Keyword System
Elaboration is the most basic of all memory techniques. The more meaning you are able to give to the thing-to-be-remembered, the more successful you will be at recalling it later.
Suppose, that you are introduced to Prof. Prlwitzkowski and that you decide you want to remember his name. You stare at his name card and notice that there are very few vowels in the name and that there are strange letter combinations. You concentrate on 'prlw' as an unusual combination and start by trying to remember that one. Then, you proceed with 'tzk' and 'wsk'. These are all examples of low-level processing, concentrating on the surface form of the word (name). Higher-level processing would be to attach meaning to the name. Since the name does not have obvious connotations, we must help a little. Let us break the name up into words that sound similar to the name: Prlwitzkowski = pearl with cow ski.
Now we are in a position to apply higher-level elaboration. One of the best ways to do is by visualizing a bizarre image: A cow skiing down-hill wearing a pearl necklace.
Giving meaning to a word or a name is only half the work, in most cases this meaning must be attached to something. With a face goes a name: they must be associated in memory.
Suppose, that we meet Prof. Prlwitzkowski's at a party and that we want to remember his e-mail address, so that we can mail him later. It is: prlwitzkowski@global.org. We had already elaborated his name to 'pearl with cow ski', visualized by a cow with pearls skiing down-hill. To remember 'global', we have him skiing down a gigantic globe, and to remember 'org' we imagine that all of this happens in a church to the sound of a massive church organ. Imagine how the low pipes will make those pearls tremble!
Crucial for the success of a good association is to have the two words (concepts) interact as much as possible. It is not sufficient to have them merely stand side by side. The more they form a unique relationship, the better.
Link & Story
In the Link System, positional ordering is achieved by associating the things-to-be-remembered with each other. They are simply chained, starting with the first item, which is associated with the second, the second with the third, etc. The very first item can be associated with the goal or the reason for the list that must be remembered.
A good application of this technique is a short list of things to do. One often thinks of different things to do, at times when it is not possible to write them down on a piece of paper, for example, while jogging, traveling, about to go to sleep, etc. A typical list could be:
- Buying cold medicine
- Writing a letter to a friend who lives in Australia
- Giving the dog a bath
- Mending a flat bicycle tire
- Making sure there is enough dry wood for the hearth
To apply the Link System, we first pick a single word to represent each task, for example iceberg, kangeroo, dog, bicycle, fire. If you want to start doing them after finishing work, then that would be the starting point of the association, for example, the moment you step into your car. For a possible list of links imagine the following:
- A big iceberg sitting inside your car
- A kangeroo jumping around on the iceberg, throwing snow balls at you
- Your dog, climbing out of the the kangeroo's pouch
- Your dog then proceeding to ride on a little bicycle
- The little bicycle growing until it explodes into flames
The link system is very straightforward and can be applied immediately. It is most effective for short lists, in which each word is linked to the next.
Using the story technique, things-to-be-remembered are woven together in a coherent narrative. This has one advantage over simple linking, where if one link is broken, the items on the list after that may be lost completely. In the Story System there is a higher chance that the flow of the story will allow most of the remainder of the list to be retrieved.
Let us take the words used in the to-do list in the Link System example and use them in a story: car, iceberg, kangaroo, dog, bicycle, fire.
My car drove into a big iceberg on the road home. The collision caused a kangaroo to tumble down. When it hopped away, our dog jumped out of its pouch and hit a man on a bicycle, who nearly rode into a big fire meant to melt the freak iceberg.
A disadvantage of this system is that it is often difficult to come up with coherent stories. Its success is thus somewhat dependent on the specific words and their ordering.
Journey System
The journey method is based around the idea of remembering landmarks on a well-known journey. You use the Journey Method by associating information with landmarks on a journey that you know well. This could, for example, be your journey to work in the morning; the route you use to get to the front door when you get up; the route to visit your parents; or a tour around a holiday destination. Once you are familiar with the technique you may be able to create imaginary journeys that fix in your mind, and apply these.
