I can’t remember telephone numbers

We have trouble remembering sequences of numbers because we all have a limited “verbal working memory capacity”, the type of short-term memory that allows us to hold sequences of numbers or ideas for long enough to use them. People normally hold between five and nine items at a time. Since most phone numbers have eight digits, the best of us can be challenged. Try these techniques:

- Divide the number into more memorable chunks; for example, 44250157 becomes 442 501 57.

- Try to attach meaning to each chunk (442, football formation; 501, jeans; 57, the year your wife was born).

- Say the numbers out loud, or in your head, but say them quickly because research has indicated that the longer it takes to say things, the more easily forgotten they are.

- For your bank PINs, try to remember the pattern that the numbers make on the keypad.

I can’t remember people’s names when I’m introduced at parties

Most people have trouble with this because your brain can store only so many new items at once. You need to learn a few tricks.

- Repeat each name as you’re told it, to make you concentrate and not to mentally skip on to the next person too early.

- The most effective technique is called “self-reference”; make the name relevant to you. If you’re introduced to someone called Paul, think of another Paul you know and associate the person with that face.

- Think of an image for each name. For June Bridge, for example, you could superimpose the image of a bridge in the summer on her face. If an image isn’t obvious, think of a rhyme: Ted Bates, for example, could become Red Skates.

I can't hold lots of things in my head. I have to write down lists all the time

Memorising many items is a skill to learn, not a natural ability. So writing lists is not a sign of weakness or impending senility. If you want to remember what you need from the supermarket, or a sequence of playing cards in the right order, try techniques used by the likes of the memory expert Andi Bell.

- Mentally “locate” the items: think of somewhere you know well, such as your home, and then take a known route around it, placing each item in a room, or on an item of furniture. When ou’re trying to remember, mentally take the same route round your house.

- Make a story involving all the things that you are trying to remember; it doesn’t matter how bizarre.

- If you have time, invent a mnemonic, using the initial letterof each item for a word to make an easily remembered word or sentence. For example, butter, lettuce, peanuts, fish on a shopping list could be: boys love playing football.

I’m terrible at exams; if I revise early, the information is gone by the time I need it

- Replay what you’ve learnt in your head. But don’t repeat it over and over again in one session. Psychologists have found that facts stick better if you repeat them just once or twice, then do something else, before coming back to them.

- Don’t cram. Research has indicated that this method of learning works for only very short periods. Continually replaying what you have learnt over a longer period, on the other hand, will imprint it on the memory.

- Test yourself. This can be more effective than robotically relearning facts because you can fill in gaps rather than going through everything again.

Explore Related Features

• Love Nature

• Young Photographer

• Surprise Yourself

• Your world