Home » Misc » Mnemonic techniques to improve memory

Mnemonic techniques to improve memory


Using Mnemonics to Improve Your Memory

First things first - what are Mnemonics?

A Mnemonic is something which we can use to remember things much easier. As is often the case, it could be a phrase, a short song, or something that is quite easily remembered, that we use to remember something that would otherwise be difficult to remember. For example, we may use a phrase to remember a series of numbers, such as the mathematical Pi sequence (3.14159 etc) or an ordered list whose numbers or items are not easily memorized. Mnemonics are a way of remembering using association - associating easy to remember things with data.

Memory Improvement Techniques
  • Memory and Association
  • Luria Method
  • Pegword Mnemonic Memory Method
  • Retentive Method for Memory Improvement
Popular & Useful Mnemonics
Colors of the Rainbow/Spectrum

A number of mnemonic devices have been made to help people to remember the order of the colors of the spectrum, proving the power of mnemonics in revising for exams:

  • Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain

    This phrase, easily remembered when thought about for a few seconds, borrows the first letter of colors in the spectrum as the first letters of each of its words (e. g. R in Richard represents red, Y in York helps us to remember Yellow, etc)

  • Sing a Rainbow Song

    Many readers will recall singing the 'I can sing a rainbow' song in school in order to remember the colors of the rainbow. This song is useful in remembering easily in that it uses a tune that's easy to memorize, so that we associate the list of colors as we think of the tune.

Beginning music students trying to memorize the notes of the staff use the mnemonics "Every Good Boy Does Fine" and "FACE" for the lines and spaces of the Treble Clef respectively. The Bass Clef equivalents are "Good Boys Do Fine Always" and "All Cows Eat Grass".

The acronym HOMES is also a mnemonic aid that can be used to remember the names of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).

The famous mnemonic for approximating the digits of pi: "May I have a large container of coffee?" Counting the letters in each word yields the sequence 3,1,4,1,5,9,2,6. A longer version is: "How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics!" Another notable (but shorter) version is "How I wish I could recollect pi".

A famous mnemonic used by medical students to remember the cranial nerves is "On Old Olympus' Tiny Top A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops" (with variations; some say "terraced tops," some say "towering top," and "view some hops" is sometimes rendered as "vaulted a hedge").

A mnemonic used by physics students to remember the Maxwell relations in thermodynamics is "Good Physicists Have Studied Under Very Fine Teachers", which helps them remember the order of the variables in the square, in clockwise direction. Another mnemonic used here is "Valid Facts and Theoretical Understanding Generate Solutions to Hard Problems", which gives the letter in the normal left to right writing direction.

A mnemonic for remembering the number of days in the months of the year, practically a cultural universal in the United States, is "Thirty days hath September/April, June and November. " (Although this is only part of a longer rhyme, this is the only part that most people remember, so they commonly complete it with words similar to "... except February, which has twenty-eight, or twenty-nine in a leap year." The full mnemonic is "Thirty days hath September/April, June and November/All the rest have thirty-one/except February alone/which has eight and a score/until leap year gives it one day more.")

Another mnemonic for the days of the months is not a rhyme or a jingle, but a gestalt. Whereas the traditional mnemonic simply associates the name of the month with the number of days, this one emphasizes the sequence. The 31 and less-than-31-day months would be easy to remember if they simply alternated, but this pattern was broken in 27 B.C. by the decision to rename the month of Sextilis to Augustus and to increase its length from 30 to 31 days. Thus the fourth 31-day month, July, is immediately followed by another 31-day month. Since the human hand has four fingers, one can, given an appropriate mind-set, perceive this pattern in a view of the knuckles of two fists, held together. The raised knuckles can be seen as the 31-day months, the dips between them as the 30-day-months-and-February, and the gap between the hands ignored. (Thus: left-hand-pinky-knuckle = January, dip = February, left-hand-ring-knuckle = March, dip = April, and so on to left-hand-index-knuckle = July; then continue with right-hand-index-knuckle = August, dip = September, etc).

A curious characteristic of many memory systems is that mnemonic devices work despite being (or possibly because of being) illogical, arbitrary, and artistically flawed. "Roy" is a legitimate first name, but there is no actual surname "Biv" and of course the middle initial "G" is arbitrary. Why is "Roy G. Biv" easy to remember? Medical students never forget the arbitrary nationalities of the Finn and German. Any two of the three months ending in -ember would fit just as euphoniously as September and November in "Thirty days hath...", yet most people can remember the rhyme correctly for a lifetime after having heard it once, and are never troubled by doubts as to which two of the -ember months have thirty days. A bizarre arbitrary association may stick in the mind better than a logical one.

More Complex Mnemonic Techniques

A mnemonic technique is one of many memory aids that is used to create associations among facts that make it easier to remember these facts. Popular mnemonic techniques include mind mapping and peg lists. These techniques make use of the power of the visual cortex to simplify the complexity of memories. Thus simpler memories can be stored more efficiently. For example, a number can be remembered as a picture. This makes it easier to retrieve it from memory. Mnemonic techniques should be used in conjunction with active recall to actually be beneficial. For example, it is not enough to look at a mind map; one needs to actively reconstruct it in one's memory.

