Page 16 - Use Your Memory

1 Is Your Memory Perfect?

Your memory is phenomenal. This statement is made despite the
following counterarguments:
1 Most people remember fewer than 10 per cent of the names of
those whom they meet.
2 Most people forget more than 99 per cent of the phone
numbers given to them.
3 Memory is supposed to decline rapidly with age.
4 Many people drink, and alcohol is reputed to destroy 1000
brain cells per drink.
5 Internationally, across races, cultures, ages and education
levels, there is a common experience, and fear of, having an
inadequate or bad memory.
6 Our failures in general, and especially in remembering, are
attributed to the fact that we are 'only human', a statement that
implies that our skills are inherently inadequate.
7 You will probably fail most of the memory tests in the follow-
ing chapter.
Points 1, 2 and 7 will be dealt with through the remainder of the
book. You will see that it is possible, with appropriate knowledge,
to pass all the tests, and that names and phone numbers are easy to
remember - if you know how.
Your memory does decline with age, but only if it is not used.
Conversely, if it is used, it will continue to improve throughout
your lifetime.
There is no evidence to suggest that moderate drinking
destroys brain cells. This misapprehension arose because it was
found that excessive drinking, and only excessive drinking, did
indeed damage the brain.
Across cultural and international boundaries 'negative experience'
with memory can be traced not to our being 'only human' or in anyway
innately inadequate but to two simple, easily changeable factors: (1)
negative mental set and (2) lack of knowledge.
II