Memorization Tactics: Tips for Enhancing Memory

[Dooga Blackrazor]

I know some of you may have a photographic memory. But I'm just wondering if anyone has any special memorization tactics they use. I have a good memory already but I'd like to memorize things faster.

I current read, retype, rewrite, say aloud, or say in my head what I'm trying to memorize. Those are the only tactics I can think of that I use. By memorizing more do you just get better, or?

I wasn't sure where to post this.

 

[humanino]

depends on what you want to memorize. On the mathematics theorems or physics laws, nothing better than redemonstrate from scratch. For anything (including those) association stuff works very neatly to me : for instance, you take the same path every morning to go to work. Associate the several spots visited every morning to steps in a proof, or in a story. You might be a music fan : you can make associations with several movements in a piece of Mozart...

Well, I also have a photographic memory. This is very efficient too.

 

[Gokul43201]

There's always menmonics (and acrostics) - they have limited scope, but in certain places are very useful.

A few that I've used...

ILATE (for integration by parts) - usual order, Inverse-trig, Log, Algebraic, Trig, Exp.

OMSGAPSA ("Oh my, such good apple pie, sweet as sugar" for dicarboxylic acids) - oxalic, malonic, succinic, glutaric, adipic, pimelic, suberic, azelaic, sebacic.

BBRGBVGW ("B.B ROY of Great Britain, had a Very Good Wife" - there's others too - for resistor color codes) black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, gold, white.

 

[Xasuke]

..

Not sure how credible this is, but it's interesting nonetheless:

http://www.memory-key.com/MemoryGuide/faq.htm#Is%20there%20such%20a%20thing%20as%20a%20photographic%20memory?

 

[chroot]

Check out my post (#7) in the following thread for a description of the techniques I use:

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=8129

- Warren

 

[Gokul43201]

Really interesting technique...it takes a bit of investment, but the dividends must really pay off, eh ? But I'm sure, it will be hard to convince a stranger to put in all the work of creating and familiarizing him-/herself with pegs.

What makes you pick that specific choice of sounds to associate with numbers ? Is that not going to take a bit of memorizing, by itself ? Why not just pick more obvious sounds, like :
0 : s,z (easy)
1 : w,v (wet, wife)
2 : t (tea, toes)
3 : ee, ea (need, feel)
4 : f (fire)
5 : eye
6 : i (as in six, bit, hit)
7 : eh (end)
8 : ay (say)
9 : n (nose)

Okay, now I see the drawback in this approach. Too many close calls, and several unused sounds...more confusion.

Wow, it probably took a lot of time to come up with the right sounds so there exist words using any 2 sounds that can be made without using a third sound (to generate some 2-digit number and not confuse it with another).

Know of anyone else that has adopted this approach on your suggestion ?

 

[Gokul43201]

I remember the periodic table in term of groups rather than periods - seems more intuitive that way. Never did try to memorize it, but the groups just stick in my head from familiarity. Of course, you have to remember one period : Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn (hope I got that right) which is the first period of the transition metals. The lanthanides, I know fairly well - and only because I've worked with most of them - but the actinides, I only know only very roughly (positionwise).

 

[Moonbear]

I tend to memorize things by breaking it down into smaller groups and memorizing a bit of it at a time. So, if I was memorizing a list of things, such as: cat dog house car cheese suitcase, my strategy would look something like this (I say it to myself, aloud or silently, but I think it spoken, not written):
cat
cat dog
cat dog
cat dog house
cat dog house
okay, got that
cat dog house car
cat dog house car
cat dog house car cheese
cat dog house car cheese
cat dog house car cheese (gotta say it more times to remember more things)
cat dog house car cheese suitcase
cat dog house car cheese suitcase

See, all memorized now, whatever good that does me :-)

If there are clear relationships between things, I'll try to remember the relationship rather than the items...it's easier to reconstruct that way.

Another way to memorize is to use mnemonics that tie together items in a list in a way that forms relationships you're more likely to remember.

