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A. Your brain can process only a limited amount of information at one time. B. A mind map is suggested to help you quickly locate the main idea. C. One technique is to recite the ideas out loud in your own words. D. Otherwise you will be tired out. E. How does the brain save new information? F. Cramming the night before a big test doesn't help. |
If you're like most students, you probably started this new academic year with a resolution to study harder. Now, science can help you keep your resolution. Recent discoveries in brain research point to better ways to learn.
Think of the last time you looked up a number in the telephone book and dialed it. Could you remember five minutes later? Probably not! That's because it's in your short-term memory.
Our memory actually has three components. Sensory memory takes in information from our five senses, but these memories last just a few seconds. Short-term memory works like a "holding area" for new information—that's where you keep the phone number while you dial it. But if you can put the phone number into long-term memory, you'll remember that same phone number next week. This part of your memory holds everything from irregular verbs to the names of all your cousins.
When you study, you transfer new information into long-term memory. Every time we learn something new, the structure of the brain actually changes, as we build new connections to information that we already know. When there are more connections to the new information, it's easier to find it again.
Brain researchers have discovered three key points for effective study.
♦Find the most important information and organize it. Therefore, don't try to remember every detail. When studying a textbook, look for titles, headings, and illustrations to show you the main ideas.
♦Make the new brain connections stronger. This is the most powerful way to transfer information from short-term to long-term memory. Another method is drawing a picture of the information, to activate the visual part of the brain.
♦Give the new material time to soak in—your brain has to build new physical connections. For this reason, it's better to study for several short sessions than one long one.
By understanding how the brain works, and following these three tips, you can make this your most successful academic year ever.
