Page 79 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

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Associations or Links

When you experience a new event, the hippocampus starts communicating with the
parahippocampus, which is a big part of the neighboring “association cortex” in the brain, to see if
the new event can be associated or linked with an older memory in storage. If it can be linked, the
event is easier to remember and a new “memory link” is formed in the hippocampus and
parahippocampus, which may in turn link up to even older memories stored in other parts of the
temporal lobe or the frontal lobe. We all use associations or links, sometimes without even
consciously knowing that it's happening. For example, some physical feature of a new person you
meet, such as the eyes or forehead, can trigger a memory of a completely unrelated person who had
similar eyes or forehead. This is a useless association because it doesn't help you in any way. On the
other hand, linking a new acquaintance with another “memory storage” person with the same
interests or in the same profession may give you a head start on dealing with this new acquaintance.

Create Interesting Associations

In its simplest form, creating an association or link is to connect the event you need to remember
with something you already know. Another approach is to visualize and connect pieces of
information into a story or action sequence. For example, if you need to take your dog for a walk,
pick up your dry cleaning, and then call a friend, visualize your dog picking up your clothes between
his teeth and handing them to your friend. If you are facile with language or have poetic ability, you
can use letter or word links or rhyming associations to help you remember. If you are in the habit of
doing this, you clearly prefer to tap into your auditory over your visual memory.

Visual Imagery

See it. People with a good visual memory can see things in their heads, and these memories stay long
and firm in the hippocampus and frontal lobes, and can be retrieved later more easily. If you have
this type of skill, you can use photographic or film techniques to boost your memory. The
photographic technique is to consciously register each event as a photographic image in your brain,
retaining all the elements as they actually occurred: the main person or centerpiece