After reaching adulthood, the brain forms millions of neural pathways through which a person is able to process incoming information, perform standard tasks, and solve already known problems. This requires a minimal amount of mental effort. However, the brain needs to be stimulated to develop further, so it needs a shake-up periodically.
What are mnemonics techniques?
Mnemonics is a useful skill that allows you to remember various information in the shortest possible time with the ability to accurately reproduce it over time. It can be used both for fixing data in short-term memory, for example, before giving a report, and for long-term memorization, for example, when learning languages. Mnemonics greatly simplifies the learning process and also makes it more interesting than classical memorization. Mnemonics techniques are useful not only for memorizing information at school or university, but are also useful in everyday life: remembering shopping lists, phone numbers. The use of mnemonics develops the brain and increases intellectual abilities. It can be used at any age, even preschoolers.
Author's techniques for memorizing information
This is a fairly broad area that includes both highly specialized and universal methods of memorizing information.
Highly specialized techniques are maximally adapted for working with a certain type of information: numbers, maps, foreign languages, etc. Such techniques have well-developed image templates that can significantly increase the speed of memorizing information. Similar techniques are used by participants in speed memory competitions, or by specialists in a narrow professional field.
Universal mnemonic techniques allow you to work with various types of information, which is more preferable in everyday life. Having understood the general ideas and principles of memory, you can form your own technique for memorizing information, which will be completely adapted to your characteristics and needs.
If you want to master a universal, EFFICIENT author’s system for memorizing information, I recommend paying attention to the “Author’s System” section.
Fluent reading is the basis for quickly obtaining information
Oh, stop, stop. Before you start reading about the basic techniques of mnemonics (or immediately after them, but be sure), please check your reading speed. Without exaggeration, we can say that this is the cornerstone at the beginning of any training in speed reading techniques. You can do this here: . The tool is fast and simple: read the text, answer questions, receive a certificate at real reading speed, and share it with friends.
If you want to dive into this topic a little more intensively, you can read our blog, study workbooks for independent development of the basics of speed reading in adults and children, or learn more about the notebook - a notebook for conscious reading.
Feynman method
Richard Feynman, a theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate, formulated a learning algorithm that allows you to study any topic faster and more deeply.
This simple method is based on explaining new and complex material in clear and simple language.
, making it easier to memorize.
The essence of the technique can be reduced to three simple points:
- We write down everything we know about the topic that needs to be learned.
- We identify “gaps” in knowledge and fill them, and new information should be written down in the simplest possible language, not containing complex terms and long sentences.
- We combine all the available information into one simple and interesting story, which must be presented on a piece of paper in such a way that an eight-year-old child can understand it. And then we retell it.
Use comparisons, visualization (accompany notes with diagrams, graphs, drawings). Remember that we perceive 90% of information through vision.
You can record your story on a voice recorder or any other gadget, which will help you identify “blank spots” during the retelling that need to be worked out again.
You may argue that this method has been used for a long time without Feynman, and you will be absolutely right. Everything new is long forgotten old. Feynman systematized, structured and expanded this simple but effective method of memorization.
Using the Feynman method, you can make an interesting and fascinating story out of the most boring and uninteresting material, which both adults and children will understand and remember.
Basic techniques of mnemonics
Numbers through letters
Remembering phone numbers, digital passwords and other combinations of numbers is always a big problem. However, there is a technique in which each number is assigned a specific consonant letter.
Memorization goes like this:
- The combination numbers are divided into pairs.
- For each pair, a word is invented (in which the first consonants correspond to the assigned letter).
- Makes up a sentence or a whole story.
Hangers
The essence of the technique is that each number is assigned a certain number of images. It is advisable to make 3-4 hangers and learn them well. Then any combination of numbers will be presented in the form of a story, and remembering it will not be difficult.
Numbers through images
Here, each number is also assigned an object, but it must be shaped like a number. For example, for 0 you can use a donut or a ball. Combinations are memorized using the method of composing stories, as in the previous method. The advantage of memorizing numbers through images associated with shape is that the association is more easily perceived by the brain.
Shed system
Small combinations are memorized by making up stories in which each word is equal in number of letters to a number. The mnemonics system is inconvenient because it can take a lot of time to mentally count the letters in a word, so the technique is used only for memorizing combinations of small numbers.
Names
Many people have difficulty remembering the names of strangers. There are two main methods of mnemonics:
Association with a famous person.
As a rule, remembering a famous person with the same name as a new acquaintance is not difficult. To consolidate the result, you can find a common feature between them and create a more logical association.
Selection of modifications.
