through the mother’s stomach, which the fetus could hear; then, using an ultrasound scanner, a reaction test was performed. It turned out that the embryo responds to noise by slightly moving its body or legs. True, after the fifth signal, he "got used" to the repeating sound and could ignore it. When the signal was sent again after 10 minutes and even after a day, the embryo recognized the familiar sound without difficulty. Scientists believe that a person, in principle, can remember what happened to him in the womb.
Many factors affect memory. Someone better remembers what he saw, someone - what he heard. In such cases, they speak of visual or auditory memory. Better memorized subject of interest. The well-known persistence of memory of feelings. In a state of emotional recovery, sometimes seemingly long-forgotten things are recalled from memory. Motivation is very important. A person who considers himself completely incapable of languages, in a foreign country in a stressful situation when the question is about physical survival, easily learns the language. In many ways, the ability to memorize depends on fitness. British scientists using a special scanner examined the frontal lobe of the brain, which manages the movement in space, among taxi drivers and other professions. It turned out that it was developed among taxi drivers much more. Little of, the better the driver is guided in the city, the shorter the way he can go from one place to another, the larger the frontal lobe of his brain. Moreover, the volume of gray matter as a whole does not change; it is simply distributed differently.
With poor memory, confusion is often confused. But scattered people are really just immersed in their thoughts, their attention is just concentrated, but on something else, and they are not interested in household information. Often, inattentions caused by overwork, the consequences of the disease, that is, the state in which the person is currently located, are taken for memory impairments. Odor prevents memory loss. This is due to the proximity of the center of smell to the "memory" area of the brain. The acute reaction of memory to smells is apparently programmed: the role of smells in the survival of an ancient person was very great.
Complaints of poor memory become more frequent after 40 years, and even more so in old age. In fact this is not true. Just at the end of active study, there is no need to memorize anything, the skill to strain the memory disappears, and it is "trained". Actors who have to learn new roles all their lives, and in old age cope with the longest texts. Now in some countries, for example, in Germany and the USA, more and more people, having retired, go to universities (usually to humanitarian faculties), are quite successfully studying and passing exams on a par with young classmates.
It is impossible to remember everything. The ability to forget is of great importance in the survival of people. The brain should be freed from the unnecessary burden of impressions and information. The memory, as it were, regulates the load, is preparing to receive new information. At the same time, the old information does not disappear without a trace, but passes from active memory to passive memory, from where it can sometimes be extracted. This wonderful property saves many people in tragic situations.
In most cases, memory can be improved. Previously, it was believed that in an adult, brain cells - neurons - do not divide and gradually die. But it turned out that this is not so. Recent studies suggest that neurons divide even at the age of 70. Moreover, proliferating cells are found in the most “thinking” areas of the brain. Now, scientists believe that age-related weakening of memory is associated not only with the physical death of neurons, but with the violation of contacts between them. Substances that help establish such contacts are known. This is primarily vitamins C, E, B6, B12, beta-carotene, fatty acids contained in salmon, tuna, sardines, herring, an extract from the ginkgo biloba plant.
The average person uses no more than ten percent of the innate capabilities of his memory. The remaining ninety percent disappear, because we do not know how to use the natural laws of memorization. And these laws are very simple. There are three of them - impression, repetition and association.
So you want to remember something. Firstly, for this you need to focus and get an impression, using for this not only sight, but also hearing, smell.
The visual impression is the most durable. After all, the nerves leading from the eye to the brain are twenty times thicker than the nerves leading from the ear to the brain. Mark Twain could not remember the sequence of his speech when he used the notes, but when he threw the notes and began to use the drawings to remember, all his difficulties disappeared.
The second law of memory is repetition. Thousands of Muslim students know the Qur'an by heart - a book about the same size as the New Testament. They manage to remember it mainly through repetition. And finally, the third law is associations. The only way to reliably remember a fact is to connect it with some other.
Let's try to answer these questions.
Short-term and long-term memory
There are two types of memory - short-term, or operational, and long-term. During the session, students manage to "push" into their memory a huge amount of information that disappears immediately after the exam. Patients with the so-called senile forgetfulness in great detail remember the events that occurred in early childhood or many years ago, but are not able to keep in mind what was half an hour ago.
Bill Gates remembers hundreds of codes for the programming language he created
The possibilities of memory are endless. It is believed that an adult can remember from twenty to one hundred thousand words. There are people with phenomenal memory. Alexander the Great remembered the names of all his warriors. Academician Abram Ioffe knew by heart the entire table of logarithms. It was enough for Mozart to hear a piece of music once to perform it and write it on paper. After listening to Allegri's Miserere (in 9 parts), he managed to memorize the entire score of this work, which was kept secret by the Vatican. At the second audition, Mozart found in his recording only a few incorrect notes. The same musical memory was also possessed by Sergei Rachmaninov. Conductor Arturo Toscanini remembered every note out of 400 scores. Winston Churchill knew by heart almost all of Shakespeare. Dominic O`Brien from the UK managed to remember the location of the shuffled cards of one deck in 38 seconds. Bill Gates remembers hundreds of codes for the programming language he created.
