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Simple techniques to memorize everything without ever forgetting anything

Simple techniques to memorize everything without ever forgetting anything
Simple techniques to memorize everything without ever forgetting anything

How to memorize everything without ever forgetting?

Are you one of those people who have problems remembering first names? Maybe you can’t memorize some details in movies or books and constantly have questions, try to make up for lost time. You remember things like your loved one’s birthday, but you often lose your car in parking lots. There’s a reason you forget these little things, but there’s a great way to learn to memorize everything!

A method to remember everything …

Hermann Ebbingus was a German psychologist whose work resulted in the development of scientifically reliable experimental methods for the quantitative measurement of memory.[1]. At the end of the 1870s, Ebbingus became interested in the functioning of human memory and decided to study it experimentally.

Ebbingus has created lists of absurd words (consonant-vowel-consonant) like taz, bok, and let. He used these absurd syllables to assess pure learning, meaning meaningless learning and the rate at which we forget[2]. He used material of little or no significance because he knew that learning new information is influenced by what we already know.

This led to the creation of what Ebbingus called the “oblivion curve”, the rate at which we begin to forget new information. Ebbinghaus discovered thata significant amount of information he had learned was forgotten within 20 minutes ; more than half of the absurd material he had learned was forgotten in less than an hour. Although he forgot almost two-thirds of the material he had learned in one day, the retention of the material did not decrease much beyond this period. In other words, if the information is kept for a day, the knowledge had a good chance of remaining[2].

In addition to the Oblivion Curve, Ebbingus also found another theory called “The Spacing Effect”. This indicates that we learn better and more easily when we study it in several times, spaced over a long period compared to trying to learn something in a short time[3].

For example, revising the night before a big speech or presentation may not be as effective as studying several times in a week. That being said, the spacing effect is used more for information that you want to keep for a long time, but if you only want to store something in your memory for a short period of time, cramming might do the trick.

The spaced repetition technique

So let’s combine the two principles to help you remember everything, this is the Spaced Repetition Technique.

Memorize quickly

  • 1time repetition Immediately after learning
  • 2th repetition After 15-20 minutes
  • 3th repeat After 6-8 hours
  • 4th repeat After 24 hours

To memorize for a long time

  • 1time repetition Immediately after learning
  • 2th repetition After 20 to 30 minutes
  • 3th repeat After 1 day
  • 4th repeat After 2-3 weeks
  • 5th repeat After 2-3 months

Other tips for easier remembering

  • If you still need a littleextra help to remember things from your shopping list to a friend’s birthday, here are some more tips you can try[4]:
  • Understanding what you are learning makes it easier to recall information from memory.
  • Prioritize what you need to learn so that you only retain the most necessary information.
  • Take into account that things learned at the beginning and at the end are remembered more easily, this is called the serial positioning effect[51].
  • Similar memories can get mixed up, so when you remember certain things, change the subject every now and then. This is called the jamming theory[6].
  • For example, if you are learning a new language, remember the words of the day and the night together.
  • Use the words “nails”; the point of this technique is to nail one learned thing to another, so when you remember the nail you are remembering the other information.
  • If you’re learning a new language, pair words with words you already know to make them easier to remember.
  • Visualize and use body language when learning something, it will trigger your muscle memory and make it easier to remember.
  • Now that you have all these tools and tips to memorize everything, don’t forget to use them !

Sources to go further

  1. http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/201/Hermann-Ebbinghaus.html
  2. http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/251/Forgetting-Curve.html
  3. https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Spacing+Effect
  4. https://brightside.me/inspiration-tips-and-tricks/12-secrets-for-memorizing-things-easily-381310/
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_position_effect
  6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interference_theory