In the above list:
cats don't like dogs
dogs have dog houses
the dog goes for a ride in the car
bring a suitcase for the car trip
and bring some cheese for a snack.
This way, you picture sort of a scene that includes all the items in the list rather than just remembering words.

 

[Evo]

I was born with (pretty much) a photographic memory. It aggravates people to no end. Made schoolwork real easy. I'm not nearly nearly as good as I was before I was 14 though (this is when I was hospitalized with a very serious case of mono, temperature over 105 F. I was in the hospital for three days before I "woke up". I never lost consciousness according to everyone, they say I was awake and alert but I have zero memory of those three days, I don't even remember going to the hospital.)

 

[chroot]

Gokul,

The system I use works like an absolute charm. If I brush up on the periodic table say, once per year, I can tell you any element on it within a second or two. Brushing up doesn't require actually looking at a periodic table; it just takes a second or two per peg to figure out the peg and remember the associations.

I chose the sounds specifically for the reason you discovered -- you want to cover all the common sounds in the english language without any overlap. I don't have any confusion with the sounds I use, but I suppose you should reinvert your sounds if you have trouble with those ones -- whatever comes naturally is best for you. I also hesitate to tell people the specific pegs I use for my numbers, because I feel each person should come up with a peg that he/she finds easiest to remember rather than just using mine.

The whole process of selecting pegs does not take a very long time, and you can do it bit by bit. For example, you can probably memorize half the periodic table in an evening (and the other half the next evening) and I can pretty much assure that if you do it carefully, you'll never forget it for the rest of your life.

- Warren

 

[chroot]

cat
...
cat dog house car cheese suitcase

Would you be willing to be a guinea pig and use one of the systems I use to memorize this list? I will explain them in considerable detail if you're interested, but will explain them briefly here. I'd like to find out if you find them easier than this method.

I would use one of three methods to memorize this list:

Locus association, which depends on a physical device like a pen, or even your body. You associate each element of the list pictorially with a part of the device, in order. For example, you'd associate the cat with your feet, then the dog with your knees, then house with your hips and so on up to the top of your head. If you wanted to use a pen, you'd use the button at the top of the pen, the pocket clip, the barrel, etc. from the top of the pen to the bottom.

Simple image association chaining, in which you associate each object with the next by visualizing them interacting in some memorable, crazy way. An image of a dog chasing a cat, for example, might do it for you, but an image of a dog bringing up a glass of fine champagne to seduce the cat of his dreams might work better.

Number peg association, in which each object is pictorially associated with the number peg corresponding to its position in the list.

Let me know if any of these techniques interest you and I'll demonstrate how I'd use that technique to memorize the list.

Note: I actually use all of the techniques with great success -- I'm not selling you something that I don't actually believe in!

- Warren

 

[Math Is Hard]

ILATE ..
OMSGAPSA ...
BBRGBVGW ...

OBAFGKM ("Oh, be a fine girl, kiss me.")

Know that one?

 

[chroot]

MIH,

And all this time I thought it was "Oh Be a Fine Gorilla, Kiss Me."

- Warren

 

[Math Is Hard]

And all this time I thought it was "Oh Be a Fine Gorilla, Kiss Me."

HAHAHA! I like yours better. It sticks in my brain better too for some reason!

 

[Gokul43201]

I think those are spectral types, but I've never come across the mnemonic.

Hey there's a site that lists several mnemonics for this :

http://www.geocities.com/SummerDale33/Mnemonic.html

I like : Officially, Bill Always Felt Guilty Kissing Monica

 

[Dooga Blackrazor]

Wow; a lot of helpful tips are surfacing. Chroot's method seems really cool, I hope I can give it a try something. I know Polinium at number 84 is already stuck in my mind and I only read it once. I don't have anything I can think of to use the method on yet though.

 

[Moonbear]

Would you be willing to be a guinea pig and use one of the systems I use to memorize this list? I will explain them in considerable detail if you're interested, but will explain them briefly here. I'd like to find out if you find them easier than this method.

