Seven Ways to Escape Mental Blocks

We’ve all hit mental blocks. You feel sure the detail you need is somewhere in your memory, but it is as if a brick wall has sprung up to hide it. Memory blocks range from mildly irritating lapses in mid-conversation to catastrophic memory failures in the middle of an exam. Fortunately, these tricks can help you to overcome them.

Work with the alphabet
If you are trying to remember a name, getting the initial letter is often enough to bring the whole of it to mind. Say the alphabet slowly to yourself, pausing after each letter to allow time for the process of association to work.

Sooner or later you will encounter a letter than ‘feels closer’ than the rest. Once you think you have hit the right letter, say it out loud. This can help bring the right name or word to mind.

Switch your attention
Sometimes too much effort to remember seems to create a mental block or make one worse. Switch attention to something entirely different – go and make a cup of tea, read the paper or absorb yourself in a crossword.

By consciously not trying to remember the piece of information, you may find that the answer surfaces of its own accord. This phenomenon has been called the ‘law of reversed effort’ and often works well in tip-of-the-tongue situations where you feel the answer is tantalisingly close.

Deal with intruders
When you are struggling to find the right word in conversation or when writing, you may find the wrong word surfaces repeatedly and seems to get in the way of the one you need. Take a closer look at this intruder. It is likely to correspond in a number of ways with the word you want.

You will often find that it starts with the same letter, or has the same number of syllables, or is associated by meaning with the word you need. Use these clues to sound out similar words, or say aloud a number of sentences that express the meaning of the word you are looking for. This helps to open up a path to the word you want.