Other methods for remembering arbitrary numbers or number sequences use numerological (lit. number+word) systems such as the abjad, where each numeral is represented by a consonant sound.

An example of a widely used system for memorizing numbers as words is the major system.

Egg and Spear or Number Shape system

This is another peg system, much like the number-rhyme system but more suitable for those with visual learning styles (a one looks like a candle; a two looks like a swan, and so on).

  • Candle, spear
  • Swan
  • Bosom
  • Sail
  • Hook
  • Club
  • Cliff
  • Sand clock
  • Flag
  • Egg
More Memory Improvement Techniques
  • All Memory Techniques RECOMMENDED

    Ways to remember differently, and how our memory works. All Memory Techniques

  • Memorise telephone numbers

    Never forget a telephone number again. Try the pegword system >>

Mnemonic Devices: Types, Examples, and Benefits

Mnemonic devices — like acronyms, chunking, and rhymes — work by tapping into how the brain naturally stores data.

If you’re like most people, you probably get frustrated when you can’t remember the name of your new co-worker, a friend’s phone number, or even why you walked into a room.

But memory shortages can feel even more frustrating when you have to recall large amounts of information, such as the state capitals or the bones in the human body.

This is where mnemonic devices can come in handy — as tricks to easily memorize things.

You’ve used a mnemonic device if you’ve ever used a rhyme or a song to help you memorize something. It’s simply a fancy word for a memorization tool.

Through various tricks, mnemonic devices can help you remember anything from phone numbers to long lists to other things that would be otherwise difficult to remember.

Share on PinterestDesign by Wenzdai Figueroa

There are several types of mnemonic devices, and many of them overlap in how they work. Below are five of the most common types of mnemonic devices:

  • acronyms and acrostics
  • association
  • chunking
  • method of loci
  • songs and rhymes

Acronyms and acrostics

An acronym is a word created from the first letter of a group of words or names. For instance: HOMES is an acronym for the five Great Lakes:

  • Huron
  • Ontario
  • Michigan
  • Erie
  • Superior

Some words we commonly use as “stand-alone” words are acronyms. For example:

  • radar (radio detection and ranging)
  • laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)
  • scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
  • gif (graphics interchange format)

An acronym doesn’t even need to be a “real” word — as long as it sounds like one. For instance, many government agencies use acronyms, such as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) or NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration).

You can also use acronyms as mnemonic devices in day-to-day situations like grocery shopping.

For example, if you need to remember to buy pasta, apples, cilantro, and eggs at the store and you don’t have a way to write a shopping list, you may easily forget some random items. Creating the acronym (and word) “pace” from the items’ first letters and thinking “pace” as you walk through the grocery store may help you remember all the items you need:

  • pasta
  • apples
  • cilantro
  • eggs

An acrostic is a similar mnemonic device, but it can be a sentence or a whole phrase instead of just one word. For example, you’ve likely used a phrase similar to “My Very Educated Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas” to help you remember the nine planets and their order in our solar system:

  • Mercury
  • Venus
  • Earth
  • Mars
  • Jupiter
  • Saturn
  • Uranus
  • Neptune
  • Pluto

Association

Association is a fairly easy technique to help you remember new information. The idea behind it is that it’s easier to remember new information when you link it to something you already know well.

For example, if you have a new co-worker named Todd and an uncle with the same name, you could imagine your co-worker with glasses, a mustache, and a pencil behind his ear — like your uncle Todd — to help you remember your co-worker’s name.

Similarly, suppose you’re trying to remember that the scientist who invented calculus and discovered the laws of gravity was Isaac Newton. In that case, you could imagine your friend Isaac eating (and dropping) a Fig Newton while doing math.

The stranger and sillier the scenario, the more likely you’ll remember it.

Chunking

Chunking is a mnemonic device in which you break down information into bite-sized “chunks.” Two common examples of chunking are phone numbers and Social Security numbers. Most people divide both of these long numbers into three sections.

Chunking allows the brain to memorize more information than usual. According to the late psychologist George A. Miller, the average short-term memory capacity is about seven items, plus or minus two, depending on the person. Miller also suggested that verbal short-term memory capacity is determined by the number of chunks stored in memory.

Chunking comes in handy when memorizing random items, such as a password. For instance, trying to memorize P3850tf21 would be quite difficult. But if you break it down: P38-50-tf21, it becomes a lot easier.

So why does chunking allow more items to be stored in the brain? Research from 2021 suggests that chunking may be a long-term memory function. Therefore, chunking allows people to tap into their long-term memory function to extend the capability of their short-term memory.

Method of loci

The method of loci — sometimes called the “memory palace technique” — involves remembering items based on their locations.

According to legend, the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos temporarily excused himself from a large banquet to speak with someone outside. Soon after he left, a disaster ensued, and the entire structure collapsed on everyone inside. The scene was chaotic, and even family members could not identify the bodies.

However, once the debris was cleared, Simonides was able to help identify the dead correctly because he remembered exactly where each person had been sitting. This story is commonly retold as an example of how to recall large groups of items.

For example, your grandmother has asked you to stop at the store to pick up five random items:

  • a scented candle
  • flip-flops
  • paper towels
  • honey
  • a purple flower pot

You don’t have any way to write down the list and need to memorize it.

