Developing Memory and Attention: Tips for Students

The development of memory and attention is a matter that should be engaged regularly. And the reason is not only that the life of a person with “pumped up” skills of this kind is much easier, more comfortable, more interesting and in some cases even safer. There are more serious reasons.

So, if you do not devote time to such training, then the memory will sooner or later begin to fail, and concentration will require some incredible efforts. It is like with muscles: if you neglect physical exercise for a long time, they will lose their strength.

Types of memory

Memory is a mental process of storing and reproducing past experiences, which allows you to accumulate information without losing previous knowledge and skills. It allows a person to expand his cognitive abilities. To have more such knowledge, this psychological process should be developed. To begin with, it is worth determining which type of memory you have the best “pumped”. There are 4 types of this cognitive ability:

  • Auditory – allows a person to understand the meaning of information and quickly process it.
  • Visual – you can use it to receive and store visual images and later reproduce them in your mind.
  • Motor – with its help a person may fix and reproduce movements, forming skills.
  • Complex memory – a memory that combines all of the above skills.

Depending on the duration of fixation and storage of the received information memory is subdivided into short-term, long-term, and operative.

Long-term memory is the ability to recall information throughout life, such as where we were born, what school we graduated from, and so on. Memory is constantly referring to past experiences, supplementing them with new information, as well as correcting learned information. To put it simply, a person does not need to memorize what he knows well.

We need short-term memory in order not to fill the brain with unnecessary information. For example, the confirmation code sent by SMS to register on the site will never be useful to you again, and you are unlikely to remember it in a few hours.

By working memory, we mean remembering, which is needed for certain situations. A person can keep in mind the information that he needs to do the actual work. For example, it activates when you need a history homework help or any other help with a school subject. When the data becomes irrelevant, the brain erases it, making room for new events.

Exercises for developing different types of memory

For visual memory

You can play a game to develop memory and attention, called “find the differences. For this on the Internet there are already ready-made pictures on this topic. You can install a mobile app, in which the developers have introduced all possible exercises for training thinking.

For the auditory

There is an exercise called “10 words”. Write on paper such a number of words that have absolutely no meaningful chain, and try to repeat them to memory. If you succeed, you can increase their number.

Another exercise to develop memory and attention can be used on the way home or at work. While listening to music, stop the song at any place and try to reproduce in your head its continuation. A good result will be the ability to scroll through and stop your favorite song in your mind.

For motor

To develop motor skills, there are exercises that involve both hemispheres of the brain. For example, “circular exercises and tapping. The idea here is to use two hands. One palm of the hand should make circular movements on the surface of the table, and the other, clenched in a fist – evenly knocking on the table top.

Written by Austin Crane

Austin is the principle web director for Untamed Science and Stone Age Man. He is also the web-director of the series for the High School biology, Middle Grades Science and Elementary Science content. When Austin isn't making amazing content for the web, he's out on his mountain bike or in a canoe.

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