To use this technique most effectively, it is often best to prepare the journey beforehand. In this way the landmarks are clear in your mind before you try to commit information to them. One of the ways of doing this is to write down all the landmarks that you can recall in order on a piece of paper.
To remember a list of items, whether these are people, experiments, events or objects, all you need do is associate these things with the landmarks or stops on your journey.
This is an extremely effective method of remembering long lists of information. With a sufficiently long journey you could, for example, remember elements on the periodic table, lists of Kings and Presidents, geographical information, or the order of cards in a shuffled pack.
The system is extremely flexible: all you need do to remember many items is to remember a longer journey with more landmarks. To remember a short list, only use part of the route!
One advantage of this technique is that you can use it to work both backwards and forwards, and start anywhere within the route to retrieve information.
Example:
You may, as a simple example, want to remember something mundane like this shopping list:
Coffee, salad, vegetables, bread, kitchen paper, fish, chicken breasts, pork chops, soup, fruit, bath tub cleaner.
You could associate this list with a journey to a supermarket. Mnemonic images could be:
- Front door: spilt coffee grains on the doormat
- Rose bush in front garden: growing lettuce leaves and tomatoes around the roses
- Car: with potatoes, onions and cauliflower on the driver's seat
- End of the road: an arch of French bread over the road
- Past garage: with its sign wrapped in kitchen roll
- Under railway bridge: from which haddock and cod are dangling by their tails
- Traffic lights : chickens squawking and flapping on top of lights
- Past church: in front of which a pig is doing karate, breaking boards
- Under office block: with a soup slick underneath: my car tires send up jets of tomato soup as I drive through it
- Past car park: with apples and oranges tumbling from the top level
- Supermarket car park: a filthy bath tub is parked in the space next to my car!
As the journeys used are distinct in location and form, one list remembered using this technique is easy to distinguish from other lists.
Roman Room, Loci System
This system is a classic from Ancient Greece. It is based on mentally positioning things-to-remember in a well-known room. An obvious application would be a speech, provided that the location is familiar. Suppose, there is a good-bye party for a colleague and you have been asked to say a few words. You want to include at least the following points.
- How you remember his first day at work, when there was the incredible heat wave [oven]
- How he was dressed in a suit while you were all wearing shorts and T-shirts [shorts]
- Commemorate his soccer skills [soccer ball]
- Tell funny story about how he kicked the ball exactly through a small kitchen window of the building next door [kitchen sink]
- Relate this to his working skills: how he sometimes comes up with very short programs that nevertheless do the job [paper from line printer to symbolize program]
Suppose the dinner takes place in a side room of a Mexican restaurant that you know well. Working from left to right you position the key words above at various places in the room.
- Mentally place a large oven on the far left, near some colorful pictures, which you imagine are about to burst out in flames, because of the heat
- Imagine the large cactus 'dressed' in shorts
- Put the soccer ball on the small shelve above the door, so that it could fall down on someone’s head at any moment
- Imagine the bottles to the right to be leaking down into a big kitchen sink below
- Finally, wrap the big black pot on the far right in printer paper.
Now, you have positioned your ideas in the room. If you have done this well, you can 'let go' of them and concentrate on the contents of your speech.
Rhyming, Peg Words (1-20)
The Number/Rhyme technique is a very simple way of remembering lists in order. It works by 'pegging' the things to be remembered to images rhyming with the ordered number.
Take one or two minutes to read through the peg words below.
- one is a bun
- two is a shoe
- three is a tree
- four is a door
- five is a hive
- six is sticks
- seven is heaven
- eight is a gate
- nine is wine
- . ten is a hen
If you find that these images do not attract you or stick in your mind, then change them for something more meaningful.
The technique works by helping you to build up pictures in your mind, in which you represent numbers by things that rhyme with the number. You can then link these pictures to images of the things to be remembered.