To use the method of loci, try the following:

  1. Imagine an area you know very well, such as your home.
  2. Imagine each item’s exaggerated or silly form placed somewhere in your home.

In practice, this may look something like this:

  1. Imagine arriving at your front door and seeing a large flickering candle there.
  2. As you mentally walk inside your house, you “see” a pair of flip-flops hanging from the air conditioning vent.
  3. Then you imagine your brother holding a paper towel roll in the family photo on the wall in the entryway.
  4. You enter the kitchen and see a large honeycomb dripping with honey and swarming bees on the kitchen countertop.
  5. The honey is dripping into a purple flowerpot below.

Songs and rhymes

Songs and rhymes are very effective mnemonic devices. Most young children are taught to remember the entire alphabet — 26 random letters in a row — by reciting it in a simple rhyming tune.

Songs and rhymes work for adults as well. Just think of how easily you sing along when an old song comes on the radio.

Singing can help with many types of learning. Research from 2013 shows that a foreign language can be more easily memorized when put into a song. A 2021 study also indicates that singing may improve memory and well-being in people with dementia.

Research from 2019 shows that learning is more efficient when people use mnemonic devices. These memory tools work by tapping into how your brain naturally stores data.

Below are some of the advantages of using mnemonic devices:

  • You become an active learner when you sort the information in a way you can remember.
  • Mnemonic tools allow you to recall large amounts of information that would be incredibly difficult to remember.
  • You’re able to quickly retrieve information from your long-term memory.

Mnemonic devices are useful learning aids when memorizing large amounts of information.

Using memory-boosting tools, such as loci, chunking, or rhyming, can make learning much easier and even fun. So you don’t have to despair if you’re being tested on the state capitals or the periodic table.

Mnemonics for beginners: tips and exercises

What is mnemonics

Mnemonics, or mnemonics, is a set of techniques that increase memory capacity and make it easier to memorize information.

Mnemonic memorization is based on visualization - figurative note-taking, during which abstract concepts receive visual, auditory or kinesthetic incarnations in memory.

In order for an association to arise in the head and the necessary neural connections to form, the image must be voluminous and bright. Associations are purely individual and can be strange or ridiculous - that's even better. nine0009

Exercise 1 . Create a visual image of a radish, a teacher, and good luck. The first two words are pretty easy: radish - a red-and-white vegetable with a tail appears before your eyes; teacher - most likely, you will introduce a teacher that you like. Luck is harder - it's a rather abstract concept. Here it is necessary to use the method of free associations. The first visual image that came to mind when you read the task is free association. Perhaps it will be a horseshoe or a wheel of fortune as common symbols of good luck. nine0009

Why children need mnemonics

Before the age of 14, a child is developing abstract-logical thinking, and he remembers mainly what he experienced personally. Mnemonics, on the other hand, allows you to connect abstract concepts from the school curriculum with events and phenomena from life, thereby simplifying the process of memorization.

<>

Regular practice of mnemonics develops:

  • memory and attentiveness,
  • speech and vocabulary,
  • fantasy and creativity.
The amount of data that surrounds us is growing every second. A modern student needs to be able to work with information: quickly highlight the main thing, remember what is useful in life. Mnemonics just answers these requests.
Gayane Kuryatova, teacher of mnemonics, participant of the project
"Amazing people".

Having mastered the art of associative memorization, the child will be able not only to master the school curriculum better, but also to work successfully with additional materials. nine0005

The use of mnemonics: three effective techniques

The techniques of mnemonics are available to everyone, they are easy to master. In this article, we will look at several popular memory development techniques.

Learn how to memorize digital information, texts, terms, poems and much more on the course "Mnemonics: how easy it is to memorize". With the promo code
MNEMO2021 you will get a week of free access to the course.

Story method

The essence of this technique is to link words and definitions into one text. A funny story is much easier to remember than twenty abstract concepts. The more paradoxical and fantastic the story is, the easier it will be remembered.

Advantages of the method:

  • does not require prior preparation,
  • trains creativity,
  • is fun and interesting.

The disadvantage of the reception is that it is not suitable for memorizing a large amount of information. nine0009

Exercise 2 . Words are given: postman, tiger, corn, wasp, river, frying pan, crusader, sofa, marmalade, Arab, borscht, toothbrush, rain, tulip, ashes, good luck. Make up and visualize a story with these words. Be sure to add emotion to your story and empathize with your characters.

Example: Postman Pechkin rode a tiger through a corn field. Pechkin turned back in fear - angry wasps were chasing him. Suddenly he came across a river. "What to do?! shouted the poor postman into the void. There is no bridge! But fortunately, instead of a bridge, there was a huge frying pan nearby. Pechkin, urging the tiger on, ran over it. On the other side of the river, the crusaders were already building barricades of sofas, and as soon as the wasps began to approach, the crusaders began to knock them down with well-aimed throws of marmalade. Pechkin ran up to the old Arab, the recipient of the package, and handed him the box. In it was a plate of bright red borscht, in which instead of a spoon there was a toothbrush. It suddenly began to rain. Everyone raised their heads up, the marmalade no longer flew at the enemy. At first, the most ordinary drops of water fell, but then tulips began to pour from a thundercloud. Thousands of tulips slowly descended, and as soon as they touched the ground, they immediately turned into ashes. Surprisingly, from the resulting ash, a distinct drawing of a horseshoe was obtained (an image for the word “luck”). nine0073

Method "Chain"

The essence of this memorization technique is the connection of images with each other. It is necessary to string concepts one on another, like beads on a chain. It is important to connect them brightly and follow the sequence. When playing, you need to imagine the entire “construction” at once: remove the images from the chain in the same sequence as you put them on.

