The Key To Having A Good Memory Is Ridiculously Simple

When we pay attention to our environment, "our senses receive the visual and auditory information from our environment and transform the information to neural signals that move into the brain," Brennan says.

So when you're holding that experience in your mind, the research says, that's when your brain starts storing the raw data.

We do this kind of stuff instinctually. Think about when you're trying to remember somebody's name: You repeat it again and again to yourself. Every time you repeat a name you give your brain more chances to make associations, and those associations are what anchor a fleeting moment into a long-term memory.

Let's say you briefly meet a guy named Jackson at a conference tomorrow. When you repeat Jackson, Jackson, Jackson in your head after meeting him, you're giving your brain the chance to make associations: Michael Jackson! Andrew Jackson! Jackson Pollack!

Then you see him on the buffet line later. What was his name again? Oh yeah, he's got a glove on his hand just like Michael Jackson and a shirt that reminds you of a Jackson Pollack painting.

Name remembered: What's up, Jackson?

But before you get there, you have to pay attention.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/distraction-makes-worse-memories-2014-11#ixzz3NNGOnLdr