Curing a Selective Memory

[Benpercent]

Given my success here in remedying my speech impediment I would like to ask for further imput on another nearly life-long problem of mine, what I call a "selective memory." I have noted it here before in my topic about studying, about how I would read something and my memory would omit specific names, such as names of countries or people.

To simplify the writing of this topic and to prevent a massive block of text right within the first post the documentation of my problem and planned course of action can be found here.

What do you guys think?

Thank you for your time.

[aequalsa]

Given my success here in remedying my speech impediment I would like to ask for further imput on another nearly life-long problem of mine, what I call a "selective memory." I have noted it here before in my topic about studying, about how I would read something and my memory would omit specific names, such as names of countries or people.

To simplify the writing of this topic and to prevent a massive block of text right within the first post the documentation of my problem and planned course of action can be found here.

What do you guys think?

Thank you for your time.

I read your plan and have only one recommendation that works well for me when I need to remember large amounts of difficult information, which is to make a hierarchical flow chart as I read the chapter. Identifying key concepts, the smaller concepts that support them and the many relationships between these ideas. A list alone does not essentialize or place information in context in a useful way for me. This may depend somewhat on how much of a visual learner you are, but seeing a map of ideas allows me to understand causation and implications, so in effect, it ties difficult ideas together in such a way that I can recreate the set of information based on a deductive process.

So simply, if I happen to remember that Z is true, then it will remind me that X and Y also must be true as corollaries which are related to each other through processes Q and R in circumstance A or through processes S and T in circumstance C, which then reminds me that there is a circumstance B, which rarely occurs, but when it does nullifies the relationship between X and Y.

If I draw that out into a rough pyramid with lines, double lines and dotted lines connecting each part, identified by a brief word or two which describes the nature of the relationship, than I find that I can hold a fairly complex set of information in my mind for quite some time.

[Greebo]

I'm not sure I'd call this a "selective memory" - as it implies that you're choosing what to remember and what not to remember. When someone si referred to as having a "selective memory", it usually means they conveniently forget things they said or were told that don't fit the way they want reality to be.

[JMeganSnow]

Names in particular can be difficult to remember because, alone, they are essentially meaningless. (Dates are the same way--when I read, say, a history book, the dates generally wind up in my memory as "some number, I don't know what"). So, in trying to remember them, you're basically trying to perform an act of memorization with only a single (or very few) repetitions.

The solution is to put them in some sort of CONTEXT with something so that they take on some kind of meaning. I remember the names of FICTIONAL characters VERY well because I often think about and/or discuss the meaning of their characterization, so their name becomes fraught with meaning. So, treating real people as characters and doing the same sort of mental analysis might help you remember the names. With dates, it's usually helpful for me if I relate it to something else that was going on at the same time, as in "oh, that was about the same time as X". It's not the number that's difficult to remember, as I can remember all the two-weapon-fighting modifiers in D&D quite well. It's the total lack of meaning that's the problem.

[Benpercent]

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That sounds like a GREAT idea. I think that will help significantly with my scientific reading.

I'm not sure I'd call this a "selective memory" - as it implies that you're choosing what to remember and what not to remember. When someone si referred to as having a "selective memory", it usually means they conveniently forget things they said or were told that don't fit the way they want reality to be.

I know, but I don't know what else to call it. In this context I mean that my memory is being selective based on my subconscious, rather than conscious, workings.

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Another great idea!

Thank you all for your input!