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Hello again,
It's been a while since the last newsletter issue. I took the pause to focus on rebuilding the website from the ground up. New research, cleaner writing, updated techniques. Still the same focus: practical ways to improve your memory, backed by real science.
Going forward, the emphasis in this newsletter is also practical. Most issues will give you something to actually do, not just something to know.
Before I sign off, here's one memory tip you can try today.
Stop rereading. Try recalling instead.
 Most of us learn by reading something twice, three times, hoping it'll stick. It rarely does. The words feel familiar on the second pass, and we mistake that familiarity for actual memory. Researchers call this the "illusion of competence". You feel like you know the material. You don't.
There's a much better approach, and it takes about two minutes.
After you read or watch or listen to something you want to remember, close the book or look away from the screen. Then try to recall as much as you can from memory. The key points. The main argument. The names. Whatever you wanted to retain.
Don't peek until you've squeezed out everything you can remember.
This is called active recall, sometimes the "testing effect," and it's one of the most replicated findings in memory research. Roediger and Karpicke's classic studies showed that students who tested themselves on material remembered significantly more two days later than students who reread the same material multiple times. Same time invested. Different result.
A few ways to use it in real life:
• Finish a chapter, look up at the ceiling, mentally summarize the main points before turning the page
• After meeting someone new, walk away and silently rehearse their name and one thing they told you
• Watch a tutorial, pause halfway, recall the steps you've seen so far before continuing
• Listen to a podcast on a walk, then describe the key argument out loud to yourself before you get home
The first few times feel awkward. You'll realize how little you actually retained from passive reading or watching. That's the point. The gap between "I just read this" and "I can actually recall it" is exactly where memory either forms or doesn't.
For more on this technique, including how to layer it with spaced repetition for long-term retention, see the active recall page on the site.
If you want to dig deeper, a few other pages I've recently updated:
• How Memory Works
• Spaced Repetition
• Memory Palace Technique
The free brain games section has grown a lot too. Hundreds of games now, all playable in your browser, no sign-up needed. Worth a look if you want a quick mental workout.
More soon. Thanks for still being here.
Kind regards,
Douglas Jobes
Memory-Improvement-Tips.com
Learn Faster, Remember More
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