Advantage of the method:

  • memorization speed,
  • can be used literally on the go. nine0009

The disadvantage of the method is that if you forget one element of the chain, you can forget everything else.

Exercise 3 . Remember in a chain the words: fox, astronaut, ring, apple, chess, teacher, Africa, milk.

Example: A red fox in a spacesuit (an association with an astronaut), a ring on his paw and an apple on his nose plays chess with a geography teacher (Africa), but not with figures, but with glasses of milk.

Cicero method

The essence of this technique of mnemonics is the creation in the imagination of a space with reference images. Why the method is named after the ancient Roman philosopher, we have already told. Other names: the memory palace, the Roman room method, the method of loci, the palaces of the mind.

It is not necessary to create a space from scratch, you can imagine your apartment or room. Select several reference images there (TV, table lamp, refrigerator, and so on) and, moving clockwise, draw a route between them. nine0009

Attach a memorable image to each reference image. You can not just one, but the whole chain (as in the previous method). The amount of information you can remember depends on the size of the location and your training.

Images can be changed, that is, new information can be stored many times in the same locations. But if you often use the same places, the images will start to get confused. In this case, the location should be given a "rest".

Benefits of the Cicero method:

  • you can memorize large amounts of information,
  • memorization is fast enough,
  • when repeated, images remain in memory for a long time.

The disadvantage of this method of memory development is laboriousness.

Exercise 4 . Select the reference images in your room and "attach" the following words to them: frog, chocolate, whale, football player, winter, school, computer, grapes, Foxford.

Mnemonics for beginners: how to improve memory

Yuliya Skopich

will remember all commenters

Author profile

I've always found it difficult to remember something. Especially names and faces, which interfered with my work as a journalist.

Then I took a course on mnemonics and learned how to use techniques to quickly memorize information. I no longer forget names and faces, although I took the course six years ago. I also remember passwords and bank card numbers, and when I go to the store, I keep a shopping list in my head, even if it is quite long. Mnemonics turned out to be a really useful tool for a distracted person like me. nine0005

What do you learn from this article

  • How I got to the course on mnemonics
  • How Mnemics
  • work as my classes
  • What tricks I was taught at
  • How Mnemics help me in the work and life of
  • How learn mnemonics: books, online simulators and courses

How I got on the course on mnemonics

memory development, and this school opens a free course on mnemonics - techniques for remembering information. My understanding of mnemonics was fragmentary, and I decided to learn more about the school and the methods they use. nine0005

It turned out that English is taught at school by the memorization method, which is based on the use of images. The bottom line is this: if you present some vivid image along with a number or text, it will be easier to remember them. This is what mnemonics are.

/how-to-unlock-creativity/

How to develop creativity: a new way

The course promised to teach you how to quickly memorize any information, not just English words: from the contents of books to passwords. It was designed for a month and a half, and classes were held two or three times a week. Why the course was free, I never understood. Perhaps this is how the school hoped to attract new students to longer English programs. nine0005

But in any case, the offer looked tempting. Several teachers of the course and schoolchildren who passed it got into the Russian Book of Records, having memorized the maximum number of English words in the minimum amount of time.

I didn't intend to break records, but I needed to improve my memorization skills. I am a journalist, and I have to constantly communicate with different people. At the same time, I do not remember faces and names well - so much so that I could meet the same person twice or forget the name of the interlocutor during the conversation. And sometimes there were outright curiosities at all. For example, I was introduced to a person whom I was to interview. He had to leave for a short time, and when he returned, I did not recognize him. nine0005

So I signed up for the course without much thought.

How mnemonics work

Mnemonics are techniques that allow you to remember information faster and more easily recall it. The Dominican monk Giordano Bruno digested large volumes of texts using one of the mnemonics - the memory palace. A person imagines a familiar space - his room, for example - and mentally places "objects" in it - information that he wants to remember. His methodology is described in detail by the historian Francis Yates in The Art of Memory. nine0005

Modern record holders are also impressive. In 2019, schoolboy Denis Babushkin set a Russian record by memorizing 13,202 digits of pi after the decimal point. It took him 6 hours and 20 minutes. In this he was also helped by mnemonics.

The work of mnemonics is based on the basic principle of memory operation: incoming information is encoded, then fixed and retrieved. First, the brain recognizes the object's shape, texture, location, color, and size, so we can tell a dog from a cat, or a cat from a tree. Information is held in sensory memory, sent to short-term memory, and then retrieved. nine0005

Neurofitness: 9 ways to keep your brain in shape

The quality of information decoding depends on the attention and effort that a person puts into remembering something. For example, if you need to remember the name of a new acquaintance, you must first pay attention to this name. And if you repeat a quatrain many times, you are more likely to remember it than if you read it out loud once.

