Memory and How to Develop It.
When she was very small, my youngest daughter, who had been suspiciously quiet for quite a while, suddenly asked
me: "Do you know what I like to do?" Not having any idea what might be coming, I of course asked: "What?" Her
reply: "I like to walk backward through my mind." "Indeed," was my somewhat puzzled response. "What do you
mean? The very impatient reply I received was. "Oh you know. I like to use my remember.”
What about you? Do you like to use your remember? As is so often the case, children point the way. If you like to
use your memory, you are more likely to have a good memory. If you don't trust your memory and so tend not to use
it much, like any other skill it will atrophy. Have you heard any of the following memory myths? Keep in mind that
they’re just that myths!
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Memory is a thing that you do or don't have; and it is either good or bad
There is a secret to having a good memory
There is a right way to memorize
OId people have poor memories.
Remembering too much can clutter up your mind
Webster's New World dictionary of the American language College Edition, defines memory as: the ability or power
for retaining or reliving in the mind past thoughts images ideas.
Memory is undoubtedly one of the most important human faculties. Without it there would be no learning from
experience, no intellectual functioning, no development of language, nor any of the qualities that are generally
associated with being human. Yet, with the possible exception of consciousness itself, memory remains the most
mysterious of the mind's faculties. Despite the fact that more research has been devoted to the study of memory
than to any other mental function, comparatively little is known about how the mind remembers things, and why it
also appears to forget.
To learn more about how your memory functions and how to improve it, see Your Memory by Dr. Kenneth Higbee. It
is one of the best of the many research studies and books written about memory.
Ebbinghaus Curve and Review.
The first experimental research on retention was conducted between 1879 and 1885 by Hermann Ebbinghaus, a
German psychologist. Realizing that memory is strongly affected by both meaning and association, Ebbinghaus
decided to test his memory capabilities by using nonsense words of the same length. He discovered that whatever is
'learned' suffers a rapid initial decrease in memory followed by a slower decrease over time. That is, most forgetting
occurs immediately after learning.
To summarize his research, he produced a graphic representation, which has become known as the Ebbinghaus
Curve. While this is a very old study, and loses some credibility based on the fact that Ebbinghaus used nonsense
words rather than real content, it is still important information and fascinating that the concept was known over a
hundred years ago. Modern psychologists have replicated his six-year experiment many times and have discovered
that their results are the same.
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Ebbinghaus research results emphasize the importance of review to increase retention. Review of new learning is
essential. When you have control of your time (when studying, or reading) you can build review, me into your plans.
Often, however, you won't have control. For example in a classroom, the professor keeps talking and you keeptaking notes the same thing happens in a business meeting. At a conference you rush from one session to the next.
By the time you get back to the office, have cleared your desk and returned myriad phone calls, perhaps a week has
gone by. It is all too easy for the new information you tried to acquire to slip away. Even though your intentions are
good, the real world reasserts its demands and there is little or no opportunity for reflection or review. Sound
familiar? Without review, time invested in seminars and conferences is often wasted time.
There is a huge difference between short-term memory and long-term memory. Without review short term memory
decays very rapidly. For example, if you are looking for a new location you can no doubt easily remember the street
address until you locate the place. Next week, however, you are unlikely to recall it and You will probably have to
rapid deterioration look it up should you need it again. To prevent rapid deterioration of short-term memory, you need
to review immediately and often. When you make an effort you can remember things for a long period of time.
Short-term memory is converted to long-term memory through the review process. What kind of a review schedule
should you plan to follow? The research suggests that you should review what you just learned after ten minutes and
then again after one hour one day ('because sleep seems to reinforcement memory.), one week, and one month. By
following such a review schedule you will be able to recall up to 88% of new information. That is nearly four times the
expected curve of forgetting.
Such frequent review may seem, at first to be pointless and a waste of time. Resist the temptation to defer a review
to a later time. Some research findings suggest that review time can be as little as ten percent of the original time
you spent in learning and the time needed for the review process becomes even shorter as you continue to review.
