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Memory Improvement
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| An Introduction to Memory Techniques |
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| Mnemonics |
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'Mnemonic' is another word for memory tool. Mnemonics are techniques for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall: A very simple example is the '30 days hath September' rhyme for remembering the number of days in each calendar month.
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The idea behind using mnemonics is to encode difficult-to-remember information in a way that is much easier to remember.
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Our brains evolved to code and interpret complex stimuli such as images, colors, structures, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, positions, emotions and language. We use these to make sophisticated models of the world we live in. Our memories store all of these very effectively.
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Unfortunately, a lot of the information we have to remember in modern life is presented differently - as words printed on a page. While writing is a rich and sophisticated medium for conveying complex arguments, our brains do not easily encode written information, making it difficult to remember.
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The techniques listed here show you how to use all the memory resources available to you to remember information in a highly efficient way.
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| Using Your Whole Mind to Remember |
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The key idea is that by coding information using vivid mental images, you can reliably code both information and the structure of information. And because the images are vivid, they are easy to recall when you need them.
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The techniques explained later on in this section show you how to code information vividly, using stories, strong mental images, familiar journeys, and so on.
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You can do the following things to make your mnemonics more memorable:
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Use positive, pleasant images. Your brain often blocks out unpleasant ones |
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Use vivid, colorful, sense-laden images - these are easier to remember than drab ones |
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Use all your senses to code information or dress up an image. Remember that your mnemonic can contain sounds, smells, tastes, touch, movements and feelings as well as pictures
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Give your image three dimensions, movement and space to make it more vivid. You can use movement either to maintain the flow of association, or to help you to remember actions
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Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image |
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Use humor! Funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than normal ones |
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Similarly, rude rhymes are very difficult to forget! |
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Symbols (red traffic lights, pointing fingers, road signs, etc.) can code quite complex messages quickly and effectively
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| Technique 1 : Designing Mnemonics: Imagination, Association and Location |
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The three fundamental principles underlying the use of mnemonics are imagination, association and location. Working together, you can use these principles to generate powerful mnemonic systems.
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Imagination: is what you use to create and strengthen the associations needed to create effective mnemonics. Your imagination is what you use to create mnemonics that are potent for you. The more strongly you imagine and visualize a situation, the more effectively it will stick in your mind for later recall. The imagery you use in your mnemonics can be as violent, vivid, or sensual as you like, as long as it helps you to remember.
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Association: this is the method by which you link a thing to be remembered to a way of remembering it. You can create associations by:
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Placing things on top of each other |
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Crashing things together |
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Merging images together |
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Wrapping them around each other |
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Rotating them around each other or having them dancing together |
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Linking them using the same color, smell, shape, or feeling |
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As an example, you might link the number 1 with a goldfish by visualizing a 1-shaped spear being used to spear it.
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Location: gives you two things: a coherent context into which you can place information so that it hangs together, and a way of separating one mnemonic from another. By setting one mnemonic in a particular town, I can separate it from a similar mnemonic set in a city. For example, by setting one in Wimbledon and another similar mnemonic with images of Manhattan, we can separate them with no danger of confusion. You can build the flavors and atmosphere of these places into your mnemonics to strengthen the feeling of location.
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| Technique 2 : The Link and Story Methods |
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| (Remembering a Simple List) |
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The Link Method is one of the easiest mnemonic techniques available. You use it by making simple associations between items in a list, linking them with a vivid image containing the items. Taking the first image, create a connection between it and the next item (perhaps in your mind smashing them together, putting one on top of the other, or suchlike.) Then move on through the list linking each item with the next.
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The Story Method is very similar, linking items together with a memorable story featuring them. The flow of the story and the strength of the images give you the cues for retrieval.
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| Technique 3 : The Number/Rhyme Mnemonic |
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| (Remembering Simple Ordered Lists) |
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The Number/Rhyme technique is a very simple way of remembering lists in order.
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It is an example of a peg system using – a system where information is 'pegged' to a known sequence (here the numbers one to ten) to create pegwords. By doing this you ensure that you do not forget any facts, as gaps in information are immediately obvious. It also makes remembering images easier as you always know part of the mnemonic images.
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At a simple level you can use it to remember things such as a list of English Kings or American Presidents in their precise order. At a more advanced level it can be used, for example, to code lists of experiments to be recalled in a science exam.
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| Technique 4 : The Journey System |
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| (Remembering Long Lists) |
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The journey method is a powerful, flexible and effective mnemonic based around the idea of remembering landmarks on a well-known journey. It combines the narrative flow of the Link Method and the structure and order of the Peg Systems into one very powerful system.
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You use the Journey Method by associating information with landmarks on a journey that you know well. This could, for example, be your journey to work in the morning; the route you use to get to the front door when you get up; the route to visit your parents; or a tour around a holiday destination. Once you are familiar with the technique you may be able to create imaginary journeys that fix in your mind, and apply these.
