From a Fish Memory to an Elephant Memory

By Laura Ayala (undergraduate FIGRI student)

Are you one of those people with a good memory, someone who can remember everyone’s name at a party and never forgets an appointment or special dates?  If your answer is NO, you may have a fish memory. No worries - this article is aimed at helping you to understand the disadvantages of a poor memory and probably most importantly, how to improve it.

Being able to remember facts helps us to save valuable time and money. If you don’t forget exactly what you need from the supermarket at the moment you leave your house, you won’t have to go back again, for example. Also, an elephant memory is so useful in order not to make the same mistakes which is a good advantage in your studies, work and of course personal life; you can use your good retention to memorize names, faces, birthdays, anniversaries etc. so you don’t disappoint people and thereby improve your social life.

How we remember things can depend on a number of little changes such as using blue ink and yellow notepaper to write down information that you must remember in the future, such as an exam. That’s because blue and yellow are colours that catch our attention and stimulate our brain. Another useful tip if you want to be able to remember someone’s name is to try to concentrate on it and use it as often as possible in conversation. 

So, as you can see, there is still hope for all of you who believe you have a fish memory. And that’s because fish memory is just a myth. You can always train your brain to be able to remember things more easily. Activities like doing crosswords, word searches or playing chess can help. Moreover, don’t hesitate when you think about making a note in your diary, mobile phone or on a post-it note. Nobody has the capacity to remember everything but you can have some help!