This exercise improved my memory by 500%
Summary
TLDRThis video script introduces 'active recall', a memory enhancement technique that promises to significantly improve retention without extensive memorization. The narrator shares personal experiences and insights from Cal Newport and Andrew Huberman, emphasizing the importance of understanding concepts rather than rote memorization. The script details how to practice active recall through self-teaching and suggests a 5-minute daily exercise to solidify new information into long-term memory. The goal is to transform studying habits, making learning more efficient and less about memorizing, but about truly understanding and recalling information.
Takeaways
- š Active recall is a memory technique that can significantly enhance one's ability to remember information.
- š§ The method involves actively explaining newly learned information in one's own words, which aids in better understanding and retention.
- šØāš« Cal Newport, a best-selling author, introduced this technique during a podcast, emphasizing its effectiveness for students.
- š Active recall contrasts with traditional memorization by focusing on understanding and applying knowledge rather than just repeating facts.
- š¤ The script illustrates active recall with an example about attention and its sub-processes, demonstrating how to apply the technique.
- š The speaker's personal experience shows a transformation from a student with average memory to achieving top grades through active recall.
- š A 5-minute daily exercise is suggested to practice active recall, which involves explaining or teaching a concept to solidify memory.
- š£ļø Speaking out loud while practicing active recall can be beneficial, as it simulates the act of teaching and reinforces learning.
- š The importance of repetition is highlighted; practicing active recall multiple times helps in locking new information into memory.
- š The script suggests that with consistent practice, one can develop a pseudo-photographic memory, making it easier to recall information during tests or in daily life.
Q & A
What is the main issue the speaker was facing with their memory before discovering the new technique?
-The speaker was struggling with retaining information after reading a book or studying, experiencing a lack of retention and understanding.
What is the term for the memory-enhancing technique introduced by the speaker?
-The technique is called 'active recall'.
How does active recall differ from traditional memorization according to the script?
-Active recall involves explaining newly learned information in one's own words, focusing on understanding and retrieval, rather than simply memorizing facts.
Who are Cal Newport and Andrew Huberman, as mentioned in the script?
-Cal Newport is a best-selling author known for helping students excel in their studies, and Andrew Huberman is presumably a co-host or guest in the podcast the speaker was listening to.
What is the purpose of the 5-minute step-by-step exercise mentioned by the speaker?
-The exercise is designed to help double or triple one's ability to remember information by practicing active recall.
What does the speaker suggest as an example of using active recall?
-The speaker suggests explaining in one's own words what one has just learned, such as concepts from a book or details from a meeting.
What is the significance of understanding in the context of active recall as per the script?
-Understanding is crucial because it allows for easier retention of information. Active recall is about weaving new information into the existing fabric of understanding, making it easier to remember.
How does the speaker describe the transformation in their academic performance after adopting active recall?
-The speaker describes a miraculous transformation, going from a pretty good student to achieving top grades every quarter.
What is the speaker's recommendation for incorporating active recall into daily life?
-The speaker recommends setting aside at least 5 minutes daily to practice active recall, explaining new information as if teaching someone else.
What does the speaker claim about the effectiveness of active recall for memory improvement?
-The speaker claims that active recall can significantly improve memory, to the point where it feels like having a pseudo-photographic memory, and that it allows for quick learning without forgetting.
How does the speaker suggest one should approach the 5-minute active recall exercise?
-The speaker suggests setting a timer for 5 minutes and acting as if teaching someone about the topic, allowing the information to come naturally without forcing it.
Outlines
š Unlocking the Power of Active Recall š
The speaker introduces a memory-enhancing technique called 'active recall' that can significantly improve one's ability to remember information without the need for extensive memorization. The method involves explaining newly learned information in one's own words, which helps in understanding and retaining the material better than traditional memorization. The speaker shares their personal experience with active recall, which transformed their academic performance and led to the authorship of a book. The paragraph also touches on the importance of attention in memory formation, discussing selective attention, sustained attention, and divided attention, and how these improve during adolescence.
š Integrating Active Recall into Daily Routine š
The speaker provides a practical approach to incorporating active recall into daily life by setting aside five minutes for practicing the technique. They suggest using this time to recall and explain new information out loud, as if teaching someone else, which reinforces the learning process. The speaker emphasizes the importance of consistency in using active recall to build a robust memory. They also encourage viewers to practice active recall on the concept of active recall itself, to solidify the understanding of the technique. The paragraph concludes with a challenge for the audience to actively recall the content of the video to ensure retention.
