Improving Memory

General Memory Strategies

• The following may be helpful external devices and strategies for use in daily life. These should build on strategies that are already in place and take into account personal preferences, financial resources, and the circumstances of the performance problem:
  • Written or electronic calendars for keeping track of appointments and events, and watch or phone alarms for reminders
  • Checklists for organizing tasks that need to be completed
  • Pill-box organizers for tracking medications
  • Key finders for assistance in locating misplaced keys
  • A small notebook or electronic device to quickly jot down ideas, without completely switching tasks
• Use cognitive rehabilitation and memory strategies such as word associations and mental imagery:
  • Pay attention, look at people’s faces, say the necessary information over to yourself repeatedly.
  • Think about and understand the information. Explain it in your own words or try to associate it with something you already know. Paraphrase, summarize, and condense it.
  • Utilize mnemonic strategies (e.g., using the word BAT to remember to buy bananas, apples, and tea).
  • Utilize imagery by forming a mental picture of the information to be remembered. For example, imagine the parking spot where you have parked your car, including all surrounding landmarks.
  • Connect information to be learned with information that has already been stored in memory (a technique known as “elaboration”). For example, try to remember someone’s name by thinking of someone else you know with that name.

Books on Better Memory

• Your Memory: How It Works and How To Improve It, by Kenneth Higbee
• The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play, by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas
• Treating Memory Impairments – A Memory Book and Other Strategies, by Vicki S. Dohrmann
• The Harvard Medical School Guide to Achieving Optimal Memory, by Aaron Nelson, Ph.D. with Susan Gilbert
• Bouncing Back: Skills for Adaptation to Injury, Aging, Illness, and Pain by Richard Wanlass

Websites on Better Memory

• MindTools
• Middle Tennessee State University Page