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8. Memory - How to Use It and Not Lose it Update 13 Octr 2021. The below descending column should show what is in the chapter and be used to locate for reading. As shall be seen, the discussion under “Memory” involves learning new facts, paying attention, alertness of conscious states and techniques of recall; plus, neurological data in the Notebooks 9 chapter, the Anatomy of Memory. We all know what memory is from practical experience but a complete theory still goes missing. Nevertheless, much of practical use in your life will be gathered together and presented.
8. Memory - How to Use It and Not Lose it Update 13 Octr 2021. The below descending column should show what is in the chapter and be used to locate for reading. As shall be seen, the discussion under “Memory” involves learning new facts, paying attention, alertness of conscious states and techniques of recall; plus, neurological data in the Notebooks 9 chapter, the Anatomy of Memory. We all know what memory is from practical experience but a complete theory still goes missing. Nevertheless, much of practical use in your life will be gathered together and presented.
Use Sound to Help Recall
Anomia
Anomia
Number Memory
The System of picturing numbers
The System of picturing numbers
Pay Attention to Significant Meaning
Rapid Forgetting of Transient Memory
Prevent Absent-Minded Forgetting
Prevent Absent-Minded Forgetting
Mnemonic Memorizing Non-Number Facts
memory disturber
Alzheimer Disease
Tips for Keeping Good Memory Function in Brain
Medicine that harms Memory;
Emotional versus Content Memory
Entertaining Fiction
This chapter should help you become a mental marvel of facts, numbers and data. I
Anomia: Almost every old person suffers from occasional inability to recall quickly a famous, well-known name or a normally familiar product or object. Sometimes it signals the start of Alzheimer's Disease. The following are my experiences and insights. Recently I needed the name of a man I once knew, a fellow whose face I visualize but whose name eludes my tongue. Finally, I give up, and a day later, at lunch in a restaurant, after tasting a spoonful of lobster soup, I almost shriek: “This soup is too thick!” No sooner does “thick” pass my lips than I suddenly have the name and it’s special spelling: “Thicke! Eric Thicke!”
In the above case, a chance connection gives insight into the brain's use of sound to recall a seemingly forgot word, here a name I once easily recalled. The chance connection helps to explain the common experience of sudden recall – often on awakening – of a lost, sought name. What happens is that a similar sound – from reading, conversation, thought, dream – has fitted like a key in a lock and opened the door to recall. Also it shows your subconscious mind at work.
OK, that is a passive approach to anomia. But the following cases suggest an active technique.
Being a 1940's music and lyrics buff, I admire Alec Wilder songs. One day, one of his songs delights me. I recall my appreciation for Wilder but can't bring his name to my lips. I try mouthing first-names by alphabet. “Adam”, “Adelbert”, “Alexander!” Stopped by a familiar sound, I follow Alexander into its shortening: “Alex”, “Alec”, “Alec Wilder!” "Got it!"
Here one can see the use of the first (given) and last (sur-) name connection. Given names are usually more accessible to recall than surnames, so the above technique, what I call "the A to Z alphabet run", can be done quickly and is not infrequently successful.
In another case, one day I was thinking about fairly recent Irish history and suddenly I found I could not bring to mind a name that had been very familiar to me, a man who might be called "The George Washington of Ireland", the father of the independent Irish State and its first president. In my mind's eye I could see the man's face like he was in front of me but no name. Immediately as I tried to recall the name one fact came to mind: it was a Spanish surname, rather unusual for an Irishman, especially a father of his country. Thinking about Spanish surnames, it occurred to me that many such names had the equivalent of the German von or the Scotch-Irish Mc in front, which means something like "son of". In Spanish, it is de and as soon as that sound passed my lips the blocked recall name popped into my mind - de Valera! And immediately my mind connected onto the first or given name Eamon - Eamon de Valera.
