7 memory lessons I learned from Claire

In a recent Age UK Barnet talk, neuropsychologist Professor Catherine Loveday shared what she has learned about memory after working with Claire who developed amnesia after a viral infection at the age of 40.

Lesson 1: Tap into your strengths – and make our memories a habit.

Knowledge of something and our ability to recollect experiences are different aspects of memory, as is the ability to ride a bike, play the piano or hold information like directions. These aspects of memory are all stored differently in the brain.

There’s also a difference between conscious memory – anything you can bring to mind - and unconscious memory – a feeling or response to something that you can’t put your finger on. This unconscious part brings up emotions and intuition, habits and automatic behaviours. It’s a bit like waking up from a dream and not remembering the details but being left with a feeling – discomfort or happiness, for instance. Unconscious memory is a different part of our memory system and it stays intact in people with memory loss and dementia.

Because memory comes in different forms, we need to tap into our strengths.

• If you’re not very good at remembering facts and figures, use other ways to access those memories. For example, learn to use that automatic unconscious part of our memory system by repeating something until it becomes automatic. This is what we do when we learn to drive.
• Create useful habits. If you need to take a pill, turn it into a habit. For instance, set a reminder alarm until it becomes a habit. Putting two things together like this can strengthen the connection and make it easier for you to remember.
• Play to your strengths - If you’re an intuitive person, then go with your feelings.
• Don’t worry if you have to look things up – there’s no evidence this weakens your memory.

Lesson 2: A healthy memory is a flexible one

When Claire tells a story it’s always the same. Most people change and reshape their memories over time when they recall experiences. This flexibility is healthy as most of us tend to reshape a memory into something that is positive and better for us, particularly when we get older.  By and large, it allows us to be happy.

Lesson 3: All memories fade unless they are rehearsed

In one study, Claire’s memory an hour later was the same as healthy younger people a week later. But by showing Claire photos of what she’d been doing, she was able to form memories in a way she hadn’t been able to before.

Although it’s healthy and normal to let go of most of what we do, we want to hold on to things that are important to us. 

• The trick is to rehearse your memory – just by thinking about things we’ve said and done reinforces it and makes it stronger.
• Other ways to consolidate memory include writing a diary or making a scrapbook.
• Share and talk about the books you read or the programmes you watch.
• Write down things that have happened that are important to you. Write lists of films you watch or books you read.
• Look back over photos.
• Go back to these every not and again - whether it’s a diary or a photo album, this is the key to reinforcing these memories.

Lesson 4: Daydreaming is mostly good

Our minds go on a little journey when nothing is going on, flipping between things that have happened and things that might happen. Daydreaming is something Claire can’t do but it’s a sign of a healthy brain and a way of reactivating memory circuits. So finding opportunities for your mind to wander helps make memories.

• Give yourself rest and time to do nothing like sitting and staring out the window!
• Go for a walk in a familiar place so you don’t have to think about where you’re going.
• Do something repetitive like listening to music or knitting on your own – anything that stops you thinking about what you’re doing.
• If you want to remember a special event, the best thing you can do is do nothing for an hour – and have a good night’s sleep.
• If it makes you miserable, then stop.

Lesson 5: have a strategy to remember names

If you’re meeting someone for the first time, really pay attention what they’re saying and use their name and reuse their name to make the name part of that memory trace. Make associations if you can – do they remind you of anyone? Top tip is to write it down.

With names you already know, bring up an image of that person in your mind. Picture their face and anything to do with that person, then step away and come back to it. Going through the alphabet can help. Or look it up – there’s no shame in this. You may remember it better the next time. We can make it easier for other people by introducing ourselves.

Lesson 6: Organise your memories – and create systems

Don’t have too many pieces of paper and notebooks. Claire suggests using one diary or notebook that goes with you everywhere. Post it notes and whiteboards detailing your timetable for the week are all useful too. Be systematic – keys and items you use regularly should be kept in one place. Label cupboards, if necessary.

To retrieve a personal memory, find out what works for you. Whether it’s thinking of what you were wearing, listening to music, looking at old photos – everyone has a different way of accessing the past.

Lesson 7: Curate your life in some way

The hardest thing for Claire is not being able to access her past memories. We should be curating ourselves because if we suffer from memory loss in future, it might become useful to the people around you. Only you know what makes you who you are. Make lists of films, books and objects that are important to you, perhaps. Maybe recreate your own desert island discs. You could curate photo albums – with comments – and save items of clothing that are meaningful to you. Creating a memory box of concert tickets or other memorabilia . Or you could write about your life – your autobiography. We don’t realise how much of our memories we need to have ownership of ourselves.