How Memory Works and 6 Tips to Improve It

Red, purple, green, blue. Red, purple, green, blue. Why is this important? Well, hold that thought.

Have you ever been about to leave your house in the morning rush and realized that you have no idea where you last left your car keys? Have you ever asked yourself, did I schedule that dentist appointment for today or tomorrow? What was it that I needed to get at the store, or what is my boss’s kid’s name again?

The way our memory works is a complicated process, the details of which neuroscientists are still trying to understand. Our brain’s efforts to store information can be broken down into three modes: working memory, short term memory, and long term memory, each controlled by different parts of the brain.

The way our memory works is a complicated process, the details of which neuroscientists are still trying to understand.

Short term memory works to store information for a brief amount of time, typically without any processing of that information. Much of this activity occurs in the prefrontal lobe, the section in the front of the brain that is found to be highly developed in humans compared to other intelligent species. (And, it’s the reason we have such prominent foreheads!) Research suggests that there is a capacity limit along with an expiration date for the memories held in the short term memory bank, but the details of those limits are still highly contested. The George Miller Theory from 1956 suggested that we could only remember seven units of information at a time in our short term memory (i.e. seven digits or seven names). However, it has since been shown that this number can vary a lot depending on the type of information, the person doing the memorizing, and the situation.

Working memory is also maintained only in the short term, but differs from short term memory in that it involves some kind of manipulation or organization of that information. For example, when you meet someone who tells you their name at a party, that name sits in your short term memory unless you manage to commit it to long term memory as well. If you decide to estimate how many people are at the party, those calculations will be run in your working memory.   

The making of a long term memory is thought to require an anatomical change in the brain and to be inspired by a strengthening of a certain signal via repeated messages. Our neurons transfer information amongst themselves by...

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