This suggests, first, that one try to pay attention to facts connected with names, especially out of the ordinary. Then, even though you may get anomia, it will usually be quickly corrected to recall the familiar name. The above - A to Z alphabet run, and facts about a name - are 2 preventive techniques that will correct or prevent anomia. Use your own imagination for other techniques. Somewhat connected with this is the use of colors to recall a seemingly lost memory of a name. Recently my daughter took me to a fancy restaurant and the waiter asked if we would like an aperitif drink. I don't usually have alcohol nowadays but I fondly recalled I once had a favorite liqueur aperitif but for the life of me I could not recall its name or even what it looked like. The only thing I could remember was that I had the favorite drink and that it had a minty taste. Later that day we saw a nightclub show where waitresses, dressed bunny-fashion in black form fitting sarongs, showing much skin and big Playboy bunny ears, served drinks and right in front of me the waitress put down a red aperitif and suddenly "Campari soda!" popped into my mind. Another, related case was my Braun electric shaver. One morning I lost my recall of the product name but remembered it had something to do with the color brown, and ---Eureka--- my Braun popped onto my tongue. The lesson is: do not just remember a name, connect it with its attributes. One more example, for students of American history. A test question is: List all the U.S. presidents? I did it easily but I used to have trouble with one particular name: Millard Fillmore, the 13th president (1849-53, and the last one who was neither a Republican nor Democrat (He was a Whig party man). I no longer have trouble with Millard, not just because of the learned unusual facts attached to his name, but also because I’ve “pigeonholed” his 1st name with the very common “Miller” (“Millar-d”). So whenever I run up against that last remaining (for me) U.S. president’s memory block, I say to myself “Aha! Miller! And, “Pop, goes the weasel” on Millard Fillmore, and all the other facts that go with it.
Recently I even retrieved a 30-year lost name in one of my dreams in which the character appeared with correct name, Dr Potter! I’ll not forget him again. (That is an interesting case where we may spot a connection between conscious mind and the unconscious via dreaming, because my conscious mind had only started searching for “Potter”, a name I had not accesses in 30 years, just the day before the dream. It would seem the name was placed into the dream to give access to it in a conscious way)
Final advice: when you have an episode of anomia, do not waste hours trying to recall the name: give it several minutes, try your techniques, and then forget about it for the moment but make a note to come back to it at intervals. In many such cases your brain will keep working at it subliminally (below your consciousness level; cf. the case of “Potter”.) and, maybe minutes to an hour, or even years, later—-Pop goes the weasel!—-, the name will suddenly pop into your mind when you give your recall another try.
Anomia: Almost every old person suffers from occasional inability to recall quickly a famous, well-known name or a normally familiar product or object. Sometimes it signals the start of Alzheimer's Disease. The following are my experiences and insights. Recently I needed the name of a man I once knew, a fellow whose face I visualize but whose name eludes my tongue. Finally, I give up, and a day later, at lunch in a restaurant, after tasting a spoonful of lobster soup, I almost shriek: “This soup is too thick!” No sooner does “thick” pass my lips than I suddenly have the name and it’s special spelling: “Thicke! Eric Thicke!”
In the above case, a chance connection gives insight into the brain's use of sound to recall a seemingly forgot word, here a name I once easily recalled. The chance connection helps to explain the common experience of sudden recall – often on awakening – of a lost, sought name. What happens is that a similar sound – from reading, conversation, thought, dream – has fitted like a key in a lock and opened the door to recall. Also it shows your subconscious mind at work.
OK, that is a passive approach to anomia. But the following cases suggest an active technique.
Being a 1940's music and lyrics buff, I admire Alec Wilder songs. One day, one of his songs delights me. I recall my appreciation for Wilder but can't bring his name to my lips. I try mouthing first-names by alphabet. “Adam”, “Adelbert”, “Alexander!” Stopped by a familiar sound, I follow Alexander into its shortening: “Alex”, “Alec”, “Alec Wilder!” "Got it!"
Here one can see the use of the first (given) and last (sur-) name connection. Given names are usually more accessible to recall than surnames, so the above technique, what I call "the A to Z alphabet run", can be done quickly and is not infrequently successful.
In another case, one day I was thinking about fairly recent Irish history and suddenly I found I could not bring to mind a name that had been very familiar to me, a man who might be called "The George Washington of Ireland", the father of the independent Irish State and its first president. In my mind's eye I could see the man's face like he was in front of me but no name. Immediately as I tried to recall the name one fact came to mind: it was a Spanish surname, rather unusual for an Irishman, especially a father of his country. Thinking about Spanish surnames, it occurred to me that many such names had the equivalent of the German von or the Scotch-Irish Mc in front, which means something like "son of". In Spanish, it is de and as soon as that sound passed my lips the blocked recall name popped into my mind - de Valera! And immediately my mind connected onto the first or given name Eamon - Eamon de Valera.
