If this happens more often than you would want you need to engage in some auditory memory exercises to help keep your brain sharp.

The more you practice auditory memory exercises the stronger that part of your memory will become – to the point where you’ll have excellent recall, without resorting to writing everything down and having a pocket or handbag stuffed full of notes.

You really can reach a point where you’ll hear something just once and your improved short term memory will be able to retain it for a longer period of time than you have been used to.

This is great for phone numbers, addresses, instructions, shopping lists and more.

A good auditory memory exercise is to listen to a top ten countdown on your favorite radio station. Don’t be tempted to note down any of the songs but try to remember the titles of each one as they are played. After the show try to write the song titles down in the order that you heard them.

As you practice and improve your auditory memory you will be able to write down the artist and song title with ease.

Another type of auditory memory exercise involves asking for assistance from a partner.

Have your partner recite something to you. It might be an address, a shopping list, or anything else that you have to remember (but usually forget!). Then, try and recite back what you heard word for word.

As you practice you’ll get better and soon you’ll be able to recite everything you heard without having to ask for a cue. The more you practice the better you’ll get so try this one as often as you can if you really want to sharpen your short term memory skills.

If you don’t have a partner, you can do this with a recording. Play back a recording of a song, a comedy routine, or anything else and then write down what you heard. As you get better you’ll be able to write down every detail without having to go back and check.

Auditory memory exercises can be performed anytime, any place and anywhere. They’re a great idea for everyone who needs to retain information for longer than the few milliseconds immediately after they heard it.

Some of us find the strongest memories are evoked by a smell or an aroma. Others will hear a piece of music and be instantly transported back to an event in the past. For some memory is visual – they store and retrieve their memories in pictures.

For a memory to be locked fast in our minds it is really helpful to be able to develop more than one type of memory. You will have a preference, and that can usually be easily identified by looking at your learning style, but that preference should not stop you developing the other memories linked to the other senses.

Visual memory, as the name suggests is the memory associated with things we perceive optically – things we see. Individuals with a strong visual memory are usually also visual learners – and if you think that through, it makes sense. When we learn we are memorizing facts and figures so there is an obvious connection between learning styles and memory.

Those who have a poor visual memory will develop one of the other sensory memories to compensate. This will usually be either auditory (sound) or olefactory (smell). But, all is not lost as visual memory can be improved and strengthened by visual memory training.

Visual Memory training – Practice Makes Perfect

Whenever a new skill is to be mastered a period of learning and training precedes mastery. It is the same with visual memory training. To develop and strengthen visual memory it is important to improve the links between the brain and the eyes. It really is that simple.

Think about the daily opportunities you have to practice. Think about everything that is on your desk or in your work space. Close your eyes and picture the scene. You may be able to see a vivid image in glorious technicolor or your mental image may be blurred and hazy; it may be in black and white or you may even just see a list of words representing the objects you are trying to recall.

Don’t judge your recall at this stage. Just be an interested observer to discover for yourself what your memory preference is. If you have no trouble creating a visual image of a selection of items – you almost certainly already have a well developed visual memory. If you struggle with the exercise just know that this is an area for development.

Take opportunies to practice. If you are travelling, buy a magazine and spend time studying and memorizing the small ads from the visual impression they make – not from the text! If you are standing in line use the time productively by testing your memory about what others are wearing.

Simply hold an object, study it and then look away. Conjure up a visual image of that object. Keep practising until you can do this with ease.

There are sites on the internet that offer memory games if you have time to sit in front of a computer – but it does make the exercise more real if you use everyday experiences to reinforce the learning.

An example is your shopping list. You may be a digital learner and able to memorize a list of words with no trouble at all but for this exercise we are going to use pictures. Take your shopping list and rather than trying to remember the word I want you to picture the item in your shopping cart. Do this for all of the items on your list. In this way you will build up an image of every single item you need.

When you shop, recreate the visual image you formed for yourself. Place the items in the real cart in exactly the same way as you placed them in your imaginary cart. These may sound like simple exercises – but if you do not have a visual memory preference you will not find it so easy in the beginning.

Often the simplest methods are the least expensive and the most effective! Set yourself little visual memory tasks that you can do throughout your normal day (and night) and you will soon begin to notice an improvement in your visual memory which will increase your overall ability to remember the things that are important to you. 

Worse still they grab you be the hand or the shoulder, they may even give you a hug. They are so pleased to see you – and you can’t even remember their name. You pray they won’t discover that your memory has let you down and you vow to do something to improve your memory – at the first opportunity you seek out memory improving advice.

Being forgetful is inconvenient, time wasting, frustrating and downright embarrassing at times. So what can be done to improve your memory?

Although memory isn’t a muscle I am going to use a little poetic license here to liken it to any other muscle in the body. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Think about how flabby and weak your muscles become if you don’t exercise them….well the same happens to your memory and a flabby, weak memory will not recall the things you need it to recall, when you need them recalled.

Fitness Training for the Mind

Every part of your body needs exercise, your memory included. Actually, aerobic exercise is extremely good for the brain as it increase the available oxygen in the blood stream. It should go without saying that a diet rich in the ‘brain-food’ nutrients will also help to strengthen your brain power.

You may have found ways to integrate little physical exercise routines into your day – such as walking up stairs rather than taking the elevator. You know the type of thing. Well to train your memory you need to incorporate memory exercises into your daily regime too.

Actively recall images, events, faces, names, routes, as you work your way through your day. Whilst you are waiting your turn at the coffee machine exercise your memory by requesting a specific memory of an event, or call up a telephone number. Don’t just stand there wasting time in idle chit-chat. Put that time to good use as brain development time!

Stretch your brain regularly by doing things you wouldn’t usually do such as jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, number games. Choose a category that wouldn’t usually be your first preference to get your brain out of its comfort zone.

There are a number of electronic gadgets available all promising to increase memory. Go to a store where you can try one of these before you buy to see if they actually work for you. Their effectiveness will depend on your learning and your memorizing style.

Starting any new training regime is a challenge. when you first take up running or working out in the gym, your body protests at the outset as it is unused to working so hard. The same is true for your brain. It will protest when you first start putting it through its paces but, gradually, as new neural pathways are formed and strengthened you will find the whole process of memory improving that much easier and effective.