Example:
For example, you could remember a chronological list of ten Greek philosophers as:
- Parmenides - a BUN topped with grated yellow PARMEsan cheese
- Heraclitus - a SHOE worn by HERACLes (Greek Hercules) glowing with a bright LIghT
- Empedocles - A TREE from which the M-shaped McDonalds arches hang hooking up a bicycle PEDal
- Democritus - think of a PAW print on the voting form of a DEMOCRaTic election
- Protagoras - A bee HIVE being positively punched through (GORed?) by an atomic PROTon
- Socrates - BRICKS falling onto a SOCk (with a foot inside!) from a CRATe.
- Plato - A plate with angel's wings flapping around a white cloud
- Aristotle - a friend called hARRY clutching a bOTtLE of wine vaulting over a gate
- Zeno - A LINE of ZEN Buddhists meditating
- Epicurus - a HEN's egg being mixed into an EPIleptics's CURe.
Try either visualizing these images as suggested, or if you do not like them, come up with images of your own. Once you have done this, try writing down the names of the philosophers on a piece of paper. You should be able to do this by thinking of the number, then the part of the image associated with the number, and then the whole image. Finally you can decode the image to give you the name of the philosopher.
It is also possible to use the peg-rhyme system to remember longer lists. Here are possible peg words to use for digits 11 to 20. It is more difficult to find good peg words for numbers over 10.
11. eleven is leaven
12. twelve is shelve
13. thirteen is hurting
14. fourteen is boarding
15. fifteen is fitting
16. sixteen is Sistine
17. seventeen is setting
18. eighteen is waiting
19. nineteen is knighting
20. twenty is plenty
By driving the associations with numbers you have a good starting point in reconstructing the images, you are aware if information is missing, and you can pick up and continue the sequence from anywhere within the list.
Shape Peg Words (1-10)
Like the Rhyming Peg System, the Shape Peg System is also based on associating a peg word with each of the digits 1 to 10. The difference is that peg words are chosen on the bases of resemblance in shape. Thus, a pencil might be a good peg word for 1, because it resembles the long and thin shape of a 1.
Below are possible peg shapes (2 min)
- pencil, candle, spear
- wan
- ird rotate 90 degrees counter-clockwise
- sail sail of a sailboat
- hook
- club the end of golf club
- cliff think of a little guy looking over the edge
- hourglass
- balloon flying through the air, on a little string
- knife and plate
If you find that these images do not attract you or stick in your mind, then change them for something more meaningful to you.
As with the Number/Rhyme scheme, link these images to ones representing the things to be remembered.
In some cases these images may be more vivid than those in the number/rhyme scheme, and in other cases you may find the number/rhyme scheme more memorable. There is no reason why you cannot mix the most vivid images of each scheme together into your own compound scheme.
We can use a list of more modern thinkers to illustrate the number/shape system:
- Spinoza - a large CANDLE wrapped around with someone's SPINe
- Locke - a SWAN trying to pick a LOCK with its wing
- Hume - A HUMan child flying on a BIRD’s back
- Berkeley - A SAIL on top of a large hooked and spiked BURR in the LEE of a cliff
- Kant - a CAN of spam hanging from a meat HOOK
- Rousseau - a kangaROO SEWing with a GOLF CLUB
- Hegel - a crooked trader about to be pushed over a CLIFF, HaGgLing to try to avoid being hurt
- Kierkegaard - a large HOUR GLASS containing captain KIRK and a GuARD from the starship enterprise, as time runs out
- Darwin - a BALLOON floating upwards, being blown fAR by the WINd
- Marx - a dinner PLATE with purple KNIFE MARks all over it
The Number/Shape technique is a very effective method of remembering lists. It works by linking things to be remembered with the images representing the numbers 0 - 9. By using it in conjunction with the Number/Rhyme system, you can build potent images that can make very effective mnemonics.
Shape Peg Words (1-10)
Like the Rhyming Peg System, the Shape Peg System is also based on associating a peg word with each of the digits 1 to 10. The difference is that peg words are chosen on the bases of resemblance in shape. Thus, a pencil might be a good peg word for 1, because it resembles the long and thin shape of a 1.
Below are possible peg shapes (2 min)
- pencil, candle, spear
- wan
- ird rotate 90 degrees counter-clockwise
- sail sail of a sailboat
- hook
- club the end of golf club
- cliff think of a little guy looking over the edge
- hourglass
- balloon flying through the air, on a little string
- knife and plate
If you find that these images do not attract you or stick in your mind, then change them for something more meaningful to you.
