Memorizing is as difficult as it is boring. Fortunately, we can use certain peculiarities of our brain to make things a little easier and help us get ahead at university or at work, for example. We'll share some tricks with you to help you remember things better.
Table of contents
1. Why is memorization so complicated?
Our brains do strange things. It confuses things, only remembers bits and pieces of information, blocks access to stored knowledge, or simply deletes learned information from the brain's hard drive. There seems to be only one remedy for this: memorization, memorization, memorization!
The problem: Memorizing something is boring . That's why you should spend as little time on it as possible. This doesn't mean you should stop at the letter C of the alphabet or only memorize half of the math formula.
No, you should learn everything required by heart— just faster . Learn how to prime your brain for high speed and focus razor-sharply here —and our BRAINEFFECT expert tips on how to memorize something well or even excellently follow.
2. Brainpower through supplements
If you have trouble memorizing something, it's often due to a lack of vitamins in your brain. Your brain needs important nutrients to avoid concentration problems.
If you have an unbalanced diet, dietary supplements can help you get the nutrients you need for concentration. One such supplement is pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), which contributes to normal mental performance and the reduction of fatigue.
BRAINEFFECT HACK : We offer vitamin B5 smartly combined with the equally important vitamin B12 and other brain nutrients. Either in our smart FOCUS capsules or in our smart Think Drink FOCUS NOW .
3. 9 hacks for better memorization
1. Self-reference effect: Personal references help
When information relates to our own lives , we remember it much more easily . This allows you to create an abstract connection . Memory champions, such as Dr. Karsten, always link knowledge and facts with a personal story.
Our tip: Abstract information should be made concrete and applied to the real world, one experiences firsthand. To do this, rephrase the concept or turn it into an example that evokes personal emotions, associations, or general interest.
These could be stories or personal experiences , for example . This method is often easier for literature students than for students of theoretical physics, but often it just takes a little practice. Connect information to yourself and your life! This makes memorizing something easier.
2. The humor effect: Laughter helps
You can remember information conveyed with humor more easily . Scientists explain this by the listener's heightened cognitive and emotional attention . Specifically, this means that humor has to be understood and processed, and it's equally arousing.
Our tip: Try to laugh at the things you have to memorize but just can't get your head around. Have a friend read what you have to memorize aloud to you, and have them make funny asides or pull funny faces at particularly difficult passages.
When memorizing texts, you can also change individual phrases to make the passage seem comical . Once you've made yourself laugh at a passage , you'll be able to remember it very well later .
3. The beginning-and-end effect: Structure your information
The first and last items in a list are easier to remember than those in the middle.
Our tip: Put the points you find most difficult to memorize at the beginning or end of a list. The middle section should primarily contain points you've already memorized. If you're still having trouble remembering the last few points on the list, use the modality effect.
4. The modality effect: The end wins
Information at the end of a list is easier to remember if it has been presented verbally.
Our tip: If you're having trouble memorizing the bottom part of a fact list, especially, have all the words or the entire text read aloud to you. Your brain will automatically remember the last part, especially the last part. This is especially helpful when constantly repeating information.
5. The Restorff Effect: Colors Win
You automatically remember terms that stand out more easily than others. This intuitively plausible phenomenon was first scientifically documented by the psychologist Hedwig von Restorff at the beginning of the 20th century.
Our tip: Underline , highlight , or bold terms that are difficult to memorize and/or that are particularly important. Therefore, a good index card should always be on hand when memorizing is on the agenda.
6. The Zeigarnik Effect: Move
A study by Russian psychologist Zeigarnik found that students who interrupted their study sessions to do things unrelated to the material being studied (such as exercising or memorizing something else) retained the information better than students who did not take such a break.
Our tip: Make sure you don't study for too long at a time. Plan breaks that you fill with activities that, if possible, have nothing to do with your study material.
Use breaks to consciously exercise , for example, during your lunch break, or schedule some exercise breaks. New studies continue to encourage memorization while exercising. Try memorizing vocabulary or facts while taking a walk or exercising.
7. The time-frame effect: Start early
Information is better retained in the brain when it's taught over a longer period of time. So, it's more beneficial to rehearse a vocabulary list five times over a period of two weeks than to do it on five consecutive days.
Our tip: Spread your study sessions over a longer period of time and practice time management . You'll probably find that you'll remember the material better. To better internalize information and facts, it's not enough to start just before the exam.
8. The context effect: Create YOUR environment
The brain can more easily recall information that is retrieved in the same context in which it was stored. Information that was stored during a lecture is best recalled there (for example, if the exam is being held in the same lecture hall or university building).
