In this lesson, you will learn how to quickly and easily memorize a list of up to 26 completely unrelated words or a list of things that you need to do during the day.
Look at the drawings and you will notice that each of them resembles a letter of the alphabet. You only need a few minutes to memorize them reliably. Thus, a chain of 26 images will be built in your memory, the strength of which is ensured by the alphabet that has been hardened since childhood.
Suppose now that you need during the day:
Buy a newspaper;
Send a letter by mail;
Take photos from the photographer;
Take the x-ray to the doctor;
Buy butter, bread, eggs, jam, steak;
Call your friend.
This list is random and not chosen as an example. To remember it, you just need to associate each keyword with one of the items in your chain. It is necessary to imagine mentally, and as clearly as possible, both related objects.
So, I start by linking the newspaper and the compass. It's easy, I imagined a compass drawing a circle on my newspaper.
A pair of "glasses - mail" (or mailbox); it's less obvious, but I'm just imagining myself dropping my glasses into the mailbox. It's funny, but that's why it's easier to remember. I mentally imagine this scene well.
Moon and photography? I imagine that the moon in the sky is not real, that this is a huge photograph of the moon. I can also imagine a giant camera placed in front of the moon and taking pictures of it. Another mental picture: I see the moon in the viewfinder of my camera. Any of these scenes allows me to establish a "moon-photo" association.
Now it's the doctor's turn. It is easy to associate with a bow. I imagine the scene: a doctor in his office shooting an x-ray with a bow. Stupid but true for the association: onion - doctor - x-ray.
Oil painting: I drive a trident into a large lump of butter. I imagine bread resting on a crutch; eggs crushed with a vise; a pyramid of jam jars, which I look at through binoculars. I put a candle in the middle of the steak (or heat the steak on the candle).
Last item on the to-do list: call a friend. I imagine a friend talking on the phone under an umbrella.
All these associations are easy to come up with. With a little skill, they are installed instantly. Always try to use movement (dipping glasses into a mailbox) or something funny (doctor shooting an x-ray with a bow).
To recall the list, proceed in reverse order:
The letter A (the first case is the first letter of the alphabet). A is a circle.
Before the mind's eye, a picture immediately arises: a compass on a newspaper. Thus I instantly recall "newspaper";
Letter B (second case). B is glasses. I put them in the mailbox. Thus I remember my letter.
With this method, you can memorize a list of any 26 words very easily. This method can be used to memorize a list of railway stations. We are talking here about words without meaning, therefore, it is necessary first to remake each city name into a specific word that this name will remind you of. Gorky, Serpukhov, Klin, Rostov will be presented as mustard, sickle, wedge, tree sprout, etc. You associate the word "mustard" with a compass, then a sickle with glasses, and so on.
Thus, you can quickly learn 12, 15 or 20-30 stations of any branch of the railway or the names of settlements that you must pass during a car trip. Now you will have the opportunity not to check your route while driving. You will restore your pictures in alphabetical order and instantly find the names of cities or towns that you need to pass one by one.
Key to improving your memory is a constant training of the imagination with the involvement of the maximum number of senses during the encryption of the information that you want to remember.
The better your imagination, the better your memory and your ability to remember a list.
The exercises below will help you better understand what is meant. Our goal is to make sure that it doesn't take you more than 90 seconds to remember the following shopping list:
milk
eggs
rice
bread
bacon
yogurt
bagels
steak
sparkling water
popcorn
After 90 seconds, take a break from the article and try to play the list in that order. Most people will make a mistake before the seventh point, and most will constantly doubt what they are saying. And now we will teach you how to remember this list quickly and correctly.
Come up with a compelling story
Imagine a giant carton of milk. Well, very big! You are surprised not only by the fact that the pack is so big, but also by the fact that it is bouncing around you. And then suddenly...explodes. And as soon as it exploded, ... eggs fly out of there! Imagine such a picture.
Eggs fly out of a carton of milk, legs appear, and then they start dancing. And you even hear the stomp of their feet on the floor. Suddenly, one of the eggs starts cracking. As soon as a crack appears, rice begins to pour out from there. And not just crumble, but shoot like a machine gun.
The rice goes right into the fluffy piece of bread. And with such force that the bread begins to break into pieces. Really try to see and hear what is going on in your mind.