To remember a person’s name, you can think of many variations of his name and mentally name your new acquaintance with each of them. After this, it will be difficult to forget how to contact him.
Phonetic associations
The technique is suitable for learning foreign languages. It is based on the fact that in every language there are words that are phonetically consonant, but distinguishable in meaning. By memorizing new vocabulary, you can create a whole series of associations, thanks to which the word will gradually become perceived as native.
Interaction of sensations
This technique also helps to learn a foreign language. It is quite effective and, in the times of the Internet, completely easy to use. You don't need to associate new words or come up with codes. It’s just that each new word must be aimed at the desired object. When memorizing the word “window,” look at it. Remembering the word “hippopotamus”, type it into a search engine and look at photographs of the animal.
Remembering faces
In order to remember, and most importantly, recognize a person when meeting again after a recent acquaintance, you should show maximum interest in him during the communication process. Appearance helps you remember to find some distinctive feature; unfortunately, most often it is negative. For example, a large nose or deep-set eyes.
Rhymes
Such techniques are widely used even in higher educational institutions. With the help of rhyming poems, you can memorize huge blocks of information that are difficult to perceive. The most famous object remembered through rhymes is the number Pi.
Symbolization
This technique is used in our lives constantly, since childhood. Any word or concept has a pair that is similar in meaning or sound. Using these pairs or even chains, you can compose huge layers of information.
Memory technique No. 4. Cicero's method
This technique has many names: “Cicero Method”, “Place Method”, “Cicero Road”, “Location Method”, etc. This method has a long history and is one of the most ancient techniques for memorizing information.
The essence of this technique comes down to the following. You choose a well-known room. Select objects that are in the room. Moreover, in a certain sequence clockwise or counterclockwise. For example, in a room clockwise there is a table, a bookcase, a bed, a TV, a bedside table.
Subsequently, when memorizing the list, we mentally superimpose images of the things being remembered onto the selected interior items.
We place the milk on the table. We will have cheese on the shelf of the bookcase. There is a loaf of bread on the bed, covered with a blanket:) A branch with an apple hangs from the TV screen, and there is a bar of soap on the nightstand.
When connecting an image with an interior item, we mentally fix the connection for 5 seconds. After that we move on to the next image.
Subsequently, in order to remember the grocery list, we mentally move around the room along a predetermined route from one item to another.
Unlike previous techniques, this method has many advantages and is effectively used in many modern information storage systems.
Firstly, it is a high speed of memorizing information. Provided that you have previously formed a system of auxiliary images on which new information will subsequently be recorded.
Secondly, the volume of memorized information is limited only by the number of interior items - auxiliary images. And their number is limitless, because you can constantly expand the volume of your spatial memory.
So, this article presents some of the techniques for memorizing information. Each of them has positive and negative sides. Experience has shown that an effective memory system incorporates the best of each technique.
Mnemonics for children
You can start teaching a child as early as 3-4 years old, using mnemonic techniques specially developed for this purpose. The following exercises are used for children, which must be completed sequentially:
Mnemonic squares.
Using pictures with a simple image that the child will understand. A picture can imply one object (concept) or several. With the help of pictures, you can replenish your child’s vocabulary and teach him some simple actions of everyday life.
Mnemonic tracks.
Several pictures that represent the correct sequence of an action or event. For example, the change of seasons, the process from waking up to leaving the house (making bed, washing, brushing teeth, breakfast, getting dressed) and so on.
Mnemotables.
They are several pictures collected together: from 4 to 9, which encode poems for children, fairy tales, educational stories and more.
Remember that the images on the cards should be bright, large, simple and understandable for the child. You need to take into account age and vocabulary. If a child does not understand a concept in the picture, it is not recommended to use it for mnemonics.
Mnemonics techniques in Russian language lessons
Many different mnemonic techniques are used in Russian language lessons. Almost all known techniques are based on the formation of interesting poems or memorable phrases. For example, “-, -, - - don’t forget to add a hyphen” is a well-known phrase for remembering the rule. Such already formed techniques can be found on the Internet using the following information:
For any rule, block of words or exceptions, you can create your own mnemonic cheat sheet. Over time, the information will settle in your head and will pop up automatically.
Mnemonic memory techniques
They represent fairly easy ways to master the necessary data. Memorization techniques are understandable to anyone. Using them, you will be able to assimilate and retain a large amount of information in your memory.
There is a general rule for using mnemonic devices. It goes like this: use those images and associations that first came to mind. If you create several options, you simply won’t be able to choose the right one later.
The basis of mnemonic devices are created associations based on logical, figurative or emotional relationships. This makes information easier to remember and reproduce. The creation of chains of associations should build on what is already known, while adding something new, namely what needs to be learned.