This suggests, first, that one try to pay attention to facts connected with names, especially out of the ordinary. Then, even though you may get anomia, it will usually be quickly corrected to recall the familiar name. The above - A to Z alphabet run, and facts about a name - are 2 preventive techniques that will correct or prevent anomia. Use your own imagination for other techniques. Somewhat connected with this is the use of colors to recall a seemingly lost memory of a name. Recently my daughter took me to a fancy restaurant and the waiter asked if we would like an aperitif drink. I don't usually have alcohol nowadays but I fondly recalled I once had a favorite liqueur aperitif but for the life of me I could not recall its name or even what it looked like. The only thing I could remember was that I had the favorite drink and that it had a minty taste. Later that day we saw a nightclub show where waitresses, dressed bunny-fashion in black form fitting sarongs, showing much skin and big Playboy bunny ears, served drinks and right in front of me the waitress put down a red aperitif and suddenly "Campari soda!" popped into my mind. Another, related case was my Braun electric shaver. One morning I lost my recall of the product name but remembered it had something to do with the color brown, and ---Eureka--- my Braun popped onto my tongue. The lesson is: do not just remember a name, connect it with its attributes. One more example, for students of American history. A test question is: List all the U.S. presidents? I did it easily but I used to have trouble with one particular name: Millard Fillmore, the 13th president (1849-53, and the last one who was neither a Republican nor Democrat (He was a Whig party man). I no longer have trouble with Millard, not just because of the learned unusual facts attached to his name, but also because I’ve “pigeonholed” his 1st name with the very common “Miller” (“Millar-d”). So whenever I run up against that last remaining (for me) U.S. president’s memory block, I say to myself “Aha! Miller! And, “Pop, goes the weasel” on Millard Fillmore, and all the other facts that go with it.
Recently I even retrieved a 30-year lost name in one of my dreams in which the character appeared with correct name, Dr Potter! I’ll not forget him again. (That is an interesting case where we may spot a connection between conscious mind and the unconscious via dreaming, because my conscious mind had only started searching for “Potter”, a name I had not accesses in 30 years, just the day before the dream. It would seem the name was placed into the dream to give access to it in a conscious way)
Final advice: when you have an episode of anomia, do not waste hours trying to recall the name: give it several minutes, try your techniques, and then forget about it for the moment but make a note to come back to it at intervals. In many such cases your brain will keep working at it subliminally (below your consciousness level; cf. the case of “Potter”.) and, maybe minutes to an hour, or even years, later—-Pop goes the weasel!—-, the name will suddenly pop into your mind when you give your recall another try.
My research: For at least the last ten years, since age mid 70s, I have been bothered by a non-progressive anomia, a difficulty in immediately recalling person and object names that I once well knew. It does not involve very familiar names or objects; rather in-between ones, like fruits such as cantaloupe or pomegranate. And the names are mostly surnames; if I recall the given name accurately, it helps but may also mislead if my recall is inaccurate.
Although nowadays we can quickly find a lost memory word by using the Internet like a Roget Thesaurus, I purposely for my research have sometimes waited weeks, and, inevitably the lost word pops up in my mind when I rethink about it.
Obviously a memory storage bin is in the subliminal mind. (Referred to as the subconscious but I prefer subliminal to avoid the Freudian reference; it is the part of one’s mind not immediately accessible to consciousness.)
Although nowadays we can quickly find a lost memory word by using the Internet like a Roget Thesaurus, I purposely for my research have sometimes waited weeks, and, inevitably the lost word pops up in my mind when I rethink about it.
Obviously a memory storage bin is in the subliminal mind. (Referred to as the subconscious but I prefer subliminal to avoid the Freudian reference; it is the part of one’s mind not immediately accessible to consciousness.)
Based on my research I reached the following conclusions:
1. Non-progressive anomic aphasia is due to old age deterioration of neuron-synapse in the brain but it is not a sign of early dementia.
2. One’s subliminal mind has an independent existence from one’s conscious mind. The keys to their connection may be in studies of Anomia and dreaming.
It is indeed fascinating to consider that one’s subliminal mind can be set to work (e.g., recovering lost memory) and can accomplish prodigious feats without one’s self awareness.
1. Non-progressive anomic aphasia is due to old age deterioration of neuron-synapse in the brain but it is not a sign of early dementia.