The sight of slices of bread makes you feel hungry, so you decide to go and grab a slice of bread. And as soon as you tried to take a bite, the bread magically turned into bacon. You bite into a piece of bacon. He has great taste. Imagine this picture. You still have a piece of bacon in your hand, and you suddenly want to dip it in yogurt.
When you dip the bacon into the yogurt, you will see that it has completely dissolved into it. There was nothing left but yogurt. The yogurt starts to bubble and boil. You watch and hear it boil, and bagels of various shapes and sizes began to appear from there. You've never seen bagels like this before. In the middle of each bagel lies a juicy steak.
One of the pieces of steak jumps off the bagel and starts rolling around the floor faster and faster. And from somewhere appears and bounces up a block of sparkling water. When the bottles fall, they crack, first soda begins to ooze from there, and then popcorn. And now popcorn is flying out of all the bottles!
repeat history
Now, to remember the shopping list, just repeat this fun and unusual story in your mind, starting from the moment you saw the giant carton of milk. In the process, you just need to pay attention to each element of the story, and you end up with just such a list: milk, eggs, rice, bread, bacon, yogurt, bagels, steak, soda, popcorn.
If you get stuck on one of the paragraphs, quickly read the paragraph above again. After that, try to relax and enjoy the picture that has arisen in your head. If you smile when you remember this story, this is a very good sign. Don't worry about remembering anything. Just concentrate on such a vivid development of events, and remembering will not be a problem for you.
This method of creating vivid and vivid imaginations for memorization is a very powerful mechanism for training the imagination. Such stories remain in memory for a long time. What if the list gets longer? For example: milk, eggs, rice, bread, bacon, yogurt, bagels, steak, soda, popcorn, crackers, lettuce, cheese, beans, pasta.
After the popcorn pops out of the soda bottles, it starts to… dance on the walls made of crackers; lettuce begins to grow on crackers; lettuce grows shoots in the form of chunks of cheese; beans start to jump out of every piece of cheese; and the beans are mixed and turned into a giant portion of pasta. Is the idea clear?
Represent a picture for each list item
It is very important to remember that this method can be used for more than just memorizing a shopping list. It can be used to remember the main points of your report or presentation.
All you have to do is come up with a story to highlight the main points you want to tell. For example, war can be imagined in terms of weapons and soldiers, the economy of a pile of money, health care, as a pile of bandages and a crowd of doctors.
So if you want to talk first about the war, the economy, and then about health care, you can imagine soldiers fighting against a huge pile of gold, which the doctors then bandage up with bandages. Maybe the doctors will soon start to melt and disappear if you want to talk about global warming after that.
If you can come up with an appropriate picture for each main point and even sub-point, and then be able to link these pictures together with your imagination like the one above, then you can easily give a speech or a presentation without even looking at your notes.
DO YOU REMEMBER EVERYTHING?
Not only have you just learned a powerful method to help you easily memorize a random set of information, but you've also exercised your creativity and imagination. The story method, as it is often called, allows you to use many parts of your mind to encrypt information.
The more you practice memorizing the list, the better you will understand how to do it. You will begin to notice that you are able to come up with stories in your imagination faster, and the stories themselves will turn out to be more and more vivid. It will improve your memory and also help develop your intelligence.
The Loki method is not named after the Scandinavian god at all. The name comes from the Latin word loci - "location". Otherwise, this mnemonic method is called the Memory Palace or mental walk.
The loki method was developed back in ancient Rome, when the masters could not use the records and kept all the information for many hours of performances in memory. The essence of the method is to link the facts that you need to remember to locations that are well known to you. Facts can be anything, for example:
- foreign words;
- material for presentation at the conference;
- shopping list for holiday dinner.
By the way, the Loki method is used by Dominic O'Brien in mnemonic competitions.
Dominic O'Brien
So, how to memorize information using the Memory Palace?
Stage 1. Build the Memory Palace
1. Choose a location. It should be a well-known place that you can easily imagine and walk around in your mind. For example, your apartment. For the technique to be effective, do not just imagine the apartment, but create a walking route through it.
2. Make a List of Distinguishing Parts this place. For an apartment, these can be pieces of furniture or decor. Try to analyze the space methodically, for example, in accordance with the route that you usually take.
shotsstudio/depositphotos.com 3. Print in your place. This may take some time, but it is this step that will ensure that the loki method will work effectively. If this is difficult for you, use one of the additional steps:
- go again along the route and fix the details on paper;
- always start from one place;
- mentally return to your place as often as possible.
