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   Students learned to create more effective short- and long-term memories  Feb. 1 at the "How to Improve Your Memory" workshop Feb. 1 in Harris Hall. 

   Gateway Student Support Services sponsored the workshop.

   "Short-term memory has limited capacity that fades fast, like when you look up a number in the phone book" said Phyllis Waldron, education specialist and counselor. "Long-term memory stores events in your brain for days, weeks, months and even years."  

   Waldron provided the students with four effective means to improve their memories: 

   Organization

• Learn from general to specific, e.g. first read over the whole chapter, than study specifics.
• Make it meaningful, e.g. know what you want out of your education. It's easier to remember things with meaning.
• Create associations, e.g. make it meaningful to you and group it with familiar things.

  Use Your Body

• Learn it once actively, e.g. Stand to study or take notes, pace back and forth or use your hands. These techniques battle boredom.
• Learning takes energy … study with a partner. While studying you release energy.
• 90 percent of people remember what they do, 75 percent remember what they see and 20 percent remember what they hear

   Relax

• When taking a test try to remain calm, take deep breaths and avoid stress that may cause tension

   Repeat and Recite

• Say it out loud. You benefit not only from saying it but from hearing it.
• The more you recite something the easier it is to learn

    In addition, Waldron said students need to escape the short-term memory trap by reviewing after each class.  She advised them not to wait until test time to start to study. She also suggested that they use daylight to their advantage and do most of their studying during the day. Studies show that sun and light stimulate the brain. 

   Waldron suggested that students distribute their study sessions over short periods of time. For example, studying for a few two-hour sessions instead of one six-hour session may prove more beneficial. She also said that taking breaks during studying helps you keep your focus. 

   On occasion, when in a crowd and introduced to several people at one time, it may help to repeat a person's name two or three times to yourself in order to remember them. You may find it necessary to ask a person to repeat their name and simply admit that you find it difficult to remember names. 

   "You must remember, you never forget! The problem is your retrieval system," Waldron said. 

   Gateway Student Support Services program at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, a federal TRIO grant program funded by the U.S. Department of Education, provides support services for college students at many colleges and universities nationwide. The program helps students have a successful college experience by providing academic support and other services that assist eligible undergraduate students with adequate support to stay in college until they earn their baccalaureate degree. 

   For more information regarding these free services call Phyllis Waldron at (870) 460-1054 or stop by 219 Harris Hall.

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