2. One’s subliminal mind has an independent existence from one’s conscious mind. The keys to their connection may be in studies of Anomia and dreaming.
It is indeed fascinating to consider that one’s subliminal mind can be set to work (e.g., recovering lost memory) and can accomplish prodigious feats without one’s self awareness.
Number Memory
Number recall will be easier if you look for a pattern. Trying to memorize telephone # 321-1492, take note of the reverse number counting for 1st 3 digits and the year Columbus discovered America. Examples: Square root of 3 (1.732…) is Geo. Washington's birth year; and square root of 2 (1.414…) is 14 repeated. Sometimes a number is coded into sound in a word. For example, a medical student may be asked multiple choice: The number of cervical vertebrae is (4) (7) (8) (10)? The correct choice, seven cervical vertebrae, is not easily forgotten once learned if you connect the 1st syllable of “cervical”, which is sounded “se” to the 1st syllable of “seven.” These examples are to jog your imagination. One can have fun figuring out recall patterns.
Number recall will be easier if you look for a pattern. Trying to memorize telephone # 321-1492, take note of the reverse number counting for 1st 3 digits and the year Columbus discovered America. Examples: Square root of 3 (1.732…) is Geo. Washington's birth year; and square root of 2 (1.414…) is 14 repeated. Sometimes a number is coded into sound in a word. For example, a medical student may be asked multiple choice: The number of cervical vertebrae is (4) (7) (8) (10)? The correct choice, seven cervical vertebrae, is not easily forgotten once learned if you connect the 1st syllable of “cervical”, which is sounded “se” to the 1st syllable of “seven.” These examples are to jog your imagination. One can have fun figuring out recall patterns.
The System of picturing numbers for recall gives sounds for the nine digits and zero. By combining the sounds, you can recall the higher numbers almost instantly.
The Keys to the Code:
1 = the t or d sound A typewritten small t has the number 1 down-stroke or you can think of a Tie hanging down from neck like the number 1.
2 = n. A small n has the number, 2 down-strokes.
3 = m. A small m has the number, 3 down-strokes.
4 = r. The word for the number 4 ends with an r.
5 = l. The 5 fingers, with the thumb extended straight out in front of you form an L.
6 = j, sh, ch, or soft g. The number 6 and a capital j are, except for the closed loop of the 6, almost mirror images: 6 J.
7 = k, hard c, hard g. You can make a capital k with two number 7's, each turned on side and touching at the acute angle external point.
8 = f, v, ph. The number 8 and a handwritten double-loop f both have similar appearance.
9 = p or b. The number 9 and p are somewhat mirror images.
0 = The first sound in the number symbol zero is z, which can also be used for the sounds of s, and a soft c.
When one digit represents two or more sounds, as in 6, they are variations of the basic sound and including them all under one digit gives a greater variety of word construction. Note that the sound, not the printing is the key. Thus ph is 8, because it is sounded f. And a double consonant, like the tt in cotton, is the number 1, and not the number 11, because the sound is t. And knee is the number, 2, and not 72. And a letter like X, with many different soundings is translated as you say it: thus, x ray is “eks ray”, so the number group 704; and you may pronounce Xerxes (Ancient Persian king) “Zerkzies,” in which case it is 04700. “Condition" is, kondishyon, 72162. Some words have varying pronunciations, and the important thing is how you pronounce the word, even if your pronunciation is incorrect, because the system will be your system. Thus, if you pronounce bomb as “bombe”, translate to 939, but if you say it “bahm”, it is 93. You are the boss. You do it so it's understandable to you. When a word has sounds not corresponding to any number in the above, the sounds are treated as if a number and space for it did not exist. But it still can be used in the spoken sound, word or phrase for the recall. Thus 150 could be “oodles” or “tales” or other words with sounds translating to 150. Also one can use meaningless sounds or nonsense words, or perverted meanings and words.
This system has proven very useful to me for rapid recall of numbers. Think of your time wasted mistaking or trying to recall phone number or other number. Thus the importance of a way to make number recall easy! The one I show here benefits me immensely because as a physician who is on the receiving end of requests for medical contacts it has been important for me to rapidly recall telephone numbers I just heard. And, happily, I learned this way to do it. With it, I just glance at a 12-digit telephone number or a 16- or 19-digit credit card and recall it perfectly as long as I need to.
