A recent radio broadcast on NPR’s Science Friday program centered on techniques to improve memory. The guests shared their expertise on the brain:
- Distraction helps when you try to solve a problem or remember material. When you are focused, you can’t think of the answer, but when you relax, the answer comes to you. Professor Barbara Oakley, Ph. D., author of A Mind for Numbers, explains that when we try to solve a problem, our brains go into a focused mode that “actually blocks the neural networks that we might need to actually answer that problem.” She further explains that our brains have two states: a focused neural state and a resting neural resting state. Just as Salvador Dali and Thomas Edison used to do, it often helps to take a short break to relax a bit; this puts your brain into a neural resting state.
- New York Times science writer Benedict Carey, author of How We Learn, explains that forgetting is learning’s best friend. It acts as a sophisticated spam filter. Once you retrieve what you forgot, it becomes more firmly ingrained into your memory.
- Both authors assert that repetition helps us to learn. Oakley explains, “You need to practice and repeat in order for it to become one protected, neural chunk.” Using flashcards is still a great technique.
- Get away from the problem for a while. It is not helpful to study a subject “hour after hour.” Doing something else allows the brain to work on the problem “offline.” We can eliminate a tendency to see or approach a problem in one way only; we can gain a new perspective to learning or to solving a problem. Often, when you come back to the problem, the new brain connections will give you a fresh mind to tackle a problem or new learning. This is also why you need at least six hours of sleep before a test since sleep shrinks the brain and permits fluid to flush the metabolic toxins in the brain as you sleep, and you wake up with an “upgraded” mind.
- Study in a different place. Learning is enhanced when you move around.
- Incorporate regular physical activity. Exercise allows the new neurons to be better implanted into your brain. As a matter of fact, it helps to move around (e.g., pace, walk, etc.) when studying or trying to solve problems
