|
| |
October 2003
Memorization Tips: Associations
Kevin North's The Memory Page contains
many resources to assist people in enhancing their memorization
skills. In the past, we have mentioned the power of using associations
as a helpful tool for remembering. Kevin addresses the validity of
this approach on his "Are Associations Necessary?" page:
"Are associations necessary? Does one really need to do a lot of
'work'?
"Well, I have a friend (James Anderson - he'll probably appear on the
"Jeopardy!" game show someday) who can just go right down a list of
names, facts, or whatever and memorize it very quickly without using
any kind of "tricks" or other memory techniques that I describe in
The Memory Page documents. For him to do so would probably just slow
him down! But this is a rare, gifted person -- most of us can't
memorize things quite that easily. Therefore, association is just one
basic tool that we can use to remember things more easily and
effectively. We don't have to use the tool, but, for most of us, it
can help us enormously.
"'Think of your existing memory as a scaffold upon which to fit new
information,' says University of Michigan cognitive researcher Denise
Park, PhD. 'Don't isolate new information out 'in left field.' Always
relate it to something.'
"Memory experts would agree -- association is a proven, highly
effective technique. Nevertheless, countless numbers of people dismiss
the method because it seems like it's too hard, too silly, or simply
too much work. Well, sometimes it is more work, but a little extra
effort done at first will save a lot of time (and anguish) later on.
"Does it seem too hard? Here's a secret: practice. Forming
associations may be hard at first because you're not used to doing
it... just like riding a bike is hard, or ice skating, or typing, or
whatever. But with practice you can really perform well. I just
thought of a good metaphor, so maybe I can elaborate even more. We all
know that to type properly you have to put your left hand on ASDF and
your right on JKL;. You also have to use the correct fingers to hit
the letters. To someone who is used to hunt-and-peck typing, forcing
yourself to use the right keys is going to really slow you down and
seem tedious. But with much practice, you can type faster, and faster,
and faster... until you reach 60, 80, even 100 words/minute, something
not possible with hunt-and-peck."
(*Note: Reference to this site is being made simply to point out the information
contained there. SoftLore, LLC does not have an affiliation with this site, or
any other site that we refer to in our "Memorization Tips", nor does this
reference imply an endorsement of any products, services, or theories associated
with the site)
Do you have some favorite tips and techniques for memorizing? Please
feel free to share them with us.
|
|
Front page