{"id":56617,"date":"2021-12-16T15:46:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T19:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=56617"},"modified":"2021-12-27T14:36:37","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T18:36:37","slug":"mnemonic-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mnemonic-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Mnemonic Strategies to Help You Remember Anything"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Does your memory need a boost? What techniques can help?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to remember a person’s name, a grocery list, or information for a test at school, certain techniques can come in handy. The books A Mind for Numbers<\/em> and Moonwalking with Einstein<\/em> discuss five mnemonic strategies you should add to your memory toolbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more to learn about these mnemonic strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Five Mnemonic Strategies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What if you need to remember something that, by itself, isn\u2019t all that memorable? Author Barbara Oakley presents a number of tactics to make almost any piece of information easier to remember. We\u2019ll examine these mnemonic strategies and contrast them with Joshua Foer\u2019s from Moonwalking with Einstein<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Visual Metaphor Strategy\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you want to remember something, Oakley recommends developing a mental image that symbolizes it. The more vivid you make the mental picture by adding both visual details and other sensory details (sounds, smells, feel, or taste), the more memorable it will be, because of the sensory factor. She suggests making the image comical to leverage the humor factor as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, suppose you are trying to remember the expression F=ma (Newton\u2019s second law, which states that the force acting on an accelerating object is equal to the object\u2019s mass multiplied by its acceleration). Suppose you also dislike eating asparagus, so you create a metaphorical version of the equation: \u201cfilth = moldy asparagus.\u201d Now you visualize a plate of moldy asparagus, complete with the color and texture of the mold, its revolting smell, and the slurping sound that it makes as you scrape it off the plate into the garbage. The more asparagus is on the plate, and the moldier the asparagus is, the more filthy the plate is, so the relationship expressed by F=ma is preserved in the metaphor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Foer echoes Oakley\u2019s description of this technique and recommendations for making images more memorable with sensory details and humor. While Oakley presents the visual metaphor as one of several techniques, Foer presents it as the primary basis on which mnemonic strategies are built.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Memory Palace Strategy\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Oakley, the \u201cmemory palace\u201d is a powerful extension of the visual metaphor technique that takes advantage of the spatial factor, and potentially also the story factor, allowing you to memorize lists or whole groups of concepts. First, picture a place that you know well, such as your home or college campus. Imagine yourself moving through the place, interacting with objects. Each object is a visual metaphor for something you need to remember. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, suppose you need to memorize the hierarchy of taxonomy for biology class: Kingdom>Phylum>Class>Order>Family>Genus>Species. In your mind\u2019s eye, you are walking across campus when you suddenly bump into the King of England, who happens to be visiting your college that day (Kingdom). Next, you stop at the cafeteria, where you order a Philly steak-and-cheese sandwich (phylum). Then you go to class (class). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After class, you head back to your dorm room, but you have to take a detour because a drill sergeant is parading his troops on the campus lawn and shouting a lot of orders (order). When you arrive at your dorm room, you discover your family has come to visit (family). After your family leaves, you notice that your laundry basket is full of jeans, so you head over to the campus laundry room to wash your jeans (genus). However, in the laundry room, you discover that your jeans are covered with tiny yellow specks (species) that won\u2019t wash off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memory Palace<\/a>: The King of Mnemonic Strategies<\/strong>

Foer discusses this tactic extensively, referring to it both as the memory palace technique and the \u201cmethod of loci.\u201d He explains that the term \u201cmemory palace\u201d is a modern name for the method, while in the earliest descriptions of this technique, each imaginary location where you place a visual metaphor was called a locus (loci is the plural of locus).

In Foer\u2019s description, this method seems to be the master technique to which all other methods are subservient. Visual metaphors serve mostly to populate the memory palace, and other techniques can be applied to make the individual metaphors within the palace more memorable, but they all reside within the memory palace.

In recent years, a modernized television adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes<\/em> novels raised public awareness of the memory palace technique, sometimes referring to it as the \u201cmind palace.\u201d<\/a> <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

3. Symbolic Sentences Strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you need to remember a list or sequence, Oakley suggests making up an acronym or a sentence composed of words that start with the same letter as each item in the list. If possible, make the sentence tell a story and\/or make it funny, so you can take advantage of the story factor and the humor factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, suppose you need to memorize the hierarchy of taxonomy for biology class: Kingdom>Phylum>Class>Order>Family>Genus>Species. You could symbolize this hierarchy with the sentence, \u201cKing Phillip cleaned orange fungus off Jenny\u2019s spectacles,\u201d where King = Kingdom, Phillip = Phylum, cleaned = class, orange = order, Jenny = genus, spectacles = species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Symbolic Sentences as an Aid to Visualization<\/strong>

Foer doesn\u2019t mention this technique explicitly. Instead, he focuses on imagery that can be used with the memory palace technique. Even when you need to memorize exact wording, Foer recommends replacing the words with images that you can place in your memory palace. For abstract words that you can\u2019t visualize directly, he discusses techniques such as punning, where you create a play-on-words and visualize something that sounds similar to the word you want to remember.

In practice, this has a similar effect to Oakley\u2019s symbolic sentences technique. In our taxonomy example, \u2018King Phillip cleaning orange fungus off Jenny\u2019s spectacles\u2019 is a scene you could visualize (and place within a memory palace) more easily than the abstract concept of biological taxonomy.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

4. Song Strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Oakley notes that another way to remember something is to make up a song about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, suppose you know a lot of hymns by heart, including one that begins, \u201cPraise my soul the King of Heaven: To His feet thy tribute bring!\u201d Now you need to remember Newton\u2019s second law of motion for physics class. You could sing, \u201cForce equals mass times acceleration: I shall to class my homework bring!\u201d to the same tune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Oakley, you can use this technique by itself, or in conjunction with the symbolic sentences technique by setting a symbolic sentence to music. If you add hand motions or dance moves to the song, you can make it even more memorable by taking advantage of the movement factor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Oakley also notes that many songs for remembering mathematical formulas have already been written and posted on the internet. We did a quick search and found a few of them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n