Training on strategic technology to improve memory. Training for the development of memory. Unusual Ways to Remember Business Information

28.09.2019

Good memory. In the modern world, with its growing amount of information that literally falls upon us, this is not the worst quality. But by good memory, we mean only the ability of our brain to remember what we read, saw, heard. None of us takes into account the fact that poor memory can be directly related to such diseases of the century as: vegetative-vascular dystonia, hypertension, insomnia, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, vision problems and many other disorders of our health. And today this list of diseases is far from the lot of older people.

Consider the influence of memory on the formation of the above diseases on a specific example. At present, in any of the educational institutions (school, secondary or higher educational institution), the amount of information (curriculum) has significantly increased compared to the 60-80 years of the last century, which means that the time spent on its assimilation has also increased. Here, from the point of view of medicine, processes begin to form that subsequently lead to those problems of our health, as mentioned above and which can be expressed by the following formula: "Good memory is the key to our health." Those who have a really good memory remember the necessary amount of information almost the first time. They do not need to spend extra time re-learning the material. They can spend this time doing sports, doing what they love, or just relaxing: at the cinema, at a disco, etc.

On the contrary, if our memory, in simple terms, is "lame", we need to reread the material being studied again and again. At the same time, many of us often take night time for this. The time when our brain needs to rest. Everyone knows that the more we try to remember information before going to bed, the less we rest in a dream. We continue to cramming, cramming, cramming. And when we wake up in the morning, we feel overwhelmed. And if we doubt that we remembered the material being studied well, then we think about it all the time, we worry. And if such a situation is repeated every day, then this inevitably leads to the formation of various diseases.

This situation is especially pronounced before tests, exams, and tests. According to medical statistics, this time is the time of the most frequent manifestations of acute or exacerbations of already existing chronic diseases.

Thus, the germs of these diseases begin to form practically from the school bench, and a good memory is a real prevention of this pathology at the very early stage of its formation.

And so we "earned" some of the diseases. The "journey" to the doctors begins. And given the fact that it is always worth the material cost, another positive side of a good memory emerges here - the economic one.

In addition, we also cannot ignore the reaction to academic success from our loved ones: mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers. The problems of children do not go away and for them without a trace. And here the whole story is repeated again, but with them.

Thus, we see that a good memory is not only the ability to memorize, but also:

the availability of free time that we can spend on sports, or other favorite activities, going to the cinema, theater, etc. and so on.;
our health;
the health of our loved ones;
family budget savings.

A small team (a doctor and a programmer) has been solving memory problems since 2014. Some experience has been accumulated in this area, moreover, a memory improvement technology has been developed, thanks to which a person, having a mobile device with the Android operating system, can significantly improve his memory, and at the same time solve a number of problems - his own and his relatives, including. Please try, write and improve your performance! - www.pamyat-plus.ru

The results of research on the application of this technology -

The correct technique for training memory and developing attention are important components for people who keep their brains in good shape and do not want to forget anything. There is no bad or good memory - there is one that needs training. Therefore, the question “how to train memory?” is relevant to modern man. After all, every day we are faced with a descendant of information that requires sorting, and important - memorization. In this article, we will figure out how and with what methods you can improve memory performance.

According to the type of perception of information, the classification consists of the following types:

Instant view is an evaluative memory that functions in literally seconds. It works when we cross the road and see if a car is coming towards us, or when we add up the numbers in our head.
Short-term view - information that we receive from external stimuli. The information storage period is 3 months. Before the brain is freed from unnecessary memories, a decision is made at the neural level whether to transfer the received information to long-term memory or not.
The long-term view is information that has been selected from the short-term view. We can play it in our head as many times as we want, remember it for months and even years.

The better the instantaneous and short-term form is developed, the easier the information passes into the long-term one. And the more information we have in long-term memory, the more intellectually developed we become.

From birth, each person is dominated by one or another type of memory. With the right use of advanced memory techniques, you will remember much more.

But this does not mean that you can not train other types and use only one. On the contrary, for the effective perception of information, you need to use all the available resources of the brain.

Methods and techniques for training memory

There are many ways to train your ability to memorize. They are aimed at one end result - the assimilation of information in long-term memory and filling in the gaps in an underdeveloped form of memory. The methods described below are basic. Only after mastering them can you move on to difficult exercises.

mindfulness method.

Attention is the main component of the brain and memory. If there is no concentration on the object, then there can be no question of any memorization. Therefore, it is important to direct attention to what you need to remember, backing it up with specific goals. For example, to learn traffic rules, set yourself the following goal - the more attention I concentrate on the rules now, the more I will learn, and the less problematic I will pass the exams.

Association Based Method

Associations form a link between short-term memory and what has already been incorporated into long-term memory. Since the new perceived object is already reinforced in long-term memory, it takes less effort and time to remember it. The main thing is that the association should be clear and easy to understand.

Information repetition method

It is based on the periodic reproduction of the received data in short-term memory for better assimilation in long-term memory. The newer the information received, the more concentration and repetition will be required.

These methods can be applied in everyday life or to perform specific exercises aimed at developing memorization.

Above, we agreed that short-term and long-term memory are distinguished, and that one is directly related to the other. Of course, you can train both, but for each there are different techniques and exercises, which we will consider below.

