7 Myths Of Memory

Matthew Leitch, a psychologist from the University College London, became fed up with some myths surrounding memory and wrote these 7 myths.

You may have read a few articles about some of them, such as the 7+/-2 rule and using imagery to remember lists.

If you still think it might make sense try remembering a list of 7 things as compared with a similar list split into meaningful groups. For example, 7 animals in one list versus 3 types of big cat, 2 types of bear, and 2 types of reptile. The structured list with sub-lists of 2 or 3 items is much easier to learn.

I wouldn’t be so bold as to suggest that the systems people use to better their memory are wrong and never work. However, it is important to accept such suggestions from people like Leitch so you don’t find yourself relying on these systems.

In my opinion, and the opinion of anyone using a GTD-like system, is that you can never really rely on your memory and should do your best to develop a few habits so you don’t get caught out.

Talk to your parents: everyone seems to inevitably lose their memory to some extent. Either that, or the 8th myth of memory could be that you can’t improve your memory.

7 memory myths exploded - [LearningIdeas]