Let me give you my memorization tools. They are not difficult to use, and require no real effort on your part to effect memorization. Futhermore, you will remember things for many years, and will need, at most, only an occasional refresher.
First, you generally have to get your information into a form that enables easy memorization; depending upon the information, you may choose to use any of the following tools.
The concept of a 'peg' is fundamental in most memorization techniques. I'll give you an example: number pegs. A number peg is a specific visual image that you attach to a number. For example, my number peg for the number 9 is a balloon. The reason is simple: the numeral looks rather like a balloon on a string. My memorization tool for anything related to nine (the ninth element in a list, for example) is thus a balloon.
To memorize the ninth element of the periodic table, which is fluorine, is simple. I pick another visual representation for fluorine. How about toothpaste, as in flouridated toothpaste? Imagine that you have a big, round, tempting balloon, and you reach up to pop it with a pin. Instead of the normal, satisfying pop, you hear a dull 'thud' and find that the explosion covers you (and the rest of the room) in thick, slimy toothpaste.
You have just memorized that the ninth element of the periodic table is fluorine. You'll probably never forget it for the rest of your life.
The single digit numbers, or perhaps even those up to about 20, can be turned into pegs by simply selecting a visualization based on the numeral's shape. When you get to double-digit numbers, this gets hard to do -- so, for larger numbers, I adopt a secondary approach.
Assign the following sounds to the numbers (for English speakers):
0: s, z
1: t, d, or th
2: n
3: m
4: r
5: l
6: ch, g, j
7: k
8: f, v
9: b, p
Let's memorize the 84th element on the periodic table. To make a peg for the number 84, look at the sounds: an f or v sound followed by an r sound. My peg is the word 'fire.' This is the step you must do yourself; you must select pegs that you personally find easy to recall.
Now that I have my peg for the number 84, memorizing that Polonium is the 84th element is easy. I'll simply make a visualization for Polonium. The name makes me think, naturally, of a pole, like the sort used by firemen. You probably see where I'm going. All you have to do is remember that 84 is 'fire,' then fire naturally leads you to pole, and pole leads you to Polonium.
How about another example? Let's memorize the 52nd element. The number 52 is an ell sound followed by an en sound. How about a lion? The 52nd element is Tellurium. That makes me think of luring. To connect them, think about standing beside a big cage in the Sahara desert, and luring a lion into it by saying 'here kitty! heeeeere kitty!' Done.
In that memorization scheme, you are always selecting a visual representation for the number (which you do only once for each number), then another visual representation for the thing to be remembered. Finally, to link them, you imagine those two visuals interacting -- luring a lion, or firemen sliding down a fire pole. This interaction is very common in memorization techniques. The more grandiose, loud, carnal, gory, or disgusting is the interaction, the easier it will be to remember.
If you simply have a list of things to memorize, make a visual for each one. For example, the first three US states are
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
The visual I select (yours may vary) are:
Alabama: red tide
Alaska: eskimo
Arizona: grand canyon
Arkansas: trailer home
To link the first two together, I imagine a fully-dressed eskimo standing shoeless in the breaking waves of an ocean red with algae.
To link the second two together, I imagine a team of eskimos, still wearing their full snow gear, hiking through the grand canyon, their sweat drenching their faces. I think about how bad they'd smell.
To link the last two together, I simply think about pushing a trailer home into the grand canyon, watching it tumble down the slope and break up into pieces. And so on...
To give you some information on how well the techniques work, I memorized the periodic table over four years ago. I only really use it to impress people who simply think it can't be done, and therefore really only use that knowledge once every few months. There are only three or four elements that ever give me trouble, and usually a single refresher (which takes two minutes) is good for another six months or more. It's possible that if I revised the pegs for those numbers to make them a little more obvious, my error rate would fall to zero.
I memorized the 50 states about two years ago. There are certainly a few visual interactions that are troublesome for me, but overall the technique I used there works as well as the technique I used for the periodic table.
I know of only one other memorization technique -- the one Monique mentioned. You imagine walking in a specific course through a familiar place, like your parent's house, or your school library. You associate the things to be remembered with items in those rooms. As you mentally walk through the building, you'll recall the things in the rooms. I have not really used this method, so cannot comment on its efficacy.
- Warren
