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Forget About Forgetting
By John Langone
The NY Times, January 21, 2003
Milton Berle once summed it up for many of us: "I have a
photographic memory, but once in a while I forget to take off the lens
cap."
This self-help book's author, who is director of the U.C.L.A. Memory
Clinic and its Center on Aging, aims to remove obstructions to retaining
information, no easy task for either the author or the memory-impaired.
At best, the book makes a solid effort. Dr. Small's approach comes down
to three basic skills: "Look, snap, connect." As he defines
them, looking is "to actively observe what you want to learn."
Snapping is creating "mental snapshots of memories." Connecting
is linking "your mental snapshots together."
He also offers a number of effective memory exercises and mnemonic
techniques, though some seem a bit tedious.
With the "Roman room method," credited to ancient Roman
orators, one is asked to visualize a familiar room, then place each item
to be remembered in a specific location there. "You can then retrieve
the information when taking a mental walk around the room," the
author suggests.
But if there really is a surefire way to retrieve what has faded away
by somehow tweaking the nerve cells, brain chemicals and electrical
impulses that encode our memories, there must be a Nobel Prize awaiting
the discoverer.
"The Memory Bible: An Innovative Strategy
for Keeping Your Brain Young," by Dr. Gary Small. Hyperion, $25.95.
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© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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