Unconventional Techniques to Enhance Your Memory as You Study

Don’t underestimate your memory’s potential. The human brain is an awe-inspiring entity, endowed with remarkable attributes. Among these is the capacity to forget, a trait that might paradoxically be advantageous. According to Charan Ranganath, the director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California Davis, an excess of recollection would result in mental hoarding — a clutter of irrelevant data impeding crucial functions.

In today’s incessantly connected world, a deluge of information besieges us — emails, news, mundane coursework, traffic updates — surpassing the bounds of assimilation, Ranganath clarifies. Evolution favored quality rather than quantity. The things we really pay attention to go down in our memory, emphasizing what’s important. Conversely, neglect leads to inadequate memory formation.

Instances of forgetfulness materialize at the most inopportune junctures: the frantic search for misplaced keys, the blank slate upon sitting down for an exam, the nameless acquaintance, the untraceable shared memory. This type of memory lapse is normal but can be annoying.

Despite occasional memory lapses, all isn’t lost. Memory is an active endeavor, not an inert process, asserts clinical neuropsychologist Michelle Braun. This dispels the myth that genetic predisposition…