Continuing comments on the System: It is easier to remember a distinctive sound, or meaningful word or phrase than a several-digit number. Test it out. Make no attempt to memorize either of the following words and numbers. Just make a mental note of both and continue reading. But write yourself a “Do I remember?” and put it in your pocket. Then, later, when you next look at that paper, see if you can remember the following words or number or both.
The word: BLACK RHODODENDRON FLOWER
The number: 957411242854
A black rhododendron flower is so distinctive in meaning and sound that you will find it rather difficult to forget, but, without the System, unless you are a number-recall idiot savant, you will not correctly recall the 12-digit number.
The System can be used to assign numbers to names. For example, my name, Edward M. Stim, translates to 141-3-013. It can be used by a spy who wishes to mask names; also it is fun as a game to translate everyone's name to a number. Following are some practical uses of the system from experience.
Quick Telephone Number Recall: Very useful for us who get phone calls that require a prompt call back, e.g., your cell phone rings and you are asked to call a Mr. Brown right away at 873 3001. Immediately your mind converts the commonly encountered 87 to the obscenely unforgettable “fuck”, the oft-used 33 into the improbable “mama”, and 001 into “sister", i.e. "sista”. Combining it all, you construct the hard-to-forget “Fuck mama, sista!" It illustrates points from experience with the System: For quick creation of sounds for numbers, use 2- or 3-number groups, and note some common word suffixes like –ing (27), or for plurals the added sound –es (0), or use past tense, all added –ed (1). Make use of obscenity and outrageous phrase and be relaxed about incorrect pronunciation to make it easy to find the right word quickly for a number.
Even nonsense, meaningless word or sound is useful (eg, 961 6399 = Pish tush, my baby!)
Number as Part of Fact or Data: Before a test where fact recall is important, the System is a gem. Converting sound from printed word to number often connects up an important fact. For example: a quiz question “William McKinley was the number-- U.S. President is easy for us who in memorizing the order of US Presidents particularly dote on McKinley because the “nl” sound can stand out as a reminder of his being 25th. And Franklin Pierce was the 14th Pres., easily memorized from the connection with “Pierced tire” (tire=14). Also, even if you may not be able to see a sound-word-number translation in every name, just knowing even a few can help get the rest. If you know Teddy Roosevelt succeeded McKinley on the latter's assassination, you know Teddy was the 26th. The System makes memorization fun. It stimulates using imagination.
Choosing PIN (personal identification number) or password number with an eye on the System allows you to choose important many-digit number so it can be translated unforgettably. Your name translates to a number, and that number could be ideal for a secret number, or part of one. If you worry this is too obvious for a con-man, give yourself a private nickname.
Use for Engineer, Scientist: Important physical constants can be easily recalled to 8 or 9 decimal places. Take the Greek pi, π, (circumference of a circle divided by its diameter), 3.14159265…? Since many students know the first 5 digits, all that's needed is “bone jelly” to access the next 4 decimal digits 9265. And if you want the whole 9 digits, try some delicious Mad Red Lee bone jelly for an unforgettable slice of pi. Many more examples of real world, practical long-digits – a product model number, a stock market big board number, etc – exist. The System will make you rich.
Pay Attention to Significant Meaning: Each minute, much data is presented to our senses but not paid attention. (In the mind this is called, “filtering”, i.e., irrelevant material is filtered out.) So keep alert to subliminal impression. An important impression may literally look one in the eye without alerting, e.g., “This Tuesday, the library will be closed” sign that a library user walks by on the Monday before that Tuesday, not recognizing its relevance to his tomorrow's library trip, and, because he overlooks it, he ends up making unnecessary trip to a locked-library, a trip that could have been prevented if he paid more attention. Also pay attention to important facts that you do not wish to forget.
