When’s your doctor’s appointment?
asserted
appointment → ’ → ?
Did you lock the front door?
asserted
you → lock → door
Why did you walk into that room?
asserted
you → walk → room
Forgetting such things is normal.
asserted
Forgetting → forget → things
Maybe you weren’t paying close enough attention to commit something to memory.
asserted
you → pay → memory
Maybe it was so mundane – something you’ve done a hundred times – that the memory didn’t stand out.
asserted
memory → do → ?
“We’re not going to remember everything,” says Charan Ranganath, a professor at the US Centre for Neuroscience and director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California at Davis.
asserted
Ranganath → go → Davis
“The issue isn’t how can I remember more, but how can I remember the information that matters?”
asserted
that → remember → information
You may notice that you remember less as you age.
uncertain
you → notice → less
With ageing, normal changes in the brain – coupled with poor sleep, medical issues and certain medications – can lead to memory problems.
asserted
changes → couple → problems
“That decline can speed up if you have conditions like hypertension or diabetes,” Ranganath says.
asserted
Ranganath → speed → hypertension
But forgetfulness is also simply a result of having a lifetime of memories and needing a new one to stand out enough so that it can be stored in your brain, says Andrew Budson, a professor of neurology at Boston University.
asserted
Budson → have → University
“When we’re young, we’re happy to soak up all the information regardless of whether it will be important, and there really is a phenomenon that older people have learned to prioritise what they’re going to put into their memory stores.
asserted
they → ’re → stores
This just happens automatically.
asserted
This → happen → ?
Whatever is unimportant, they’re just not going to bother trying to remember,” Budson says.
asserted
Budson → go → ?
So what should you do to help yourself remember things?
asserted
yourself → do → things
Using alarms, calendar notifications or handwritten notes are all effective ways to remind you of things you’ve checked off your list or tasks that you still have to do, research shows.
asserted
research → use → that
But you can also trick your brain into remembering something.
asserted
you → trick → something
Here are four strategies that experts recommend.
asserted
experts → recommend → that
Make up a silly story
Connecting a silly, outrageous or outlandish mental image to something you want to memorise can help you remember it.
asserted
you → make → it
If you want to ensure you remember that you turned off the stove, so you don’t worry about it throughout the day, for instance, imagine a big pink pig with wings swooping down and turning the knob, Ranganath says.
asserted
Ranganath → want → knob
Past moments are easier to remember.
asserted
moments → remember → ?
Remembering things you need to do in the future – such as going to a dentist appointment after lunch – is harder for your brain.
asserted
you → remember → brain
“Our memories, as interesting as this sounds, are not to remember what happened in the past.
asserted
what → sound → past
Our memories are built to use what happened in the past to help us to plan for the future,” Budson says.
asserted
Budson → build → future
But you can work around that.
asserted
you → work → that
To remember the appointment, for example, Budson says he would picture himself eating a lunch composed of a sweet, sticky chocolate-and-toffee dessert – and his teeth coated in it.
asserted
himself → remember → it
“That’s going to be the last thing in the world that my dentist would want to know I was eating,” he says.
asserted
he → go → that
Then later that day, when he’s eating his actual lunch, he’ll be more likely to remember the dental appointment.
asserted
he → eat → appointment
Say it out loud, rap it or sing it
Research shows that speaking an action out loud and hearing yourself say it – known as the production effect – may have a positive effect on certain aspects of memory.
uncertain
yourself → say → memory
A 2023 meta-analysis found that reading words aloud, for instance, helped with recognition memory – the ability to recognise information when you see it again.
asserted
you → find → it
“Instead of a visual snapshot, it’s like a little movie that has audio, as well,” says Budson, who was not involved in the study.
asserted
who → ’ → study
Group items together
The chunking method has been shown to help with memory tasks because your brain can juggle only a limited number of items for short-term tasks.
asserted
brain → group → tasks
Chunking reduces many smaller items into fewer larger items.
asserted
Chunking → reduce → items
Think about it: your phone number and bank account number are all broken into chunks, which can make them easier to recall.
asserted
them → think → chunks
If you want to try chunking a grocery list, instead of trying to remember each item, picture the parts of the store you’ll need to visit – say bakery, butcher or produce.
asserted
you → want → bakery
Once you’re there, seeing the items may help you remember what you need.
uncertain
you → ’re → what
Map items in a room
When you’re trying to memorise a list, try the memory palace method – a mnemonic in which you visualise items in a familiar area or route.
asserted
you → map → area
Then when you picture that area, you may be able to remember the items.
uncertain
you → picture → items
If you need to pick up picnic foods from the grocery store, for instance, assign each item to a different room in your house or a different spot in the same room.
asserted
you → need → room
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
