A Short Pencil is Better Than a Long Memory Quiz

Answer: Elephant

The elephant's brain is more dense than a human brain and also has more "folds", so they can store more information. "Memory like an elephant" is indeed a compliment!

Answer: Mnemonics

Mnemonics is from the Greek word for mindful (mnemon). Some common mnemonics are for the colors of the rainbow, ROY G BIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet) and for the planets, My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nachos. Phonetics is the study of language sounds, Phrenology is a pseudoscience studying personality characteristics through bumps on the skull and linguistics is the study of language.

Answer: Hippocampus

The Hippocampus is part of the limbic system, which deals with emotion and long term memory.

Answer: Tip of the Tongue

Tip of the Tongue, or TOT as it is also known as, is very common in people of all ages. It's not generally indicative of anything serious, just very, very frustrating!

Answer: Middle Term

Sensory is the shortest type of memory, lasting only a few thousandths of a second (looking at a picture and recalling briefly what it is), short term memory is a few seconds to a few minutes (looking up a phone number then dialing it) and long term memory is what we generally think of as "memory", retention over time of "Facts" or "Memories" (like Trivia facts).

Answer: Eidetic

Eidetic is defined as the ability to completely recall a photograph or auditory event in astonishing detail, as if the event is still being seen or heard by the observer. There is a great deal of controversy as to whether or not this ability exists, see Wikipedia and www.straightdope.com for more details.

Answer: Disposal

Memory is a complex process. A failure at any stage will prevent whatever is being learned from being stored in long term memory.

Answer: Well rested

Being well rested seems to be the best situation to remembering previously learned material. There is also a lot of data regarding "state dependent learning", which is whatever state you are in when you are learning the material, the best environment to recall it is to closely approximate that state.

This explains why, after a night spent drinking, you sometimes can't recall what you did the next morning.

Answer: Memory is a very complex process

It has been shown that all memory is not visual. Just as we have different learning styles (some people are visual learners, other auditory, others kinetic, etc), we have different memory styles. And, as we know from the TOT experience, wanting to remember something doesn't make it any more likely that we will. And, although positive thinking might help during the learning process, it doesn't help us remember any better.

Answer: Memory can be improved

There are a number of ways to improve your memory. You can use technology to help you remember appointments, rehearse what you need to remember, using visual cues to help you remember, the aforementioned mnemonics and of course, as the title of this quiz states, write it down!