Here are 60 quick exercises to help you improve working memory. Working memory is an important mental skill that helps us process information for immediate tasks and for long-term learning.
Free DIRECT download: 60 quick working memory exercises (patient handout). (Email subscribers get free access to all the resources in the Free Subscription Library.)
Outline:
- What is working memory?
- Numbers, letters, months, and days.
- Word retrieval and spelling backwards.
- Interweaving familiar sequences.
- Tips for making the exercises easier.
- Too easy? Make the exercises harder.
- More resources to improve your working memory.
- Related Eat, Speak, & Think posts.
- Reference.
What is working memory?
While we have a vast amount of long-term memory, we can’t think about everything all at once. We can only think about a handful of concepts at a time. We are using our working memory when we do something useful with that information, like make a decision, figure out a problem, or make a plan.
Working memory is the retention of a small amount of information in a readily accessible form. it facilitates planning, comprehension, reasoning, and problem-solving.
Cowan (2014, p. 197)
How to improve your working memory
One way to improve working memory is to think about something familiar in an unfamiliar way. One common type of exercise is to say a familiar sequence of words backwards.
For instance, we can start with Sunday or Monday and say the days of the week easily. But saying the days of the week in backwards order takes more mental effort.
Another common working memory exercise is to alternate between two familiar sequences, such as numbers and letters. So we could say, “1-A, 2-B, 3-C, 4-D, 5-E” and so on. While we can easily count to 26 and easily say the alphabet, it may be more challenging to alternate between the two sequences.
The general guideline is to find exercises that are challenging. As I like to tell my patients, if it’s too easy, it won’t improve anything. And if it’s too hard, it will just be frustrating. You have to find the sweet spot in the middle. See the “tips” section for ideas on how to make the exercises easier or harder.
Numbers, letters, months, and days
- Start with 10 and count backwards by 2’s.
- Start with 20 and count backwards by 2’s.
- Start with 30 and count backwards by 3’s.
- Start with 40 and count backwards by 4’s.
- Start with 50 and count backwards by 5’s.
- Start with 30 and count backwards by 6’s.
- Start with 35 and count backwards by 7’s.
- Start with 40 and count backwards by 8’s.
- Start with 45 and count backwards by 9’s.
- Start with 100 and count backwards by 10’s.
- Start with Monday and say every other day.
- Start with Sunday and say the days of the week backwards.
- Start with January and say every other month.
- Start with December and say the months backwards.
- Say the last 6 months of the year.
- What is the 10th letter of the alphabet?
- What letter comes before H in the alphabet?
- What letter comes before W in the alphabet?
- What letter comes before J in the alphabet?
- What are the last 5 letters of the alphabet?
Word retrieval and spelling backwards
- Say a word that rhymes with “cat.” Now spell it backwards.
- Say a word that rhymes with “jar.” Spell it backwards.
- Say a word that rhymes with “hair.” Spell it backwards.
- Say a word that rhymes with “gate.” Spell it backwards.
- Say a word that rhymes with “mouse.” Spell it backwards.
- What is the opposite of fast? Now spell it backwards.
- What is the opposite of short? Spell it backwards.
- What is the opposite of hot? Spell it backwards.
- What is the opposite of above? Spell it backwards.
- What is the opposite of west? Spell it backwards.
- Name a color. Now spell it backwards.
- Name a sport. Spell it backwards.
- Name a musical instrument. Spell it backwards.
- Name a vegetable. Spell it backwards.
- Name a wild animal. Spell it backwards.
- What is the sixth month of the year? Spell it backwards.
- What is the fourth month of the year? Spell it backwards.
- What is the seventh month of the year? Spell it backwards.
- Spell your first name backwards.
- Spell your last name backwards.
Interweaving familiar sequences
- Interweaving days of the week and numbers.
- Count to seven.
- Say the days of the week, starting with Monday.
- Now alternate between numbers and days, going in order.
- Interweaving months of the year and numbers.
- Count to 12.
- Say the months of the year.
- Alternate between numbers and months, going in order.
- Interweaving the alphabet and numbers.
- Count to 10.
- Say the first 10 letters of the alphabet.
- Alternate between numbers and letters, going in order.
- Interweaving days of the week and months.
- Say the days of the week.
- Say the first seven months of the year.
