Secret numbers, dates of birthdays, experiences: our brain stores countless pieces of information every day. But where do they actually end up? And how can we remember difficult things more easily?
It’s one of those things with memory: some experiences, names or dates seem to have disappeared forever, we can’t get other things together properly and other things we can’t get out of our heads at all. But what does it actually depend on what we remember and what we forget? And how do you manage to reliably remember a new PIN? Experts give tips and explain how to bring back forgotten memories.
The two types of memory
Laypersons usually distinguish between short- and long-term memory. And that’s basically how it’s done in science, except that short-term memory is called working memory there. This stores information for up to 30 seconds, explains Karl-Heinz Bäuml, Professor of Developmental and Cognitive Psychology at the University of Regensburg. Anything beyond those 30 seconds goes into long-term memory.
«It is helpful to think of long-term memory as a memory with millions of entries,» explains Bäuml. What is retrieved from it at a certain point in time depends on so-called external factors – for example where you are at the moment – and on internal factors – such as your emotional state.
Whether we can remember something well or badly depends, for example, on whether things seem relevant to us and whether they affect us emotionally. This means that anyone who is interested in physics and is already familiar with it will be able to remember new information from this area more easily than someone who has no idea about physics.
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Tricks to remember important dates
Tricks can be used to remember sensitive data such as a bank card PIN. With such important information, the memory entry needs to be well anchored so that it can always be actively called up – for example in the long queue in front of the supermarket checkout.
«The brain thinks in pictures,» explains Margit Ahrens from the Federal Association for Memory Training. She advises memorizing symbols for the numbers zero to nine and remembering the PIN with a story.
The expert explains this using PIN 1234 as an example: One is stored as a lighthouse, two as a swan, three as a tricycle, and four as a cloverleaf. She now combines these saved symbols into a story: A swan circles around the lighthouse on a tricycle and its beak is full of clover.
«Everything I want to keep I have to connect with a picture,» says Ahrens. However, this is not always possible, for example when learning vocabulary. In such cases, the memory trainer advises taking another sense on board: So instead of just reading the words silently, also speak them. «It works even better if you take the reins and walk through the room.»
How to bring back forgotten memories
According to Professor Karl-Heinz Bäuml, it is rather rare for memories to «disappear» from the head. «The vast majority of entries are not deleted, just switched to passive.» They can possibly be found again with certain key stimuli, as he explains. Music, for example, often awakens memories. Or smells are used to bring out what is supposedly forgotten.
«The best tip is to try to refresh your memory from time to time,» advises Bäuml, «by trying to memorize it yourself.» Writing in a diary, talking to friends about your experiences, looking at photo albums – that’s what keeps you going Reminders «active».
(dpa)