Mindmap
Keywords
š”Active Recall
š”Memory
š”Cal Newport
š”Photographic Memory
š”Selective Attention
š”Sustained Attention
š”Divided Attention
š”Understand vs. Memorize
š”Academic Success
š”Habit Formation
š”5-Minute Exercise
Highlights
The video introduces a method to enhance memory without long hours or memorization techniques, claiming it's almost like having a photographic memory.
The method is called 'active recall', which involves explaining learned information in your own words to improve memory.
Cal Newport, a best-selling author, shared his system for remembering what he learns, which includes the active recall technique.
Active recall is different from memorization as it focuses on understanding concepts rather than just recognizing information.
The speaker initially struggled with active recall but persisted due to Cal Newport's advice on its effectiveness in learning and retention.
Selective attention, sustained attention, and divided attention are key subprocesses of attention that contribute to human memory formation.
Selective attention is the ability to focus on a single task while ignoring distractions.
Sustained attention allows one to stay on task for extended periods.
Divided attention or multitasking is the ability to switch focus between tasks or stimuli, which also improves during adolescence.
The speaker experienced a significant improvement in academic performance after adopting active recall.
Active recall can lead to a 'pseudo photographic memory' where ideas come out fully formed during tests.
The speaker used active recall to learn and remember what active recall itself was, highlighting its effectiveness.
A 5-minute step-by-step exercise is provided to integrate active recall into daily life for better memory retention.
The exercise involves setting aside 5 minutes daily to recall and explain new information in your own words.
The speaker suggests using active recall while driving or any other activity to reinforce learning.
The video challenges viewers to practice active recall by explaining concepts from the video in their own words.
The speaker emphasizes that active recall is a skill that can be developed with daily practice, leading to better memory over time.
Transcripts
3 months ago I would read a book set it down andĀ have no idea what I just read maybe that's youĀ Ā
maybe you feel like nothing sticks you studyĀ all night but blank on the test but what ifĀ Ā
I told you I found a way to increase your memoryĀ and it doesn't take hours or fancy memorizationĀ Ā
techniques it's almost like you have a pseudoĀ photographic memory when you study this way ifĀ Ā
you stick around till the end of this video I'llĀ give you a 5 minute step-by-step exercise that'sĀ Ā
proven to double or even triple your abilityĀ to remember or something this all started aboutĀ Ā
3 months ago when I was listening to a podcastĀ with Cal Newport and Andrew huberman if you'reĀ Ā
not familiar Cal Newport is a best-selling authorĀ and is known for helping students excel in theirĀ Ā
studies the man is no joke so when he startedĀ laying out a system for how he remembers whatĀ Ā
he learns I started paying closer attentionĀ this exercise is called active recall here'sĀ Ā
some examples what outfit did you wear yesterdayĀ what did you discuss in your meeting what are someĀ Ā
Concepts that you learned from the last book thatĀ you read your ability to pull that informationĀ Ā
out of your brain is active recall so how doĀ we use active recall to double or even tripleĀ Ā
our memory it's so simple you're probably goingĀ to think I'm an idiot for making a whole videoĀ Ā
about this but people don't do it so here you goĀ after you learn a piece of information stop andĀ Ā
explain what you just learned in your own wordsĀ you can write it tell it to someone or just tellĀ Ā
it to yourself the Only Rule is that it must beĀ in your own words notice how different this isĀ Ā
from memorization you see memorization is greatĀ for exact things but doesn't necessarily meanĀ Ā
that we understand it this is where I went totallyĀ wrong as a student I'd be studying for a test andĀ Ā
review the same information over and over and overĀ trying to memorize it what I was actually doingĀ Ā
is building recognition not understandingĀ the goal is not to memorize that 2 plusĀ Ā
2 = 4 but to figure out why so you can figureĀ out the other equations so I found something inĀ Ā
an article and I'm going to read it to you andĀ then I'm going to actively recall it so you canĀ Ā
see kind of what it actually looks like changes inĀ attention have been described by many as the keyĀ Ā
to changes in human memory however attentionĀ is not a unified function it is comprised ofĀ Ā
subprocesses our ability to focus on a single taskĀ or stimulus while ignoring distracting informationĀ Ā
is called selective attention there is a sharpĀ Improvement in selective attention from age sixĀ Ā
into adolescence sustained attention is theĀ ability to stay on task for long periods ofĀ Ā