A person begins to remember already in the womb
According to scientists, the memory of the human fetus begins to work 20 weeks after conception. During tests, a sound signal was sent through the mother’s stomach, which the fetus could hear; then, using an ultrasound scanner, a reaction test was performed. It turned out that the embryo responds to noise by slightly moving its body or legs. True, after the fifth signal, he "got used" to the repeating sound and could ignore it. When the signal was sent again after 10 minutes and even after a day, the embryo recognized the familiar sound without difficulty. Scientists believe that a person, in principle, can remember what happened to him in the womb.
The memory is individual
Many factors affect memory. Someone better remembers what he saw, someone - what he heard. In such cases, they speak of visual or auditory memory. Better memorized subject of interest. The well-known persistence of memory of feelings. In a state of emotional recovery, sometimes seemingly long-forgotten things are recalled from memory. Motivation is very important. A person who considers himself completely incapable of languages, in a foreign country in a stressful situation when the question is about physical survival, easily learns the language. In many ways, the ability to memorize depends on fitness. British scientists using a special scanner examined the frontal lobe of the brain, which manages the movement in space, among taxi drivers and other professions. It turned out that it was developed among taxi drivers much more. Little of, the better the driver is guided in the city, the shorter the way he can go from one place to another, the larger the frontal lobe of his brain. Moreover, the volume of gray matter as a whole does not change; it is simply distributed differently.
Absentmindedness is not a sign of poor memory
With poor memory, confusion is often confused. But scattered people are really just immersed in their thoughts, their attention is just concentrated, but on something else, and they are not interested in household information. Often, inattentions caused by overwork, the consequences of the disease, that is, the state in which the person is currently located, are taken for memory impairments. Odor prevents memory loss. This is due to the proximity of the center of smell to the "memory" area of the brain. The acute reaction of memory to smells is apparently programmed: the role of smells in the survival of an ancient person was very great.
With age, memory does not always deteriorate.
Complaints of poor memory become more frequent after 40 years, and even more so in old age. In fact this is not true. Just at the end of active study, there is no need to memorize anything, the skill to strain the memory disappears, and it is "trained". Actors who have to learn new roles all their lives, and in old age cope with the longest texts. Now in some countries, for example, in Germany and the USA, more and more people, having retired, go to universities (usually to humanitarian faculties), are quite successfully studying and passing exams on a par with young classmates.
Forgetting ability
It is impossible to remember everything. The ability to forget is of great importance in the survival of people. The brain should be freed from the unnecessary burden of impressions and information. The memory, as it were, regulates the load, is preparing to receive new information. At the same time, the old information does not disappear without a trace, but passes from active memory to passive memory, from where it can sometimes be extracted. This wonderful property saves many people in tragic situations.
Memory can be improved
In most cases, memory can be improved. Previously, it was believed that in an adult, brain cells - neurons - do not divide and gradually die. But it turned out that this is not so. Recent studies suggest that neurons divide even at the age of 70. Moreover, proliferating cells are found in the most “thinking” areas of the brain. Now, scientists believe that age-related weakening of memory is associated not only with the physical death of neurons, but with the violation of contacts between them. Substances that help establish such contacts are known. This is primarily vitamins C, E, B6, B12, beta-carotene, fatty acids contained in salmon, tuna, sardines, herring, an extract from the ginkgo biloba plant.
Impression, Repetition and Association
The average person uses no more than ten percent of the innate capabilities of his memory. The remaining ninety percent disappear, because we do not know how to use the natural laws of memorization. And these laws are very simple. There are three of them - impression, repetition and association.
So you want to remember something. Firstly, for this you need to focus and get an impression, using for this not only sight, but also hearing, smell.
The visual impression is the most durable. After all, the nerves leading from the eye to the brain are twenty times thicker than the nerves leading from the ear to the brain. Mark Twain could not remember the sequence of his speech when he used the notes, but when he threw the notes and began to use the drawings to remember, all his difficulties disappeared.
The second law of memory is repetition. Thousands of Muslim students know the Qur'an by heart - a book about the same size as the New Testament. They manage to remember it mainly through repetition. And finally, the third law is associations. The only way to reliably remember a fact is to connect it with some other.
Memory training
- 5-10 minutes after waking up, count as fast as possible from 100 to 1 in the reverse order.
- Repeat the alphabet, inventing a word for each letter. If you have forgotten some letter or cannot think of a word, do not stop. The pace is important here.
- What are twenty male names and as many female names?
- Choose any letter of the alphabet and name twenty words starting with it.
- Close your eyes and count to twenty.