There is this prevailing problem among people that concerns memory loss. It is not an entirely new hindrance and throughout the years, people have been coping with it in some way or another. There are two types of memory: short term and long term. Short term memory are those instantly stored and will require immediate reaction like an errand or a lunch date. Long term memories are those that are stored permanently like the names and faces of people that a certain someone may have introduced to you before. As our brain recognized these memories, it instantly sends a visual context that helps us indentify and remember certain instances as to who, where or what we are supposed to do. As the name speaks for itself, short term memories are brief and people tend to forget them as the day ends. Long term memory however requires both recognition and recall in order for the brain to store the information and “access” the latter when it is needed.

The human brain can only do so much. It is indeed a phenomenon regarding the many wonders of how the brain works, but just like any other material, the brain also has its weaknesses, and one of which is memory storage, particularly long term memory. Unlike a library where books are well coordinated and designated into subjects, categorized and clustered, long term memories are basically stored the hippo-campus, and needless to say, the hippo-campus offers no categories, no catalogs and no partitions. It is facts that we can recognize the name and the face of a person that you may have encountered once, but somewhere at the back of your mind, you will immediate ask: “I know you from somewhere” or “I know his name but I can’t seem to remember”.

This is what experts refer to as the Tip of the Tongue phenomena: an overdue long term memory that was immediately brought up when you saw that person. Long term memory loss is very common and does not affect whether you’re 16 or 60. It is the problem where our brain fails to retrieve memory, although it can recall some little things about that event. Special dates, habits, telephone numbers are just some of the things that are stored overtime and by some reason or another, we tend to forget some of them as time goes by.

Pay Attention

Storing immediate information on your long term memory requires immediate storage. In the case when someone introduces you to three people, 90 percent of those names will be deleted after 24 hours. Of course there will be instances that you will be exposed to other names and faces, dates and other information on that particular day, so it is best to pay attention to keen details. Do not be hesitant to ask questions or the name of that girl in the green dress your co worker introduced to you during your lunch break.

Focus your attention as to how or where you will need that information; take the example of your social security number: those numerical values will be an essential long term memory factor. The importance of that information will play a vital role in remembering and storing when your brain tells you to memorize them because they are valuable.