Memory Problems - Fact Sheet

While it is possible to permanently lose embedded and long-term memories following an acquired brain injury, it is much more common for a brain injury to significantly affect short-term memory.

Common everyday experiences become a nightmare of confusion without strategies to manage or compensate for the effects of memory impairment. Problems may include forgetting people’s names, losing a train of thought, getting lost at the shops, repeating or forgetting past conversations, misplacing objects and difficulty learning new skills.

Coping with Memory Problems

Although there is no wonder treatment for memory problems there are many effective strategies that a person can learn to both improve their memory and to improve the successful use of their memory.

Memory training

Rote learning

It turns out that rote learning is one of the most effective ways to improve your memory over the long-term. Rote learning is memorisation by repetition, simply rereading material until you know it, and is familiar to all who went through an old-style school education. Although it can be uninteresting, uninspiring, tedious and boring, rote learning practice promotes identifiable changes in brain chemistry and results in improved memory performance long-term.

Brain training

Training your brain (crossword puzzles, sudoku, logic puzzles, games, etc.) really does work to improve your cognitive performance long-term, and that includes memory. There are two important principles to remember:

Brain Training Software

Not surprisingly, many software programs are available – for a price – to train your brain. They are not all geared towards rehabilitation following an acquired brain injury and you may find that they are not quite suitable for you. If you can discuss them with a neuropsychologist, do so. Some good, scientifically supported programs, appear to be:

Memory compensation

Compensatory strategies are just that – they compensate for an impaired ability. Just as you may use a cane or a guide dog if you lose your vision, you can compensate for impaired short-term memory.

Organising the environment

The aim is to arrange surroundings so that less reliance or demand is placed upon a person’s memory. Strategies for organising the environment include the following:

Using external memory aids

Everyone uses an external memory aid of some type. When effectively used to store information, memory aids should enable a person to focus upon learning and recalling details for which a strategy cannot be used. Types of external aids include:

It is important to realise that not everyone will benefit in the same way from the same tips. Some people have difficulty using a mobile phone with an organiser, for example, because they forget to plug the phone into the charger. Although you can set yourself a reminder to do this once a day, that won’t do you any good if you’re out of the house at the time, or in another room.

The best thing to do is to experiment with different aids until you find the one that works for you.

Developing routines to use memory aids

Learning new skills takes some time and effort before they become automatic. A routine is itself a strategy for coping with memory problems. Sometimes a calendar or a diary is a helpful way to reinforce a routine. Using a memory aid involves a three-step routine, for example:

Improving general well-being

It is important to remember that you brain will only perform well while it is well fuelled, well rested and as healthy as you can make it.

In particular, the vitamins A and E, most of the B-group vitamins and Iron, are all essential for your brain to function smoothly. Although you can take supplements, this can be expensive and there are some dietary supplements that you can overdose on. The best way to ensure that your body and brain are getting everything they need is to eat a good diet.

There are strong claims made for herbal supplements such as brahmi and gingko biloba, however the scientific evidence is mixed and they should be considered aids, rather than cures.

Factors such as anxiety, stress, multiple demands and fatigue can all have serious effects on concentration and memory. Therefore, the improvement of a person’s emotional and physical well-being will most likely have benefits for their mental alertness and ability to process information. Important considerations for improving general well-being include:

Specific memory techniques

The use of visual and verbal association techniques helps to put information into a meaningful context. When a person tries to recall such information later they can use the associated visual and verbal information e.g. her name rhymed with chess - visualise her as a queen on the chess board (Jess).

A good way to remember numbers is by chunking. For example 4578 is remembered as forty-five, seventy eight. Likewise, 502145 would be remembered as half a century followed by the age we get the key to the door and the age a cousin has remained for the past five years.

Other techniques include:

If there is a lot of information to learn or you are finding it difficult, break your rehearsal up into small sessions with a short break in between. This is called distributed practice, and is much more effective than trying to cram in everything at once. Make the breaks short, because forgetting happens quickly.

The PQRST strategy can be used to improve reading and understanding of written material (practice this strategy using a newspaper article).

The steps include:

P - Preview (look over a newspaper article)
Q - Question: What is this article likely to be about?
R - Read the article carefully with the goal of answering the question
S - Summarise or state the main points of the article
T - Test: try to recall the main points immediately and after a short delay (20 minutes).

More information

http://www.ucd.ie/research/news/2006/dec/131206_Memory_Loss.htm

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/296/23/2805

http://www.smart-kit.com/s580/accelerated-learning-improved-memory-via-distributed-practice/