problems learning...memory issues

[sicro]

Hello to everyone, I'm a new member so I'd like to great you all first!

 

Like I've stated in the title, I have some problems regarding the learning process.

 

I seem to forget rather quickly what I've learned and repeating doesn't seem to help at all. I've repeated what Bronze and Brass are for about 1x times till now and I still keep on forgetting. I'm finishing college this year, by the way.

 

Anyway, I have really good grades and catch on really fast how things work and basic principles, but I forget the details in a heart beat. I struggle especially with subjects that don't have some kind of logic.. Like remembering composite materials names, or associating weird names to things -those theories that are named after someone..-... etc.

 

For example, during high-school we did a lot of calculus and in the first year of college too. Now, after 2 years, I struggle with solving calculus exercises and couldn't even remember what the first derivative is used for and so on. Another example, I know the laws of Thermodynamics, but I can never recall them by heart, by law number. So I know that energy is preserved, but I can't remember what number this law has.

 

Do you know any ways of changing my learning habits in order to improve memory? Or any ways of improving memory not necessarily related to learning? I am really desperate, because I have the feeling that I'm wasting time learning since I will forget what I'm learning. Sometimes I forget till the next day...

 

And the really weird thing is that I'm interested in almost everything I learn.. from math to history.. but I still forget.

[Mr Skeptic]

Haha, you sound just like me. We just have a different learning style than most people, which serves very nicely in sciences like physics. Although you do seem to be worse at detail than I am.

 

Maybe you should make yourself a "cheat sheet" containing the important information that you don't remember, for easy reference. Something that can quickly remind you of stuff you already studied.

[sicro]

I also have a problem with remembering street names, store names, things I have to do... Sometimes I feel as if I were dreaming and when I realize I was supposed to do something and forgot, I feel like that memory was there but not "accessed". Almost like when you find out you have to do something next year and you put that thought somewhere in the back of your head and don't use it.

 

And this feeling is different from the other kind of "forgetting", when I feel as if what I'm trying to learn isn't tied down to anything and I'm going to "lose" the thought. When I try to remember things like city names I get exactly this feeling, like the name is hanging above the forgetting pit and I already feel the fear of dropping it. It really feels weird, as if I knew that there's no point in trying to remember that. And when I reread about this certain thing which I can no longer remember, it feels like I'm learning something new, although I know I've learned it before. Unlike the first type of forgetting, when it feels like I had the memory inside.

[Tnad]

Me too I have to say that i sometimes have that problem.But it is mostly in subjects/topics in which i have less interest.To deal with it I try to relate such names,events with something more interesting sometimes even funny as long as it enables me to remember.For your case I don't know your interest but for example, in recalling the uses of bronze I can call the elt Bronze for Bell( used to make bells) or B^2 or assemble its uses (let's say the first letter of each)in a way they make a sentence that i will easly remember. For theories try to internalise it relating to your daily life and mark an attention on their differences it will enable you to know this is the first bcoz xyz... thus this is next.For me I sometimes create some links between theory and the person(althaugh mostly not logical, i forge it as long as it helps me remembering both!)but keep the real explanation! nice that u're good remembering basic principles,u can make it easly!

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I also have a problem with remembering street names, store names, things I have to do... Sometimes I feel as if I were dreaming and when I realize I was supposed to do something and forgot, I feel like that memory was there but not "accessed". Almost like when you find out you have to do something next year and you put that thought somewhere in the back of your head and don't use it.

Hmm. I'll bet there's an assortment of medical problems that might be related to this, even; an assortment of web sites (not necessarily reputable, I haven't done too much research) tells me that potassium deficiency can produce poor memory, among other symptoms.

 

That's not to say the only explanation is medical -- this could just be the way you are. But it's worth looking into, even for the sake of just having a thorough checkup.

 

Have you been like this your entire life, or is it more recent?

 

Another thing you should consider is using an external brain. I'm reminded here of the software The Hit List, with its motto "Forget what you need to do with confidence", but there's plenty of other similar stuff. There are also paper planners, of course; my brother carries around a pocket notebook and pen so he can write down memorable quotes, ideas, and random stuff, for example.

 

Now, I'm a bit of the opposite of you. I tend to remember random facts for years, storing them until I turn them into a bad pun while talking about something completely unrelated. But I still don't trust myself to remember everything I have to do, so I keep a to-do list and calendar electronically. It's very handy.

[Genecks]

Generally, the brain starts to forget things, hence the forgetting curve.

 

Scientists and psychologists have found better ways to define "if you don't use it, you lose it."

 

There a lot of cognitive aspects to humans. A person cannot expect people to remember everything, but you can hope they can keep relevant information to weekly/daily tasks. Continual attempts at recall help form better plasticity, thus increasing the ability to "burn the information into your skull." Neural darwinism takes over and from continual practice in re-reading material, "understanding"/recognizing material, and being able to recall it will plasticize the brain so that the knowledge stays there until the stimulation stops.*** If the stimulation stops, then a lot of the neurons that help you understand/know/remember the material die. I consider, however, there to be a cluster of cells that remain in order for a person to quickly pickup a material again. I call these "thought origin neurons."

