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Try to link new information with existing memories. For example, suppose you meet Sam and are doing some serious searching of your thought organ to uncover how you are going to remember his name. After chatting for a while you discover that Sam is a fundi on Samurais and Kung Fu. Well, bingo! Say to yourself, I will remember Sam because he is into Samurais.
You can also use this technique to associate a face with a name and in the same process combine association with imagery.
You meet Cathy and again you search your thought organ for ways of remembering her name. After a while you realise Cathy is probably the most positive person you have ever met (bless her). Nothing gets her down and she always has a positive attitude. So, bingo again! You remember from school that the cathode is the positive part of a battery and go on to visualise her face with the cathode part of a battery protruding from her mouth.
Written by Dr Frans Hugo, MBChB, M.Med Psychiatry and Dr L. Van Wyk, MBChB, M. Med (Psych) from the Panorama Memory Clinic.
For more information visit: Dementia SA: http://www.dementiasa.org/ or Alzheimer’s South Africa: http://www.alzheimers.org.za
