Humans are creatures that hunger for knowledge, from the moment we leave the womb until our last breath. Whether a person is pursuing a formal education, acquiring technical job skills, or learning for pleasure, they must be able to retain vast amounts of information. Some facts and concepts are easy to grasp and retain over a long period of time, but others are not so easy to recall at will. Imagine that you were required to learn the elements of the periodical chart in perfect order. Without a special system to help you (or a cheat sheet!), you would soon think that this was an impossible task. However, the brain is a complex learning machine that only needs to be properly stimulated to release stored facts. By learning to use mnemonics, you can unlock your mind's incredible learning capacity.
Mnemonics are memory tools that you can use to remember a wide range of information easily. The three basic principles of mnemonics are imagination, association, and location. A vivid imagination makes recalling even unfamiliar facts simple. By envisioning clear images that incorporate all of the senses, especially those that are odd or amusing, you will create a picture in your mind that is difficult to forget. Next, you create an association between this image and the information you are trying to remember. There are several ways to do this, and depending on the information you need to memorize you can utilize various mnemonics tools. Location is also an important part of mnemonics, where you work with a setting that you are familiar with to recollect specifics. Although these are the basic concepts of mnemonics, there are various systems that you can try.
The Number/Rhyme System
This system, more commonly known as the “peg system,” involves linking numbers one through ten with rhyming words. For instance, one rhymes with bun, two rhymes with shoe, three rhymes with flea, and so forth. You assign these rhyming words, so use nouns that you are likely to remember. Once you have established these rhymes, you can link the facts to them. This works especially well for lists of information you are trying to memorize, as you can easily put them in order and spot the items you missed. As an example, you may need to remember the names of famous ancient Greek poets. First on the list comes a difficult name to remember: Euripides. Using the peg system think first of the number one and its rhyming word bun. Now create a sentence that links bun to Euripides. For instance, you could say “When YOU (this is what the first part of Euripides sounds likes) are making a bun, be careful not to RIP (the middle part of Euripides) the dough.” Although it may not make much sense, its novelty will make it easy to remember and will help you come up with the poet’s full name.
The Story System
Another method of mnemonics that is very similar to the number/rhyme system is the story system. It is an ideal way to remember lists in order. The story contains a portion of each item to be recalled and leads into the next. For example, you may need to recall the first five states that were founded in America: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut. To use the story system to remember these states in order, make up a ridiculous tale like to following. “One evening DELIA became AWARE (Delaware) of her boring writing style. She picked up a PEN and wrote a story about vampires in TranSYLVANIA (Pennsylvania). She decided that this would be a NEW sort of tale where the monsters were not blood-guzzling JERks (New Jersey). Instead, they would be artists that painted GORgeous (Georgia) nighttime landscapes. In the end, their art CONNECTed them to their former victims, happily without blood or CUT (Connecticut) throats.” The more outlandish you make your story; the more likely it is that you will remember the progression. Remember to incorporate color, sound, and texture to add vitality to the tale.
The Journey System
This is another popular mnemonics technique, where landmarks on a well-known travel route are connected with groups of information. Perhaps you take the same trip to work every day, passing the gas station, the traffic light, the hospital exit, a grocery store, and a fast food restaurant before arriving. You can link all of these places to articles on a list you have to remember. To illustrate the system, let us say you have a “To Do” list, consisting of picking up the dry cleaning, ordering a prescription, getting the mail, dropping off a child at band practice, and balancing the checkbook. Imagine the first landmark on the way to work: the gas station. Create a mental picture of the gas pump draped with your blue cashmere sweater (dry cleaning). Envision the lights at the traffic stop opening like a medicine cabinet (prescription). Visualize a mail truck broken down on the hospital exit (mail). As you pass the grocery store in your mind, pretend that a marching band is practicing in their parking lot (band practice). Finally, see three lanes and a teller call button at the fast food restaurant’s drive-through (checkbook). These silly images will stick in your mind much more clearly than the chores alone would.
These are just a few examples of the creative tools of mnemonics. By putting them to use, it is possible to learn infinite amounts of information and recall them easily. It is feasible to link items continuously this way. You could first associate a list of North American medicinal plants, followed by their uses and their Latin names. There are even mnemonics systems that can be utilized to learn dates or other long lists of numbers. With practice, you can become so skilled at memorization that it will seem possible to learn anything. Put these tools to practice whenever you need to remember something important and never forget again.
