What is required for good memory power?
Posted on: 06/Mar/2014 6:37:41 PM
There is popular Tamil film song – the heroine, languishing in sorrow, sings, ‘Oh! Mind! You have the capacity to think! But, you don’t seem to have the capacity to forget! Why?’ – The scenario in the examination halls is quite the opposite – the students sing, ’Oh! Mind! You have the capacity to forget! But, why don’t you have the capacity to think & remember!
Even the students who prepared very well over a few months happen to forget them at the right moment! The parents approach the doctor for such problems! ‘My child forgets whatever he/she reads! Give some tablets for this!’
The doctor needs to clarify there are no such remedial tablets. Proper reading methods only can improve the memory. The parents get disappointed to return without any medication!
From Mahabharatha - One of the characters in the epic Mahabharatha, Karna will be cursed that he would not be able to remember all the tricks and slogans he had learnt during his apprenticeship.
Similarly, the students encounter failure of memory at the critical juncture while writing the answers in the exams. Why?
Before learning why we tend to forget, we have to learn how we remember things! Retaining information in our memory occurs in 3 stages, known as ‘RRR’. First is registration. The second is retention. The third one is recall (getting it back)
There are 4 factors for good memory power:
Anxious and fast reading won’t help registering in the mind. The environment, other diversions, the mental condition, and the interest in reading all have abearing on good registration.
We dot retain all the information that we read! As for the lessons, it is likely that 90% of it will be forgotten over a period of 1 month! Repeated reading of the same lesson is the only alternative for a good registration. When the registration is good, it is easy to recall.
There are times when even repeated reading fails to help retain memory. Unnecessary haste, fear and anxiety are the main reasons. There is a Tamil proverb which goes, ‘In an emergency or in a hurry, you cannot insert your hand even in a wide vessel!’ Ensure reading in a peaceful atmosphere without any anxiety taking care to understand and digest the reading in your mind. Read with a positive approach and interest!
Careful handling of memory will make it a ‘golden goose’.
