A Simple Brain Hack To Double Your Memory

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As many of you know, my habit research has taken me down the brain science rabbit hole. Habits, after all, are brain-driven.

In order to help me better understand the how and why of habits, I’ve studied nearly 20 books on brain physiology, NeuroScience, Neuroplasticity, Epigenetics as well as countless studies on these related subjects.

Every now and then I stumble across something in my daily study that stops me in my tracks. Long-term memory formation is one of those things.

During the day, the brain stores facts and other information it comes into contact with, via its five senses, in an area of the brain called the Hippocampus. Think of the Hippocampus as a temporary short-term memory dumping ground.

During sleep, the Hippocampus loops the information it acquired during the day back and forth to the Prefrontal Cortex. If the Prefrontal Cortex deems the information to be important, it will store that information somewhere in the brain for future retrieval. This is known as Long-Term Potentiation, or long-term memory.

If you do not access that new long-term memory on a regular basis, the neurons responsible for storing that memory, weaken. Eventually, the memory will fade away and the neurons will be repurposed for something else.

The Cerebellum, is a part of the brain that stores memories related to motor movement. The more frequent the motor movement, the stronger the neural synapse holding that memory will be inside the Cerebellum.

Every time you write down a fact or any new information, the Cerebellum is called into action. Like the Hippocampus, it will temporarily store that new information. If you repeatedly write down that same information, the neurons holding that information inside the Cerebellum grow stronger.

The act of writing down information also serves as notification to the Prefrontal Cortex that you desire to retain that information as part of your long-term memory.

So, the act of repeatedly writing down information you want to remember, actually forces both the Prefrontal Cortex AND the Cerebellum to separately store that information as long-term memory, essentially doubling your retention.

Pretty cool!

When you understand how to hack the brain, you boost your brain power. When you boost your brain power, you also boost your odds of success.

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Thomas C. Corley About Thomas C. Corley

Tom Corley is a bestselling author, speaker, and media contributor for Business Insider, CNBC and a few other national media outlets.

His Rich Habits research has been read, viewed or heard by over 50 million people in 25 countries around the world.

Besides being an author, Tom is also a CPA, CFP, holds a master’s degree in taxation and is President of Cerefice and Company, a CPA firm in New Jersey.
 
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Comments

  1. Tom, I really like this idea. It is a pretty simple trick. Tom, how many times do I have the write it down before it is committed to memory?

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