If you are looking for strategies to improve your memory, you’re in the right place!
Our brains process new information on a daily basis. There are times when having extra reinforcement using proven techniques to retain information is helpful.
Mnemonic strategies, also called mnemonic devices, are strategies serving to help remember facts and increase the recall of information. Their first uses were recorded in ancient Greece and Rome, during periods when paper and pen were scarce, yet the need to remember facts persisted. One of the earliest mnemonic strategies was used in Greece as early as 86-82 B.C.E. (Yates, 1996). While these strategies may not surpass the efficacy of methods like increased rehearsal, deeper processing, and organizational approaches in enhancing everyday memory, they have proven to be a valuable alternative (Wilding & Valentine, 1996). These strategies can be especially helpful in making abstract material more meaningful or memorizing information to which meaning cannot be assigned.
Method of Loci
The Method of Loci is believed to be the oldest mnemonic technique and stands as one of the most extensively researched, demonstrating remarkable success across a diverse range of academic subjects and real-life scenarios (McCabe, 2015). This strategy involves mentally traversing an imaginary familiar path or room where the items to be remembered are linked to specific locations (loci) or objects along the route.
The initial step is to envision a well-known path or room in the sequence we would naturally navigate it—perhaps our home, the route to school or work, a familiar jogging trail, or any familiar setting. Subsequently, we mentally place each item we wish to remember at a distinct location or object along this path. It is essential to visualize these mental images clearly. After assigning each place an item, we mentally walk through the familiar path, allowing each location or object to trigger an association with the items to be learned.
For instance, consider Alice needing to memorize her grocery list. Before leaving, she envisions placing grocery items in various locations around her house. Opening her closet, she visualizes a lively fish; in the bathroom, a sink filled with apples; the living room obstructed by a massive watermelon; the driveway covered in chicken eggs; and cucumbers draped over the garage door. When Alice is at the grocery store, mentally retracing her steps through her house—beginning at the closet that reminds her to buy fish—serves as a vivid cue for her shopping needs.
This mnemonic, also known as the journey strategy or the creation of a memory palace, has been shown to enhance information retention significantly (Gross et al., 2014; Moe & De Beni, 2004). Moreover, beyond aiding in information recall, the Method of Loci enables the memorization of items in a specific order, as the sequence is determined by the chosen locations.
Link Method
This method involves crafting a story or mental image that connects the items to be remembered.
For example, let’s consider Matt, who needs to prepare for a school experiment requiring a carrot, milk, pens, cheese, and tomatoes. To remember everything, he could create a mental image of a cheese gracefully surfing on a carrot board in a milk ocean, adorned with pens for earrings and juggling tomatoes. Later, when Matt recalls this imaginative scene, it serves as a prompt for him to remember what he needs to bring to class.
According to McDaniel & Einstein (1986), the effectiveness of this technique is enhanced when the mental image is more absurd or outlandish, making it easier to recall.
Keyword Mnemonics
This method proves highly effective, particularly when learning new languages or unfamiliar technical terms in one’s native language. To employ this technique, we begin by selecting a keyword that triggers thoughts of the word we aim to learn. Subsequently, we establish a connection between this keyword and the intended meaning of the word.
For instance, consider Adib attempting to learn the Russian word ‘poshli,’ meaning ‘let’s go.’ To aid his memory, Adib selects ‘brushy’ (related to brushing one’s teeth) as a keyword. He then envisions himself singing ‘brushy brushy’ while brushing his teeth, with someone calling out ‘Poshli!’ in Russian to encourage him to start moving.
Studies, such as those conducted by Campos et al. (2014), have consistently demonstrated the effectiveness of this method in enhancing learning and recall, particularly in the context of acquiring a new language.
Acronyms
Acronyms are words that are formed out of the first letters of a series of words. It can be helpful in memorizing a list, definitions, or order.
A good example of an acronym would be LGBTQ that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning.
Another example of acronyms for those who want to memorize the stages of cell division is IPMAT. IPMAT stands for Interface, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase.
Acrostics
Acrostics are similar to acronyms in that they take the first letter of each item to be remembered, the difference is that they form sentences or poems instead of a word.
Those who are learning how to play guitar probably learn the notes and their order using the “Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie” acrostic representing E,A,D,G,B,E notes.
EXTRA
Chunking
Our short-term memory has limited capacity and can generally remember only 7 (+/- 2) items (McLeod, 2009). When we try to memorize more than 9 items, our recall of information can get messy.
The Chunking technique involves breaking larger amounts of information into smaller units or chunks. This makes retention and recall more manageable for us. For example, instead of memorizing a phone number as 7785647421 we remember it as 778-564-7421 because it is easier to remember it in chunks.
Rhyme Mnemonics
Rhymes have regular corresponding sounds, especially at the end of lines. Rhyme encodings can be helpful with increasing memory storage capacity because information can be stored by acoustic encoding in our brains.
Below is a good example of rhyme mnemonic strategy used to learn the number of days in a month:
Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one
Excepting February alone:
Which has but twenty-eight, in fine,
Till leap year gives it twenty-nine.
You can find different rhymes on the internet or create your own ones for better encoding of information. Don’t worry about having a perfect rhyme, the most important part is for it to be helpful to you in remembering things. Have fun with it!
In conclusion, our short and long term memories have certain capacities. Using mnemonic strategies enable us to train our memorization ability, enhancing our memory capacity and use what we have to its fullest. If you liked this article, you might also like improve your reading comprehension and developing effective study habits articles.
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References:
Campos, A., Rodríguez-Pinal, M.D. & Pérez-Fabello, M.J. Receptive and Productive Recall with the Keyword Mnemonics in Bilingual Students. Curr Psychol 33, 64–72 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-013-9197-y
Gross, A.L., Brandt, J., Bandeen-Roche, K.., Carlson, M.C., Stuart, E.A., Marsiske, M. & Reebok, G.W. (2014). Do older adults use the method of loci? Results from the active study. Experimental Aging Research, 40, 140-163. Doi: 10.1080/0361073X.2014.882204.
Mccabe, J. (2015). Location, Location, Location! Demonstrating the Mnemonic Benefit of the Method of Loci. Teaching of Psychology. 42. 169-173. 10.1177/0098628315573143.
McDaniel, M. A., Einstein, G. O. (1986). Bizarre imagery as an effective memory aid: The importance of distinctiveness. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 12, 54-65.
McLeod, S. A. (2009, December 14). Short-Term Memory. SimplyPsychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/short-term-memory.html
Moe, A., & De Beni, R. (2004). Studying passages with the loci method: Are subject-generated more effective than experimenter-supplied loci pathways? Journal of Mental Imagery, 28 (3-4), 75-86
Wilding, J., & Valentine, E. (1996). Memory expertise. In D.J. Herrman, C. McEvoy, C. Hertzog, P. Hertel, & M.K. Johnson (Eds.), Basic and applied memory research: Theory in context (Vol. 1). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Yates, F. A. (1996). The art of memory. London, UK: Routledge & Kagan Paul.
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