Improving memory

Almost everyone could benefit from a better memory. It might allow us to become smarter, do better on an assessment, be more efficient, or just accomplish tasks better. One way to achieve this is known as the testing effect. Periodic and frequent "tests" while learning knowledge helps the information be encoded better because it refires the neurons and strengthens the neural pathway. This can also be accomplished by spacing the learning of information out over a longer time period, instead of learning it all in one sitting.^[1] Memorization can be improved through the utilization of deep processing. Whereas shallow processing is the processing of information at the surface level, deep (or semantic) processing encodes information more effectively by focusing on it in a more considered and focused way. This ingrains the information deeper in the brain and makes the neural networks of the memory stronger, and therefore easier to recall. To process deeply, memorize information based upon its deeper meaning or implication, not its surface-level facts. ^[2]

[P1] Memories are stored on neural networks. [P2] Stronger neural networks are more easily remembered. [P3] Methods to strengthen neural networks can improve recall.