For example, for a 50 minute class (the normal in most school situations), you need only five minutes immediately
after class for review (always keeping in mind that review every ten minutes is preferable).
How do you review? AL techniques emphasis the importance of active learning. So, create an information map,
reinforce the learning kinesthetically sing yourself a song, chant the information in a rhythmic manner use a
mnemonic, in short, review actively.
People forget because they are convinced they have poor memories therefore they make no conscious effort to
remember. If you believe you have a poor memory try adopting an attitude of 'I never forget!' Actually, there is
evidence that our brains don't forget. A principle reason people forget is that they did not learn well in the first place:
what we learn is stored forever. The challenge is calling up what we know. So If you are in the habit of wailing 'I can
never remember anything; my memory is terrible,' instead tell yourself, 'I don't recall right now.’ Saying so leaves
open the possibility (which is true) that you will recall soon.
GENERAL TIPS
There are a couple of general points to keep in mind as you begin to discover your unique ways of remembering.
Style
Just as people have individual ways of learning, they also have unique ways of remembering. Pay attention to your
own style. How do you seem to best remember information? Through reading? May be through active
experimentation? Repetition? Discussion? Through teaching the information to someone else? What techniques are
most helpful to you? To really develop a good memory you need to become aware of your own remembering style.
Using Memory
The information you may need (assuming that you have once acquired it) is always there in your head, but if you
haven't used it in a while you may find it difficult to access. Remember that the ability to develop a good memory is
like any other skill; you need to use it or run the risk of, not exactly losing it, but definitely having difficulty retrieving it.
SPECIAL TECHNIQUES TO TRY
What do we know about improving memory? There are at least seven factors to be considered:
1. Association
2. Chunking
3. Primacy
4. Recency
5. Repetition
6. Stand-out
7. Visual and variety
We should also include:
8. Activity
9. Choice
10. Over -learning
11 verbalisation
12 Write
In addition to frequent review and the above seven factors, consider learning to use some mnemonic techniques. Or,
if that kind of learning activity doesn't appeal to you, try some of the following memory procedures. They will pay you
large dividends for very little effort.
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Activity
Are you familiar with the old saying about people remembering 90% of what they do, 75% of what they see and 20%
of what they hear? If the saying is true, (and there is research evidence to suggest it is) then here is another clue
about how to study to remember. Get active. Use your body to help you. Go ahead: test it out. Snuggle down
comfortably in an easy chair and begin to study. Then, try sitting on the edge of your chair, stand, pace up and down,
use your arms to gesture, dance what you are learning use your body to emphasize points. The more active you are
in the learning process, the more likely you are to learn well.
Association
If you cannot remember what you need to, try thinking of something closely related. Very often the relationship will
trigger the information you want. For example, you know your Aunt Sue's birthday is sometimes in July near the
fourth you could try to remember it by a system the question is, what system? You might associate it and come up
with: 'Let's see: the fourth, sure, I have four aunts, multiply four by four. Of course! Aunt Sue's birthday is July 16th.'
You might also try using a brainstorming technique; that will often pop what you need 'into your conscious memory.
Pair things together and double your learning.
Choice
There are some things it is pointless to commit to memory. Choose what not to remember. For example, do you
really need to memorize all the appointments you need to keep during the month? Probably not. You can enter them
'in your diary or calendar and then forget about them with an easy mind. They will show up each day on your
calendar (always supposing that you look at your calendar)! On the other hand, if you are studying for a test, you
may not be able to make a choice about what might be important for you to recall: so, over learning is probably your
safest route to top grades.
Chunking
In a benchmark paper titled "The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two", (1956) George Miller of Harvard found
that immediate memory span (short term memory) seems to be limited in the number of chunks of information which
can be retained. The implications for students is that the limited capacity of short-term memory can be increased
through the chunking process and therefore information will be more easily retained. Select categories and
remember information in chunks.