Stage 2. Create associations
Having built the Memory Palace, proceed to place items to remember in it.
Get creative with this. For example, you want to remember a shopping list. Imagine eggs falling off the couch, tossing sizzling bacon to stick to the door, giving celery, cabbage, and leeks a place at the table, and imagine them talking about the weather. In the bathroom, let the fabric softener brush your teeth, and the tile cleaner take a shower. The more delusional and funnier they are, the better!
Stage 3. Walk through the Memory Palace
Repeat the created picture to make sure you haven't forgotten anything.
Everything! Ready! You can go to the store.
lightpoet/depositphotos.com Naturally, the shopping list is not the only application of this method. In addition, in the store, it will probably be even more convenient to use a real list on paper or on a smartphone. However, memorizing a shopping list is well suited to mastering the method. Then you can move on to more complex data.
Also over time you can create multiple routes to keep in more information. For example, while on vacation try to remember the atmosphere of your favorite hotel, on the way to work, notice the most colorful buildings, or go to the park that you loved most as a child.
In this article, you will learn how to better remember information using reliable methods that have already helped many people in studying, reading and learning in general.
Whether you are reading nonfiction to study a particular topic (say, investing or internet marketing) or to study for exams, there are a few rules that will help you continually increase your ability to remember and recall material.
Use these rules every day and increase your learning potential.
How to remember information better:
Rule #1: Fast Reading First, Detailed Reading Later
Usually people try to remember all the details from the material they read in one sitting, but the best way to learn complex information is to divide the reading process into two or three stages.
First run your eyes over the text you need to read (two or three pages will be just right), reading superficially. Don't force yourself to memorize anything during the first reading.
Now return to the same material, reading slowly this time. Say difficult words out loud. Underline difficult words or key concepts.
If you still feel puzzled, go through the material a third time. You will be amazed at how much information fits in your head!
Rule No.2: Take notes
When studying new material (at a lecture, webinar, just reading something), take notes.
After some time, rewrite your notes in a notebook, collecting and summarizing all the information. You will notice that you probably wrote down some of the information or materials that seemed very important to you during the lecture, but is no longer of interest.
Draw on concepts that you wrote down but didn't clearly explain when writing down your thoughts. Look up definitions of keywords and external resources. Write down the information you find in the form that suits you. This will fix the information in your memory.
Rule No.3: Teach others
We remember best when we teach others. This is why study groups can be very effective if used correctly. Instead of using your group just to complete some tasks, ask your partner to "run" you through the material covered, have you verbally repeat what you have learned.
Find a person in the class who does not study well, and become an informal mentor for him.
If you cannot find such a "student", tell your partner or roommate about what you have learned in class. Do not repeat material that you already know well.
Pick the information you're having trouble understanding and force yourself to explain it to someone over dinner or while walking the dog. This will allow you to really get the gist of the material you have been learning.
Rule #4: Talk to yourself
Believe it or not, listening to your own voice will make it easier for you to memorize new facts. Record how you read key words and definitions aloud, and listen later. This trick will make your self-learning more effective. You will have several senses involved at the same time - auditory, verbal and visual - plus you will be more attentive, since reading aloud requires concentration.
There is another fun trick. It consists of making a "telephone receiver" out of flexible PVC tubing that you can hold up to your mouth and hold against your ear while you read aloud. Believe it or not, the concentrated sound of your own voice passing through this “phone” will be easier to remember than your normal voice when reading material aloud.
Rule #5: Use visual cues
Many of us remember everything through the visual channel. You can actually imprint an image of a formula, definition or concept in your mind, and you can easily recall the information you need during a test or when needed.
Use this function of your memory by drawing pictures on cards or by using various colored markers when writing down information you need to remember.
For example, if you need to memorize the Latin or Greek root of a word, you can draw pictures that symbolize the meanings of those words. The Latin word "aqua" means water, so you can write "aqua" with a blue marker and draw a drop next to it. The Latin word "spec" means to look, so you can draw glasses next to it.
Flashcards are also a useful visual memory tool, especially if you use pictures and colors to make them. You can actually remember a word or formula simply because you remember how you struggled to decide whether to write this definition in orange or green. Color can trigger your visual memory to help you access information.
