You’ve likely heard that if you need to remember that bit of information – it helps to form a visual picture in your mind…. It’s just how the brain can assist you with the task of remembering and applying new ideas….
The occipital lobes process and interpret vision … so your brain is 
already up and running to give you all you need. How does it work…? This back of the brain area is your visual center and it’s rather exciting when you think of it….
Try brain based tactics to draw more from this too often unused faculty….
1. Sketch a quirky chart to organize your week and you’ll likely remember more of the highlights…
2. Throw a surprise image or two into your next blog or PowerPoint and watch understanding and memory levels rise…
3. Next time you meet new people … visualize one small aspect of each face that matches the person’s name … and you’ll have a few more names when you meet the people again.
Can you think of other ways to visualize your day… your plans… your finances or your next presentation? I was quite astonished at how well this worked … when I was rehearsing for exams during my PhD …. I simply sketched silly little pictures to illustrate main parts of the content when I studied. Then after exams started and while directions were still being given … I drew these small sketches into the margins of my exam question paper. It worked wonders! I wrote pages on each visual in front of me – because the images brought back related details from my readings.
With quite remarkable accuracy … your occipital lobes enable you to create visual memories … and so you can weave visual perceptions into the spatial images provided by your adjacent parietal lobes….
All to say it helps to see it as you read it! Hopefully these few tactics will give you a fun place to start – just to make sure your occipital lobes don’t get left behind as you rush through a day without taking the time to pause and …. Visualize a concept you’d like to remember or expand upon later and it’ll be there far faster than if you don’t see it as an image…. What do you think?
Ellen
Your story about the exams was excellent and vivid example of the principle.I found it vey helpful that you put into words something that up until now I had understood experientially. A few years ago, I drew some cartoons summarising a series of outcomes at the very commencement of a project and I used to meditate on the drawings. The project results way surpassed most people's expectations. I recall that the drawings were a great motivator to me.
Posted by: Galba Bright | September 20, 2006 6:12 PM | Permalink to Comment