What is chunking? It is the process of grouping bits of information into larger bits. Note: larger not more; seven
chunks (bits) seems to be the limit (plus or minus two depending on the person). For example, most people find
telephone numbers fairly easy to recall because they are typically organized into three chunks: (303) 827 1000. The
same is true of social security numbers. Higbee (1977) explains the theory extremely well:
Short-term memory can be compared to a purse that can hold seven coins. If the coins are pennies, then the
capacity of the purse is only 7 cents. But if the coins are 10 cent pieces (each representing a chunk of 10 cents),
then the capacity is 70 cents. If they are 20 cent pieces the capacity is increased to $1.40 cents. Similarly, a shortterm memory may be able to hold only about seven items, but we can increase the amount of information in these
items by grouping the separate bits of information into larger chunks.
Over-learning
If you know a great deal about a subject, you are more likely to recall the specific bit of information you need, simply
because you know a lot. So over-learning (if there really is such a thing) helps memory. Unless, of course, you are
faced with a multiple choice or true false test, in which case knowing more can be devastating! (Faced with a
situation where you incorrectly answered a multiple choice question because you knew 'too much' and could
therefore see possibilities beyond the actual scope of the question, try discussing the problem in private with the
teacher. Many teachers would be willing to give credit for such thorough knowledge if they were aware of the
reasoning that went into your wrong answer.)
Primacy and Recency
You remember what you focus on first and you remember what you focus on last. This means you should pay
attention to how you start a study chunk and how you finish it. Some learners like to review at the start and review at
the end of a study session. A lot of visual learners like to use the memory map approach for these reviews. Many
audio learners like to use the cassette as their review means. Kinaesthetic learners tend to like to use movement and
the power of walking and talking for the first five and Iasi five minutes of a learning chunk. Find your way of starting
and closing your study sessions.
Repetition
Repetition is one of the most commonly used memory techniques. Why? Because it works. Remember learning to
play a musical instrument, or ride a bike? How did you do that? You repeated and repeated the necessary
movements so that your fingers automatically moved in the necessary patterns; or your entire body balanced and
worked together to propel the bike. Repeated motions, ideas or words seem to create a groove in the brain, which
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enhances recall. However, remember that practice does not necessarily make perfect. Rather, practice makes
automatic! (And incorrect practice makes disaster. Breaking a bad habit - like striking the wrong piano key takes
more effort than learning it in the first place.)
Stand out
For information on this memory technique see the chapter: Study Skills
Verbalization
Add Verbalization to repetition and you will be utilizing a powerful tool. The verbalization part is important; you need
to speak (or sing, or shout!) aloud repeating silently inside your head will not produce the same results. It's far easier
to trick your mind into thinking it knows something well than it is to trick your ears. By speaking aloud you actively
engage your kinesthetic Intelligence (through the use of muscles in your throat tongue and lips) while simultaneously
engaging your auditory intelligence (through hearing what you are saying). Since your mind is also working to
produce the content, you are very actively engaged in learning. And you already know that what you learn actively is
learned better.
Visualize
Whether you are primarily a left-brain or a right-brain learner memory is improved if you visualize. If you stay only
with words, you are limiting yourself to the left side of your brain. By visualizing, you get the right side of your brain
working to help you. It's especially important to create a visual picture of concepts. Try creating vivid pictures in your
head or on paper. What you team with your whole brain will be better retained and recalled. Use pictures images
and symbols to help you learn, then turn to the VAKPOINT model and overlap your learning with a variety of
sensory inputs. Your brain has been created to love this kind of activity.
Write
Just as it is useful to use your whole body in a learning process, it is helpful to write down what you are learning
Have you ever had the experience of making a grocery list, then discovering when you get to the store you have
left the list at home, but you can remember almost every item anyway? The very act of writing something
down reinforces it in your mind.
