The Key to Long-Term Memory

According to memory expert Tony Buzan in his classic book, Use Your Head (Guild Publishing, 1974, 1982, 1984), when we learn something new (for example, in a one-hour lecture), we retain about 75 percent of the information – but that’s just short-term memory. Ten minutes later, our recollection actually improves to about 85 percent, but then it rapidly deteriorates. How do we embed the information in long-term memory? “In order to accomplish this,” says Buzan, “a programmed pattern of review must take place, each review being done at the time just before recall is about to drop.” Here are his recommendations for strategically spaced review:

• First review: 10 minutes after initial learning (lasting about 10 minutes, revising notes)
• Second review: 24 hours later (spending 2-4 minutes jotting down what’s remembered without referring to notes, then checking to see what wasn’t recalled accurately)
• Third review: 1 week later (2 minutes, using the same process as the second review)
• Fourth review: 1 month later (2 minutes, repeating the process)
• Fifth review: 6 months later (2 minutes, repeating the process)

This process will embed knowledge in long-term memory, says Buzan, where it will be “familiar in the way a personal telephone number is familiar, needing only the most occasional nudge to maintain it.” For a graph of this process, see page 59 (Figure 22) in Buzan’s book.

Use Your Head by Tony Buzan (Guild Publishing, 1974, 1982, 1984) 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/37453056/Use-Your-Head-by-Tony-Buzan; see Marshall Memo 284 for another article on the “retrieval effect” on memory

From the Marshall Memo #468