 

Somehow I still remember how to rewire a telephone system in a house, although I learned about it all as a child. Sometimes there are things that just stay with you, or perhaps they are so easy to pick back up that not much is to be forgotten. I truthfully think an active application of learned materials while knowing what is going on during the time helps a person remember something later on.

 

It's also possible for people to tag "importance" onto things. I don't know how the human brain does it, but it's still fascinating, because when a person tags importance on something, then the ability to remember that thing often increases, especially with continual recall.

 

Some levels of loneliness/depression/feeling-like-life-sucks can inhibit retention rates and can interfere with long-term potentiation.

 

Being able to mathematically model your knowledge and recall using a graphical representation is pretty awesome but time consuming. Doing so could tell you more about yourself if you attempt to graph retention along with keeping a journal about your daily activities, food consumption, and perhaps find correlations between your psychology/anatomy/physiology and learning retention. If you attempt to examine yourself on physicalist grounds, you may learn a lot (yet be irked in considering yourself as complex physical entity rather than just being yourself).

 

I believe that some people's brains are shaped differently than others. As such, they are able to retain data unlike other persons. Nonetheless, the ability to undergo neural darwinism can give an average joe a chance of fighting.

 

see also:

learning curves.

 

*** As a note, I don't believe in the word "understanding" anymore, because I've recently been turned on to the concept of "data mining" in reference to human learning. I would like to replace the concept of "understanding" with pattern recognition, memorization, rule relation in reference to the pattern (the pattern has a set of rules that allow it to be that pattern), and the ability to employ novel applications of pattern and rule knowledge.

Edited May 1, 2010 by Genecks

[michel123456]

Hi Sicro.

From your symptoms, you must be a little bit too intelligent, that's your problem. You don't put any attention in memorizing because it is stuff already discovered by others. You need mysteries to apply your mind to.

 

What you need is make bronze & brass important things. You need mnemotechnical tricks. See Mnemonic on Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic

 

I find very useful to have a clear image of what I have to remember. Find a picture of an antique bronze statue, and a brass door knob, you will never confuse the 2 objects. In case of other concepts, you can use colors, making the first Law Red, the second Yellow, the third Green. You can also use position, vertical left red, a.s.o.

You can also tell stories (the bronze living statue smashing the door instead of using the brass door knob), or putting the concepts around you (the first law is on the ceiling, the second law is on the window,... There are plenty of amusing tricks in order to help you.

I remember our teacher speaking about the prime number 30103, and how to remember it. He said, look at the face of your fellow. the ear is number 3, the eye is number zero, the nose is 1, the eye zero, the ear is 3, thus 30103 (http://primes.utm.edu/curios/page.php/30103.html). After 35 years, I still remember the number. Of course I can't remember all of its properties, that was not part of the trick.

[sicro]

Thank you all for your help! I did some research and I don't think it's a medical problem...I have a pretty healthy diet... And I also had my blood-work done not long ago and nothing came up, except a minor Ca deficiency which I've always had...

 

It's true that I find it easier to remember things that are challenging, which I have to "discover" by myself. I've tried using imagery for learning and noticed that weird associations do improve my memory. However I thought that this method was like permanently pumping air into a leaky tire and that if my memory were normal I wouldn't have to "trick" it.

 

And related to 30103, by memorizing it like that I can "feel" that I will remember it. As if it is "anchored" to something. It's really weird how before forgetting or remembering I can usually feel what will happen.

 

Once again, thank you all, I've taken notes from aprox. all post and I'm trying to find improvements for my "condition".

[michel123456]

Your memory is normal. It is much more difficult to forget than to learn. Now you have 30103 in your head for a lifetime.

 

There are numerous tricks in all disciplines. How to remember the first 30 digits of number Pi:

Now I will a rhyme construct,

By chosen words, the young instruct.

Cunningly devised endeavors,

Con it and remember ever.

Widths in circle here you see,

Sketched out in strange obscurity.

 

Count the letters of each word, and you look sooo cultivated.

 

People use to hide those tricks quite often because they like to appear clever. Don't be afraid using as many as you want. You are not different from the others.

 

And when you don't remember anything, to save you in any circumstances

there is always this: "Ouk an laveis para tou mi ehontos" (pronounced "Ouk Ann Laveez Para Tou Mee Ehhondoss")

 

It means "there is nothing to get from the one who has nothing". (ΟΥΚ ΑΝ ΛΑΒΕΙΣ ΠΑΡΑ ΤΟΥ ΜΗ ΕΧΟΝΤΟΣ, Loukianos (Lucian) 125,185 AD, in "the dialogues of the dead".

It is the answer of the dead man Menippos who had no money (obolos) to pay for the boat to hell (Adis, in the center of the Earth)

 

Very useful.