Mnemonic Methods and Systems
An important component of AL styles and strategies is the full understanding of memory processes. AL also stresses
the importance of memory skilling the use of deliberate practice in improving your memory. Memory skilling can be
considered a mental port to enhance *input and recall of learning. In essence, a mnemonic systems functions as a
mental filing system. There are many methods and systems which have been developed over time. Mnemonic is
defined as a method developed for improving the memory. Mnemonic is derived from the name of the Greek
goddess of memory Use of mnemonic methods and systems have been recorded as far back as 500 BC. Highbee
(1977) states three ways that mnemonic systems are helpful:
1. They give you a place to start your search, a way to locate the first item.
2. They give you a way of proceeding systematically from one item to the next.
3. They will let you know when your recall is finished, when you have reached the last item.
Mnemonics methods and systems work best if you follow some general guidelines when you are using them. Buzan
(1984) lists several key principles for making memory association easier.
Involve as many senses as possible. Create colourful moving, three dimensions mental images, complete with
sound, rhythm, touch and even scent. Writing, speaking, drawing, touching, listening the more you can use all of
these in the process of memorizing something, the better your recall will be.
Create an organized sequence of associated images for a list of things to be remembered. You can simply number
the items or use the ancient method (of Simonides) of a imagining each item in a particular place.
Use exaggeration or absurdity, to give your associated images an impact but keep it simple. Too witty or convoluted
a link between your images and what you want to remember can be confusing: make the link direct.
If you blend memory skills and mnemonic systems with Global and Analytical styles of learning, you can then view
your learning within the context of what it means for yourself for others and for the planet
You will be able to pay attention to the details of the fine strokes of learning techniques within the picture of the broad
strokes.
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Acronyms
Acronyms are words created from the first letters in a series of words. There are many examples. LASER = light
amplification by stimulated emission of radiation: laser is certainly, a lot easier to say! Do you know you know Roy G.
Biv? He has helped many students remember the colours of the visible spectrum red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo and violet. Use acronyms and allow the first letter to spark the rest of the information.
Acrostics
Similar to acronyms, acrostics are sentences instead of words. For example, if you ever learned to read music you
may have been taught to remember the lines of the treble clef staff by learning: Every good boy deserves fruit. - the
notes of the lines (e, g, b, d, f). Or, do You know about P. Cohn's Café. It will help you remember the chemical
shorthand for the most common elements in humans: phosphorus, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur,
calcium, and iron.
Association Mnemonic System
This system works for most people because it is patterned on the way that the brain normally functions. One way of
envisioning the brain is to think of it like a vast complex network of interconnections. New information gets encoded
in the brain through associations with something already, known. That's why for example we teach young people to
identity stars in the night sky by having them use their imagination to draw pictures of the big and little dippers. The
stars don't really form those pictures, but the association helps people to identify and remember the location of those
particular stars.
So the Association Mnemonic System is based on deliberately linking what you are trying to learn to something you
already know well.
People use it to remember lists of unrelated items, to remember a succession of steps in a process, strings of
numbers (what is your social security number?) or a sequence of events (in history, or in the development of a cell).
By relating what you want to learn to something you already know, you help your memory because you have made
the information more personally meaningful. The more you know about a subject, the more you have to associate
with the subject, the more connections you can make, the easier it will be to recall.
The principle of association 'is used throughout the business world. For example, places of business name their
firms so as to conjure up favourable associations. Consider Cornerstone Book Store, Safeway (a grocery
supermarket chain) or Pay-Less Drugs.
How can you make the association mnemonic system work for you?
First, tie (associate) what you want to learn to something personal or to specific events in your life. Perhaps you
always remember your first trip to (the beach, the mountain whatever - you fill in the space _______) which
happened on the first of August. Therefore you can remember a special person's birthday because it is one week
later on the 7th of August. Sound complicated? It may seem so at first, but try it. It really works.
Many people have difficulty remembering numbers. They can also be learned and recalled fairly easily through
association, Take the number: 11624935 think of it in terms of price: $116,249.35. Or, if you have a smaller
number, 100423, think in terms of time: 11:04:23; or distance: 110, 423 miles.
Higher (1988) recommends the thinking around it technique. Most of us have had the experience of misplacing
something and not having any idea where we might have put it. By thinking back through your movements when you
last had the object, (think around your movements) it's often possible to reconstruct and see where you left the
missing object.