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To use this technique most effectively, it is often best to prepare the journey beforehand. In this way the landmarks are clear in your mind before you try to commit information to them. One of the ways of doing this is to write down all the landmarks that you can recall in order on a piece of paper. This allows you to fix these landmarks as the significant ones to be used in your mnemonic, separating them from others that you may notice as you get to know the route even better.
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To remember a list of items, whether these are people, experiments, events or objects, all you need do is associate these things with the landmarks or stops on your journey.
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| Technique 5 : The Roman Room System |
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| (Remembering Grouped Information) |
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The Roman Room technique, also known as the Method of Loci, is an ancient and effective way of remembering information where its structure is not important. As an example, it serves as the basis of one of the powerful mnemonic systems used to learn languages.
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To use the technique, imagine a room that you know, such as your sitting room, bedroom, office or classroom. Within the room are objects. Associate images representing the information you want to remember with the objects in the room. To recall information, simply take a tour around the room in your mind, visualizing the known objects and their associated images.
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The technique can be expanded by going into more detail, and keying information to be remembered to smaller objects. Alternatively you can open doors from your room into other rooms and use the objects in them as well. As you need them, you can build extensions to your rooms in your imagination, and fill them with objects that would logically be there.
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You can use other rooms to store other categories of information.
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There is no need to restrict this information to rooms: you could use a landscape or a town you know well, and populate it with memory images.
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The Roman Room technique is just one way of representing your cognitive map of the information in an easily accessible way.
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Using Concept Maps or Mind Maps to Remember Structured Information
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Mind Maps are not formally mnemonics. They do, however, help you to lay out the structure of a topic as a clear 'shape' that you can remember easily. By seeing this shape in your mind, you can prompt yourself to remember the information coded within it.
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This becomes even easier if you have coded this information using striking images.
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Memory Games (Have fun, while you improve your memory!)
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To remember things for a longer amount of time, you must connect the new information with information you already have, “committing” it to your long-term memory, which stores more information and, for a longer period of time.
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There are, of course, many ‘serious’ techniques for improving your memory. But you can also have a bit of fun “working out” with memory games. There are several games to workout your memory, individually or in a team.
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| Story Telling |
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One way to remember the information you need to commit to long-term memory is to make up a story that “connects” the items or facts you need to remember, thus making them easier to recall. The idea here is that it’s easier to remember more information when one fact or item connects to another.
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While making up the story, create a strong mental image of what’s happening. This helps to “connect” the data to an image and better cement it in your long-term memory.
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| Pexeso: Matching Pairs |
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Pexeso involves matching pairs of like cards or tiles from a large group, when one of each group is hidden.
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You play Pexeso with a set of cards or tiles that includes pairs of picture or numbers. You can play using half a pack of standard playing cards – just remove 2 of the 4 suits, so you have just 2 aces, 2 kings, 2 queens and so on.
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Start by laying out 24 of the cards, making sure the 24 cards consists of 12 matched pairs. Once face down, move the cards around so that you do not know where any single card is located.
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Turn one card over at a time, take a look at the number or object, and then turn it face down again. Repeat this process until you turn over a card that matches a card you turned over earlier. Now find the card’s ‘mate’ by remembering from earlier where it is located. As you find a matched pair, remove them from the group. The number of cards dwindles until all the pairs are matched.
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Time yourself and see how you improve (get faster) each time you play.
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| ‘Blind’ Jigsaw Puzzles |
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Another fun and inexpensive way to give your concentration and memory a boost is the good old-fashioned jigsaw puzzle. Playing it ‘blind’ means without referring back to the picture on the box!
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First, look at a picture of the completed puzzle. Give yourself a few minutes to commit it to memory.
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Next, mix up the pieces to the jigsaw puzzle.
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Now, work to put it back together without looking at the picture of the completed puzzle again (until you are done).
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How to Remember Information for Exams
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A very effective way of structuring information for revision is to draw up a full, cloud coded concept or memory map of a subject. This will help you to see the overall structure of the topic and show you the associations between pieces of information. A good concept map can be an effective mnemonic in its own right.
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The problem with this is that you can forget the label on a line on a concept map. A more reliable method is to take your concept map, and break it down into a numbered list of important points. You can then use one of the peg techniques (see links above) to remember the items on the list. Alternatively you can use the journey technique for longer lists.
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By associating items on a list with a journey, you can check that you have retrieved all items held by the mnemonic. Supporting facts can be associated into images or sub-mnemonics. These could be triggered by the landmarks if you use the journey system. Alternatively you can loosely associate this information with the facts coded.
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Retrieving all the facts necessary to answer an exam question becomes as simple as running through the mnemonic in your mind. As you go, jot down the retrieved facts that are relevant to the question. Once you have written these down, you can apply any other mnemonics you have coded, or note any associated facts and connections that occur to you. This should ensure that you have all possible information available to you for examination preparation.
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Memory Improvement
