How to Maximize Your Memory

Techniques to optimize your focus and learning capacity.

The human memory is a touchy thing. We can’t always anticipate what will be remembered and what will be forgotten. And for many, it seems like the wrong things get remembered while the important things slip away. However, you do have some control over this.

By understanding how the brain retains information, turning it into memory, you can manipulate your learning environment.

Whether it’s creating an employee training session, teaching your child a new skill, or simply trying to remember a book you read over a month ago, the AGES framework can help you optimize learning both for yourself and for others.

What it all comes down to is the hippocampus. 

The Role of the Hippocampus

The hippocampus is a critical part of the limbic system, which is responsible for regulating motivation, emotion, learning, and memory. A well-functioning hippocampus allows you to interpret knowledge properly, remember it, and apply it appropriately. A damaged hippocampus can lead to poor memory, cognition, and maladaptive behaviors. However, it’s not that black-and-white. There is a lot of grey area when it comes to the hippocampus as it can be conditioned and manipulated to interpret and retain information in different ways. 

One way to manipulate it and remember information better is by using the AGES framework. 

What is the AGES Framework?

The AGES method was created to optimize learning by incorporating four key elements. When these four elements are used properly, the hippocampus will function better. Think of it like the ingredients in a cake. You need flour, sugar, eggs, and milk to bake a traditional cake. However, if you forget one of these ingredients, your consistency will be wrong and the cake won’t taste as good. Well, learning is the same. 

With just some of the ingredients in the AGES framework, your learning experience may be okay and technically edible. But, with all four, you hit the sweet spot for knowledge retention. 

So, what are the four AGES elements? Attention, Generation, Emotion, and Spacing. Let’s explore each in more detail. 

1. Attention

The simple truth about getting your own attention or others’ attention is that the brain has to care. If the brain doesn’t find the information useful or interesting, it just won’t pay attention. 

Now, you may be thinking, “Well, that’s nice and all, but sometimes I have to remember things I don’t actually care about, like a workplace safety procedure or the steps to enter invoices for vendors at a school fundraiser.” To get you or someone else to care about these types of topics, establish their purpose and how much better off a person is for having this information. For example, think of a safety disaster that could happen and how helpful this procedure could be. Or, think of how much good the school fundraiser could do for the school. 

This is why I start every course, workshop, or training session I create for clients with a “What you will learn” section. I highlight exactly what will be taught and exactly what the learner should be able to do by the end of the learning experience. It gets their attention and lets them know that what they are about to learn matters in their life specifically.

Note that it is easy to lose people’s attention with information overload. Choose to emphasize only the most critical information and avoid getting overly detailed, as this will cause the learner’s brain to turn off. 

• To improve attention in others: Start by explaining why the information is important and what it will do to the learner’s life. Make the content clear and concise, removing excessive information or distractions that could diminish attention. Distractions could include loud noises, obnoxious color choices for an online course, links that take the learner to a different window, or even speaking in a language that is too wordy or nuanced for them to understand. Another good start to a learning experience is to share a shocking statistic, surprising fact, or engaging media that draws their attention. 

• To improve attention in yourself: Build the endurance and abilities of your hippocampus by choosing content and activities that you care about. If you want to read a book in a weekend and actually remember some of it, choose a topic that you really, really care about. If you want to retain information that a person is telling you, ask follow-up questions and practice active listening to activate the hippocampus. You’ll also want to remove distractions like background noise, worrying about to-do lists, or not giving yourself ample time to give your attention. 

2. Generation

Generation means using multiple senses to take in the information. For most, sitting in front of a computer and passively reading paragraphs and paragraphs of information will likely lead to low engagement, high distractions…and maybe even a nap. To really understand and remember information, you want to approach it from multiple angles. For example, after reading instructions on a certain task, physically go out and do the task, or watch a video of someone else doing it. 

Generating the action is the best way to really understand and retain information. But visualizing works, too. There was an interesting study published a couple of years ago that looks at the power of visualization in stroke patient recovery. It found that there was a “statistically significant correlation” between motor imaging or imagining a physical action without actually doing the movement and a patient’s physical abilities in recovery.

