Games To Improve Your Memory – Tips For Better Remembering
The human mind is a complex and mysterious thing. People can remember an almost infinite number of trivial facts, but they can only hold three of four items in working memory. This is why it is so easy to forget your keys when you leave the house.
The limits of working memory also inhibit our ability to solve complex problems, since most of us can only keep a few aspects of a problem in working memory at a given time.
Working Memory
Working memory is the part of your memory that you use when remembering a few items to buy at the store or adding sums. This type of memory holds information temporarily, letting you keep information in your conscious awareness where the reasoning part of your mind can manipulate the information.
Unfortunately, you can never get your working memory to hold more than four items, even with practice. However, there are games to improve your memory that you can try.
Linking
The link system is an effective method for increasing memory by association. By linking items together in your mind, you create an easier-to-remember list. Make a game of linking items together through visual association. The stranger the picture you create in your mind, the easier it will be to remember, so let your imagination go as you do this exercise.
If you need milk, eggs, cheese, baloney, hot dogs, and ice cream, you can have some fun linking these items together. Picture yourself walking through the grocery store and imagine any story you want that includes each of these items. For instance, picture yourself walking in the store and you see a man in a milk carton costume holding a dozen eggs. Next to him is a child eating ice cream.
The child is screaming at the man in the milk carton costume that he is full of baloney. The child yells that he wants a hot dog with cheese right now, not eggs. This odd picture will stand in your mind and make it easy for you to remember the items you came for.
Journeying
The journey system is another fun way to remember things. The more you practice this, the better you will be. To remember any list of items, take a walk around your neighborhood or your home. Each stop along the journey is associated with an item on your list.
In the kitchen, you see a gallon jug of milk searching around the refrigerator for its cap. You continue to the bathroom where there is a giant hotdog brushing his teeth. Continuing onto the laundry room, you find a laundry basket filled with broken eggs, leaking yolk all over the floor.
You continue to the living room where your son is watching television, wrapped in a blanket made of cheese. You continue to the dining room where there are ice cream cones are seated at the table, eating baloney sandwiches.
These fun visualization techniques are excellent games to improve your memory. Try these games next time you get groceries instead of bringing a list.
