How can I improve concentration and memory?

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Let’s put it all togeth­er: Remem­ber­ing names

We often for­get names in the few sec­ond after we have heard them. Most of the time this phe­nom­e­non can be relat­ed to a lack of atten­tion or con­cen­tra­tion. It is also caused by the fact that names have no spe­cif­ic mean­ing and are thus hard to mem­o­rize. Say you are intro­duced to Kim today:Improve your short term memory

1. Pay atten­tion to the name: Ask Kim to repeat her name if you have not heard it very well. Make a con­scious effort of try­ing to mem­o­rize the name: Focus on it (“Her name is Kim. I want to remem­ber it.”)

2. Relate to the name: What does this per­son make you feel like? Do you know some­one else named like this? Think about this oth­er per­son. (“She seems quite ner­vous, I won­der why. She makes me feel a bit uneasy. Not at all like the oth­er Kim I know from the gym.”)

3. Repeat the name: Use the name sev­er­al times in the con­ver­sa­tion. (“What do you think of this, Kim?”) If applic­a­ble, use the per­son­’s busi­ness card lat­er on to read her name over and over.

4. Elab­o­rate on the name: Relate the name to pre­vi­ous infor­ma­tion (“Kim, as in Kim Wilde I used to lis­ten to when I was a kid. Well, she sure does­n’t look like Kim Wilde!”). Pic­ture her face lat­er on in the day as you repeat her name.

Hope this helps!

Relat­ed arti­cles on how to improve con­cen­tra­tion and memory:

And to stim­u­late and chal­lenge your whole brain, check out our Top 50 Brain Teasers!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. D says

    i like what u have 2 say..i orig­i­nal­ly went search­ing for brain kines­thet­ics and came accross your info..glad i did.thanks

  2. Caroline says

    D — Glad you are enjoy­ing the site! We always love to hear how we’re doing — let us know your thoughts as you keep exploring.

  3. Dave says

    Thanks for the tips. I’m look­ing for spe­cif­ic exer­cis­es that I can do to improve con­cen­tra­tion and mem­o­ry. I am going to try mem­o­riz­ing por­tions of scrip­ture. That has helped in the past a lot. Also, have you heard any­thing about clap­ping one’s hands to a metronome to improve con­cen­tra­tion? I heard about it once, but am not sure of the specifics. Thanks!
    –David

  7. Adam Roberts says

    I think being focused and atten­tive is some­thing thats required, but we’re not nec­es­sar­i­ly taught. Its impor­tant to try to watch your thoughts and sus­tain your thoughts for as long as need­ed. I’ve found that med­i­ta­tion and a good diet works well in order to aid focus and over­all cog­ni­tive func­tion­ing. Hope this helps.

  9. W. R. Klemm says

    I blog on mem­o­ry reseasrch (thankyoubrain.blogspot.com) and I ran across papers that show peo­ple are more dis­tractible as they age. Most old­er peo­ple (I am one) have to work hard­er to pay attention.

  10. Kevin says

    Thanky­ou.
    All makes sense being an old­er stu­dent myself (47) :0 . this will help me retake my 3rd year under grad­u­ate stud­ies again with a bet­ter under­stand­ing and more con­fi­dence, improv­ing concentration.

  11. Lixia Zhang says

    Thanks Q&A for tips of improv­ing con­cen­tra­tion and mem­o­ry. I think they will be much helpul to my prepa­ra­tion for TOEFL. I’m great­ly inspired to improve my listening.

  12. M. Klemes says

    I found that study­ing some­thing on 2 dif­fer­ent days (1 day between them to study some oth­er sub­ject) helped a lot in all my under­grad and grad­u­ate stud­ies, as long as I stud­ied seri­ous­ly both times. Inter­leav­ing the study days this way worked for me even as an old­er stu­dent (Ph.D., enginer­ing). No dis­trac­tions, of course!

    Marek K.

  13. kenbull says

    I found read­ing dif­fi­cult some­times because i nor­mal­ly expe­ri­ence headache due to hav­ing dif­fer­ent thoughts most cas­es but now things have improve.