You don't have to be a trivia buff to be great at remembering things. Monica Thieu , a four-time Jeopardy! contestant and winner of the game's 2012 college championship, uses memory techniques like mnemonic devices and flash cards to retain world capitals, TV shows, Olympic cities and more. "With practice, absolutely everyone can make their memory stronger," says Thieu, who also researches memory, human cognition and emotion as a postdoctoral scientist at Emory University.
Listen to the podcast episode: Where did I put the keys? Tips to improve memory That's because memory is selective. What our brains choose to remember is something we can train, says Charan Ranganath , director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California, Davis, and author of Why We Remember . "It can be biased, warped and reconstructed.
" If you want to improve your memory, even if it's just remembering where you parked or where you put your keys, try these science-backed strategies from our experts. Pay attention to what you want to remember "The first necessary ingredient in creating a memory that lasts longer than the present moment is attention," says Lisa Genova , a neuroscientist and the author of Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting . "We need that input — otherwise that memory doesn’t get made, even if your eyes see it.
" When people gripe about having memory problems, they're often having attention problems, she adds. For example, if you blame your memory becau.