I haven't needed to really memorize things very much in a long time, not really since undergrad, and then in my graduate level biochem courses. Nowadays, understanding is more important than long lists, though if you could get me to remember that one item I always forget on the grocery list (because the hardest thing for me to remember is to take the list with me), I'd be very happy! Though, I'm not sure if any of these methods sounds like they'll work for that.

I would use one of three methods to memorize this list:

Locus association, which depends on a physical device like a pen, or even your body. You associate each element of the list pictorially with a part of the device, in order. For example, you'd associate the cat with your feet, then the dog with your knees, then house with your hips and so on up to the top of your head. If you wanted to use a pen, you'd use the button at the top of the pen, the pocket clip, the barrel, etc. from the top of the pen to the bottom.

Does this really work? It sounds more complicated than just remembering the list itself! I don't think my mind works in a way that this would be at all helpful. I'd probably get as far as "feet...okay, feet are something, what?"

Simple image association chaining, in which you associate each object with the next by visualizing them interacting in some memorable, crazy way. An image of a dog chasing a cat, for example, might do it for you, but an image of a dog bringing up a glass of fine champagne to seduce the cat of his dreams might work better.

I think this is sort of like the second part of my post. It has worked when I have a lot of things to remember. I make up silly stories because the story is easier than the list by itself. But, too outrageous gets harder for me rather than easier (aging seems to have influenced that...when I was in high school, the more outrageous the story, the easier to remember...my friends thought I was nuts with the stories I had to remember things for tests, or maybe I just haven't been forced into such rote memorization of things in a long time, so am out of practice). It seems a lot like what "they" say is a good way to remember people's names (something I'm notoriously bad about) by associating something with the name and person when you are introduced. Like, if someone is named Chris, you're supposed to do something like picture them eating a big bag of chips, and then you think Crispy Chips, like Chris-py chips, and that's supposed to help you remember their name is Chris. Problem for me, is I'll then meet this person again, and either remember the image and call them Chip, or I just can't remember that I was supposed to think "crispy chips" when I saw them next.

Number peg association, in which each object is pictorially associated with the number peg corresponding to its position in the list.

What do you mean by a peg? I guess, in a way, this might work if you mean "seeing" it in a given position. But, again, I'm skeptical if it will work for me. I think my brain works in a strange way. I am fantastic at finding exactly what I need to find in ancient notebooks or textbooks I haven't read in years. For some reason, I am great at picturing the position of a bit of information written on a page, but it doesn't help me remember what that information is. This weird way that my brain works has really startled people in former labs I've worked in. They'll write to me asking about an experiment I did while there and I'll tell them what shelf my old notebook is stored on (or weirder when it was someone else's notebook that I had previously read through for information myself), flip to a page about 2/3 of the way through the book (sometimes I can give a more precise page location), there will be a sheet of paper with a list of numbers, between two pages with graphs on them, and in that list of numbers, in the right hand column is the number they are looking for. At least I think it's weird.

I don't know, my way seems to work pretty well though...even though it's been several hours since I typed my previous post and I have no reason at all to have committed that list to memory, just the process of writing out the approach to memorizing it has it pretty well stuck in my head now. Great, there goes something useful, replaced by something that's just a nonsense list!

 

[chroot]

Moonbear,

A "number peg" is just an image that you associate with a number -- some people use the shape of the number, while I prefer to use sounds associated with the numerals themselves. See my post #7 of the thread https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=8129 to see what I'm talking about in more detail.

- Warren

 

[recon]

BBRGBVGW ("B.B ROY of Great Britain, had a Very Good Wife" - there's others too - for resistor color codes) black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, gold, white.

Is it not black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, grey, white?

I am studying for a Physics Test. I apologise if I seem a little annoying.

 

[Doc Al]

memory techniques -- Harry Lorayne

Check out my post (#7) in the following thread for a description of the techniques I use:

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=8129

- Warren

Wow... this takes me back! When I was a high school kid (before you were born, Warren!) I was obsessed with mnemonics after having read Harry Lorayne's "How to develop a super power memory". I would stun friends by easily memorizing a list of 100 objects, associating each with its numerical position in the list.

