Meet Suresh, a college student who often finds himself struggling in class. Despite understanding the lecture in the moment, he frequently forgets key details by the time he gets to his study session. For instance, during a math lecture, Suresh follows the professor’s explanation of a complex problem, but when he tries to solve similar problems on his own later, he can’t recall the steps. This gap between learning and applying information is a classic sign of working memory deficits.
Working memory is essentially your brain’s temporary storage for information. It’s like a mental scratchpad that lets you hold onto things you need to think about right now. Much like the RAM of our phones and computers. It has limited capacity, is used for temporary storage of information, and is used for active manipulation of that information.
Imagine you’re in a meeting brainstorming ideas for a new project. You need to remember the project goals discussed earlier, listen to what others are suggesting, and then come up with your own contribution. Working memory is that space that connects everything and gives you the ability to handle all that information at once.
Unlike long-term memory, which stores information for an extended period, working memory is transient, holding information for a brief duration while it is actively processed. This information will be lost unless it is encoded into deeper memory systems.
This bit of executive functioning responds really well to training, and number of day-to day tasks can help with this. There are a few apps and games that can help as well, but that’s for another section. I prefer practicing them with day-to-day tasks since this can give you usable skills.
Here are a few ideas to train your working memory; you don’t have to stick to these; you can create your own practices!
Shopping Lists:
Practice remembering items you need to purchase at the grocery store. Write a list, but leave it in your pocket and try to use your memory skills. When you are about to enter the store, take a patient look at the list and give it a shot. Do your best and look back at the list only after you’ve run out of memory juice.
Remembering Directions:
When navigating to familiar locations, challenge yourself to remember the directions without using GPS or maps. Pay attention to landmarks, street names, and turns along the way. This task not only exercises your spatial memory but also requires you to hold multiple pieces of information in your working memory.
Mental math: Do simple calculations mentally, such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing a number, rather than pulling out a calculator.
Summarizing: Whether you are listening to a song, reading a book, watching a movie, or playing a game, Once in a while, take a step away and try to summarize what has happened thus far. This can be a quick summary.
Sharing contacts and dialing phone numbers: Instead of relying on your phone’s contacts, try glancing at the number, remembering it, and then dialing. When sharing contacts, remember to type rather than copy and paste.
While you are doing this, here are a few techniques that can help.
1)Chunking is a memory strategy that involves grouping information into meaningful units to improve memory and recall. By organizing information into chunks, you reduce the cognitive load and make it easier to remember and process.
How to Use It: Take the information you want to remember and break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks. Identify patterns, similarities, or connections between the elements of the information. Group related items together to form meaningful chunks.
Here are a few examples of chunking:
Phone Numbers:
Instead of trying to remember a 10-digit phone number as a single string of numbers (e.g., 1234567890), you can chunk it into smaller groups. For example: 123-456-7890. By organizing the number into three chunks, it becomes easier to remember because it’s broken down into more manageable parts.
Shopping Lists:
When creating a shopping list, instead of listing items randomly, you can chunk them into categories based on where they’re found in the store. For example, group all produce items together, followed by dairy products, canned goods, and so on.
2)Mnemonics: These are memory aids that use catchy phrases, rhymes, acronyms, or images to encode information. For complex formulas in math, Suresh could create a mnemonic like “PEMDAS the King Needs Supper Before Ugly Ducks Eat Everything” to remember the order of operations (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division from left to right, Addition and Subtraction from left to right).
3)Elaboration: This involves taking new information and connecting it to things you already know. For Suresh, this could involve creating stories, analogies, or examples that tie the math concepts to real-world experiences. For instance, if he’s learning about equations, he could create a story where characters represent variables and actions represent operations. By making personal connections, the information becomes more meaningful and easier to remember.
Our math teacher taught us the spelling of “Sphere” using the name of a classmate, SP. SP + here. Now that stuck in memory forever !
4)Visualization: This involves creating mental images of the information you’re trying to remember. For complex diagrams or processes, Suresh could try to visualize them in his mind’s eye. Imagine the steps of solving a math problem laid out in a flow chart or see himself successfully completing the problem.
Gamify it.
Turn everyday tasks into quests. Challenge yourself to memorize grocery lists, remember names at meetings, or summarize movie plots without relying on notes. Start simple, track your progress, and have fun! These playful challenges will provide enough stimulus for your brain to expand its working memory.
Some more ideas
- Dial a friend’s number from memory (after a quick glance).
- Recall grocery list items while shopping (bonus for order).
- Memorize numbers from passing license plates.
- Plan dinner ingredients without a recipe.
- Summarize news reports without notes.
- Guess song title/artist from a short intro.
- Remember new names at meetings (repeat!).
- Redraw a doodle from memory.
- Describe an object for someone to guess (no name!).
- Remember your errand order without a list.