As part of our lengthy conversation, Eran gave me an explanation on how our memory actually works. Our brain can contain a lot of information, but some of this information leaves our brain quickly. Sometime it seems to us that we can’t even remember something a second after it was said to us. For example when we meet new people and we just can’t remember their names although they told us their name a second ago. Eran said that one way in which our brain remembers is to attach significance to things we want to remember. According to him, if we want to remember someone’s name we need to concentrate and think that this person is interesting and important. So if it is important the chances are we are going to remember it. Another way in which our memory works is to remember unusual events which have taken place. Eran pointed out that most of us remember exactly where we were and what we did when the Second Lebanese War broke out and all of us remember where we were and what we did during the attacks at the World Trade Center in 9/11/2001. He is actually right I do remember exactly what I did on that day. I came back from the gym and turned on the television and saw a breaking news broadcast of the events. I remember my mum calling and asking me if I had seen what happened. When I asked what does that have to do with remembering other things, he told me that in order to remember stuff we need to remember them un an unusual way. He gave me an example of remembering information by creating a funny or bizarre story. He also said that we can remember a lot of information from songs. He gave an example of how we remember all the stupid radio ads although we never even pay attention to them. It is through the catchy rhythm that this information sinks in into our memory. He gave me a few other really good tips, but I have to run now so I’ll tell you about them later. In the meantime, I was wondering about your thoughts regarding your own memory.
Do you think you need to improve it? If so then how? What helps you remember things? especially people’s names. I am so bad at it that it’s embarrassing.