<p>I have really bad short term memory, yesterday I was cleaning/waxing floors and I asked if I could walk on this part of the hallway and they said prob not so I went around and walked on the second half of it without thinking. I always lose keys and papers, and focus on one thing, although I can read and watch tv at once and pay attention to both as long as I dont daydream. Then both go away. I remember a lot of numbers from physics but that seems to be about it. I generally get 2-3 questions right all game in Trivial Pursuit. In Wits and Wagers (closest # w/o going over) I do much better.
Is there any way to make memory better, not just like remembering stuff for tests, but for like everyday use?</p>
<p>There was an Italian Jesuit missionary priest in the sixteenth century named Matteo Ricci, who mastered a unique method of memorization which he called his "memory palace." It actually works.</p>
<p>Here is an interesting Wikipedia article on the technique, which, to my surprise, had apparently been used long before Ricci:</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_Palace%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_Palace</a></p>
<p>Also, look up the book The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci by Jonathan D. Spence.</p>
<p>wow that was fascinating, thanks fides</p>
<p>I thought it was just called The Method of Loci? <em>shrugs</em></p>
<p>Fides is right though. When you make associations, you remember things better.</p>
<p>What about really short term memory, look at this sequence and remember it, or look at this picture and then describe it. <30 sec</p>