In the same way, more abstract 'information can be recovered. For many, it is a common occurrence to be engaged
in a conversation, be interrupted, and then be unable to continue the conversation because your train of thought is
lost. By reconstructing what the general area of conversation was, topic by topic, it's usually possible to recover
where you were in the conversation. What you actually do, through association, is recall where you are. It's not a
new technique; but it is a very effective and useful one. This approach of searching your memory was described
some 150 years ago by James Mill, an English philosopher.
LINK AND STORY MNEMONIC SYSTEMS.
The Link or Chain system consists of a two-step procedure:
1. Form a visual image of each item in a list to be learned.
2. Associate the image of each item with the image of the next item (thus forming a chain)
You can make the system even more powerful by using a variation called the link and Story System. Thread a story
line through your chain by actually forming a picture story from your series of items. Your items do not need to be
related, your story creates the relationship.
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If you have the ability to see pictures in your mind this process is fairly easy to do. Go through your list linking each
word to the previous one through the pictures you form in your mind. Make sure the pictures follow the rules for using
mnemonics: the pictures are colourful. Silly, memorable, in action, etc. For example, using the first three items on a
grocery list: apples, orange juice and lettuce, you might create something like the following:
All the huge red apples decided to have a holiday. Dressed in their swim suits they all gathered at their special
orange juice lake They were fortunate because the sun was shinning and the lake was an especially nice bright
shade of orange. As they splashed in the juice lake, they noticed that a fleet of lettuce boats was approaching
creating large waves which made some of made some of them very... Well, you finish.
Both the Link System and the combined Link Story System work well for lists you need to remember (as does the
Number Peg System) such as grocery lists, place names birthdates.
A few other uses include remembering points in a speech or report, mathematical equations (weave a story around
them), or learning the vocabulary of a foreign language. There are many more, experiment and discover your own
uses.
The difference between the Link Mnemonic Systems and the Link and Story Mnemonic System, is that in the Link
System pairs of objects are linked independently of previous links. In the Link and Story System the pairs are
connected in a sequentially order. An advantage of the Link and Story System is that many people find stories easier
to recall, although a possible disadvantage is that it may take longer to construct. The Link System has an
advantage in that it is almost as easy to recall the items in reverse order as in the original order.
Loci Mnemonic System.
This system is one of the most ancient memory systems known. There is a famous story about the Greek poet
Simonides, who is credited with creating the Loci Mnemonic system to help him recall his poetry. According to the
story, he would visualize a walk through a well know place - his home or the village - then he would associate each
Iine of his poem with a landmark passed during his imaginary walk. Next, he would retake his imaginary walk several
times in his mind, recalling as he did so the lines of poetry he was trying to recall. It's said that Mark Twain found this
system so helpful he used it many times for his famous after dinner speeches.
The Loci system is so named because to create a memory filing system, it makes use of places. The word itself is
the plural of Locus the Latin word for ‘place.’ The use of the system dates back to about 500 B.C. It was most
commonly used by Greek and Roman orators to remember speeches. The use of this system may be the origin of
the well know phrases often used by speech makers: 'In the first place, In the second place .. .'
Using the Loci system requires two basic steps:
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Memorize a series of mental images of familiar locations in some natural order a walk through your home;
through your garden any place well I known to you.
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Associate a visual image of each item to be remembered with location in the series.
You take your imaginary walk memorize your items by visually placing them in the order they are to be remembered
as you walk past their locations. This series of locations becomes your mental filing system. You can use it
repeatedly for different lists of items or ideas - which is very important - because you don't want to have to memorize
a new wall each time you want to use the system.
Try using the system. Suppose you need to grocery shop and the first three items on your list are apples, orange
juice and lettuce. Take a wall through your living room and select the following locations: (or you select meaningful
ones in your living room).
Doorway
connect to
apple
table by sofa
connect to
orange juice
lamp on table
connect to
lettuce
As you walk through the room, connect each item/idea on your list to remember to each place in your living room.
You will remember more easily if you speak aloud and if you physically touch the doorway, the table and the lamp.