At the time I thought Lorayne invented these techniques, but of course they've been around for millennia. Even the specific phonetic alphabet he uses (to convert numbers to sounds) had been around for well over a century before Lorayne wrote about it. It seems every few years someone "reinvents" these methods. (A few years ago it was Kevin Trudeau selling his "Mega Memory" on late night infomercials.)

All that aside, do the methods work? You bet! Are they the magic answer to learning physics (or anything else)? Of course not. In my opinion, mnemonics have extremely limited application. (Most things need to be understood, not memorized.) But where they can be used, mnemonics are incredibly helpful and well worth your time to explore. Especially if you are in school. (I remember the techniques saving my butt on more than one occasion. For example, going into an exam where the tests were so hard that even if you could derive the needed equations (like trig identities or integrals) from scratch you just had no time! It was just assumed that you knew that stuff cold as a starting point. So, I would memorize a pile of equations that I knew I might need. As soon as the test began, I would write them out for reference. Problem solved.)

Harry Lorayne's books are still in print (and Harry's still around). Check out his "The Memory Book" which was a bestseller some years ago.

 

[Dooga Blackrazor]

Is there any way to go about applying the technique to vocabulary words?

 

[Gokul43201]

Is it not black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, grey, white?

I am studying for a Physics Test. I apologise if I seem a little annoying.

Heck, what a screw up ...of course, you're right. Gold and silver bands are for value accuracy - 5% and 10%, I think. Sorry about that - I haven't used this for some 10 years now !

 

[Doc Al]

Is there any way to go about applying the technique to vocabulary words?

Of course. Check out Lorayne's books.

 

[Moonbear]

Moonbear,

A "number peg" is just an image that you associate with a number -- some people use the shape of the number, while I prefer to use sounds associated with the numerals themselves. See my post #7 of the thread https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=8129 to see what I'm talking about in more detail.

- Warren

I went back and read that thread and post AFTER replying here last night. Okay, now, I can see this working up to about 10 or 20, but beyond that, how do you remember what symbols you assigned to each number? Let's just say for your example..what was it, #84...you gave it the sounds f and r. I'm not sure where those came from, for four, I can see remembering either f or r (four), but don't know how f or v gets attached to 8 (okay, but I guess that would be my choice to pick a sound like a long a or t for eight, but I can use your example). Now, a lot of words pop into my mind when I stick together f and r. Fur, fire, four, fore, far. And if there are two choices, v and r, for as could occur in your example, I get a list of more things, vroom, very, veer. I could picture something for each of these words...fur- a fur coat or furry animal, fire- a campfire or fireplace or flame or candle, I'll leave out the number four, because that wouldn't make sense to choose, fore- a golf club (yell out Fore!), far probably wouldn't work for pictures, vroom - a little red sports car, very doesn't work, veer-that little red sports car zipping around a slow clunky car. Anyway, this is where I see myself running into trouble. No one of these words would be the only one to pop into my mind or the first to pop in, so I'd wind up spending a half hour staring at the number 84 trying to figure out, okay, now was that supposed to fire or fur or vroom? By then, forget it, I'll have no hope of remembering what was supposed to be attached to that image.

It just seems if you can go to all the trouble of remembering these pegs, then you could just remember the list without the pegs.

Another thing I've learned to do though, which comes sort of naturally, is to remember things in groups of three. It's not clear whether this is a learned thing or something innate about the way memory works, but things are a lot easier to learn in clusters of three. So, for example, if you're trying to remember a constant with a lot of digits, or just your bank account number, break it into groups of three numbers and memorize each group of three. It's very easy to remember that way rather than trying to remember the whole string of numbers.

I also know I can't memorize anything if I'm sitting still. It's much easier to memorize stuff if I pace the floor, or do anything to stay in motion...take a walk, shower, whatever.