Mnemonics techniques for schoolchildren
Mnemonics are indispensable for schoolchildren, as they help memorize a wide variety of information. Examples of mnemonic techniques that are often used by schoolchildren: Learning languages. Memorizing various rules using associative series and creating interesting stories with exception words. Using the phonetic similarity of words in different languages and more.
Remembering dates. Instead of memorizing dates for various historical events, you can use the alphanumeric code and for each date come up with an interesting, non-standard sentence that will stick in your memory.
Remembering definitions and theoretical information. Keywords can be encrypted into associative, semantic links. The Roman room method is good for memorizing large blocks of information.
Memorizing formulas. You can use almost any technique you like. The main thing is to form unusual figurative connections that are reliably recorded in memory.
In addition, on the Internet you can find many ready-made memos for almost every school subject. For example, the most famous theorem in geometry: “Pythagorean pants are equal on all sides.”
Effective techniques
Many of them are known to us from school. Remember how you were taught to remember the colors of the rainbow? For this purpose, the Acrostic method was used. From the first letter of each word of the poem, you can remember the sequence of colors (Everyone is red, Hunter is orange, Wants, yellow, Knows, green, Where blue sits, blue Pheasant, purple).
There are many large and small poems with which you can train your memory. Everyone remembers that a bisector is a rat running around the corners and dividing the corner in half. All these are mnemonic techniques.
All this works through a system of images and associations. Connecting words with objects will help you remember long lists. It’s even easier to compose stories, and the funnier and more absurd they are, the easier you will remember phrases and sentences. Here's how to put together such different and unrelated words into a single chain: orange, piano, lion, vacuum cleaner, stick? Come up with a story about how an orange played the piano, but the lion didn’t like the game, he turned on the vacuum cleaner and threw a stick at the orange. The more crazy the story turns out, the more firmly it will stick in the memory.
Chain
You can memorize unrelated words using chains built in your mind in the form of a picture (like Wimmelbook). The orange lies on the piano, behind which sits a lion, with a vacuum cleaner in one hand and a stick in the other. Such pictures help you remember many words at once, not just 5 or 10.
Wimmelbuch - a children's book to look at
Locations or the “Roman Room” method
To master the method, you need to remember the nuances in the environment of your home. All places should be designated with some number (entrance door - 1, clothes hanger or closet - 2, umbrella holder - 3, door to the kitchen - 4, dining table - 5, etc.). Let us remember our words in order; We hang the orange on the door, we put the piano in the closet (on a hanger), we put the lion to guard the umbrellas, we put the vacuum cleaner near the kitchen door, and we put the stick on the dining table. This way you can also remember unrelated words that you heard very recently or for the first time.
Piercing
To remember a certain sequence of words, you can resort to this technique. This way you can recall a shopping list or any other list of unrelated words in your memory. If you need to purchase the following products in the store:
- vegetable oil;
- tomato paste;
- milk;
- apples;
- wet wipes;
- raisin;
- a can of corn;
- cheese.
You need to imagine a picture where a bottle of vegetable oil pierces a can of tomato paste. Here you can imagine that red juice from fresh tomatoes is leaking from a jar, and that the oil in the bottle is colored as it mixes with the paste. The brighter the picture, the easier it will be to recall these moments in your memory. Next on the list are milk, apples, wet wipes and raisins. Imagine that apples are floating in milk, which is pierced through by a pack of wet wipes with raisins inside. Cheese can be presented in the form of a salad with corn from a jar, or you can also “pierce” one name with another.
This method is one of the simplest. Here it is important to turn on your imagination at full capacity and imagine the most ridiculous variations of combining names that are different in appearance, shape, color and composition.
Consonances or phonetic association method
Using this technique, you can memorize foreign words or special terminology. Some words sound similar in different languages, but can mean different things. To remember a word, you need to come up with something consonant with it from your vocabulary, and then link them together with some kind of vivid association. The word “look” sounds just like our “crying” vegetable, onion. Think about how you look at an onion, cry, but still can't look away. Look is what is important when you hear the word “look” in English.
Cicero's method
The technique is based on the presentation of the route, where all the important information must be placed on bright images. So, on the way to the office there is a bus stop, a small lingerie store, a parking lot, and an entrance to the metro. Each of the images you create is attached to one of the objects. This way you can remember a list of important things to do or purchases.
