Memory Improvement

Most of us would like to have a better memory. The ability to remember things accurately and effortlessly would make us more efficient in our daily lives, and it would make us more successful in our work. It might also help us socially, by helping us to remember appointments and avoiding the embarrassment of forgetting the name of an acquaintance. Perhaps the most important advantage, however, would be the ability to study more effectively, for example when revising for an examination or learning a new language. While there are no magical ways of improving the memory dramatically overnight, a number of strategies have been developed that can help us to make worthwhile improvements in our memory performance, and for a few individuals the improvements have been quite spectacular. In this chapter, some of the main principles and techniques of memory improvement will be reviewed and evaluated in the light of scientific research. This will begin with a review of the most efficient ways to learn new material and the use of mnemonic strategies, and will then move on to consider the main factors influencing retrieval