I have often heard people complaining; I have a bad memory, I forget things easily, I can'r understand anything I read. usually this happens to us when we try hard to remember certain things. Why is it always so?. The answer to this is "INTEREST". When we are interested in a particular subject, we tend to remember every word of it. But on the other hand, lack of interest in a subject prevents us from remembering much about it.
Therefore, the most important factot for improving our memory is interest. If we have interest in a particular subject, then it is easy to concentrate on it. Interest is a predominant factor which plays an important role in developong our memory. In one of my semimars, I asked the students who are interested in football the following questions.
- Who won the Olympic Gold medal In men's football in 1996?
- which olayer scored the golden goal?
- Who was the coach that led the winning team to the competition?
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One of the students (male) stood up and answered all the questions correctly and even gave me additional points to ponder about. It was enthusiastic. But whwn I asked him what he had learnt in class a day before the seminar, he went blank. This happened because he was not interested in what was been taught in the class. But since he was interested in football, he could remember the county that won the olympic Gold medal thirteen years ago.
With this little experiment, we can now see that we tent to remember the subject we have interest in than the subject we are not interested in. Another facr we must note is that, if a student can remember the perosn who scored the golden gaol in 1996 olympics, he/she is also capable of remembering what he was taught in class.
There is nothing wrong with his memory. It is only lack of interest in that subject. So to develop your interest in a particular subject , take up a subject in which you are not interested in. For example, mathematics. Suppose you are a student of mathematics and you do not like subject, but you cannot avoid it. Your main aim is to create interest in it. First of all, take up the solved example and try to understand them. Solve the easy sums and then proceed to the difficult ones.
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Gradually, you will see that you have developed an interest in mathematics. Therefore, it is essential that to rememeber a particular subject, the development of interest in it is important. If the interest is there, the other factors will follow simultaneously.