At the bus stop, have a telephone receiver and a huge fountain pen lying around (you need to call the delivery service and order stationery for the office). Place your work laptop with an open Excel page in the window of a lingerie store - you will need the report by lunchtime. In the parking lot, instead of a car, there are clients who need to communicate the results of work or send notifications. A tax inspector was stationed at the entrance to the metro, who promised to visit you in the late afternoon.
This way you won’t miss anything important, and everything will go quickly and easily.
Matryoshka
The technique involves nesting images (associations) into each other, as if in a Russian folk toy. This is how you can remember a list of goods: attach vegetable oil to the lid of a jar of tomato paste, place them in a pack of milk, which is in a bag with apples. Put everything in a pack of wet wipes, where you previously poured raisins, put the cheese in a can of corn and place it all in the same bag with apples or in a carton with milk - whichever you prefer.
This technique has its advantages: all the images here are free, you can combine them according to their meaning, and not one after another. You can also use the “Matryoshka” method to memorize complex plans (coursework, diplomas, presentations). Each new image is attached to some of the details of the old one in the form of information blocks
Where to begin
At the beginning of training, you should remain calm - not everything will work out right away, it will take time to receive and process new information. If an anxious state is associated with the training process, the result will have to wait much longer. Coding of signs and symbols should take place in harmony with oneself and the surrounding space.
Experienced trainers note that remembering scattered objects and completely unrelated numbers is more difficult than catching and establishing connections between known objects. It is easier to remember new information if it is somehow related to what is already known. Vivid, logical, emotional and figurative associations are perceived faster than unfamiliar objects, and then finding them in memory is much easier. And if an associative connection has not arisen, it must be created artificially - this is the essence of mnemonics.
Repetition is the key to success
Many people find it difficult to create an associative chain, because to remember a date or number, a list or new words, you need to make up a whole story. But this is only difficult at first; over time, such processes will happen by themselves, only with the help of your imagination.
Any information will be erased over time if it is not applied in life. Especially if it was received recently. Thanks to a set of mnemonic techniques, you can simplify memorization and prevent forgetting of important data.
IMPORTANT: forgetting is another important process that runs parallel to memorization. In order for the brain to constantly update information, it needs to get rid of unnecessary information.
Given this, it is necessary to consolidate important data in memory. To do this, you need to actively repeat them, experiment with methods and techniques. So, exam tickets or new foreign words should be repeated not only at the time of study, but another 3 to 5 days after that.
How to repeat correctly
The control recall method is the main way to consolidate new data in memory. To do this, you need to check the studied material with the original source so that when encoding information you do not “catch” erroneous data. Thanks to control recall, you can guarantee the correctness of the information received. If a mistake was made, you need to additionally repeat the information that was memorized incorrectly.
If you perform up to five repetitions a day, then in a month you will get about 150 processes of consolidating information - this way it will firmly “sit” in memory and will not go anywhere from it.
There are many ways to remember the information you need. It is important to choose a technique that is suitable for yourself in order to develop and improve memory, attention, and perception of new information.
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Mnemonics in English lessons
Mnemonic techniques when learning English are used to a greater extent for memorizing various words. There are already developed semantic series that make it easier to remember, for example, irregular or phrasal verbs. Such memos are offered by teachers in English lessons and are printed in textbooks.
However, mnemonics techniques can be used independently to learn new vocabulary by developing your own connectives and figurative associations. Common examples: Using reference images in an imaginary room to memorize English words. Application of the phonetic similarity technique. You need to not only remember a word that is similar in pronunciation, but also create a working semantic connection.
Creating stories from unrelated words using their meanings. Presenting a vivid image of the word being learned without focusing on the Russian translation.
Using mnemonics
In general, associative connections, which are the basis of mnemonics, are a powerful aid in memorizing information:
- Use mnemonic phrases:
from childhood, we all remember the colors of the rainbow and their location thanks to the expression “Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits.” - Rhyme information
that is difficult for you to remember. - Humming
it helps to master new material (remember how in childhood we learned poetry in a chant manner). Auditory associations helped many of us learn the English alphabet with the famous ABC song. And in general: if you remember information more easily by ear, just record it on a voice recorder or any other gadget. In addition, it is very convenient, because you can repeat the material anytime and anywhere – in transport or while jogging. - Visualize:
draw diagrams, diagrams, graphs, create whole pictures, even if only you understand them, not only on paper, but also in your imagination.
Mnemonics in psychology
Psychologists are constantly trying to study the principles of memory, conducting various experiments and studies. Mnemonics techniques were developed based on the results of this active study of memorization. Being part of official human psychology, mnemonics continues to be improved and improved. The effectiveness of its techniques is proven by clinical studies. The technique is based on proven memorization properties, and therefore is becoming increasingly popular in the modern world.