Watch an interesting video about visual notes that help you quickly remember information:
Rule #6: Use a shocking stimulus
Have you ever felt while studying that you were simply unable to remember important information?
Believe it or not, using some kind of shocking physical stimulus will help you understand and then remember difficult material.
According to a study conducted on the topic: "How to remember better," putting your hand in a bowl of ice water while studying will help you remember, and then recall the necessary information. This is because negative stimuli activate the memory part of your brain (presumably this is so that we remember negative experiences better so as not to repeat them, but it works just as effectively with ordinary memorization of information).
You can use ice water, something hot, or mild pain to help you remember difficult information. Try pinching your arm while holding an ice pack in your hand, or holding a hot cup of tea while studying to stimulate your memory. The main thing is not to hurt yourself for real!
Rule #7: Chew your gum
Teachers may ban chewing gum in their classrooms because they don't want to peel gum from under their desks later, but chewing gum itself can help you study better and do better on tests.
One study looked at the effect of chewing gum during a test (with graduates as an example). The study found that chewing gum helped students finish the test 20 minutes earlier.
Another study was conducted on eighth graders taking their annual math exam. The results showed that the students who chewed the gum scored 3 percent higher on the test than their peers who didn't chew the gum.
How chewing gum helps to remember information better?
The process of chewing gum stimulates blood flow to the brain and helps you stay awake.
What chewing gum works best?
It doesn't matter if you chew gum with or without sugar. What matters is her taste. Switch to mint flavored gum as mint acts as a mental stimulant and will help you feel calm and focused.
Rule #8: Participate in class even when you feel uncomfortable
Having trouble with a certain concept?
Most of us prefer to sit somewhere in the corner and remain unnoticed in the classroom until we have all the material put on the shelves. But this habit will always get in the way of you in the learning process. Raise your hand, ask a question, or volunteer to contribute to a discussion about a topic you're having trouble with.
Do you attend group classes? Find someone who understands the topic you need and seek advice or help. Let it bother you that you do not understand something.
The discomfort you feel while performing these activities will increase your ability to remember. You will receive answers to your questions and will easily be able to remember the material later, when you need it most.
Rule #9: Highlight and Paraphrase What You Read
When reading a text that is difficult to understand, it may seem to you that the letters are already floating before your eyes. Underline and underline key words and concepts as you read.
Say the words or concepts out loud as you highlight them, and then write (and paraphrase) the material in your notebook. This will help you digest all the information, and not just skim through it with your eyes.
Rule #10: Make up poems or songs
You won't need to do this trick with most of the material, of course, but you may find it useful to come up with poems, rhymes, or catchy songs to help you remember particularly difficult formulas.
You may find it easier to remember the formula if you come up with musical accompaniment for it.
How do formulas help you remember information better?
Many formulas do not make any sense to us. They look like a list of random numbers and letters, or they seem like a set of random instructions that lack a linking element.
If you turn the formula into a song or a verse, you will become aware of what once seemed irrational, and this comprehension of the material will allow your brain to better perceive the information and store it in such a way that it can be easily accessed later.
Rule No.11: Look for Associations
Similarly, the association method can help you find links between dates or specific facts that need to be remembered in a particular order.
Find a way to link the date and the name so that it makes some sense, using a play on numbers or words. You've probably done something similar before when you needed to remember a password or phone number.
Find a way to associate the number with the name in a way that makes sense to you and the question of how best to remember the information will not be so acute for you.
Rule No.12: Take breaks while studying
If you study consistently over a long period of time, you may notice that your productivity drops the longer you stay in class. Research shows that you should take a 10-minute break every hour while studying to maximize productivity.
What should such a break be?
Be sure to get up, go to the toilet, have something to drink or have a snack. It is best to leave the room you are sitting in and move around a bit to improve blood flow. If you have the opportunity, jump or stretch to get an adrenaline rush and cheer you up. After that, you can get back to work.
Rule No.13: Find a Practical Application
Having trouble remembering a formula or theory?
The problem is that you probably haven't found a practical use for this concept in real life, so your brain still doesn't want to remember it.
Imagine how you can use this formula or concept in practice to solve a real problem. If possible, act out or mentally imagine the impact of this problem in a practical way. This will help you understand the formula or concept and, if necessary, easily remember.
Rule No.14: Get Physical
Some concepts are difficult to understand until you see a physical representation of them or an illustration of an idea.