I used to do silly things that I'm convinced were more superstition than anything. For example, I'd study for one class using only one pencil, and then use that pencil to take the exam. I told people that if I didn't remember the answers, the pencil would. I've heard there is a certain aspect to remembering things where it's easier to remember in the same environment you learned the material than in a novel environment, so I guess, in a way, taking that same pencil to the exam might have helped in that respect (our exams were never held in the same rooms as our classes...exams were given for all the sections of one course in the same night so there was no chance that someone could take the test earlier in the day and tell the later class what to expect, so not only were you in a different location, but taking the exam at an entirely different time of day from when you took your class...though this worked to my advantage because the exams were usually held in the early evening, right after dinner, which has always been my best time for studying/working, so I was at my top performance at that time while others who were more of morning people had a tougher time of it).

But, then, when it came to things like memorizing the periodic table, I don't remember it as a list, I remember it as the entire table. Though, honestly, I can't remember ever needing to memorize the darned thing. I think it was pretty well assumed that was something any idiot could look up in the front cover of the textbook, so I was always allowed to have a copy of the table for any exams. We were tested on knowing the properties of the elements based on where they were in the table rather than having to remember that #84 is polonium.

 

[chroot]

Let's just say for your example..what was it, #84...you gave it the sounds f and r. I'm not sure where those came from, for four, I can see remembering either f or r (four), but don't know how f or v gets attached to 8 (okay, but I guess that would be my choice to pick a sound like a long a or t for eight, but I can use your example).

It's difficult to choose a set of sounds that properly cover all the possible sounds in the english language without causing a lot of confusion. Really, remembering that fours are 'r' sounds is not difficult at all.

Now, a lot of words pop into my mind when I stick together f and r. Fur, fire, four, fore, far. And if there are two choices, v and r, for as could occur in your example, I get a list of more things, vroom, very, veer.

You'd pick the most obvious one for your -- fur, perhaps. You should also pick a noun, because you're going to be imagining that person, place, or thing interacting with the person, place, or thing you're trying to remember. The word "very" would be a very poor choice.

Anyway, this is where I see myself running into trouble. No one of these words would be the only one to pop into my mind or the first to pop in,

This is very unlikely... I assume that rather than trying the method, you're just shunning it. The chances of you not being able to remember which word you've chosen to associate with #84 are very small. I do have a couple of numbers between 1 and 99 which give me some trouble, but only infrequently. It's normally totally automatic. I'm used to #84 being fire, and it's just not a problem for me to remember "fire" instead of "fur." While it's possible your brain is different enough to make this a serious problem, I have to say I doubt it. Only one of those nouns is actually used, so only it will have associations. The other will feel obviously wrong at once.

I still say you need to actually give this method a shot before convincing yourself it does not work. It actually works amazingly well.

It just seems if you can go to all the trouble of remembering these pegs, then you could just remember the list without the pegs.

The pegs can be re-used to memorize many different lists of many different things. The time you spend in developing your pegs is effectively an investment. I should also mention that the retention you'll get with a peg system is much, much higher than the brute force technique you're already using -- unless, as I've said, your brain is much different than mine.

But, then, when it came to things like memorizing the periodic table, I don't remember it as a list, I remember it as the entire table.

How does this work?

Though, honestly, I can't remember ever needing to memorize the darned thing.

No one needs to. I chose the periodic table as an example of the techniques. You can use them, in principle, to remember anything at all.

- Warren

 

[Gokul43201]

I too remember the periodic table pictorially (2D), rather than sequentially.

Take for instance Iridium. I know its below Rhodium which is below Cobalt. Co is next to Fe, which is z=26. So, Ir is z=26+1+18+32=27+50=77. This is definitely way slower than your way of memorizing the element as a function of atomic number, and it just comes out of looking at the periodic table a lot. But I would also know that Iridium likely has similar chemical properties to Co, that it is a transition metal - probably precious, being in the vicinity of Os, Pt and Pd - and that it's symbol is Ir.

But surely, getting familiar with the periodic table is by no means a quick memorization technique.