Associations help the brain to encode and decode information. They come to mind naturally, as if by themselves: bread and butter or tea with jam are the simplest examples. It is associations that underlie mnemonics. You connect new information with an association - old information - and it is easier to remember and remember it. nine0005

It is best when the association evokes strong emotions. If you were once stung by a wasp, and the surname of your new acquaintance is Osiny, you will quickly remember this surname due to negative emotions. Laughter is also useful for effective memorization: positive emotions have a beneficial effect on memory, and it is easy to remember something absurd.

Although associations and emotions strongly influence memory, and mnemonics are based on them, scientists believe that mnemonics do not improve memory. What they can do is help you remember and recall the information you need faster. nine0005

How did my classes go

In addition to me, about ten other students came to the memory development course. Most were twenty or thirty years old, and one student was a pensioner.

Classes were taught by teachers who set memorization records. We were strongly advised not to miss classes: we had to take notes and practice, and we were not offered any textbooks. The advice was good. Once I didn’t get to the lesson because I didn’t feel well — and the next time it was harder to understand the topic. Then I borrowed the notes and rewrote the theory, but skipping the class still slowed me down a bit. nine0005

/studying-test/

Study check: find out what prevents you from studying productively

The first 15 minutes of the class were theoretical: the teachers dictated, we wrote. Usually there was not much theory - just a description of one or another method of memorization. The rest of the time was devoted to practice: we worked out the method studied in theory - sometimes verbally, sometimes in writing.

For the longest time, we studied the NBC - the numerical-alphabetic method. With it, you can remember any dates: years of important historical events, birthdays, phone numbers, passwords and bank card numbers. But first you need to fix in memory which numbers are combined with which images - and this turned out to be quite difficult. So that we would not get confused, in each lesson we were given no more than 20 numbers and associations to them, which needed to be connected with these numbers. nine0005

The practice was different, depending on the specific mnemonics that we studied. For example, teachers said numbers - and we called the words corresponding to them. Another option: we were shown images, and we reproduced them in the same sequence - this is how we worked out the CWK method and other mnemonics, the "Chain". We practiced remembering names through mini-tests: teachers showed several photographs of people and called their names, and then shuffled the cards and demanded to match the name with the image. All these and other methods that I mastered on the course, I will tell you in detail later. nine0005

I liked going to the classes because I noticed the result right away. The very next day after we mastered the "Chain" method, I went to the store and made ten purchases - only necessary and exclusively from memory. I used to always write a shopping list on a piece of paper, even if I only needed to buy a few items.

I spent at least 20 hours on mastering mnemonics, but the result was worth it. At the first lesson, before moving on to learning, we were given a test - they showed 50 pictures with words, gave them to read, took them away a minute later and asked to write them down in the same order. I remembered a little more than half. In the last lesson, I took the same test - and remembered 50 words out of 55.

/how-to-focus/

5 tips to quickly focus on work

Later in the article I will tell you what memorization techniques were taught to me in the course.

Mnemonics - better than cramming or not?

Andrey Safronov

memorization champion

Author profile

Mnemonics help a lot in everyday life. When we want, for example, to get a promotion at work or find a new one with a higher salary, we audit skills and improve our qualifications. We turn to courses and articles, books and tutors. And we begin to memorize what we listen and read. nine0005

But will your life really change if you take a useful course and immediately forget everything?

To prevent this from happening, mnemonics are needed. They are better than regular cramming, primarily because the brain has more resources to process visual information: according to University of Rochester professor David Williams, 50% of the cerebral cortex is dedicated to processing visual information. That is, it is easiest for our brain to work with pictures - and most mnemonics are based on visual coding. nine0005

When we memorize information with the help of pictures, it is much easier to remember it. Imagine that as soon as you think about the desired piece of text - and before your eyes is a summary with the necessary information. Is it convenient?

Also, pictures evoke emotions, and emotions are the shortest path to remembering something solidly, which is what memory scientists are looking for.

And mnemonics are better than cramming because they associate new information with already familiar information. This is how memorization as a whole usually works - through associations, that is, building connections between different phenomena, concepts, objects. nine0005

This usually happens unconsciously. Mnemonics turn this process into a conscious one. For example, when we place new information in the form of images on objects in our room - this is the memory palace technique - then the objects in our room act as "old information". It is the same with foreign words: associations that help to remember the pronunciation of a foreign word act as "old information".

Reception 1

Alphanumeric code method, PSC

How to use. Remember dates, birthdays, phone numbers, passwords, bank card numbers.

What to do. Convert numbers to words. Numbers consist of numbers, each of which begins with a specific letter corresponding to the consonant of a word. You just need to finish the word by substituting vowels and other necessary consonants.

There are a variety of schemes for linking numbers to words on the Internet, but we were not recommended to use them, as the images may not be bright enough. We learned the scheme that our teachers advised us, and then we translated the words into numbers. nine0005

To make a translation, you need to form a connection in your head that:

  • 1 is the steering wheel, from the word “time”;
  • 2 - dolphin;
  • 3 - telephone;
  • 4 - jaws;
  • 5 - saw, etc.

For the binary system, two consonants are taken:

  • 11 - edges, that is, once and once;
  • 12 - radish, that is, one and two;
  • 13 - mercury, that is, one and three;
  • 14 - handle etc.