Rapid Forgetting of Transient Memory: Related to paying attention is when we have transient but important thought, like “Must turn off gas before starting to talk on phone,” or, “Must remember insurance card and take it for doctor visit.” I am sure every reader forgets to take important thing or overlooks doing what he thought about doing because he forgot the thought before the act. To prevent this inconvenient and sometimes dangerous forgetting make it a habit to “Do it as you think it,” and, if you cannot, then substitute “Write it down as you think it” or scribble note to yourself that will be kept in full view. I force my attention on a thing I may overlook when leaving my home by stopping at the door and saying aloud “Did you remember everything?” (Insurance card, money, credit card, key) As routine behavior, it will save inconvenient forgetting. Related to that is: not remembering you did an important act like "Did I turn off the gas?) and an hour or more later, far away from your home being bugged by the Did I? or Didn't I? question. So when you do an act you may importantly want to recall doing (like flushing your toilet after defecation) say out loud "I did it, I flushed”, or just intensely stare at what you are doing and make an outlandish mental note, e.g., I flushed my shit down the toilet. And I guarantee you will have no problem remembering you did it. (And see just below)
Prevent Absent-Minded Forgetting Relating to the above, the following two behaviors can prevent and reduce the absent-minded forgetting that causes too much trouble in one's life. First, the "fixing attention" on an object you will need to shortly remember. It could be as simple as spending an extra 15 seconds concentration on your just-bought subway ticket (in Tokyo) and the fact that you re putting it into your left-side pants pocket as you get on subway (Instead of the usual mindless shoving the ticket in a pocket and not activating your long-term memory about the ticket's location when you immediately need it on exiting) The "fixing attention" puts a time-activated red flasher in your pre-frontal cerebral cortex that goes off every time you think "subway ticket" and flashes "left-side pocket." (The technique called “pigeonholing” in recall psychology.) Another advantage of fixing attention is that it causes you to remember well that you just did something. Often it happens that we do not remember well whether we did or did not do the important action. For example, "Did I turn off the electricity or gas when I left my apartment?" or like questions which sometimes bug a person and cause him unnecessarily to go back to the apartment and check whether he did or did not do an important action that he should have remembered but did not.
Another behavior to prevent your forgetting taking something with you from your office or home (like a credit card when you go out to shop) is to take the object out of your desk or out of your outer jacket pocket (which you might not wear going out) and lay it out in your close view on your desk or next to it. There you force visual feedback on the object. These two behaviors will eliminate 95% of absent-minded forgetting but you must not forget to do the behaviors in the first place. In the worst case, write a note to yourself and tie it around your wrist or just set a reminder on your phone.
Then, whenever you leave a place, always take a last, scanning glance at where you occupied the space and it’s surroundings to pick up overlooked, potentially absent-mined leaving behind forgettings.
Prevent Absent-Minded Forgetting Relating to the above, the following two behaviors can prevent and reduce the absent-minded forgetting that causes too much trouble in one's life. First, the "fixing attention" on an object you will need to shortly remember. It could be as simple as spending an extra 15 seconds concentration on your just-bought subway ticket (in Tokyo) and the fact that you re putting it into your left-side pants pocket as you get on subway (Instead of the usual mindless shoving the ticket in a pocket and not activating your long-term memory about the ticket's location when you immediately need it on exiting) The "fixing attention" puts a time-activated red flasher in your pre-frontal cerebral cortex that goes off every time you think "subway ticket" and flashes "left-side pocket." (The technique called “pigeonholing” in recall psychology.) Another advantage of fixing attention is that it causes you to remember well that you just did something. Often it happens that we do not remember well whether we did or did not do the important action. For example, "Did I turn off the electricity or gas when I left my apartment?" or like questions which sometimes bug a person and cause him unnecessarily to go back to the apartment and check whether he did or did not do an important action that he should have remembered but did not.
Another behavior to prevent your forgetting taking something with you from your office or home (like a credit card when you go out to shop) is to take the object out of your desk or out of your outer jacket pocket (which you might not wear going out) and lay it out in your close view on your desk or next to it. There you force visual feedback on the object. These two behaviors will eliminate 95% of absent-minded forgetting but you must not forget to do the behaviors in the first place. In the worst case, write a note to yourself and tie it around your wrist or just set a reminder on your phone.
Then, whenever you leave a place, always take a last, scanning glance at where you occupied the space and it’s surroundings to pick up overlooked, potentially absent-mined leaving behind forgettings.
Mnemonic Memorizing Non-Number Facts is easy and enjoyable using already invented mnemonic and you may invent your own. Example: HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) for names of the North American Great Lakes; ROY G. BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) for the primary colors.
The Roget’s Thesaurus has become obsolete thanks to googling; if you forget a word but know its meaning, you can Google it, for example, go to “food fruit” and its list and in seconds you'll find and recognize “cantaloupe” as the word you wanted but couldn't name. This becomes especially useful after brain stroke that affects recall of names. In today's computer age you can use Google as a thesaurus to find any almost forgotten name or concept.