 

[Moonbear]

This is very unlikely... I assume that rather than trying the method, you're just shunning it. The chances of you not being able to remember which word you've chosen to associate with #84 are very small.

After reading the more detailed explanation of this system, it sounded more like the example I gave about remembering names...you picture the person, some feature that stands out about them, then link that feature to something that will help remember their name. I've tried that, and it doesn't work, so that's why I'm skeptical about this one because I think I'd run into the exact same trouble.

How does this work?

Beats me! It's not a "method" I use, just how I remember things. I can't teach it because I never learned it, it's just what came naturally. Maybe this is what people mean by a photographic memory. In my mind, I see things where I learned them. For instance, now that #84, Polonium is stuck in my head, I don't remember it because of any of the mnemonics suggested here, but because I see in my mind that sentence in Dooga's post about it (sorry, don't see your post for that one because I read Dooga's first). But, using the periodic table as an example, I wouldn't remember that Carbon is #6 and Nitrogen #7, I'd remember a few numbers, like Carbon as #6, and then remember things relative to that...N is to the right of C, O to the right of N, H in the top left corner, He in the top right corner, Na is three down on the far left column. Sort of like that, but I picture it, not really think it, if that makes any sense. Considering that the periodic table was set up with positions being important, it was very helpful for me that I remembered it that way, but it wasn't something I did on purpose, just the way it "stuck."

Those mnemonics people use to remember the order of things in a list don't really work well for me either, I think I just learn in a different way. For example, a list I used often in bio was the biological classification of organisms: kingdom phylum class order family genus species. One common mnemonic used to remember that order is: "King Phillip can only find green socks." (At least that's one of the G-rated ones.) The thing is, unlike everyone else, my trouble came in trying to remember the mnemonic. It wasn't until I remembered Kingdom phylum class order family genus species that I could then figure out what words in the mnemonic fit that to recall it correctly, which is sort of useless and backward, other than they were amusing sentences that I wanted to remember, and because others find them useful, so I wanted to recall it to help teach it. And I think the entire reason it didn't work for me is that nobody ever wrote down the mnemonic, it's not something I've seen, just been told to me, and I'm definitely not an auditory learner (in one ear and out the other...that's the trouble I have with names too...if I see someone's name in writing, I can remember it...I love nametags! If they just tell me their name, poof, I forget it moments later). So, with the list for classification, I could "see" the list written on the chalkboard (that's usually how I picture it, not in a textbook or notebook), but the mnemonic needs to be reconstructed (though now I've used it enough times to remember it, but that was more the "brute force" approach).

That's something I've learned from teaching, there is no one system that works for everyone, because there are a variety of learning styles. Actually, it was great this summer, I have a rotation student in my lab and the first thing she told me is she's a visual learner (psych background, which is why she knows this...most people aren't that consciously aware of their learning style). That was fantastically helpful, because immediately, I know I can draw diagrams and pictures to illustrate what I'm teaching her and she'll understand it immediately, compared with the lab head who just talks about stuff or writes words on a white board, and it just isn't processed as efficiently.

 

[decibel]

I actually built a mansion in my head to remember things in, Monique mentioned this in the other thread (https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=8129). This was very complicated for me to do, i honestly spent HOURS everyday for weeks devoleping this in the easiest way for my brain to go through, this method works very well, except for the fact that when i put something in a room, its hard for me to put 3 or more things in the same room or then i get really mixed up, but i can "delete" stuff from one room and put something else instead quite easily. I usually put things like appointment dates/times in the first 40 doors, and go through them regularly, i can put in stuff to remember;say for a history test, i can put a topic from the test in one room, say i want to remember a paragraph about Napolean, i'll read the paragraph or the pages, summarize it in point form on a piece of paper, then put that in the desired room.

