Short Term memory tip: Among the different forms of memory known to us, there is short term memory that is distinct from long term memory and also sensory memory. Short term memory is that type of memory that allows us to recall things from just a few seconds ago, or even from as long as a minute back, and it is also normal for short term memory to allow storage of just four or five objects, though this number may go up depending on what is known as ‘chunking’. Thus, with chunking, when you see a group of letters ordered in rows rather in scrambled form, it allows us to remember those groups of letters a lot longer than in the case of merely scrambled letters.

The Fun of Memory Games

We all want to improve our memory; it is simply because we all know how valuable memory is in our regular lives. In fact, a majority of life successes actually depend on the capacity of memory encoding and retrieval skills. There is a great variety of serious techniques available in the market for enhancing memory skills. But people can also enjoy the time while enhancing their memory capability by simply getting engaged into various memory games as well. Let us explore a few popular memory games that can be played either individually or in a group setting.

Story Telling

When we need to remember a phone number, we simply repeat it few times before dialing. But some times after dialing, many of us simply forget the number. This is because we didn’t simply put the number into the segment of our long term memory. So we are unable to remember it later in time.

Story telling is a good memory game that focuses on the critical aspects of long term memory. The idea here is to simply connect the facts or items one needs to remember. When a story is told in a group, it enables the player to visualize a strong mental image of the incidences happening inside the story. This, in turn, helps in encoding the data to an image so that it can be stored in long term memory.

Matching Pairs

Memory Loss Tip: How to Preserve Memory. Eating a healthy diet which is low in saturated fat and includes a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables and fish can be helpful in maintaining your memory. Getting plenty of sleep and exercise can also be a help for memory loss. Smoking can decrease you ability to remember information due to reducing the supply of oxygen for your brain. You need to stimulate your brain with activities such as reading, learning new things, doing crossword puzzles, playing mind stimulating games and other activities.

It is another wonderful memory game that involves matching pairs from a large bunch of playing cards. This game can be played either individually or in pairs. The game can be started by laying out 24 cards containing 12 matched pairs. The player must not know the exact location of any single card in the bulk. The player must turn one card at a time, and look at the image on the card, and then the player turns its face down once again. The player needs to repeat this process till the image in the card matches with the card opened earlier. Now the objective is to find the pair by recalling its location from earlier drawings.

Remembering Names

This type of memory game is played in group of 10 to 12 people. In this game, the players may decide between themselves about the category of names to play with. Say, it is decided that the category will be ‘country’. The players can sit together by forming a circle.

Now the first player will say the name of one country, say, Italy, for example. The second player needs to mention the name already told by the first player in addition to maintain the right order and then add the name of the country he wants to say. If the second player likes to say, ‘Germany’, then following the game’s rule, he must say, ‘Italy, Germany’. The next player will say, ‘Italy, Germany, France’, where France is the name the third player wants to include in the list. It will be repeated in the same fashion for every one in the group. When someone will make a mistake in either recalling a name or maintaining the accurate order, he will be eliminated from the group.