This means that just visualizing the generation of an action can make the brain think it is actually doing it, to a degree.

Many athletes use this technique…Lebron James, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams are all advocates for the power of visualization. 

• To generate action in others: Provide actionable steps that are easy to follow and straightforward. Ensure learners have all the resources and skills that they need before they are expected to do the action. If they lack the necessary resources or skills, they will view the action as too challenging and disengage. 

• To generate action in yourself: Create the right setting to generate the action. Is your environment comfortable? Are you distracted? Do you have the right tools? Do you have enough time? Is your mind in the right place? This may mean setting aside time on your calendar when you know your brain is ready to try something new. For some, this may be first thing in the morning when the mind is fresh. For others, it may mean after the kids are in bed and all the requirements of the day are behind you. You know your brain best, so give it what it needs to be successful.

3. Emotion

When humans are emotionally activated, it triggers the amygdala (your fight or flight system), which in turn triggers the hippocampus. Basically, when the amygdala feels a lot of emotions—both good and bad—it tells the hippocampus this must be something important so remember it. 

Social media does a great job of playing to emotions because we see people we want to be, places we want to go, or stories that speak to our interests or fantasies. Your social media algorithm is designed to trigger your emotions specifically. However, while social media is emotionally engaging and good at grabbing your attention, it is horrible at keeping your attention. The overflow of content makes it challenging for the brain to focus on one thing for too long, and the constant hit of dopamine with each new intake of content actually creates addictive behavior.

In fact, a lot of digital media intake reduces working memory capacity and can lead to a slew of psychological problems like depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. 

So, you want to strike a delicate balance when playing to emotions and do so in a way that makes yourself or others intrigued but not emotionally drained. 

• To play to emotions in others: Storytelling is always a great strategy for emotional engagement. Share a relatable, real-world example or shocking true story to get your learners emotionally invested. Videos are also a great way to share stories in a visually stimulating way. Avoid sharing too many stories and instead choose to highlight one to three super impactful ones. And don’t make the stories too long as the learner can get bored or emotionally drained. 

• To play to emotions in yourself: Again, remind yourself why this information is important and envision how it can make your life better. For example, if you are struggling to find the motivation to research your next family vacation and remember all the prices and information you gather, just envision yourself on a beach, drinking a piña colada in the sun to get your hippocampus caring and stimulating. 

4. Spacing

And lastly is spacing. A well-known concept in the learning industry is the “Forgetting Curve.”

According to research, people forget, on average, 75% of new information within one week of learning it and 90% within a month. This is the curve.

However, this forgetfulness can be mitigated through spacing or repetition. To do this, you revisit the new information over spaced out periods of time, and your memory of the information should improve. 

As you can see from the graph below, the more you revisit information the better it is retained until it becomes logged in the long-term memory bank. 

• To space out learning for others: Provide opportunities for your learner to revisit the information. The best way to do this is through different formats. For example, maybe you have an in-person workshop for your team to learn a new work process. Then, you give them a task to complete over the next week to practice applying the work process. You could also send a video out a few days after the workshop showcasing how the work process should look in the real world or even a quiz to test their knowledge of the topic. All of these formats are different and not only require your learner to revisit the topic but also to view it from a different angle. 

• To space out learning for yourself: Find ways to revisit the information in your daily routine. If you are learning a new language, practice it every day on your commute to work. You should also make the information easily accessible for yourself, like writing short summaries after meetings that you can revisit as needed or keeping documents in a desktop folder that you want to review periodically throughout your week. 

Your Brain Through the AGES

The AGES framework is great for helping yourself become a better learner and also for helping others remember information.

How your brain learns and retains information is directly related to how your brain ages over time. The better your cognitive functions and memory, the better your brain will age.

By using this framework, you help your hippocampus stay stimulated and high-functioning. 

This framework can be applied in many different situations, such as preparing for a meeting, helping your child with homework, or when building smarter habits for yourself. While it may have been built for instructional designers, learning is not exclusive to a course, workshop, or classroom setting. Learning can happen in every aspect of our lives, so feel free to apply this framework wherever and whenever you need a little memory boost.