PRAKASH CHALAGULLA explores the relationship between memory and concentration. He suggests that one of the common reasons we forget things is because we are unable to concentrate due to so many distractions. He also provides the solution!
Connecting Concentration and Memory
Do you sometimes forget your cell phone? Have you ever walked into a room for something then forgotten what it was? Are you unable to recollect names, phone numbers, or street names? You probably answered yes to at least one if not all of these examples. You are not alone. We are all prone to absentmindedness at times. These lapses in memory are caused by breaks in attention, which happen when our focus is somewhere else.
Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, Daniel Schacter, offers seven ways our memories fail us1. He calls them the seven sins of memory and categorizes them into three groups: forgetting, distortion, and intrusion. One of these sins is absentmindedness, forgetting caused by lapses in attention.
| Sin | Type | Description | Example |
| Transience | Forgetting | Accessibility of memory decreases over time | Forgetting events that occurred long ago |
| absentmindedness | Forgetting | Forgetting caused by lapses in attention | Forgetting where your phone is |
| Blocking | Forgetting | Accessibility of information is temporarily blocked | It’s on the tip of your tongue |
| Misattribution | Distortion | Source of memory is confused | Recalling a dream memory as a waking memory |
| Suggestibility | Distortion | False memories | Resulting from leading questions |
| Bias | Distortion | Memories distorted by current belief system | Aligning memories to current beliefs |
| Persistence | Intrusion | Inability to forget undesirable memories | Resulting from traumatic events |
Is it a memory problem or a concentration problem?
Concentration is our ability to focus the mind on one subject, object, or thought, and at the same time exclude other unrelated thoughts, ideas, feelings, and sensations. As my mother often likes to point out, when I play games or watch movies everything else ceases to exist for me.
Memory is our ability to store information, past experiences, and events for future learning and understanding.
“For the majority of people, [forgetting] is not a memory problem per se, but it’s more of a concentration or organizational problem where they’re not getting the information initially or they’re not processing it correctly in the first place,” says Aaron Bonner-Jackson, a neuropsychologist with Cleveland Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. “They say they have a memory problem when in fact trouble with concentration, focus, or organization is the underlying issue.”
One of the biggest challenges
our generation faces
is lack of
focus.
Due to constant distractions,
we are unable to come out
of the clutches of scattered thinking.
Lack of focus means we
either don’t complete tasks
or don’t execute them well.
One of the biggest challenges our generation faces is lack of focus. Due to constant distractions, we are unable to come out of the clutches of scattered thinking. Lack of focus means we either don’t complete tasks or don’t execute them well. “We’re really wired to be mono-taskers, meaning that our brains can only focus on one task at a time,” says neuropsychologist Cynthia Kubu of the Cleveland Clinic. “When we think we’re multitasking, most often we aren’t really doing two things at once, but instead, we’re doing individual actions in rapid succession, or task-switching,” she says.
Improving concentration and memory power is important when we want to accomplish anything. The age-old mantra – to have a sharp memory we need complete focus – is really vital. Meditation plays a significant role in improving concentration. In meditation, we focus the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity in order to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. In other words, it is a tool to create a state of mind where one thought prevails. It helps us move from fickle-mindedness to one-pointedness.
As a meditator, I feel it enhances my ability to focus a million-fold, enabling me to be resourceful. Because of meditation, I am able to strike the right balance between hard work and smart work. One prominent change I have noticed is a drastic improvement in my level of concentration. Tasks that would earlier take two to three hours to complete, I can do in half that time now. I am more level-minded in demanding situations and as a result I am less stressed.
As a meditator, I feel it enhances
my ability to
focus a
million-fold,
enabling me to be resourceful.
Because of
meditation,
I am able to strike the right balance
between hard
work and smart work.
Our generation faces a lot of challenges today, but we also have a lot of tools we can use to overcome them and set the right example for the future.
1Schacter, D., 2002. The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers. Mariner Books, USA.
Prakash Chalagulla
