|
Association
With association new information is
integrated with memories in long term memory and can be memorized
more easily. When making associations between new and existing
knowledge it helps to create bizarre and vivid images that will
make a lasting impression. The more you incorporate your senses
the more vivid these images will become therefore use touch,
vision, hearing, taste and smell as often as possible. Try to make
your images and associations funny, exaggerated, colorful and
imaginative. This way they will stand out in you memory and be
remembered more easily.
Here are a few methods that you can use to
remember new information.
Visualization
When trying to remember something try to
visualize it or "see" it in your mind. The more absurd you make
the picture the more easy it will be for you to remember. For
example if you need to remember that your locker number is 2M then
try to visualize two lockers on a mountain top.
Create a Story
An item list can be memorized by forming one
continuous story and by forming associations between items.
cup - car - bicycle - television - table -
parachute - chocolate
An example would be imagining
someone trying to drink a cup of coffee whilst being seated in the
passenger seat of a car driving at a high speed. A bicycle gets in
the way and the driver slams the breaks and the coffee spills over
a new television set on the back seat. The car then swerves to
avoid a table in the middle of the road and then stops at the
lights. A man on a parachute then lands next to the car and offers
you some chocolate.
Item Pairs
With this method item pairs can be created
and the resulting images always have a common item that connects
them. The item pairs can be memorized easily if the associations
between them are bizarre, detailed and colorful.
Here is a list of items to memorize.
cup - car - bicycle - television - table -
parachute - chocolate
Visualize the following images
A big cup with a small matchbox car inside.
A car driving down the street and someone riding next to it on a
bicycle.
Someone balancing a bicycle on one wheel on a television set.
A television set placed on a table with a knife and fork on either
side.
A table falling out of the sky on a parachute
The parachute opening up and small chocolates flying out.
Method of Loci (Chudler)
With the method of Loci the items in a list
are linked to specific places that have already been memorized in
a specific order. Each item is then associated with a specific
place and this helps in remember a list of items in a specific
order.
Here is an example of a route that you may
take through the park.
1. Walk up the street
2. Enter the park gates
3. Cross the lawn
4. Stop at the fountain
5. Walk past the tennis courts
6. Walk past the basketball courts
7. Sit at the bench in the playground.
Now create visual images between the words
below and each of the places in the route. The order of the items
can be remembered easily because the order of the places in the
route has already been memorized.
cup - car - bicycle - television - table -
parachute - chocolate
This list can be memorized
as follows:
1. Imagine walking up the street drinking your coffee. Imagine a
cold morning and the coffee steaming from the cup
2. Imagine a car blocking the park gates so that you have to climb
over it in order to get in.
3. Imagine racing across the lawn on a bicycle and skidding on the
wet grass.
4. Imagine a television set resting on top of the water shooting
up from the fountain.
5. Imagine people playing table tennis in the middle of the tennis
court.
6. Imagine someone making a three point shot and a parachute
opening making the ball slow down.
7. Imagine walking to the playground and finding some chocolate on
the bench.
You will find that the more
extraordinary the images you create the easier they are to
remember. Try to use all of your senses and imagine what something
would taste or feel like.
Number Rhyme
This method is similar to the method of Loci
mentioned above. Numbers must be associated with a set of key
words that rhyme with each number. Your preferred key words can
then be used to form associations with word lists that can then be
remembered in an ordered list.
For example here are words that rhyme with
the numbers one to five
One - sun
Two - kangaroo
Three - tree
Four - shore
Five - skydive
More Words features a useful tool for finding even more words
that rhyme with numbers.
You may now associate each of the key words
above with a word from a word list that needs to be memorized.
Here is an example of associations that can be made with the four
basic food types.
Fruit - Vegetables - Meat,
fish, poultry - Dairy products
1 - Sun - Fruit - Imagine a hot day with an
orange in the place of the sun.
2 - Kangaroo - Vegetables - Think of a kangaroo juggling cabbages
3 Tree- Meat, fish, poultry - Imagine the cows and sheep sitting
on the branches of a tree.
4 - Shore - Dairy products - Imagine waves of milk instead of
water crashing on a shore.
Foreign Language Keywords
Take a foreign word and choose a word or
phrase in english that sounds like the foreign word. Next make an
association between the keyword and the english translation of the
foreign word.
Here are a few examples:
The Spanish word for thief is ladron
Imagine a thief running out of a bank with a ladder on
his back
The Russian word for black is chornay
Imagine you take a journey to Moscow in a black
limousine.
The Italian for full is pieno
Imagine that you are so full that you have to stop and sit
down at a piano
The German for bottle is flasche
Imagine a bottle flashing on a bar
Image-Name Technique
Try to make an association between the name and an imaginary or
physical characteristic of a person. For example imagine Ving
Rhames with wings and remember that wing rhymes with wing. Or you
can imagine Whoopi Goldberg living on a gold iceberg.
|
