Why we forget and how to improve memory

• Negative self-concept: we think of ourselves a one who forgets things.
  
  
• We have not learned the material well: If something is to be retained, it must be correctly, clearly and forcibly impressed on the mind. We must give it the necessary attention and interest. Self-questioning and spaced or periodic reviews are essential.
  
  
• Psychological reasons: defensive forgetting. Generally, unpleasant things are remembered better than pleasant things (especially by pessimists) and both pleasant and unpleasant things are remembered better than materials we are indifferent to. Freudian theory holds that unpleasant things are often barred from consciousness. This is often referred to as active forgetting.
  
  
• Disuse: Memories fade away rapidly when not reviewed or used. The curve of forgetting is like a playground slide; we forget most immediately after we learn--in the first 24 hours; then it proceeds slowly. Motor learning seems to be better retained than verbal learning because a motor act as to be completely done to be done at all and so requires a higher degree of organization and competency which involves over learning.
  
  
• But "forgotten" material can be relearned in less time than is required for the original learning, even after many years' disuse. Even material that we do not relearn has undoubtedly been transformed into attitudes and values that form the foundations of our judgment. Education pays in spite of all the details that are forgotten.
  
  Forgetting through disuse is normal and unavoidable. The mind is a marvelous instrument, but not a perfect instrument.
  
  
• Interference: Forgetting was formerly thought to be mainly the result of disuse, but now it is believed that disuse may be a less important factor than interference due to emotional problems, anxieties, presence of strangers (typing), intense concentration on something else and intellectual interference.
  
  Intellectual interference or mental overcrowding can be minimized if we reflect on our reading and experiences, understand them, clarify them, associate, synthesize and organize them so they will not interfere with each other. Above all, we must avoid pushing, cramming and overcrowding our learning hours with unorganized material.
  
  Forgetting caused by later learning is called retroactive inhibition. There is more interference between two similar subjects than between two unlike subjects. (Follow study of history with chemistry rather than English history or literature.)

How to remember

• Attention: Attend to the material intensely and wholly. Nothing else should enter your mind. Later, but not now.
  
  
• Interest: Ask questions to stimulate interest. Take part or sides in the problems issues and subjects you are reading about.
  
  
• Intention: Intend to remember as if your life depends on it.
  
  
• Believe: Trust and believe in your ability to remember. It will strengthen as you lay burdens on it and because you trust it.