As with the Number/Rhyme scheme, link these images to ones representing the things to be remembered.
In some cases these images may be more vivid than those in the number/rhyme scheme, and in other cases you may find the number/rhyme scheme more memorable. There is no reason why you cannot mix the most vivid images of each scheme together into your own compound scheme.
We can use a list of more modern thinkers to illustrate the number/shape system:
- Spinoza - a large CANDLE wrapped around with someone's SPINe
- Locke - a SWAN trying to pick a LOCK with its wing
- Hume - A HUMan child flying on a BIRD’s back
- Berkeley - A SAIL on top of a large hooked and spiked BURR in the LEE of a cliff
- Kant - a CAN of spam hanging from a meat HOOK
- Rousseau - a kangaROO SEWing with a GOLF CLUB
- Hegel - a crooked trader about to be pushed over a CLIFF, HaGgLing to try to avoid being hurt
- Kierkegaard - a large HOUR GLASS containing captain KIRK and a GuARD from the starship enterprise, as time runs out
- Darwin - a BALLOON floating upwards, being blown fAR by the WINd
- Marx - a dinner PLATE with purple KNIFE MARks all over it
The Number/Shape technique is a very effective method of remembering lists. It works by linking things to be remembered with the images representing the numbers 0 - 9. By using it in conjunction with the Number/Rhyme system, you can build potent images that can make very effective mnemonics.
Calendar Peg System
The Calendar Peg System is based on associating a peg word with each of the months January to December. The peg words can then be associated to remember date information.
Below is a list of calendar pegs. They are partially chosen because they sound similar, or because they are associated with festivities or activities during the month.
January jacket you need a heavy jacket in January
February freeze a big chill
March march
April bunny the Easter bunny
May flowers
June dune a pleasant summer day in the dunes
July jungle a hot jungle in July
August BBQ barbeque out in the garden
September scepter scepter sounds like it
October doberman a big, black dog
November turkey turkey for Thanksgiving
December Santa Claus
Suppose you want to remember your friends’ birthday: September 2nd. If your friend’s birthday were in September you could imagine your friend yielding a tall SCEPTER, commanding a SWAN (2, see number-shape system above).
Description of the Alphabet Peg System
The Alphabet Peg System is based on associating a peg word with each of the letters A to Z. It takes more time to learn than the simple number pegs and its application is more limited because most people do not know the numeric position of the letters (e.g., F = 6).
A ace
B bee
C cat
D diesel
E eagle
F feather
G genie coming out of a magic lamp
H h-bomb
I ice a very cold ice berg
J jail
K kite
L log a large wooden log
M mail
N net to catch a fish
O owl
P pig
Q quilt for on the bed
R rain
S sun
T tipi
U unicorn
V villa
W wig
X Xmas
Y yacht
Z zoo
If you find that these images do not attract you or stick in your mind, then change them for something more meaningful. When you are creating images for the letters of the alphabet, create images phonetically, so that the sound of the first syllable of the word is the name of the letter. For example, you might represent the letter 'k' with the word 'cake'. Once you have firmly visualised these images and have linked them to their root letters, you can associate them with information to be remembered.
Continuing our mnemonic example of the names of philosophers, we will use the example of remembering a list of modern thinkers:
A - Ace - Freud - a crisp ACE being pulled out of a FRying pan (FRiED)
B - Bee - Chomsky - a BEE stinging a CHiMp and flying off into the SKY
C - Cat - Genette - a GENerator being lifted in a NET by a fisherman CAT
D - Diesel - Derrida - a DaRing RIDer surfing on top of a DIESEL train
E - Eagle - Foucault - Bruce Lee fighting off an attacking EAGLE with kung FU
F - Feather- Joyce - environmentalists JOYfully finding an endangered pelican FEATHER
G - Genie - Nietzche - a genie with green and blue striped pants cut above the kNEe
H - H-Bomb - Kafka - a grey civil service CAFe being blown up by an H- Bomb
The Alphabet Technique links the items to be remembered with images of the letters A - Z. This allows you to remember a medium length list in the correct order. By pegging the items to be remembered to letters of the alphabet you know if you have forgotten items, and know the cues to use to trigger their recall.