If you want to build a relationship between numbers, the second image is placed in the first, and then the reading takes place in the same order: from the second to the first. Let's say you want to remember a friend's birthday - November 1st. You can imagine that the ribs - the second image, November, the 11th month of the year - steer the wheel, the first image, which is equal to 1.

Example. 1242 - the year of the Battle on the Ice. We break the date into two numbers - 12, that is, a radish, and 42, that is, a monster. One can imagine how a monster beats a radish, and it jumps on a frozen lake. To decode the information, you need to translate the words in the sentence into numbers: the radish is 12, the monster is 42, and the lake is an association with the Battle on the Ice. nine0005

Or we want to remember not only the year, but also the day and month of the Battle on the Ice. Then you can imagine how a huge Thimble hangs over the lake - this is 05, so we connected "zero" and "five", linking the association with the first letters of the numbers. Nightie peeps out of the thimble - this is 04, so we encode "zero" and "four", also in first letters. A nightgown peeps out of a thimble, and a radish beats a monster that is galloping across the lake. We get the full date of the Battle on the Ice - 04/05/1242.

/self-investment/

"The standard of living has gone up a lot": the best investment in yourself

Reception 2

System Shed

How to use. Remember historical and any other dates, birthdays, car numbers, short phone numbers, passwords.

What to do. Compose a phrase in which each word is in a certain order and has the number of letters corresponding to the number to remember. Zero in this system corresponds to a word of 10 or more letters. nine0005

Example. It is necessary to remember the password for the card - 3627. The phrase "the cat runs through the swamps" can correspond to it. The rule is the same: the more absurd the phrase, the better it sticks in memory, but it must be imagined.

8 Habit Building Apps

Reception 3

Cicero's method - aka the palace of memory, the palaces of the mind or the method of loci

How to use. Memorize large amounts of text.

What to do. nine0013 Create some space in your imagination with reference images. The reference image, which is often called a locus, is the image with which the memorized image is connected. It must have a clear, permanent location in space. For example, a plate on a table is not a reference image, because it changes its location, and a wall clock is a reference image, because it always hangs there.

You can imagine your apartment, select several reference images like a TV, a chandelier, a washing machine - and attach words to each of them that you need to remember. For the correct "arrangement" of information, it is better to move clockwise and from top to bottom. nine0005

Over time, you can use smaller items, but at first it is better to limit yourself to large ones like a wardrobe, table and sofa. The visual images that stand out in this case should not be repeated. What else is important: to adhere to a certain sequence when mentally moving around the room.

Example. It is necessary to remember the fairy tale "Kolobok". Six semantic parts can be distinguished: flour, a bun on the road, a hare, a wolf, a bear, a fox eats a bun. If you tie them to the living room, you might get something like this: flour is pouring out of the closet, the bun jumps off the windowsill, a hare jumps out from under the chair, a wolf hid behind the door, a bear crushes the sofa, a forest sits under the table and eats a bun. nine0005

/no-impostors/

"How could I fool these smart people?": 8 ways to deal with impostor syndrome

Reception 4

Pictogram method

How to use. Memorize large amounts of text.

What to do. Highlight key words or phrases in the text - and draw an icon for each. The image plays the role of a visual association. It is important that the pictogram is neither schematic nor overly detailed. You can draw any word. nine0005

The pictogram cannot be correct or incorrect. This is an association that belongs to you and was created to fulfill the main goal - to remind you of the word or phrase to which it was attached.

Example. It is necessary to remember the fairy tale "Turnip". Key words can be: grandfather, turnip, woman, granddaughter, Bug, cat, mouse. In this example, you can schematically depict a grandfather with a mustache, a turnip, a woman in a headscarf, a girl, a dog, a cat and a mouse.

But there are also more complex words - then you need to use fantasy. For example, "development" can be represented as a spiral, and "labor" as a bent man with a hoe. nine0005 Pictograms for the fairy tale "Turnip". The process of creating an image should take about 10-20 seconds, no more than

How memorization champions use mnemonics

Andrey Safronov

memorization champion

Author profile

Now most often I use mnemonics to learn English. I am learning from various American brain experts. To understand them, you need to regularly type vocabulary.

I do it in several steps. First, I imagine a Russian word, and then I select an association according to the consonance with a foreign word and combine everything into one funny picture. For example, "eat" in English will consume - "consum". Let's imagine that the Horse with HUMOR eats vitamins. Everything is simple. nine0005

I also often speak in public, and in order not to get lost in the sequence of thoughts, I use memory palaces. I take the necessary information - I translate it into pictures - I place it, for example, on various objects in my apartment. Then, in order to remember, I mentally imagine my room and simply collect the images that I placed there before.

For my talk, I need to memorize the seven habits of highly effective people from Stephen Covey's book. Then I imagine that:

  1. There is a huge stop sign on the bed with a target hanging on it. nine0026
  2. An elephant with a huge human ear is standing on the windowsill.
  3. A goblet hangs on the curtains, on which the crowd sits.
  4. A saw is sticking out of the table.

Stop is the image for the first skill: "be proactive." Being proactive for me means being able to say “no” or “stop” to all distractions.

Target - skin for the second skill: "Start by imagining the end goal."

