Online resources for memory improvement
Five Tools for Improving Your Memory – Basic steps to keep your memory in peak condition throughout life. (AARP)
Memory Improvement and Learning Skills – An incredible resource chock-full of articles on every aspect of memory training. There are also sections titled Mnemonics, Amazing Brain, and Great Minds. (Project Happy Child, UK)
Mental fitness – exercises for the brain – Describes a complete “mental workout” — daily exercises for the brain. (bellydoc.com)
Keep Your Brain Alive Exercise – Neurobics, created by a professor of neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center, shows you how to exercise your brain. These mental gymnastics strengthen nerve connections and activate little-used pathways in your brain to help keep your mind fit. (Neurobics.com)
Cognitive Psychology on Memory – Q&A on the ways in which cognitive psychology attempts to understand memory, how we learn, remember and forget, and how human memory compares with computer memory. (South Bank University/London, UK)
Don’t Forget! Playing Games With Memory – Part of a site based on a museum exhibit about memory, this area combines games that test memory with advice for improving memory. (The Exploratorium, San Francisco)
Improving Your Memory – How reviewing, organizing, interpreting and making associations for what you learn can aid memory. (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Memory Techniques and Mnemonics – Handy list of Mind Tools techniques for remembering all kinds of information. (Academictips.org)
Memory and nutrition:
Feed Your Head – Part of a special report on mental acuity, this article lists a number of foods that can help you stay sharp longer. (AARP)
Green Tea and Memory – A readable student paper that shows the science behind green tea producers’ claims of memory enhancement, as well as a clear explanation of how free radicals and antioxidants work. (Vanderbilt University)
Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve Cognitive Function (commercial site) – Report on how fish oils, specifically DHA, help prevent memory loss. (Life Enhancement)
Other resources that we used when writing this article:
Improving Memory: Understanding Age-Related Memory Loss – This series of articles presents the full text of a special health report from Harvard Medical School on the brain mechanics of memory, the ways and the degrees to which memory changes with age, advice on how to respond to memory loss, and strategies for preventing memory loss and improving memory. (Pri-Med Patient Education Center)
Memory Enhancement Seminars for Seniors – Also available in PDF format, this site provides the full text of Dr. Skip Rizzo's presentation on memory enhancement for seniors. Includes detailed explanations of several techniques to improve your memory, including the method of location system, the pegword and link system, and the link method. Also includes a discussion of several cognitive distortions that hamper your ability to remember. (University of Southern California)
Improving Memory – Goes well beyond academic concerns to explain the steps of memory acquisition and retention, plus techniques for improving memory. (University of Texas at Austin)
AAC Study Tips – Also designed for students, but contains clear, concise information about how memory works, why people forget information, and to make improvements. Check out the Information Processing Model for an excellent graphic on where information goes after you take it in. (Ohio University)
20 General Memory Tips – Detailed site that emphasizes the physical and sensory aspects of remembering information offers reassurance to people who think they have poor powers of memory. (Florida Institute of Technology)
Memory Tips – Another good school source. (Alexandria Technical College, Minnesota)
Frequently asked questions about memory (commercial site) – Helpful Q&A about such topics as whether there is really a "photographic memory" and if playing tapes during sleep enhances remembering. (The Memory Key)