- Alternate between days and months, going in order.
- Interweaving male and female names, in alphabetical order.
- Say a male name that starts with A.
- Say a female name that starts with B.
- Continue through Z, passing on the hard letters.
Exercise #5 is a little harder, as you alternate between a familiar sequence (the alphabet) and generating your own words from two categories of common knowledge (male and female names).
Tips for making the exercises easier
If an exercise is too difficult to start with, try one or more of these ideas to make it easier. After a few repetitions, remove the extra support(s) and try the original exercise again.
- Say the sequence in the normal order, while picturing it in your head.
- Count on your fingers to find the requested information.
- Write the sequence down in normal order and touch each one as you say it backwards.
- Say the sequence in the normal order, visualizing each one as a separate flashcard on the table. Touch each imaginary flashcard as you say it, then go in reverse.
Too easy? Make the exercises harder
If these exercises are too easy, you could find a way to turn them into a challenge. Try one or more of these ideas:
- For all the counting exercises, start with 100.
- While doing the exercises, sort a deck of cards into suits.
- Then put each suit of cards into numerical order.
- Tap the table with every other word you say.
- Count how many words, numbers, or letters you say.
- Raise your hand as you say the 4th word, number, or letter in a sequence.
- Say the entire alphabet backwards.
- For the word retrieval exercises, try to pick words that are two or three syllables long.
- When interweaving numbers and letters, try to go through the entire alphabet.
- Exercise #5 under “interweaving familiar sequences” uses male and female names, which are easy categories. Pick two harder categories, such as “US States” and “adjectives”, passing on the hard ones. So your sequence might go like this: “Alaska, bored, California, dynamic, pass on E, familiar, …”
More resources to improve your working memory
Here are some books you might find useful, either to learn more about working memory or to find additional working memory exercises.
If you’d like to learn more about working memory, consider checking out Working Memory: State of the Science*. This book contains 14 chapters, each written by different researchers. Each chapter begins with the authors answering seven core questions and five optional questions, with their answers presented in table format for easy access.
*This is an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon associate, I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. There is no extra charge to you, and it will help keep Eat, Speak, & Think sustainable.
The BCAT Working Memory Exercise Book* contains eight chapters, each focused on a different type of working memory exercise.
*This is an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon associate, I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. There is no extra charge to you, and it will help keep Eat, Speak, & Think sustainable.
Grandmaster Kevin Horsley is famous for his incredibly strong memory, which he trained systematically. He shares his mental strategies and exercises* in his book.
*This is an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon associate, I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. There is no extra charge to you, and it will help keep Eat, Speak, & Think sustainable.
Related Eat, Speak, & Think posts
- How to improve short term memory.
- 5 easy steps to remember names.
- 10 practical cognitive therapy activities.
Reference
- Cowan N. (2014). Working Memory Underpins Cognitive Development, Learning, and Education. Educational psychology review, 26(2), 197–223. [HHS Public Access]
Free DIRECT download: 60 quick working memory exercises (patient handout). (Email subscribers get free access to all the resources in the Free Subscription Library.)
Featured image by Black Ice from Pexels.
Lisa earned her M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Maryland, College Park and her M.A. in Linguistics from the University of California, San Diego.
She participated in research studies with the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and the University of Maryland in the areas of aphasia, Parkinson’s Disease, epilepsy, and fluency disorders.
Lisa has been working as a medical speech-language pathologist since 2008. She has a strong passion for evidence-based assessment and therapy, having earned five ASHA Awards for Professional Participation in Continuing Education.
She launched EatSpeakThink.com in June 2018 to help other clinicians be more successful working in home health, as well as to provide strategies and resources to people living with problems eating, speaking, or thinking.
Just found your website. I copied tips on the website. Just what I was hoping to find. I’ll be looking on Amazon’s website to see what they have on Kindle since I have ability to use a touch screen.
[note: edited to maintain privacy]
How many reps of each exercise would you recommend? Should they be done daily?
Great question! I’m not sure our field has strong evidence for dosing. I recommend that my patients do a variety of cognitive-stimulating activity daily. I tend to follow the guidelines for intensive aphasia exercise, but it depends on the patient. It has to feel doable to them!
https://eatspeakthink.com/improve-aphasia-outcomes-intensive-home-exercise-programs/#how-intense.