Memory Measure is a stack that will test your memory using 14 different tests to test your memory. 13 of the tests are random. When the testing is done, a rating between 0 and 100 will be given to you, where 100 is best and 0 is worst. The average is about 55 points and the accuracy of the score is +/- 5 points. Memory Measure also supports different difficulty levels, ranging from easy to medium to hard.
Shareware...
Memory Measure is shareware. That means that if you like it, you should pay me $15, £10 or 100 NOK*. You can use the provided Register application or pay with cash or a money order directly to the address below.
* Please note that there are discounts available. Each copy up to the tenth costs $15, if you buy more copies that that, each copy is $10. If you buy more than 25 copies, each copy of Memory Measure is priced at $7. Site and world licenses are available at $500 and $2000.
More information on payment can be found in the document Paying for Memory Measure, which includes useful information about how to use the Register program and what to do when you have used it.
Yellow Lemon Software can be contacted via e-mail or snail-mail at these addresses:
E-mail:
yls@kagi.com
stoedle@online.no
Snail-mail:
Yellow Lemon Software
Daniel Stødle
Fogd Dreyersgt. 21
N-9008 Tromsø
NORWAY
Please support shareware and pay for Memory Measure. If you have any comments, bugs, or suggestions, please report them to either of the above addresses. You can also send any questions you may have to those addresses.
For updates, info and other products from Yellow Lemon Software, please check out the YLS web page, located at <http://home.sol.no/~stoedle/YLS/>.
How often should I take the test?
If you are taking it just to check your memory score, no more than once a week. If you are aiming at improving your memory using Memory Measure, you can take the test as often as you wish, but keep in mind that atleast one of the tests are "non-changing", in other words, it is not random.
How you can improve your memory
Have you gotten a low memory score? Do you just want to improve your memory or impress your friends with a good memory? Well, here’s some of the ways to do it:
• Get hold of the latest version of Hypnosis and use the self-hypnosis scripts contained in it to improve your memory (don’t dismiss it right away, give it a fair chance, it surely worked for me!).
• Play memory games such as those where you lift to cards and try to find pairs. (Yes, it actually improves your memory!)
• Take the Memory Measure test many times).
• Take one of those memory classes (I don’t know much about them, but I think they work satisfyingly).
• Try out MemTiles, a memory game also from Yellow Lemon Software.
Different types of memory
* Note that this is only my OWN speculations... *
The memory you use most, is the associating part of it. This memory type creates links between events and objects, smells or similar. Later this object or smell will trigger the emotions and feelings you experienced during that event. It happens every day, but you are not likely to make a note of it all the time.
The second memory type is the short term memory. This is the part of your memory you use when you are making small calculations (read a number from one place, transfer it to another), when you look up a phone number and dial it, etc... It is used very often.
The third memory type is the long term memory. This part of your memory is very weaved into the associating part of your memory, as it is usually the association memory that triggers a search in your long term or archive memory.
Then there’s the unconscious memory type. This is used every day, and you rarely even know that it’s there. This memory type holds the information about how you can speak, the alphabet, numbers, words... It also holds the information that enables you to walk, stand, sit down, etc... without falling or loosing your balance. It contains the data that tells your body which muscles to use when you want to walk, write... It stores your skills... In other words, it’s a vital part of your memory.
The fifth type of memory is your reflex memory. This is used subconsciously, and is triggered by sounds, feelings, words or similar. One of the uses it has, is that it makes you do certain things when a certain situation takes place. Note that this is not in any way associated to the bodys natural reflexes.
Music memory. Everybody has it and everybody comes to hate it sometimes. Ever had a song "burned into your brain"? Can’t stop humming at it? This is your music memory. It is damn annoying, but very useful sometimes as well. Can’t love it, can’t hate it. It also has its connections to the association memory.
Image memory. This is were images of things that has happened to you is stored. Images/scenes from real life, dreams and fantasies are often placed here. Some of us have such a good image memory that it is considered a photographic memory.
Dream memory - we all have it but unfortunately it "never" works. You wake up, and remember this REALLY cool dream you had, and then a few minutes later, it is gone, blown off your mind. Some of us have a good dream memory - they end up telling about their wonderful (or scary) dreams the rest of the day. Some of the dreams you have can be either so wonderful or scary that they are tatooed into your mind and you remember them, but this is normally not your dream memory, but your learn memory that learns events that happened in the dream and then passes them over to the reflex and image memory.
Learn memory, couldn’t live without it. This is the memory that places the knowledge and experience into the other groups of memory.
Test memory. You study for a test, complete the test, and then the knowledge is gone (more or less). That’s what the test memory does. It creates a place for things you need to learn, but only for a while. Then it goes over into the Archive memory, where it is nearly unretrieveable after a couple of years of non-use.
Last, but DEFINETLY not least, the archive memory. This is where all the memory types are grouped, as well as stuff you rarely use in a separate "drawer". If you read for a test back in 1990, you are not likely to remember all the stuff you read, unless you have used it at a regular basis. The association memory has a lot of links to this part of the memory, but as time passes by, the links will deteriorate and leave you with a more or less inaccessible part of your memory.
Version history
1.8 - Added difficulty levels to Memory Measure. This also made me create an entirely new card for entering personal details and selecting a difficulty level. Fixed a couple of bugs and made the perception tests more easy to differentiate by using three bullets (•••) instead of the original one bullet.
1.7 - Fixed a bug in the calculation of scores, which would cause skipped tests to be included in your mem score (thus lowering it). Fixed some bugs in the perception tests (or the tests where the items to remember were separated by a bullet (•)) that would cause people with fast Macs to not really see the bullet. This was really a problem with the perception test.
1.6 - Fixed the icon to Memory Measure (I knew there was something wrong with it!) and added the math test. In addition I had to change the amount of points available on some of the tests. Fixed a minor bug in the short description of the Perceptive test. Discovered that I had forgot to change the version info in the Finder’s Get Info window. Bummer!
1.5 - Added a test and fixed a bug in the Combination test. I also changed the amount of points available on some of the tests.
1.4 - Fixed a few minor bugs, made sure you do not enter numbers on the letter test or letters on the number tests. I also fixed it so that you won’t have to press the tab key to shift between the fields on the number/letter tests, it is only one field. Memory Measure is now shareware. Added a test.
1.3 - Fixed yet another bug in the code key test, added a test and made the Association test harder.
1.2 - Randomized the poem test and fixed a bug in the calculation routine for the code key test.
The methods used to test your memory in this stack is in no way scientifically proven to be a good way to test memory (since I invented them as I developed the stack), but I think that the memory score given to you when you finish the test is quite representative for how good your memory is.
Memory Measure can be distributed as much as you like, as long as it, the Read Me-file and the products list is unmodified. If you distribute Memory Measure on a CD-ROM, disk or similar, please let me know, and if possible, give me a free copy.
