Our memory is wrapped around everything in our life. We rely on our memory every moment of our day. The brain is truly a perfect recorder. It records every sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The problem is that we struggle with recall, and then we get frustrated or panicked when we can’t access information when we need it. One of the keys to improving the ability to recall vital information is to leverage your learning style.
Each of us has a preferred way of learning or learning style. It’s our preferred way of absorbing, processing, and acting upon new information. There are three learning styles: Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. While most of us use all three learning styles, we tend to lean more heavily on one style versus the others.
Visual Learners (Seeing) – Sixty percent of the people in the world prefer to learn visually. Colors, pictures, charts, graphs, books, and movies all appeal to visual learners. They tend to use statements like: “I see what you mean.” “This looks great!” “I see where you’re going with this.”
Auditory Learners (Hearing) – Thirty percent of the people in the world are auditory learners. Auditory learners like information spoken out loud. They’re very comfortable in a lecture environment. They like listening to the radio and audio books. They get really creative in open discussion environments. They’ll even read signs out loud. Auditory learners tend to make statements such as: “I hear you!” “Sounds like a good idea.” “Sounds great!”
Kinesthetic Learners (Doing) – Ten percent of the people in the world are Kinesthetic learners. Kinesthetic learners tend to be experiential learners. They take in new information through physical involvement. They tend to lean more heavily on senses such as touch, taste, and smell. Kinesthetic learners love to touch everything including people. They love hugging everybody and are very comfortable communicating within 18 inches of a person. Go on a hike with a Kinesthetic learner and you’ll notice that they touch and smell everything in the forest (moss, grass, rocks, leaves. Kinesthetic learners tend to make statements such as: “It doesn’t feel right.” “My gut’s telling me we’re going in the right direction.” “I’m really feeling it today!”
Don’t know what type of learner you are? Click here to take an assessment to determine your learning style.
Once you have determined your dominant learning style, you can then customize your approach to storing and recalling vital information. Here are some tips for each learning style from Corinne Gediman and Francis Crinella, the authors of Supercharge Your Memory.
Visual Learners
- Write down facts in an outline or other visual representation that connects the ideas
- Create pictures and diagrams of what you are learning.
- Visualize what you have learned through vivid mental pictures
- Use visual timelines for remembering dates
- Make up strong visual image links
- Use pictures, charts, film, video, graphics, and so forth
- When taking notes, underline and highlight
Auditory Learners
- Listen to a seminar, presentation, or explanation.
- Read aloud to yourself
- Read with emotion or an accent
- Make a tape of key points to listen to in the car or while doing chores
- Verbally summarize key points in your own words
- Explain the subject to someone else
- Have someone quiz you out loud
- Use your own internal voice to verbalize what you are learning
Experiential Learners
- Copy a demonstration
- Create flash cards that capture key points
- Record information as you hear it in an action flowchart, using arrows and other dynamic symbols
- Walk around when you read
- Underline and highlight key points
- Put key points on index cards and sort them into an order such as alphabetical or chronological
- Learn by doing
Apply these simple techniques and you’ll experience an uplift in your recall. For more information about Memory Improvement click here.