1. The Art of Remembering
Jasmine .S. Roy
B.Ed English
Roll no: 9
1
2. Mnemonics
A weird word that means “memory
tool”. Mnemonics are methods for
remembering information that is
otherwise difficult to recall.
Mnemonics use as many of the best
functions of your brain as possible to
store information.
2
3. Memories
Colors
Smells
Tastes
Touch
Feeling
s
Shapes
While written language
is one of the ways we
communicate, it is only
one of the skills and
resources available to
our minds.
“Elephant” OR
3
4. Researchers say:
By using all your senses, but especially your ability to
create visual images, you can increase your power to
memorize.
4
5. Be Careful
Your Brain Can Read This:
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid
too
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd
waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of
the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht
oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny
iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be
in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses
and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs
is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
5
6. What tricks do you
use?
“I before e, except after c”
HOMES
S-U-C-C-E-S-S
“30 days hath September….”
Tying a string around your finger
6
7. Now you can start
making up your own
mnemonic devices
Recommended: Breakthrough Learning (1995) by Scott
Bornstein
• Use positive pleasant
images
• Use vivid colorful silly
images
• Use three-dimensional
images
• Exaggerate the size of the
images
• Use humor
• Use symbols (traffic lights,
pointing finger) 7
8. 1.The Similar Traits Technique
2. Peg Systems
3. Forming Sentences from the
1st letters of the words
4.The Link & Story Method
8
9. Two words you would like to remember and link in your mind:
RICHMOND - VIRGINIA
Find things they have in common (e.g., second letter “i”; eight letters)
Find smaller words within the words:
RICH MAN - VIRGINIA
Make up a sentence or short visual/story:
“The rich man drinks gin and lives in Virginia”
9
10. Now try this one:
BUSCAR - TO LOOK FOR
**The similar traits technique is a good way to study for matching
tests.
10
11. •Uses something you know (and won’t forget) to “hang” new information
on;
•Pairs old information with new information in a visual format;
•Good for remembering items in order;
•Common pegs: the alphabet; numbers; furniture in your house
11
12. 12
You need to remember:
1. Bun (“one is a bun”) 6. Bricks
2. Shoe (“two is a shoe”) 7. Heaven
3. Tree (“three is a tree”) 8. Gate
4. Door “etc. 9. Line
5. Hive 10. Hen
Form a picture in your mind of each item. Make the picture
vivid, detailed, and colorful.
14. 14
Now, write down a list of things to remember, such as a shopping list
(used here). It could be a list of body parts for Anatomy class, a list of
scientists, or a list of the chemicals in the periodic table of the elements
(any list).
1. Coke
2. Laundry Detergent
3. Tomatoes
4. Chicken
5. Hamburger
6. Paper Towels
7. Kleenex
8. Cookies
9. Bread
10.Lean Cuisine
15. 15
Next create a picture in your mind containing the first item on your
shopping list (coke) with the word “bun” (which goes with #1). In this
case, you imagine a picture of a bun with Coke. The image must be
detailed. For example, what kind of bun is it? Hamburger, hot dog? With
seeds on top, without? What color is it? Perhaps you have imagined a
hot dog bun with a small bottle of coke lying in it instead of a hot dog.
Next, create a picture of laundry detergent and a shoe (two is a shoe).
Decide what kind and color of shoe (high top, tennis, women’s, men’s,
red, white), What does the detergent look like? Is it in a box? A bottle?
Perhaps you are picturing a men’s high-top, red basketball shoe, with
detergent bubbles coming out of the top, Etc.
16. 16
The Alphabet Peg
System
A – Ace of spades N -
Entrance
B – Bee O - Oboe
C – Sea P - Pea
D – Diesel engine Q - Queue
E – Eel R – Ark
F – Effluent S – Eskimo
G – Jeans T –
Tea Pot
H – Harley U - Unicycle
I – Eye V - Vehicle
J – Jade W - WC
K – Cake X –
X-ray
L – Elephant Y - Wire
M - Empty Z – Zebra
18. 18
In this technique, which most students have learned in school, the first
letters of a list of words that need to be remembered are taken out to
form a silly sentence or another word that is easy to remember.
For example, if one is trying to remember the planets of the solar
system:
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter Saturn, Uranus, Neptune,
Pluto
Take the letters M, V, E, M, J, S, U, N and P and form a sentence:
“My very extravagant mother just sent us nine pizzas”
19. 19
The Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Eerie, Superior
= H O M E S
20. 20
Strategies we use to solve problems:
Trial and error; algorithms; heuristics; insight
T, A, H, I “Teachers always have insight”
Famous psychologists:
Bandura, Maccoby, Loftus, Sperry, Rodin
B, M, L,S, R “Be more like a special rat”
21. 21
Works by making associations between items in a list, linking them in
a story, or a flowing image.
The counties of England: Avon, Dorset, Somerset, Cornwall, Devon,
Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Surrey:
An AVON (Avon) lady knocking on a heavy oak DOoR (Dorset)
The DOoR opening to show a beautiful SuMmER landscape with a
SETting sun (Somerset)
The setting sun shines down onto a field of CORN (Cornwall)
The WILTing stalks slowly droop onto the tail of the sleeping DEVil
(Devon)
On the DEVil’s horn a woman has impaled a GLOSsy
(Gloucestershire) HAM (Hampshire) when she hit him over the head
with it
Now the Devil feels soRRY (Surrey) he bothered her.
Note that there need not be any reason or underlying plot to the
sequence of images: only the images and the links between them are
important. OR
22. 22
Alternatively you could code this information by imaging the following
story vividly:
An AVON lady is walking up a path towards a strange house. She is hot
and sweating slightly in the heat of high SUMMER (Somerset). Beside
the path someone has planted giant CORN in a WALL (Cornwall), but it’s
beginning to WILT (Wiltshire) in the heat. She knocks on the DOoR
(Dorset), which is opened by the DEVil (Devon). In the background she
can see the kitchen in which the servant is smearing honey on a HAM
(Hampshire), making it GLOSsy (Gloucestershire) and gleam in the bright
sunlight streaming through the window. Panicked by seeing the Devil, the
Avon lady screams ‘SoRRY’ (Surrey), and dashes back down the path.
23. Summary:
Mnemonics means “memory tool”;
Using visual images paired with items
to remember is a powerful tool;
Some mnemonics techniques include:
1. Similar traits
2. Peg systems
3. Forming sentences and words
4. Link & story method
Make visual images funny, colorful, 3-
D, “cartoonish”
23
