Learn faster, remember more
Here's how to improve memory and learn faster. Start with the memory palace, a technique over 2,000 years old, and Jim Kwik's case for attention first. Other pieces cover spaced review, why relevance helps things stick, and a study comparing four ways to remember names. 10 picks from the Bez Tytułu newsletter, in reading order.
The picks
Memory palaces link facts to places
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #245
The creator argues memory palaces work by attaching facts to familiar places, and that they work best with spaced review.
The speaker teaches the memory palace, a technique more than 2,000 years old, in which you link items to fixed locations you know well. Start small with about 10 locations, make the images weird and vivid, use several senses, and walk the route repeatedly. He advises one palace per topic and pairing it with spaced review. He says it stores facts but does not replace understanding complex subjects.
Key points- Start small: about ten fixed locations you know well, visited in order
- Make images weird and vivid, and picture things rather than words
- Walk the palace repeatedly, then review with spaced repetition, not once
12 Simple Memory Exercises You Can Do Almost Anywhere
Read · pickthebrain.com · Issue #16
Pick the Brain argues that a sharp memory helps at work, in school, and in daily life, and lists 12 exercises that need no special equipment. Examples include mental math for store bills, rhyming games, recalling details before meeting someone, retelling old stories, and picturing the route home from memory. Mental imagery, which turns new words into pictures, is presented as aiding recall.
Attention is the art of learning
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #21
The art of learning and memory is the art of attention.
Jim Kwik, shown in a short clip, names attention as the number one rule of memory and learning. He opens with a hand exercise and asks who wants to learn faster and remember more.
Key points- The speaker calls attention the number one rule of memory and learning
- Opens with a physical exercise: shake a hand out, make a fist, touch chin
Review new learning on days 1, 3, 6
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #131
Review newly learned material on days 1, 3 and 6, since the speaker says the brain drops meaningless information within three days.
The speaker says that research shows meaningless information is often forgotten within about three days, and that the problem has been confirmed in more recent studies. To retain something long term, the speaker recommends reviewing it on day 1, again on day 3 and again on day 6 after first learning it.
Key points- Research shows meaningless information fades within about three days
- Review it on Day 1, again on Day 3, and again on Day 6
- The speaker calls this the magic memorization formula
Give memories personal relevance to remember
Short · youtu.be · Issue #153
To remember something, give it personal relevance, since the brain is constantly trying to forget most of what it sees.
The speaker says the brain constantly tries to forget most of what it encounters, so to remember something you have to establish why it is relevant. Saying why something matters gives it meaning and makes it stick.
Key points- Most of what we see is not worth remembering to the brain
- Say why the information is relevant to you to make it stick
- Without established relevance, the brain drops the information
Combining imagery and retrieval beats rereading
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #217
A name-memory study found that combining elaborate imagery with retrieval practice beats simple rereading.
The speaker describes a study testing four ways to remember names: a control, semantic elaboration, retrieval practice, and both combined. Semantic elaboration means linking each name to a vivid image, such as a big man bobbing for bread rolls for Bob Baker. The control group recalled under 20 percent of names, each technique roughly doubled that, and combining them reached about 70 percent in the lab.
Key points- Control group reread each name four times, like studying notes
- Semantic elaboration pairs each name with sound, meaning and a vivid image
- Retrieval practice recalls the last name after seeing only the first
Mnemonic Generator: Turn Facts into Memorable Phrases
Tool · automem.us · Issue #208
AutoMem is a web tool that generates mnemonics from facts you paste in, in styles including Funny, Rhyme, and Animals. Examples include the colors of the rainbow and planet order. Notes can be uploaded and turned into flashcards for spaced repetition using ChatGPT. Saving a mnemonic as a note card requires signing up. The site describes itself as fast and free.
Lisa Genova: Nine Tactics to Strengthen Memory
Watch · youtube.com · 10 min · Issue #76
Neuroscientist and novelist Lisa Genova presents nine tactics for strengthening memory in this Big Think video, including paying attention, securing sleep, creating associations, using repetition, writing things down and self-testing. She argues that occasional memory lapses are normal and that memory can be improved. The video closes with the point that forgetting is human.
How Sleep Can Help Solve Problems
Read · slate.com · 5 min · Issue #76
Sleep researcher Kristin E.G. Sanders argues in Slate that sleep may help solve problems. She describes targeted memory reactivation, which pairs a learned item with a sound or smell and replays that cue during sleep. In her study, participants who heard cues overnight solved more brain teasers the next morning. Her practical tip is to think about a problem before bed.
When Memories from Fiction Become Part of Who You Are
Read · psyche.co · 17 min · Issue #208
Psychology instructor Osman Görkem Çetin argues that memories of fiction can matter as much as memories of real life, serving the same roles in self-image, decisions, and social bonding. In a study by his team, movie memories had more perceptual detail than book memories. People who are more empathetic engage with stories as if they were real, which makes those memories richer and more emotional.