Elephant is the third skill: "First do the important, then the urgent." Important, big things can be called an elephant, which needs to be “eaten” piece by piece. nine0005

The big ear is the fourth habit: "First understand, then be understood." Why ear? Because in order to understand a person, you first need to listen carefully.

Cup - fifth skill: Win win.

10 books on how to improve brain function

The crowd is the sixth skill: "synergy". You need to team up with other people to achieve one goal faster.

Saw - the seventh skill: "sharpen the saw. "

When I need to remember these skills, I remember the room and the images in it. This is how I work with any information - I use certain mnemonics. nine0005

Reception 5

Phonetic association method

How to use. Remember a new name, foreign words, terms.

What to do. Find a consonant word - familiar, while phonetically similar to something unfamiliar. If the word is long and it is difficult to find a consonant word for it, it can be divided. For example, elephant is an elephant: ele is electricity, phant is a candy wrapper. Imagine how an elephant reaches power lines with its trunk, and candy wrappers begin to pour out of them. nine0005

When learning foreign words, it is important to pronounce the correct pronunciation.

When memorizing the names, surnames and faces of new acquaintances, you first need to highlight a special feature in appearance and try to remember it. Then come up with an image for the name. Teasers work well. For example, if a new acquaintance's name is Anna Bashmakova, and she wears glasses all the time, you can imagine her sitting in the bathroom - an association to a name, and shoes hanging on her glasses - an association to a surname.

Example. nine0013 Kitchen translated from English - kitchen. By pronunciation, this word reminds me of "kitsch", that is, something bright, tasteless. Imagine how bright colors in the form of spots jump onto the kitchen and stick around it.

/soft-skills-rule/

Soft skills: why are they needed in work and how to develop them

Reception 6

"Chain"

How to use. Remember any sequence. For example, a shopping or to-do list, the order of the planets in the solar system. nine0005

What to do. Imagine a bright image, and then glue it with the next one, also bright. When you have formed a connection between the first and second image, you need to form it between the second and third.

When we remember the information presented in this way, the images are drawn one after another. But this method is bad: if you forget one element of the chain, you can forget all the others.

Example. You need to go to the store and remember to buy anything important, even if the shopping list is lost somewhere in your pocket. Your shopping list: powder, cheese, sausages and bread. Imagine that a package of powder, smacking its lips, eats cheese. Cheese is tied around sausages, but they explode and bread jumps out of them. nine0005

Pay attention to two important points:

  1. The first image in the chain is always to the left or above the next one. For example, in our list of products, the package of powder - the first image - comes before the cheese - the second image. Therefore, “powder packaging, smacking, eats cheese”, and not “cheese, smacking, eats powder packaging.” For a list of products, this rule is not so important, but it is better to always follow it: in a different sequence, the order may be important.
  2. When memorizing a list, one must abstract from all images, except for the one that was just memorized and the one that comes next. Let's say you come up with: "powder packaging, smacking, eats cheese." Then we forget about the powder and imagine how cheese is tied around sausages. The cheese here is the connecting link between the two links in the chain. nine0026

8 pomodoro timers to help you concentrate on your work

Reception 7

"Matryoshka"

How to use. Remember a shopping list or any other sequence of words, items .

What to do. Images are connected in pairs according to the principle of nesting dolls, that is, as if they are nested one into the other. The first image is always much larger than the second and contains the second. After the connection of the first and second images, the first disappears from consciousness and attention is transferred to the second. It mentally increases and an association is created between the second and third images, and so on. The method is a bit like "Chain". nine0005

Example. Let's go back to the shopping list: cheese, powder, sausages, bread. You can imagine a huge head of cheese, on which a small package of milk is broken. Then it expands and tiny sausages fall out of it. They increase again and entangle the small loaf like a cobweb.

/time-to-rest/

“I close my laptop and start living”: 7 ways to quickly switch from work to leisure

Reception 8

Story method

How to use. Remember a shopping list, a to-do list, or any other sequence of words or objects.

What to do. Make up a fantastic or absurd story from the words to be remembered. For better memorization, it is worth adding emotions. The advantage of the method is that the images do not go one after another, but the picture emerges immediately, and if you missed something, it may come up.

Example. Consider the previous example: cheese, powder, sausages, bread. Let's imagine that the cheese is galloping around the store on top of the powder. Suddenly he sees sausages lying on the floor. He picks them up and angrily thrusts them into the bread instead of a sword so that it shatters into crumbs. nine0005

How long does it take to master mnemonics?

Andrey Safronov

memorization champion

Author's profile

My students' experience shows that it takes an average of eight weeks to master mnemonics. This is if you train for 30-60 minutes a day. There are other nuances, such as how many instruments you learn. The more different mnemonics, the longer you learn.

Don't be afraid of this: mastering any skill does not happen quickly - simply because strong neural connections in the brain are not formed instantly. nine0005

At first, it will be unusual for you to memorize information through mnemonics and you will want to return to your usual cramming. You just need to wait out this stage, and it lasts about two months. It is better if there is a person nearby who will help deal with the difficulties. Therefore, I recommend going to the training, and not studying mnemonics on your own, without feedback.