time the ability to switch our Focus betweenĀ tasks or external stimuli is called dividedĀ Ā
attention or multitasking which also improves intoĀ adolescence so what that was basically saying isĀ Ā
that there are different kinds of attention whatĀ I first mentioned was that changes in attentionĀ Ā
are a large part of the human memory and how it'sĀ formed the first thing it covered was uh selectiveĀ Ā
attention which is when we stay focused onĀ a single task while ignoring other stimuliĀ Ā
around us the other types of attention that itĀ talked about was uh sustained attention which isĀ Ā
very similar to selective attention except forĀ sustained attention is simply focusing on oneĀ Ā
single task for a very long period of time um andĀ then um um multitasking or I forget what it calledĀ Ā
it diverse attention or something like that um andĀ this is when we we switch between tasks so we takeĀ Ā
our attention and we split it up or we we shiftĀ it very quickly between different things and itĀ Ā
said that all three of these forms of attentionĀ increase into adolescence now I just gave thatĀ Ā
back to you in my own words right if I was tryingĀ to learn this I would actively recall it twice cuzĀ Ā
the first time I did it like I was able to do itĀ but there was some hiccups so depending on what itĀ Ā
is you might have to reread the information or RecĀ consume the information and do it again now when IĀ Ā
first started doing this I was clumsy and bad atĀ it but I kept trying because of something that CalĀ Ā
Newport says you learn very quickly and not onlyĀ do you learn very quickly you don't forget it'sĀ Ā
almost like you have a pseudo photographic memoryĀ when you study this way you sit down to do a testĀ Ā
and you're you're replicating like whole linesĀ from like what you what you studied I the ideasĀ Ā
sort of come out fully formed and so I went fromĀ a pretty good student to 40 every single quarterĀ Ā
it was like this miraculous transformation itĀ was active recall I did so well academicallyĀ Ā
that's why I ended up writing that book the firstĀ way I practiced this was actually by using activeĀ Ā
recall to learn and remember what active recallĀ was so if you're up for the challenge pause theĀ Ā
video and explain in your own words some of theĀ things you've learned in this video this onlyĀ Ā
takes one or two times until the new informationĀ is locked into your memory because you're not justĀ Ā
putting information in in on its own as if you'reĀ memorizing it you're weaving it into the existingĀ Ā
fabric of your understanding unlike memorizationĀ to do this you have to understand the concept andĀ Ā
when you understand something it's 10 timesĀ easier to remember it so I want you to I wantĀ Ā
you to think about active recall everything thatĀ I just explained came from a podcast 3 months agoĀ Ā
when I used this technique on that informationĀ twice also I did it while I was driving sinceĀ Ā
that time I've used this on specific informationĀ that I wanted to learn and remember and so I I'mĀ Ā
telling you these things because 3 months agoĀ I know for a fact I could not have picked outĀ Ā
a podcast a book and two YouTube videos that IĀ watched and tell you about them I couldn't haveĀ Ā
done that it would have been impossible and soĀ I'm showing you this to show you that an averageĀ Ā
guy like me with a self-proclaimed terrible memoryĀ asking any of my friends can use a technique thatĀ Ā
will improve it and if it works for me it can workĀ for you so we've learned how active recall WorksĀ Ā
how it's different from memorization and also howĀ to do it but for something to become a habit weĀ Ā
have to learn when we're going to do something soĀ let me give you a 5 minute step-by-step exerciseĀ Ā
that I use to build this straight into my day soĀ that I can selectively plant information that IĀ Ā
want to remember every day I set aside at leastĀ 5 minutes to spend on remembering something new IĀ Ā
live by myself so whenever I encounter somethingĀ I usually just speak out loud like I'm teachingĀ Ā
someone now maybe I get to the end of my day andĀ nothing really jumped out of me that I want toĀ Ā
remember even so I still take 5 minutes to recallĀ something could be from my day or information thatĀ Ā
I learned before that I want to make sure that IĀ still know and like any ability using it every dayĀ Ā
will help it grow now your time is valuable and ifĀ you leave this video and you don't remember whatĀ Ā
you learned I'm going to feel like I wasted yourĀ time so what I would recommend is set a timer forĀ Ā
5 minutes and act like you're teaching someoneĀ about active recall often it starts with kindĀ Ā
of a slow Trickle and you remember one thingĀ and then another thing and then another andĀ Ā
sometimes it's completely out of order but justĀ Just Don't Force It just let it come to you andĀ Ā
explain it and recall it as it comes now if youĀ do this I can guarantee you that tomorrow youĀ Ā
will be able to remember more from this videoĀ than any other video that you watch today.
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