This is how my mansion is organized, when you walk in the main enterance, there is 2 sides to it, each side has 1 door on each side, and there is a staircase leading to another floor in the middle, and on the 2nd floor is too more doors parallel to the 2 doors in the floor. When you walk in anyone of these 4 doors, there is 20 doors on each side of the wall, so 40 doors all together, which would make 160 doors all together. I am sure if I am going to need to put more doors in, it would be a challenge to put in another floor to the mansion :D. ANYWAY, there is 4 doors each with 40 more doors. OK, i set there 4 doors to 4 different catogories, the first door on the left side of the first floor is the short term memory category, things like appointments/special events/things i got to do in the upcoming months. The second door on the right side of the first floor is my "storage" category consisting of phone numbers, emails, passwords, information such as that. Now both of the doors on the second floor are in the long term memory category, to put in information such as the periodic table, physics formulas, bank account numbers, birthdays, and other information like that.

This mansion works extremely well for me, and it is like an extra "hard drive" to store information in, aside from my "default" memory. It is hard to do, and can only be done with much effort, i actually gave up doing it the first couple of times and calling it a stupid idea, but like i said, it took me weeks to develop this. I hope someone here can give it a try and tell me what they think, Good Luck :

 

[Moonbear]

This is how my mansion is organized, when you walk in the main enterance, there is 2 sides to it, each side has 1 door on each side, and there is a staircase leading to another floor in the middle, and on the 2nd floor is too more doors parallel to the 2 doors in the floor. When you walk in anyone of these 4 doors, there is 20 doors on each side of the wall, so 40 doors all together, which would make 160 doors all together. I am sure if I am going to need to put more doors in, it would be a challenge to put in another floor to the mansion :D. ANYWAY, there is 4 doors each with 40 more doors. OK, i set there 4 doors to 4 different catogories, the first door on the left side of the first floor is the short term memory category, things like appointments/special events/things i got to do in the upcoming months. The second door on the right side of the first floor is my "storage" category consisting of phone numbers, emails, passwords, information such as that.

Ever consider just buying a PDA?

 

[decibel]

haha, i actually DO have a PDA which i really don't use. but brain power > PDA's, my beautiful mansion is permanent and is with me 100% of the time, while my PDA may last long, but not longer than me :D, and would probably be with me 50% of the time.

 

[omin]

Though not what you might expect I have one.

Whatever you want to remember do. If you can't spend you life doing it, because it's not practical to do, then memorizing it may be unnecessary.

 

[BobG]

I just write down the things I want to remember on a post-it note. I'll certainly remember whatever it was I wrote down long enough. Good thing, since I usually walk off and leave the post-it note sitting on my desk. (You'd think I'd just accidently get one stuck on me once in a while)

 

[Robert Zaleski]

BBRGBVGW ("B.B ROY of Great Britain, had a Very Good Wife" - there's others too - for resistor color codes) black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, gold, white.

The politically incorrect one is much easier to remember. It begins with Bad boys and ends with get some.

 

[Gokul43201]

...and in between, there's...?? C'mon !

 

[Robert Zaleski]

...and in between, there's...?? C'mon !

Oh Hell, if you insist.
"Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly, get some"
Black 0, Brown 1, Red 2, Orange 3, Yellow 4, Green 5, Blue 6, violet 7, Gray 8, White 9, Gold +/-5%, Silver +/-10%

 

[Moonbear]

I just write down the things I want to remember on a post-it note. I'll certainly remember whatever it was I wrote down long enough. Good thing, since I usually walk off and leave the post-it note sitting on my desk. (You'd think I'd just accidently get one stuck on me once in a while)

Works better if you stick the note to your jacket, car keys, wallet, front door, briefcase...whatever is going to go with you where you need the note or that you can't miss on the way out. Post-it notes stuck in the middle of my computer monitor remind me of the things I need to do first thing in the morning. Electronic reminders are a good idea in theory, except when I wander out of the office for a half hour and miss the 15 min reminder for a meeting, only to return to the office to discover I've already missed half of a meeting. I used to have my entire schedule memorized...would write everything down in a pocket calendar and never look at the calendar, just remembered everything, but my life has grown more complicated I suppose. Then again, with things like that, the bigger problem is realizing the time rather than remembering I have a meeting. (I thought that meeting was scheduled for 3:00? Is it really past 3 already?)

