Bad Memory? These Smart Tricks Boost Your Recall to Help You Ace that Test
Published June 1, 2015
Why do our memories fail us in the most crucial moments, and what can we do to fix it?
In these four articles, McGraw-Hill author Dr. Susan Krauss Whitbourne dives deep into the power—and the failings—of our memories to help you unlock the secrets to remembering the truly important stuff (like what you need to memorize for that upcoming exam).
- If You Want to Remember More, Try Remembering Less
- Why We Remember Things the Way We Want to Remember Them
- How to Avoid Your Five Most Common Memory Errors
- Your Mind's Not Getting Older; It's Truly Getting Better
It's called the "response competition theory," and it states that while practice makes perfect, trying to memorize one piece of information too often can cause related information to be suppressed.
Although you may think you recall that situation perfectly, you often don't remember exactly how things went down. And usually, your memories paint you in a better light than reality does. (Don't worry: we all do it.)
Here are five memory errors you probably commit all the time, and the science behind why you make them and how to stop.
Getting older doesn't mean your memory is getting worse. Difficulty in learning new things later in life can be attributed to a variety of factors, from test anxiety to social expectations to the simple fact that a person who has lived a long life has a lot more to remember than someone who has lived a shorter life.
Want to learn more? Follow Dr. Whitbourne on Twitter @swhitbo or check out her Abnormal Psychology program here.