The classical way to improve your memory is through mnemonics or a special memory system. By using mnemonics, anyone can remember unconnected items in random, ordinary, or reverse order, with complete accuracy, even at the rate of learning a new item every 2 seconds.
Mnemonics, derived from words meaning “aiding the memory”, associates new material with familiar material to make the new material more easily remembered. Mnemonics then is no magic potion to make your brain function at a higher capacity. Rather, as in all endeavors, if you want to achieve Natural Success, time and energy reap your rewards. The special memory systems that the great show mnemonists, masters of memory, used are available to you also. All you need to do is set up a foundation and your memory will be amplified. Forgetting is not simply due to the passage of time. The interference theory of forgetting states that forgetting occurs when unwanted items interfere with those we try to recall. You might have trouble remembering Bill’s last name because you simply know too many Bills. To counteract this interference, you must focus on what you want to remember or it will be lost.
There are basically four main mnemonic systems: 1) the peg system, 2) the loci system, 3) the link system, and 4) the phonetic system. I only recently started using an example of the peg system, the number-rhyme system, after knowing about it ages ago. The peg system works by associating an object with a number or a letter of the alphabet. In the case of the number-rhyme system, you pair a number with an object that rhymes with the number: one/bun, two/shoe, three/tree, four/door, five/hive, six/sticks, seven/heaven, eight/gate, nine/vine, ten/hen. You then develop visual images of the items you want to remember by pairing these items to be remembered with the rhyming objects. If the first item is “a car”, you might visualize a car sticking out the side of a giant bun (one/bun). If the second item is “a chair”, you could imagine a chair with shoes (two/shoe) on its legs. This can go on as long as you have numbers with their rhyming objects. Suggestions beyond ten are: eleven is “penny-one/hotdog bun”; twelve is “penny-two/airplane glue”; thirteen is “penny-three/bumblebee”; and so on.
The loci system is the oldest system used as far back as 500 B.C. Loci means “place” and the way it works is you have a familiar location or set of locations and visualize what you need to remember at these various locations. For me, my home is the easiest to visualize. If I needed to remember a list of items, I could see one item in each of the rooms.
Using our example of car, and chair, my house tour would start perhaps with the kitchen (first location) and my car hood open to reveal the stove inside. The next location would be the living room and because chairs are so common there, I would need to visualize me balancing a chair on the tip of my nose. This continues with a pre-set sequence of rooms or locations and the objects dispersed along the route.
The link system uses the interaction between objects to create a memorable image. Using our examples again, you need to remember the first item, a car. Then following that, you might visualize a large chair whose back is sticking out of the sunroof of a car. If the third item were a teddy bear, you might visualize a bear sitting in the chair.
The story system simply uses the link system to weave objects into a story. Using our car (first item), you could visualize a car going down the street, then the story might show the care crashing into a chair (second item) on the sidewalk. A little boy with his teddy bear (third item) comes to see the accident.
The phonetic system is the most complex and yet most versatile. It mainly helps to remember numbers by associating sounds with a number. The sounds are then put together to form words committed to memory by images.
When creating images, it is good to make the image as absurd as possible. The more exaggerated the image is also, the more likely you will remember it. Using the five senses with movement, color, sound, smell, and taste, add more flavor to help memory.
You do have to remember to use your mnemonic devices to obtain their benefits. If you have difficulty, tie a string around your finger. Memory takes practice and intention, and not just a good memory.