For example, you can appreciate the importance of microscopic analysis by looking at a picture of a DNA chain or anatomy of a cell. If you can't create a physical image or picture, find an image online. This will help you visualize the problem clearly.
Rule No.15: Read important information before bed
Our brain continues to work even when we sleep. Reread your notes before bed one more time so that your brain can better absorb the material while you sleep.
Don't read anything that makes you anxious or upset (you risk disturbing your sleep). Instead, use this trick to reinforce the basic concepts and information you'll need later.
Rule No.16: Practice Breathing Exercises
Stress inhibits the ability to concentrate and makes it difficult to access the information you have already learned.
That's why you can easily understand a principle while in a class, but then get stuck while writing a test. You know that information is somewhere in the back of your mind, but you just can't access it. This is because stress cuts off your ability to focus on anything, leaving you with a "fight or flight" response.
To overcome stress, do for three to five minutes.
Find a quiet place, set a timer, close your eyes, and then focus solely on your breathing. Inhale as deeply as possible, hold your breath until you feel a little discomfort, and then exhale slowly until you feel complete relief.
Repeat like this, without worrying about anything and focusing all your attention on how nice it is to just breathe until the timer goes off.
Try the above methods of remembering information and find the most effective for you.
Good luck with learning new information!
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In this lesson, you will find two pages of pictures that will allow you to quickly and easily memorize a list of up to 26 completely unrelated words or a list of things that you need to do during the day.
Look at the drawings and you will notice that each of them resembles a letter of the alphabet. You only need a few minutes to remember them reliably. Thus in your. memory, a chain of 26 images will be built, the strength of which is ensured by the alphabet hardened since childhood.
Suppose now that you need during the day:
- buy a newspaper;
- send a letter by mail;
– take photos from the photographer;
- take the x-ray to the doctor;
- buy butter, bread, eggs, jam, steak;
- call your friend Duran.
This list is random and not chosen as an example. To remember it, you just need to associate each keyword (highlighted) with one of the items in your chain. It is necessary to imagine mentally, and as clearly as possible, both related objects.
So, I start by linking the newspaper and the compass. It's easy, I imagined a compass drawing a circle on my newspaper.
A pair of "glasses - mail" (or mailbox); it's less obvious, but I'm just imagining myself dropping my glasses into the mailbox. It's funny, but that's why it's easier to remember. I mentally imagine this scene well.
Moon and photography? I imagine that the moon in the sky is not real, that this is a huge photograph of the moon. I can also imagine a giant camera in front of the moon and taking pictures of it. Another mental picture: I see the moon in the viewfinder of my camera. Do any of these scenes allow me to establish the association "moon-photo"?
Now it's the doctor's turn. It is easy to associate with a bow. I imagine the scene: a doctor in his office shooting an x-ray with a bow. Stupid, but true for the association: onion-doctor - X-ray.
Oil painting: I drive a trident into a large lump of butter. I imagine bread resting on a crutch; eggs crushed with a vise; a pyramid of jam jars, which I look at through binoculars. I put a candle in the middle of the steak (or heat the steak on the candle).
Last item on the to-do list: call Duran. I imagine Duran talking on the phone under an umbrella.
All these associations are easy to come up with. With a little skill, they are installed instantly. Always try to use motion (dropping glasses into a mailbox) or something funny (doctor shooting an x-ray with an arrow).
To recall the list, proceed in reverse order:
- the letter A (the first case is the first letter of the alphabet). A is a circle.
Before the mind's eye, a picture immediately arises: a compass on a newspaper. Thus I instantly remember "newspaper";
- the letter B (second case). B is glasses. I put them in the mailbox. Thus I remember my letter.
With this method, you can memorize a list of any 26 words very easily. This method can be used to memorize a list of railway stations. We are talking here about words without meaning, therefore, it is necessary first to remake each name of the city into a specific word that this name will remind you of. Gorky, Serpukhov, Klin, Rostov will be presented as mustard, sickle, wedge, tree sprout, etc. You associate the word "mustard" with a compass, then a sickle with glasses, and so on.
Thus, you can quickly learn 12, 15 or 30-20 stations of any branch of the railway or the names of settlements that you must pass during a car trip. Now you will have the opportunity not to check your route while driving. You will restore your pictures in alphabetical order and instantly find the names of cities or towns that you need to pass one by one.
