Got a Really Lousy Memory?

How many things do you believe and act on, thatNow assume you did that and created a freaky
aint so?mental-picture, together with an Association the new
I always knew that Seattle was the most rained onfact has in common with an old permanent memory.
city in the U.S. Kids wereborn there with umbrellas inYou try to retrieve the new stuff and you get zilch.
their hand.The missing element is emotionalizing the new details
Now I saw the stats and Atlanta, Boston and Newby producing adrenaline.
York are worse. Another urbanmyth dies.You do not need real stress, just a semblance of
Do you think the word stupid, when you read ornoise, pain, or threat.
hear pitches forherbs and supplement concoctions?Some scientists call it an Anchor to solidify the new
Me too, but recent research by independent sourcesmemory in long-term residence.
indicates many work as well as prescription drugs,Examples
and without harmful side effects. Turns out thatAfter you created a mental-image and an association,
scientists findserious merit in Ginko and Ginseng, whileslap your hand down on thetable with a loud bang.
folic acid may prevent strokes and heartattacksAnother approach is to shout (scream) out the new
better than anything else.fact, work or concept. Don't laugh, a sure memory
What about memory strategies?link is to smash your hand againstthe side of your
92% of us believe in either repetition or a paper andthigh - hard. Some students will slap their forehead
pen to sink facts into our long-term memory.and feel theslight pain while hearing the loud thud
SpeedLearning graduates have two other strategies:against their coconut. Try it because it works like a
the Peg systemand the Link system to double theircharm and you are not the guinea pig.
long-term memory. The secret of theseWhat seems silly to an extreme in the telling, works
twostrategies is using your Minds Eye to createto excite an adrenaline dose.
mental images, and to create a permanent LinkYour non-conscious mind, the one that handles 11
(association) between old memories and newmillion bits of information persecond, has no sense of
information we wantto retain.humor when it comes to threats of potential danger
Adrenaline Rulesto your personal survival.
The only thing we associate with adrenaline is stress,When your non-conscious mind feels a slap or hears
and the Fight-or-Flight syndrome. A synonym used bya loud noise close by, it is off and running to set up
scientists is epinephrine, and it kicks in whenwe getyour defense system. Of course when nothing
scared, excited; hear a loud, high decibel sound orhappens after the initial action, it sends out a
see a blinding lightflash. A little research adds it is acancellation of the alert order. What it cannot cancel
hormone, derived from amino acids, and poursfromis the original spurt of adrenaline, and its affect on
our adrenal gland. The word is from Greek meaningimproving your memory.
on the kidneys, wasfirst artificially synthesized in 1904Creative Ideas
by Frederick Stolz.Dr. Roger Pittman, Harvard Medical School is a leading
One more thing, our Sympathetic Nervous Systempsychiatrist specializing in
releases epinephrine (adrenaline) when we arePTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He heard
stressed, while our Parasympathetic Nervous Systemabout Dr. McGaugh and his experiments with
produces Acetylcholine to counteract the adrenalineadrenaline and memory.
effect. It is stress verses relaxation.First, PTSD is as real as a heart attack and
When Fight-or-Flight is activated our immune systemparticularly favors returning military veterans from the
stops working, we feel heavy bodily heat, our heartMiddle East causing disabling symptoms, inability to
beats with a wild rhythm, and we are preparing forfunction at home and at work, and persistent
war.nightmares. PTSD produces a replay and continuous
So Whatinvoluntary feedback of the original traumatic event
Professor of neurobiology James McGaugh, Universityexperienced. Each mental visualization disturbs the
of California at Irvine,is credited with the researchemotions, thoughts and behaviors of the patient.
that Adrenaline is the glue for long-term memory,itComes Dr. Pittman with Propranolol, a
makes our brain remember better. If you recall beingadrenaline-blocker, and no more traumaticvisualization
rejected, insulted, threatened or failing, you can stilland feelings. Some call it Nobel Prize worthy because
retrieve those memories because of Adrenaline.of its miracle cure of traumatic stress for rape
All the common day and irrelevant events of your lifevictims, soldiers, and those suffering
are not filed away intopermanent memory becauseObsessive-Compulsive Disorder. All it takes is 4x a
there was no release of Adrenaline.day for ten days of propranolol, and something that
Profound Point for Memory: if you consciouslyhas interfered with living for years or even decades
emotionalize a fact, idea orprinciple by creating adisappears permanently.
weird mental-image on the movie-screen of yourWhat happens is that propranolol sits on the
mind,and a powerful behavior that awakens yourappropriate nerves and simplyblocks the entrance of
Amygdala, you get a dose of adrenaline to retainadrenaline which would replay the traumatic scenes.
long term memory of that idea. Your amygdala isSo that is it for now - adrenaline is excellent for
located in your brain,in the Limbic (emotional) system.creating long-term memories,and even better for
It is a Skilldisabling PTSD. We suggest every time you learn
Have you ever attempted to remember a particularsomething new your brain creates a firewall to
set of details, repeated them out-loud, wrote themprotect your coconut from ninety forms of brain
on paper, views the facts six-times, yet five-minutesfever, maybe Alzheimers and Parkinsons. This has
laterthey were missing-in-action?become the prevailing view inthe scientific
Your brain either was not in the mood to learn orcommunity, so believe it.
you had ten other more importantthings on yourWill you benefit from a 3x of your reading speed,
mind. What is the strategy to remember even whenand a 2x of your memory?
your cognitivemind refuses to cooperate?Do you gain a competitive edge by reading three
Smart folks ask themselves - what does this newbooks, articles and reportsin the time your peers can
word, fact or idea remind me ofthat I already know?hardly finish even one? You decide.