 

[quarkman]

Wow everyone seems to have spent a lot of time memorizing things. Simply reading the entire post has made me really dizzy. Personally I find that if I write things down I remember them better. And then write them over and over and over. After a while they just stick. But what's the point of memorizing things anyway? It doen't really indicate you are smart. I believe it is more important to be able to figure things out than to instantly reproduce them from memory. It's kinda like reading a mechanics textbook, memorizing all the equations and such, then having to solve a problem, but finding out you can't really do any mechanics because you only memorized things rather than came to a complete understanding! As far as science things go, I really think you should understand rather than memorize. If you really need to remember a meeting or a list of things to do, that's what's lists and appointment books are for. You only need to remember to have the book/list with you at all times. You do not really need to understand a list (like why your spouse wanted plum tomatoes or something) just be able to look at the things on it. I am sure some folks may disagree, but it is much more enjoyable to understand the world around you rather than simply memorizing all the stuff that's in it. Just my two cents anyway.

However, I am going to try to play with the peg technique, but that's just because I find it intriguing (it seems greek to me!)

 

[Math Is Hard]

I just used the peg technique this week to remember the room number of my class and it worked pretty well for me. I am looking forward to trying this out on some other things.

 

[Moonbear]

But what's the point of memorizing things anyway? It doen't really indicate you are smart. I believe it is more important to be able to figure things out than to instantly reproduce them from memory.

I agree that most of the time, it's much better to understand than to just memorize and regurgitate. However, memorization does occassionally come in handy, for things like timed tests where you don't have the time to work out everything from scratch, or just for remembering lists of things to do.

This thread triggered me to remember a seminar I attended a year or two ago. The person presenting had done some studies of what parts of the brain are used when we remember numbers and letters, faces, etc. There were some interesting things that came out of it...like it's harder to remember a list if it is mixed numbers and letters. If it's mostly numbers, you'll remember the numbers and not remember the letter in the middle of the list. And entirely different parts of the brain are used for different types of memorization tasks...faces, names, letters (words), numbers (zip codes). I'll look and see if I can find the name of the person who gave that talk and see if some of this has been published yet. If so, I'll post some references to look up. It was a pretty cool topic (at the end, I was left wondering if it had anything to do with why some people have such difficulty learning algebra, when letters are subsituted for numbers, it may be something that some people just can't connect).
---------------------------

Aha! Found it! This isn't exactly what I was mentioning above, but it's by the same group and is part of what was discussed at the seminar I attended. Here's an abstract of one of their papers that says us older people don't learn the same way as younger people Actually, if I recall it correctly, I don't think I'm old enough for the "older" group in this study (I haven't gone back to read the full article yet).

J Cogn Neurosci. 2003 Nov 15;15(8):1122-34.
Working memory for complex scenes: age differences in frontal and hippocampal activations.

Park DC, Welsh RC, Marshuetz C, Gutchess AH, Mikels J, Polk TA, Noll DC, Taylor SF.
Age differences in frontal and hippocampal activations in working memory were investigated during a maintenance and subsequent probe interval in an event-related fMRI design. Younger and older adults either viewed or maintained photographs of real-world scenes (extended visual or maintenance conditions) over a 4-sec interval before responding to a probe fragment from the studied picture. Behavioral accuracy was largely equivalent across age and conditions on the probe task, but underlying neural activations differed. Younger but not older adults showed increased left anterior hippocampal activations in the extended visual compared with the maintenance condition. On the subsequent probe interval, however, older adults showed more left and right inferior frontal activations than younger adults. The increased frontal activations at probe in older adults may have been compensatory for the decreased hippocampal activations during maintenance, but alternatively could have reflected the increased difficulty of the probe task for the older subjects. Thus, we demonstrate qualitatively different engagement of both frontal and hippocampal structures in older adults in a working memory task, despite behavioral equivalence.

PMID: 14709231 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]