What is long term memory?
Can you remember where you on September 11,2001? What about December 1, 2002? Most likely you can’t recall unless it’s a birthday or anniversary. Have you ever been in a car accident? If so could you tell me the time of day, who was driving, how it occurred, where it occurred? I bet even if it was 5 to 10 years ago you could tell me all the details. But could you tell me every time you’ve driven in a car since then? Absolutely not! Why is it that you remember some things in your long term memory but you don’t remember other things? The reason is because those memories have action and emotion tied to them and have cemented them into your long term memory.
What is Long term memory?
Long term memory is something that has been in your memory for longer than 30 seconds. Short term memory is limited, only about 4 to 7 pieces of information held in your short term memory. If something can be remembered long enough it will make its way to your long term memory.
There are 3 types of memory:
- Procedural long term memory – This is where you learn how to do something. Example; riding a bicycle.
- Semantic long term memory – This is for storing information that you know about the world or general knowledge. Such as things you learn in school like London is the capital of England.
- Episodic long term memory – This part of your memory is responsible for remembering events in your life; where your memory of September 11th is stored, a car accident or even your first day of school.
How can you improve your long term memory?
Below are 4 steps to improve your long term memory.
- Step 1: The first step is my favorite memory training technique. The first step is for you to build your very own mind palace. What you do is memorize a map of your home or another place you are familiar with. In reality you already have your home memorized so all you have to do is number pieces of your furniture.
- Step 2: Your brain remembers things that have action tied to them. This is how you are able to remember a car accident from years ago. Create images in your mind with action and store that action on your pieces of furniture.
- Step 3: Next is emotion. Ever wonder why you remember the person in high school that you had a crush on but you can’t recall the person you sat next to every day in English class? Emotion! Emotion cements things into your memory. That is why you remember 9/11. It’s because of all the emotion and fear wrapped up in that day.
- Step 4: Simply review, spaced repetition. What I do is remember something today using my mind palace. Maybe there is 25 things that I may want to recall so I turn them into a picture with action and emotion. Then I review them today, tomorrow, in a week and in a month.
So in conclusion my favorite way to improve the memory is the Mind Palace, but it has to be done in the right way. Just one mistake here or there will dramatically impact your results. To help you master these steps I’ve put together some free training, just click on the link. http://memorise.org/memory-training/sherlock-mind-palace
For information on how to improve your long term memory check out the link below:
