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"This post originally appeared on the ooomf blog.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI have a pretty bad memory, it seems. I know people say that all the time, but here\u2019s why I think it actually applies to me:\r\n\r\n\tIn pretty much all of my childhood memories, I\u2019m around 10 years old, as if nothing ever happened before that.\r\n\tMy poor co-founder,\u00A0Josh, has to replay almost entire conversations before I recall having had them. On a regular basis.\r\n\tUnless my high school was running way off the curriculum, I just don\u2019t remember anything I learned there. Everytime someone asks me about a high-school level concept in science, or maths or even something I should know as a writer, like what a past participle is, I draw a blank.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s a bit of a struggle having a bad memory. It makes conversations frustrating (mostly for the other person), makes a lot of tasks take longer because I have to look up things I should remember, and it means I usually need some basic introduction to any topic before I can follow the latest news.\r\n\r\nSince I\u2019ve been reading and writing more about the brain, memory is one area that\u2019s really fascinated me, because I\u2019d like to improve mine. So today I had a look into the basics of memory: how it works, what types of memory there are and why our memories aren\u2019t as reliable as we think.\r\nHow memory works\r\nCreating memories, like\u00A0learning new things, is all about creating and strengthening\u00A0connections between the neurons\u00A0in our brains (called synapses):\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhen we create a new memory, a pattern of brain activity occurs, and we store what\u2019s called a\u00A0memory trace. This is like the seed of the memory, before it gets strengthened and grows by connecting to other, related memories we have.\r\n\r\nTo make sure we hang on to that memory for the long-term, studies have shown that\u00A0our brain recreates that exact same pattern of brain activity\u00A0while we sleep. This is known as\u00A0memory consolidation.\r\n\r\nObviously the last step, and the one we\u2019re probably most familiar with, is recalling those memories. The way this happens is a\u00A0reconstructive\u00A0process. Rather than\u00A0reproducing\u00A0an event exactly as it happened, like a video camera might, our memories actually just offer up fragments.\r\n\r\nWithout realizing it,\u00A0we stitch these fragments together\u00A0into a narrative that helps us understand what happened.\r\nThe different types of memory\r\nI always thought memory was memory, pretty much, but it turns out there are a bunch of\u00A0different types:\r\n\r\n\tDeclarative memory:\u00A0Facts and knowledge, like the capital city or your birth date.\r\n\tEpisodic memory:\u00A0Memories about life events, like your last birthday party or your first day of school.\r\n\tProcedural memory:\u00A0Your own how-to manual, essentially. Memories about how to ride a bike or cook your favorite meal.\r\n\tSemantic memory:\u00A0Meanings and concepts that you\u2019ve learned, especially useful for reading.\r\n\tSpatial memory:\u00A0Your map of the world, inside your head. These cover your environment, landmarks and objects.\r\n\r\nEach type of memory relies on a different area\u2014or combination of areas\u2014in the brain. There\u2019s one more type of memory, though: working memory.\r\n\r\nWorking memory is kind of like\u00A0the brain\u2019s notepad. It\u2019s the place we dump stuff while we\u2019re using it, before either forgetting it or moving it to long-term memory. It\u2019s main use is for temporarily storing small bits of information until we\u2019ve used them up.\r\n\r\nBecause it\u2019s like a workspace for the brain, working memory is limited in how much we can keep there. The general rule is that most adults can hold\u00A03\u20135 pieces of information in working memory\u00A0at a time.\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019ve ever repeated a phone number to yourself over and over until you dial it, that\u2019s your working memory at play. Once you dial the number, you don\u2019t need to remember it anymore so you let go of it and it disappears.\r\n\r\nThere are a few theories about how this really works in the brain. One of the most popular theories is the\u00A0multi-component model, which was first proposed in the 1970s. This model breaks down working memory into three parts:\r\n\r\n\tThe central executive, or control centre\r\n\tThe phonological loop\r\n\tThe visuo-spatial sketchpad\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe central executive is in charge, so it monitors and coordinates the two other parts. The\u00A0phonological loop\u00A0processes words and speech-related sounds, like when you repeat the phone number, or if you try to remember a string of words.\r\n\r\nThe\u00A0visuo-spatial sketchpad\u00A0handles information about your environment and objects like size, shape, color and where things are around you.\u00A0If you\u2019re trying to remember a driving route for the first time, that\u2019s when this part of your working memory would come in handy.\r\n\r\nIn 2000, the psychologist behind this model, Alan Baddeley, introduced another section that reports to the control centre:\u00A0the episodic buffer. Theepisodic buffer\u00A0connects information from the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad, and long-term memories.\r\n\r\nIt temporarily holds \u201Cepisodes\u201D of memories made up of bits of varied information, whereas the other two parts of the model only hold information specific to their related areas.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe last thing to remember about working memory is that it requires your attention. If you\u2019re focused on something in front of you, your working memory won\u2019t take in information about something happening nearby, even if your senses can pick it up.\r\n\r\nWorking memory is all about the things we\u00A0want\u00A0to hang on to, temporarily, and because it\u2019s so limited, it can\u2019t waste space on taking in everything around us.\r\nWhy our memories aren\u2019t reliable\r\nFunnily enough, our memories are nowhere near the reliable encyclopedia of life that we think they are. There are a few different ways they can be changed, and most of them happen without us even realizing.\r\n\r\nUnstable memories\r\n\r\nRemember how I said before that memory is reconstructive? And how we put together memory fragments into a narrative that makes sense to us? Well, this is kind of where our memory lets us down, in a way.\r\n\r\nBecause we don\u2019t have an exact replica of the event we\u2019re remembering, we\u2019re prone to (subconsciously) add new information that we have now, when we recall the memory, or mix up the fragments we have.\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019ve heard about\u00A0people uncovering repressed childhood memories, this is often rebutted with research into how malleable our memories can be. The process of recalling our memories is tainted by our biases and our experiences, and we don\u2019t even realize we\u2019re altering our memories as we recall them.\r\n\r\nA good example of this is\u00A0an experiment done by psychologist Frederic Bartlett. He asked participants to read a story and then retell it. Later, he went back to the study participants and asked them to retell the story from memory at various points, even up to a year later.\r\n\r\nWhat he found was really interesting: not only did the story change, as you might guess, but without realizing it, each person emphasized and removed different details, depending on which ones they thought were important, and they rationalized any parts of the story that had confused them originally. Each person had saved memory fragments about the story, and then stitched them back together into a narrative that made sense to them.\r\n\r\nThere is an upside to this, however. Some scientists\u00A0have proposed\u00A0that the reason we have a reconstructive memory, which requires this fragment stitching process, is because it helps us to predict the future.\r\n\r\nWhereas a complete reproduction of a past event might help us to relive that event more clearly, little fragments help us focus on the parts of the past that had an effect on us and to use those to make decisions about events that haven\u2019t taken place yet.\r\n\r\nChanging memories\r\n\r\nWhen we recall past memories, something strange happens: the original memory trace that we consolidated into our long-term memory during sleep quickly becomes unstable. This means it\u2019s prone to alteration, and that\u2019s when we tend to subconsciously change our memories during the recall process.\r\n\r\nWe can actually use this to our advantage in some ways. For instance,emotionally charged memories can be softened\u00A0over time by recalling them in safe environments and removing the negative associations they bring.\r\n\r\nOne study\u00A0on associative memories in drug addicts showed that when they were shown videos of drug use and paraphernalia, it often prompted a desire to use drugs. When participants watched the video ten minutes before an hour-long period of being exposed to those same images, their drug cravings were reduced, because they\u2019d just had a new experience of seeing those images and then\u00A0not\u00A0taking drugs.\r\n\r\nSo over time, the association of seeing drug-related media and drug use could be replaced with new associative memories.\r\n\r\nSleeping on your memories\r\n\r\nSleep is obviously hugely important for a strong memory, since researchers have found that this is when the consolidation process happens. It follows, then, that sleep deprivation can be detrimental to the creation and strengthening of our memories.\r\n\r\nNot only does sleep deprivation make it harder for us to consolidate new memories into long-term storage, it also makes it harder to recall the ones that are already there. In fact, after long periods of sleep deprivation, we become\u00A0more prone to generating false memories\u2014i.e. believing things that never happened are actually real memories.\r\nImproving your memory\r\nNow that I know a bit more about how memory works, I\u2019ll be sure to focus on\u00A0getting enough sleep. What about other ways to improve memory, though? There are a few things you can try, though research into how well these methods work is still in the early stages so there aren\u2019t any guarantees. But if your memory is as bad as mine, they\u2019re probably worth a try anyway.\r\n\r\n\tDrink coffee:\u00A0though studies into the effects of caffeine on memory in the past have mostly shown no effect,\u00A0one study\u00A0found that taking a caffeine pill\u00A0immediately after\u00A0learning something new would help with the memory consolidation process. So instead of having your coffee first thing in the morning, try starting your day with some reading or a learning exercise (I\u2019m going to try a quick French lesson) before your caffeine hit. This may help whatever you just read or learnt to stick.\r\n\r\n\r\n\tKeep some rosemary around:\u00A0researchers have found\u00A0in a couple of different studies that the scent of rosemary can improve cognitive abilities, particularly memory recall. It couldn\u2019t hurt to have some fresh rosemary growing nearby your desk or home office.\r\n\r\n\r\n\tEat blueberries:\u00A0several studies have touted the memory-enhancing effects of blueberries and even just\u00A0blueberry juice.\u00A0One long-term study\u00A0of nurses\u2019 eating habits found that those who ate the most blueberries and strawberries delayed their memory decline up to 2.5 years compared to other nurses of the same age. The great thing about this research is that it showed just a couple of servings of berries per week were enough to make a difference.\r\n\r\n\r\n\tMeditate:\u00A0It\u2019s still fairly debatable whether we can seriously increase our working memory, but some studies have shown it\u2019s possible. In particular,\u00A0meditation\u00A0and\u00A0mindfulness-training\u00A0(training to improve focusing abilities and attention span) have proven to increase working memory.\u00A0Meditation appears to improve our abilities to block out external influences\u00A0and ignore, or calm, the voices in our heads, which could leave room for greater working memory capacity.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI still have a bad memory. But at least I have some ideas for how I can improve it, now. I\u2019ve just finished stocking up my fridge with berries, so it must be time for another coffee."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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