Other stimulators , such as the weather , a familiar smell , taste or even a catchy melody can be used as a trigger to make it easier to recall learned information.
Our tip: Studying at the exam location is an effective way to retain what you've memorized. If this isn't possible for some reason, use other methods or create associations to internalize the material you've learned.
For example, eat or drink something while studying that you can then take with you to the exam . This method sounds strange, but science has proven this effect in several research studies. This is called conditioning .
BRAINEFFECT HACK : Drinking enough fluids ensures that your body's physical and mental processes can function optimally. Certain ingredients provide an additional brain boost. That's why our FOCUS NOW Think Drink contains vitamins B5 and B12 for your mental performance.
9. The test effect: Test your success
When memorized material is tested frequently, it is more likely to be remembered. This means that reading a text five times and having the content tested after each reading may be more effective than reading it ten times without testing the learning effect.
Our tip: Study in pairs or in a group. Take turns quizzing each other on the material . This can save you time and energy by not retesting points you've correctly recalled two or three times in a row. Another advantage of having a study partner : When you quiz them, you learn subconsciously and effortlessly !
4. Memorize: Repeat only with intelligence
Stupid repetition is actually useless for learning. Only when repetition is fully conscious and processed can you truly remember things.
Mere repetition is useless
You may be wondering why the term "repetition" is often not listed as a factor in improving memory performance. There's a reason for this: simply repeating something does n't have a learning effect . To illustrate this, here's a small example involving a 50-digit number.
It might work like this: The participants call out 25 two-digit numbers, such as 19 or 61, and one of us then memorizes them after hearing them only once and recalls them flawlessly from memory. If you try it yourself this time, you'll know how impossible this (although quite simple for us) memory task seems.
Most people will give up after 5 or 7 digits; for 50 digits, most of us would certainly need at least half an hour of learning time, repeating the 50-digit number countless times, to be able to recite it without a single mistake!
Another small exercise should illustrate that pure, mindless repetition is essentially useless for learning anyway (and yet millions of students do it every day). Each of us has probably used a keypad telephone hundreds or even thousands of times in our lives, as well as a calculator countless times.
Now try to write down on a piece of paper (without cheating) how the numbers and important symbols are arranged on the keypad of a telephone and a calculator. Create two such filled keypads (a little hint: the keypad usually consists of 3 columns and 4 rows).
Not so easy, is it? To determine your accuracy, simply use a calculator or phone (they almost always have the same keyboard layout, with a few exceptions regarding special characters).
You probably felt like the 300 students at the University of Dresden who Professor Rinck entrusted with this task in 1999. Only 50% of the students could correctly reproduce the telephone keypad; and only 20% completely knew the layout of the calculator keypad! (Apparently, telephones are more popular with students than calculators).
Repetition must be done with understanding
Why is this task so difficult for us, even though after repeating it a thousand times we would expect to have retrievable knowledge about it?
The answer is not difficult: If repetition occurs entirely unconsciously and there is no simultaneous mental processing of the learning material, every second of (academic) learning is wasted .
However, if the mental processing during the first absorption of the material is conscious and as intensive as we can achieve through, for example, transformation, association, the use of imagination (and creativity), and visualization, pure learning through constant repetition is hardly necessary.
Only for extremely long-term and permanent storage – and this is of course not insignificant – is it necessary to repeat the learning material at very specific intervals.
Repetition is important for long-term storage
Academic learning is greatly enhanced by the conscious absorption of learning material using the processing capabilities of our brain.
When you apply the seven mental factors , learning occurs very quickly and intensively ; and the learning factor of "repetition" is only important for long-term retention (over weeks and months). Incidentally, this learning factor of "repetition" is almost impossible to avoid.
This is essentially the main signal to our memory that the information in question is actually important for the organism and should not be forgotten. This is essentially a great idea of evolution, because usually only that which is repeatedly confronted in life is important to the organism.
Only for us humans is this (intelligent) mechanism of nature often a damned nuisance. This text is based on Dr. Karsten's first book, "Success Memory" (and his bestselling learning book, "Learning Like a World Champion"). Both books are published by Goldmann Verlag.
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5. Conclusion - Your take-home message for better learning
Memorizing things generally has a bad reputation because 1) it's difficult for many people, 2) it takes a long time, and 3) they immediately forget what they've learned. But that doesn't have to be the case! If you follow certain hacks and rehearse correctly, learning can be fun, faster, and you'll retain the knowledge!
BRAINEFFECT HACK : Have you acquired a taste for it and want to not only learn faster but also develop yourself in other areas of life? Then check out our PERFORMANCE COACH now and learn many more practical tips for better performance.