Major System
The major system, or phonetic mnemonic is one of the most powerful memory systems. The system works by converting number sequences into nouns, nouns into images, and linking images into sequences. These sequences can be very complex and detailed.
This system takes more time to master than the others.
Digit Consonant sounds hints
0 z, s, soft-c 'z' is the first letter of zero
1 t, th, d 't' has one downstroke
2 n 'n' has two legs (downstrokes)
3 m 'm' has three legs (downstrokes)
4 r 'r' is the last sound in fouR
5 l 'l' or L is the Roman numeral 50
6 soft-g, j, sh, ch 'g' when turned around gives '6'
7 k, q, hard-c, hard-g 'k' is made of two 7's back-to-back (7<)
8 f, v 'f' when written in script looks like '8'
9 p, b 'p' when turned around gives '9'
Each digit is represented by one family of consonant sounds. Some sounds are not used: 'w', 'h', and 'y' (remember as 'why'). Vowels do not carry any meaning, so that they can be used as 'fillers' when composing words.
At the first level we code each number into a short noun. This is made up of the consonant coding for the number, and vowels that turn the consonant into a word. Some examples are shown below:
0 - saw
1 - toe
2 - neigh
3 - ma
4 - ray
5 - law
6 - jaw
7 - key
8 - fee
9 - pie
You can use these words in association much like the other peg technique memory words.
Moving to the second level
Similar rules apply to creating a standard word from two numbers. It is best not to try to use a single number word as a root, as this can confuse the image.
Write down the numbers 01 to 99, and apply the rules to create memory words for yourself.
A few examples are shown below:
09 - z, p - zap
17 - t, ch - tech
23 - n, m - name
36 - m, sh - mesh
41 - r,s - rose
52 - l, n - line
64 - ch, r - chair
75 - k, l - keel
89 - f, p - fop
98 - b, f - beef
Taking the Major System Further Just using double number words may be enough to make this a sufficiently powerful mnemonic for you. Alternatively you may decide to use triple number words, using the same construction rules as double number words.
Examples are:
182 - d, v, n - Devon
304 - m, s, r - miser
400 - r, c, s - races
651 - j, l, d - jellied
801 - f, z, d - fazed
Using Words to Remember Long Numbers
Once you have come up with words and images to link to your numbers, you can start to apply the technique to remember, for example, long numbers. A good way of doing this is to associate Major System words with stops on a journey (see 7.1.5).
Example:
The number Pi is 3.14159265359 (to 11 decimal places). Using the major system and the journey system (see example) together, I can remember this as:
- Passing my Ma (3) by the front door of my house
- Seeing that someone has dared (1,4,1) to sleep under the rose bush in the garden
- Someone has tied a loop (5,9) of yellow ribbon onto the steering wheel of my car
- I see a poster with a photo of a steaming pile of sausages and mashed potato, with the title 'glorious nosh' (2,7) at the end of the road
- A lama (5,3) is grazing on grass outside the garage forecourt
- Another loop (5,9) of yellow ribbon has been tied around the railway bridge. This is getting strange!
Making Mnemonics More Memorable
You can do the following things to make your mnemonics more memorable:
- Use positive, pleasant images. The brain often blocks out unpleasant ones
- Use vivid, colorful, sense-laden images - these are easier to remember than drab ones
- Use all your senses to code information or dress up an image. Remember that your mnemonic can contain sounds, smells, tastes, touch, movements and feelings as well as pictures.
- Give your image three dimensions, movement and space to make it more vivid. You can use movement either to maintain the flow of association, or to help you to remember actions.
- Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image
- Use humor! Funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than normal ones.
- Similarly rude rhymes are very difficult to forget!
Symbols (red traffic lights, pointing fingers, road signs, etc.) can code quite complex messages quickly and effectively
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