If you want to remember what someone says or the names of various people, this information needs to pass from your short-term memory (the memory you use, say, to remember a phone number just long enough to write it down) into long-term memory (or relatively permanent memory). Short-term memory is limited in capacity—you can hold only a small amount of information there. Long-term memory is unlimited. To facilitate the passage of information from short- to long-term memory, Do the following!
- Focus your attention on the central ideas. Even in the most casual of conversations, there are central ideas. Fix these in your mind. Repeat these ideas to yourself as you continue to listen. Avoid focusing on minor details
- Organize what you hear; summarize the message in a more easily retained form, but take care not to ignore crucial details or qualifications. If you chunk the material into categories, you‘ll be able to remember more information. For example, if you want to remember 15 or 20 items to buy in the supermarket, you‘ll remember more of them if you group them into chunks—say, Legumes, Drinks , and meats.
- Unite the new with the old; relate new information to what you already know. Avoid treating new information as totally apart from all else you know. There‘s probably some relationship and if you identify it, you‘re more like to remember the new
- Repeat names and key concepts to yourself or, if appropriate, aloud. By repeating the names or key concepts, you in effect rehearse these names and concepts, and as a result you‘ll find them easier to learn and remember. If you‘re introduced to Alice, you‘ll stand a better chance of remembering her name if you say, ―Hi, Alice‖ than if you say just ―Hi