Does this work? Yes it does.
PEG MNEMONIC SYSTEM (NUMBER PEG MNEMONIC SYSTEM)
The Peg system is really a filing system associated with specific words and/or numbers, which may or may not
rhyme. It gets its name from the notion that you remember by hanging your information on mental hooks or pegs.
The peg mnemonic system appears to have originated in the mid I600s when an individual named Henry Herdson
created a variation of the Loci mnemonic system. He simplified the Loci system by using only the objects instead of
using objects in specific locations.
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The most common variation in contemporary use is the Number Peg system, making use of the old nursery rhyme:
'One two buckle my shoe, three four shut the door...' Using these particular words has the added advantage of
rhyme. Thus:
I = BUN
2 = SHOE
3 = TREE
4 = DOOR
5 = HIVE
6 = STICKS
7 = HEAVEN
8 + GATE
9 = WINE
10 = HEN
To use the system, hook the first item to be remembered to an image associated with 1 = bun; the second to 2 =
shoe; etc. For example, if you want to remember that grocery list or a sequence of events, you create mental
pictures using the number peg system which will help you recall your list or sequence. Using the same three items
on your grocery list apples, orange juice and lettuce, you could begin as follows:
1 = BUN = apples. Visualize a huge red apple used as a bun. It is too hard to get a bite of this bun because it is so
large and crunchy.
2 = SHOE = orange juice. Visualize a shoe, which is an orange juice container. The juice spurts out every time you
take a step and creates puddles you squish through.
3 = TREE = lettuce. As you squish along through the orange juice puddles, you come upon a lettuce tree. All the
leaves on this tree are lettuces of various kinds. Maybe they would taste good in your apple bun.
Got the idea?
There are some notable differences between Link and Story System and the Number Peg System. The Number Peg
System is a random access model; if you leave one out or forget one you call usually jump over the stumbling block
and move forward. Items are not linked together except through the numbers themselves. In the Link and Story
model there is the danger that if you forget one of the links you might forget the rest.
There are also some differences between the Number Peg System and the Loci System described earlier. However
Bower and Reitman (1972] found that the actual performance of the two systems are equivalent. In both systems,
items to be learned are attached to previously memorized concrete items. The Number Peg system has the
advantage of permitting direct retrieval if you want to know what the sixth item is you think of 'sticks' to find the item
associated.
The Loci System is great for remembering large numbers of items. Just take a longer walk through your home or
garden. But to create rhyming words for numbers greater than ten is more difficult. Finally, some students find the
Loci System more natural and easier to use because it is built on knowledge already possessed (You know what
your home or garden looks like), whereas the Number Peg system requires learning a new set of perhaps arbitrary
associations.
RHYMES AND SONGS
You can make up a song or chant to help you remember almost anything. The tune and the rhythm will increase your
recall. You are sure to recall that 'In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.' Or
remember the poem 30 days hath September...' Do you use it? Or what about the "A B C D, E F G ' song. It's still
popular on Sesame Street. Even if you are non musical you call use this technique very successfully by writing your
own words to familiar tunes like ‘Mary had A little Lamb’ or ‘Yankee Doodle.’
BUT DO THEY WORK?
All of the research says that mnemonic methods and systems work very well, provided they are learned and used
properly." If you are interested it learning more about the research findings, Higbee (1977) cites some of the
research evidence on the Loci Link and Story, and Number Pet systems. Rose (1985) also cites solid research on
the effectiveness of mnemonic systems.
DRAWBACKS OF MNEMONIC METHODS AND SYSTEMS
Memory techniques and mnemonics systems can be a great help in recalling information however, they are not
without drawbacks. Such systems help only with rote memorization and are of little or no help understanding or
digesting information and do not aid the critical thinking process.
A second drawback is that some systems can be complicated to learn and time consuming to develop, however,
once a system is learned is can be applied to many different memorization tasks. If you don't enjoy games learning
to use the systems may not be for you.
As with any learning process, you will need to evaluate and determine if the process works well for you.
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