Activate your memory
ACTIVATE YOUR SENSORY MEMORY
There is an important connection between our mind and body. The five senses are closely linked with our memory. They collect information about our environment that are interpreted by the brain.
Your five senses could help your mind study even better.
Olfactory memory
Scent, emotion, and memory are all intertwined. Our sense of smell is tied to the limbic system due to the brain’s anatomy. Odours take a direct route to the limbic system, including the amygdala and the hippocampus, the regions related to emotion and memory. Certain scents have an exceptional ability to instantaneously trigger vivid memories. So, why not use this element to improve our study session?
This phenomenon is known as the Proust effect, referring to Marcel Proust who penned the legendary lines in his 1913 novel, Á la Recherche du Temps Perdu:
“… I carried to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had let soften a bit of madeleine. But at the very instant when the mouthful of tea mixed with cake crumbs touched my palate, I quivered, attentive to the extraordinary thing that was happening inside me.”
Someone who knows how to use theses sense to improve our memory is Dawn Goldwork, co-founder, and director of what she calls her “olfactive branding company.”
She uses the “visceral language of scent to transform brand-building.” She explains how we tend to smell in colour, demonstrating the connection with pieces of paper dipped in scents. For example, we associate citrus-flavoured mandarin with orange, yellow and green. But when we are smelling vetiver, a grassy scent, we envision green and brown.
So, on your desk should be something you can smell such as a fragranced candle.
Echoic memory
If you find yourself stressed and anxious whilst preparing for an exam, I recommend you try listening to music.
There is a strong connection between music and cognitive ability. It enhances learning, memory, language and attention. Listening to music triggers the release of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that promotes feelings of happiness, excitement, and relaxation in our brains. There is a ton of research, such as the Mozart effect, that shows us the impact of music in our brain. Music can help us to improve our study session, change how we see the topic that we are learning and even alter how we see the world. According to research by Michael W. Ceci and V. K. Kumar in their book, A Correlational Study of Creativity, Happiness, Motivation, and Stress from Creative Pursuits, as our mood improves, so does our ability to solve problems, learn, be creative and ultimately improve our memory.
When do we use our echoic memory?
· When we listen to music
Our brain briefly recalls each note and connects it to the ensuing note, recognising the sequence of notes as a song.
· When we talk with another person
Our brain comprehends words by association of each syllable with the preceding one. Our echoic memory is activated to retain every individual syllable when we hear spoken language. Doing this activates both hemispheres and maximises our memory.
· When we ask for speech repetition
The information that is recalled easily appears at wider intervals. When we request the repetition of what was mentioned, our echoic memories will identify the repeated statement as familiar.