Memory Exercises
A great memory is crucial to learning a new language. Many of us feel that our memory is not good enough. Fortunately, you can train and improve your memory through practice. Each type of memory requires a different type of exercise.
Sense Memory
This is the most basic type of memory – focusing on information and noticing the details. In other words, don’t get distracted and don’t “space out” or lose focus. (Note: Many students who have general listening problems may have poor sense memory. For example, if you are introduced to someone but immediately forget their name, this is sense memory failure.)
Possible Exercises: You need to practice focusing. Since this is usually a listening problem, focus on listening.
•When you are in a quiet place like a library, listen to all the sounds around you. Try to identify each sound and write it down (i.e. “chair moving” “girl coughing”…) •Buy a CD of bird sounds or animal sounds. As you listen to the CD, try to identify each animal. •When learning Chinese, I would try to “super focus” on Chinese sentences. I would listen to one Chinese sentence at a time, pause my CD, and then try to write the sentence EXACTLY. I would then check my sentence. If I made any mistakes, I would do the sentence again. I did this for 1 hour every day and saw a huge improvement with my listening ability. |
General Memory
Everything we learn passes through the hippocampus, a small but crucial part of the brain. By exercising the hippocampus, we can improve all types of memory.
Possible Exercises: Interestingly, remembering past experiences and imagining future experiences both exercise the hippocampus in the same way. General memory is best exercised by recalling events or imagining future events.
•Write down series of digits. (6 numbers, 7 numbers, 8 numbers, etc) Then, read each number series and try to recall it in the correct order. If you can do 6 digits, try 7, then 8, then 9. When you find your failure point (where you make one or more mistakes) then practice at this level and try to improve your level every day. (Most people can do 5 to 9 digits. However, people who practice regularly can do up to 80 digits.) •If you are focused on listening exercises, you can have a friend read the numbers or record them yourself on an MP3 recorder. Wait 10 minutes then listen to the number spans and try to say/write them correctly. As with the previous exercise, push yourself to your failure limit, where you make one or more mistakes. Then try to improve on it. •Imagine a specific event that you will do tomorrow (i.e. buying a coffee). Describe, using writing or speaking, every detail of this situation – what does the coffee shop look like, how many people are waiting in line, does the person at the table have large hands, etc. The more detailed your imagination is, the more exercise your hippocampus will receive. You can combine this exercise with a “Next Day Diary.” |
Click here to read more about making a Next Day Diary
Working Memory
This is when we begin to use our memory to make calculations or form sentences. For example, spelling the word “hospital” is pretty easy (using general memory). However, spelling “hospital” backwards is much more difficult. As you say the letters “l…a…t...i…” your brain must remember the correct spelling and calculate where you are in the word – this uses multiple brain functions at the same time.
Possible Exercises: In general, these exercises will involve storing multiple things in memory at the same time and using them to do an exercise.
•Coin Counting – put 15 or 20 different coins on your table (some 1s, 5s, and 10s). Count each type of coin and add them up separately. However, don’t do all the 1s first, then the 5s, then the 10s. Instead, try to count all three at the same time. This way, you will need to remember 3 totals in your brain at once. If you are very good, you can try 4 types of coins. •Number Series – Like the general memory exercise, write down a series of numbers. Now try to recall the numbers. However, when you recall them, put them in order from smallest to largest. For example, “628190” would be “012689.” •Word Series – Write down a list of common words (i.e. “car”, “apple”, “bear”) and then recall them in order from A to Z (i.e. “apple”, “bear”, “car”) |
Deliberate practice means forcing your brain to focus on a specific task with 100% of brain function. Nowadays, technology allows us to automate many mental tasks. For example, when I bought my new cell phone, I needed to really focus, learning new functions and remembering how to access different information. However, after several days, I could do these things without thinking – my brain function became automated. While this makes life more convenient, it also makes our brains lazier. After all, when was the last time you memorized a phone number?
To improve our brain, we need to do new tasks and exercises that require us to deliberately focus on what we’re doing. The exercises above all do this. But so do new and exciting activities that we’ve never done before. Trying new things is the ultimate brain exercise. This can be as simple as taking a 20 minute walk in a new area of the city every day.
Online Activities:
Many activities described above can be found at the Memory Gym. Check out their great flash games:
Click here to visit the Memory Gym [Under Construction]