Do you remember your first kiss? Do you remember graduation day? Do you remember a day you were really scared? What do all of these memories have in common? All of these memories are linked to strong emotions. Improving memory while speed reading can be accomplished by linking emotion to the information you need to remember. First, let's see what role emotion plays in memory.
Strong emotions impact your midbrain. In your midbrain is a structure called the hippocampus. This tiny structure registers the emotional impact of an experience. Experiences that have strong emotions linked to them are permanently etched into your memory. Even experiences that occur only a single time can be easily recalled if the emotions linked to that experience are powerful.
Strong emotions are usually associated with experiences that impact your life in a very significant manner. Your brain is designed to help you survive. Remembering events that produce power emotions is one of the best ways that it learns. Now you are ready to put this mechanism to work while speed reading.
When most people read they simply hear words being pronounced at the back of their brain. You need to experience what you read as if it were actually happening. Feel the experience, live the experience, take in all the emotion of the experience. Your intense emotional experiences will stimulate your hippocampus locking the information into your permanent memory. Let me give you a good example of how to accomplish this.
Suppose you are reading a book about malaria. You might memorize three symptoms as high fever, nausea, and delirium. How long do you think you would remember these symptoms if you were also learning hundreds of other diseases and their symptoms? Instead of remembering these three words you are going to experience the symptoms. Imagine lying in a bed drenched in sweat from your high fever. You are covered in vomit, and can barely focus. Now if someone asked you to remember the symptoms of malaria you would have these experience to recall instead of trying to remember three words. You would be putting the power of emotion to work to lock facts into your memory. Try it. You are really going to love it.