A big memory disturber that we do not consider is the free floating anxiety in each person's mind due to daily worries and caused by bad living. The more one's mind is occupied with worries and fears (the paranoias of life, I call them) the harder it is to have a sharp memory. Of course, one cannot quickly remove one's worries but one should try hard to arrange life most simply by getting rid of the complications, by ending longstanding problems.
A big memory disturber that we do not consider is the free floating anxiety in each person's mind due to daily worries and caused by bad living. The more one's mind is occupied with worries and fears (the paranoias of life, I call them) the harder it is to have a sharp memory. Of course, one cannot quickly remove one's worries but one should try hard to arrange life most simply by getting rid of the complications, by ending longstanding problems.
Alzheimer Disease (AD) memory loss is typified by being slowly progressing (May not be noticed for years), global (All parts of memory deteriorate) and inexorable. Close family may have noted deterioration, but first public notice is when one who seemed normal is sitting or wandering somewhere unable to find the way home. And he is quite disturbed about this lapse of memory because at this stage of AD the memory system for most part is still functioning and one has insight. This typifies initial memory loss in AD due to a small here or there break down in nerve connection. Also, at the start, old memories remain intact; it is the recent memories and especially directions for travel that are first, worst affected. Loss of naming is common (See 1st section of this chapter on anomia) to all old age but in Alzheimer's it worsens to the point that you call everyone or everything whatsisname or thingamajig.
Tips for Keeping Good Memory Function in Brain;
First, be aware that keeping a good memory is not only preventing the physical deterioration of brain-caused aging or disease; it is also keeping up with new techniques of making memory easier for you by making recall almost automatic. Like the already given memory system for recalling multiple-digit numbers by sounds. For example, at age 88 now, I actually have a better recall than before even though my brain has undoubtedly aged, because I kept up and learned new systems to help my old-age faulty recall. So do not take a fatalist attitude toward loss of memory with aging.
In the physical sphere, central to all memory loss is the decreasing nutrition of brain cell. This can be prevented by keeping low the low-density cholesterol (LDL-C below 60 mg%, or 1.6 mMole/L), avoiding or lowering high blood pressure and keeping good cardiac output by protecting your heart from unnecessary physical stresses. Alzheimer Disease is not circulatory but it is worsened and brought on earlier when poor circulation destroys defenses and unmasks it. Another preventive is avoiding head trauma, even minor banging, and this requires being alert to it. (Wear visor cap to warn of a coming bang on forehead ahead of time) Finally, and importantly, exercising your brain by good reading and intellectual work will slow its aging.
Medicine that harms Memory; The diazepam medicines, Valium, Librium, Xanax, Solanax, Ativan and anti-depressants like Tofranil may cause absent-minded forgetting. So if you take the medications, especially to sleep, be extra alert to prevent absent-minded misplacing like whenever you leave a place, stopping at the door, scanning back where you occupied the space, and asking yourself; Have I forgot anything? Or do I have everything with me? An alcohol-drunk period can have loss of memory, and heavy prolonged alcohol intake leads to a memory loss Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, made famous by the late great actor John Barrymore, who, to compensate, became master of the witty ad lib or humorous aside, poking fun at his own disability. (To see the master at his typical ad libs, click John Barrymore Interview 1940 - YouTube )
Emotional versus Content Memory: The content of an event and the emotional reaction to it are separately registered in your brain and are included in your full declarative memory, but it is adaptive and healing to forget the emotional response (push it into your non-declarative memory which is part of your unconscious mind and not normally accessible to your remembering), while continuing to accurately recall the content (Mother's death). Clinical depression occurs because the victim cannot seem to forget the emotional response to an event. When you note a bad emotional response to an event, go out of your way not to keep the memory of it intact.
For basics, click 9.37 Neurology of Memory- Brain Anatomy .
(For entertaining fiction that teaches Memory, click 3.24 Seminar 4; Super Memory at http://adventuresofkimi.blogspot.com .
For basics, click 9.37 Neurology of Memory- Brain Anatomy .
(For entertaining fiction that teaches Memory, click 3.24 Seminar 4; Super Memory at http://adventuresofkimi.blogspot.com .
To read next chapter, click 1.9 Losing, Misplacing or Accidently Breaking Valu...
