Try These Games for Improving Working Memory by Sean Davids

Did you know that one of the most effective means of improving working memory is to play games? Working memory is the more scientific term for what is often known as short term memory. Recently stored details such as names and phone numbers is stored in this area of the memory. Think about it as your brain's scratch pad. It is the opinion of the experts that working memory can store a total of seven bits of information at any one time.
A strong working memory is vital for things like literacy, numeracy, and solving problems. Making these skills better also improves your concentration and awareness. Many scientists are of the view that folks who play specific games make their working memory better. We will examine here a few of these games to improve memory.

Board games like chess might assist in making working memory better. The brain functions that are used to plan out your moves, which are crucial to mastering chess, require an understanding of relationships between various items of information. And this procedure occurs in the same area of your mind as the elements that control the storage of data for working memory.

Scrabble and other word games that require you to understand words and letters also exercise the working memory. Combining letters in different ways to form words and bringing them from long term memory into working memory can further assist your visual and spatial abilities, as this causes you to generate patterns in your brain.

Possibly the most famous game for making your memory better is simply called Memory, a card game that is also known as Concentration. Cards are arranged face down on the table, and then two of them are turned over a time. If the cards match, the player is allowed to keep them both. If it's not a match, the cards are put back, and the next individual takes a turn. Ultimately, the player collecting the most cards wins. Since more and more of the cards are turned over as the game goes on, attempting to remember where each card can be found is the key to gaining cards in the latter stages of the game.

Another card game utilized for an improved memory is bridge. Duplicate bridge is the type played in tournaments, and is more suited to this purpose than rubber bridge. The reason for this is that duplicate bridge requires you to remember bids, whereas rubber bridge involves more luck than skill.

Playing games to improve working memory can be as basic as just shutting your eyes and attempting to remember where specific objects are situated in a room. You can also ask another individual to write down a list of various items, show it to you, and then ask you to repeat back the items on it in the correct order. I'm sure you can dream up plenty of other games that are not only enjoyable but useful to your ability to recall things.




About the Author
Even if you haven't yet noticed any concerns with your memory, it's a good idea to start to learn memory improvement skills right now, early on, before problems in fact occur. Discover more by visiting the Improved Memory site.