How mnemonics help me in my work and life

In class, we were told that to really master mnemonics, you need to practice at least 5-10 minutes a day, even after the course is over. She did this for several months: she went to work, memorizing car numbers, keeping the shopping list not on a sheet of paper, as she used to, but in her head. I also tried to memorize the chapters I read from books using the Cicero or pictogram method. But I don’t need to keep large amounts of information in my head, and over time, training became less and less. nine0005

Now I remember bank card passwords using the PBC method. I remember the names and surnames of new acquaintances using the method of phonetic associations, and instead of a handwritten shopping list I use the "Chain". I noticed that some images from ChBK are forgotten if they are not practiced. I don’t use other methods, because there is no need, but if necessary, I can remember and apply them.

/change-your-way/

How I changed careers through psychotherapy and doubled my income

The courses did not strengthen my memory, but they solved my main problem: I no longer mix up the names of my interlocutors and remember their faces. And the fact that I learned to remember numbers and unfamiliar words better was an added bonus.

How not to forget what I learned with the help of a mnemonist

Andrey Safronov

memorization champion

Author profile

If a person does not periodically refer to the information he has learned, he will forget it. It is a natural process for the brain not to maintain neural connections that are very rarely used. nine0005

You need to understand that remembering information and storing it are not the same thing. Remembering information is when you have loaded information into your head and can retell it in the near future. To save information is when you remember it in a day, and in a week, and in 20 years.

For memorization, we use mnemonics or cramming. For saving - spaced repetition method. It looks, for example, like this: you have learned ten foreign words - and repeat them, and a certain number of times at certain intervals. nine0005

I usually do everything according to this scheme: memorizing information - using mnemonics, storing it in memory - using spaced repetition. First I use mnemonics to remember new things. Then I repeat it several times in the first 20 minutes after mastering it. Then I refresh my knowledge before going to bed. For the next two or three days, I repeat in the morning, afternoon and evening. And only then do I move on to interval intervals: in a week, a month, and so on. At the same time, you need not just to read what you have learned many times, but to retell, answer a list of questions, or somehow complicate the task for the brain in some other way. nine0005

Books on mnemonics

How to Develop Super Memory by Dominic O'Brien. The author, who has repeatedly become the world champion in memorization, touches on many aspects of memory: from associative thinking and bundles of images to scientific evidence, the needs of the brain and the nuances of practical application.

“Remember everything” by Artur Dumchev. The author remembers the number pi up to 22,528 decimal places and tells how he did it. And at the same time - where and how else to use mnemonics. All recommendations - and there are many - are based on his personal experience. nine0005

/good-psychology-books/

“I literally got reflashed”: life-changing psychology books

Super Memory by Tony Buzan. Feature - detailed consideration of the use of smart cards. The author also gives exercises and promises to teach how to remember dreams. The book is considered the basis for teaching mnemonics, as it is a base of concepts and explanations of the main principles of information assimilation.

"Textbook of mnemonics" by Vladimir Kozarenko. nine0013 The book contains information about mnemonics of various kinds - from creating images and working with them to the frequency of repetition and the coefficient of increase in memorization ability. Access is free, you can download the text right now.

Einstein Walks on the Moon by Joshua Foer. Winner of the US Memory Championship tells how people who master the techniques of mnemonics live. Inside there are interviews, humorous sketches from the real life of memorization champions, as well as many useful tips and tricks. nine0005

Online simulators

Mnemonika.ru. The site is free. On it, you can train the memorization of numbers and information based on images. There are also articles on mnemonics, a collection of individual phrases and short poems designed to memorize facts from various fields of knowledge.

Memory Man. You can practice memorizing numbers, cards, names and faces, words. For each simulator, the time for memorization, the number of words, numbers or faces that need to be memorized are set. The site is free. nine0005

/in-search-of-lost-time/

How to find free time: 5 tips

The maximum number of words that can be included in a workout on MemoryMan is 1000, and the minimum time that words can replace each other is 0.5 seconds. But you can also set up a more gentle mode for memorization - with fewer words and longer memorization time

Courses on mnemonics

In many cities of Russia there are schools and courses on mnemonics that you can attend in person. When choosing, you should pay attention to the achievements of the school principal or the author of the courses: he must have his own memorization records and / or memorization achievements - this confirms his expertise. nine0005

Some of the courses on mnemonics are designed for children. For example, they are offered by the network of children's language centers "Polyglotiki". The cost depends on the duration. One month of classes of 26 lessons of 30 minutes costs 3000 RUR.

You can apply for a free trial lesson, during which the teacher will assess the level of memory and attention development

Then you can choose online courses. Here are some options. nine0005

Online course "How to memorize foreign words quickly?". By Andrey Safronov, InChamp 2019 Memory winner and author of Super Memory in Seven Steps. The course consists of three modules. The first two include theory about different ways of encoding information and practice - practicing skills with different memorization tasks. This is a standard course package, it costs 6900 R and gives access to lessons for two months. The third module is VIP: with additional videos, three individual lessons and access to a private telegram chat with a coach. Access to lessons is for five months. Such a VIP package costs 13 900 Р.

Course of Vladimir Kozarenko. The memory system mentioned in his books by the three-time champion of Sweden in memory, the holder of the status of Grand Master of Memory Matthias Ribbing.

Learn more