How to train short term memory

The technique of training short-term memory is based on the method of repeating information. Here are some exercises that you can use to improve your short-term memory skills:

"Fibonacci Technique" - imagine a sequence of numbers, where each number is the sum of the previous two. For example: 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5 i.e. the sequence is - 2, 3, 5, etc. Do this exercise 30 minutes a day and you will notice how over time Attention and short-term memory will improve.
Mnemonic exercise "20" - ask a friend to write 20 unrelated words on a piece of paper. Then take a sheet and try to learn them in order in 1 minute. For the best effect, use the associative memorization method.
Exercise "Paragraph" - take a book and open it on a random page. Find a paragraph in it - up to 4 lines, read it and try to repeat it already without a book. When you can retell small paragraphs, move on to large ones.

How to train long-term memory

To train long-term memory, similar exercises are used, aimed at a longer storage of data. An effective method is the constant repetition of information. Memorize poems or special materials for work and study. No matter what, the main thing is the process of focusing on what you are learning. For better assimilation, say the information out loud and in your head.

Here are some exercises that will help you develop your long-term memory:

Think of an object that you see several times a day and try to visualize it - remember the qualitative properties, appearance. Make the description as accurate as possible.
Make a daily to-do list on paper in random order. Memorize it, and during the day, without resorting to writing, organize these things in a sequence that is productive for you.
Choose the picture that you like the most. Describe what you see on it. The next day, in addition to remembering the previous description, you must supplement it with new characteristics. Do the same the next day. When you realize that the ideas for describing the picture are over, move on to a new one.

Memory training in the elderly

In old age, the work of the brain noticeably weakens. This is due to the fact that the ability of nerve cells to respond to external and internal pathogens decreases, as a result of which brain activity decreases. In addition to the deterioration of memorization, there is also a loss of concentration. But this does not mean that these processes are a consequence of the disease, or that the situation cannot be improved. Consider ways to train memory in older people:

Collect puzzles. Choose your favorite picture and go! Just don't start with big and complex ones, because they can be hard to assemble, and you will get tired of such an exercise.
Before going to bed, sort through the events of your day: remember the things you did, who you met, what you talked about. The more detailed you remember, the better.
Think of 5-10 words for each letter of the alphabet. This exercise will take time, but at the end of it you will feel the active work of the brain!
Play board games - chess or checkers. Pay special attention to concentration when coming up with moves. Guess crosswords, scanwords. By playing every day for 30 minutes, you will activate your attention and memory process.

Programs for the development of memory and attention

In the age of computerization, programs for the development of the brain and memory, designed for PCs, have become widespread.

MemoryTester - tests that will help to objectively assess the capabilities of the brain. Based on the results, you will know what kind of memory you should develop to a greater extent.
Mnemonics is a program designed to practice the memorization of numerical information. In order to quickly operate with numbers, the program offers to recode them into words according to a special code.
"Luntik. We train memory and attention ”- for the development of thinking in children, the online version of this game is suitable. Luntik will help the child to test mathematical abilities, attention skills, completing tasks during the game process.
VisualRepSystem is a program designed to develop visual memory.
Language Memory Bomber is a program for learning foreign words using visualization methods and associative series.

Thus, the development and training of memory is an integral part of the effective functioning of the brain. Everyone can have their own memory training technique, the main thing is to choose it correctly, and then it will bring positive results. You can use all the methods proposed in the article, or do only one exercise - it's up to you, but do not forget that for a visible result, you need to practice developing abilities at regular intervals.

Fragments of the book Eysenck M. V., Anderson M., Buddley A. Memory. - M.: Piter, 2011.

Humanity has always been interested in memory, invariably amazed at the manifestations of its loss. Today we know quite enough about memory to be able to explain those aspects of it that are of the greatest interest to a wide readership, including - and above all - students. Memory is considered by the authors in conjunction with other psychological processes and higher mental functions, as well as taking into account numerous factors that affect its functioning: mental processes, states, emotional and motivational sphere, individual differences, real environment and situations.

Almost every one of us complains about his memory. Despite all the perfection and refinement of the human memory system, it is by no means infallible, and we have to put up with it. Complaining about a bad memory or justifying one's own failure by referring to a "terrible memory" seems more acceptable than admitting one's stupidity or insensitivity. How much do we know about our memory? Of course, in order to understand how imperfect it is, we must be aware of its failures. One of Alan Buddley's patients with the most pronounced manifestations of amnesia was a woman with Korsakoff's syndrome, the name for memory loss caused by chronic alcoholism. The test was that she was presented with lists of words. After each list, she commented with surprise on her ability to memorize words, exclaiming, "I'm proud of my memory!" In fact, compared to others, she did very poorly on the test for free reproduction. She seemed to have completely forgotten how bad her memory was!

One of the main problems we face when trying to evaluate our own memory is that in doing so we are actually comparing it with the memory of other people. However, as a rule, we do not know for sure whether their memory is good or bad, and therefore it is very easy for us to form a distorted picture of our memory. Evidence that many of us are bad at remembering important information comes from studying passwords (Brown, Bracken, Zoccoli & Douglas, 2004). At the same time, 31% of American students included in the sample admitted to forgetting one or more passwords. As the authors noted, “The dilemma of forming personal passwords is that we are forced to choose between security and convenience: if you want to fool a hacker, you are likely to fool yourself” (Brown et al., 2004). Brown et al. found that 45% of students solve this problem by using their own names in passwords, which is hard to see as an appropriate way to protect themselves.

Brown et al. (Brown et al., 2004) give their readers some good advice on how to choose passwords. If security is important, choose a password that is a transformation of some memorable stimulus that includes a combination of letters and symbols. Keep password records where no one but you has access (for example, in a bank vault). Of course, in this case, you will have to remember exactly where these records are located. Some advice on this matter is given by Winograd and Soloway (1986). They found that it is more difficult for students to remember the places where things were hidden if they are some kind of "exotic" places (for example, if the jewelry is hidden in the stove) than if it is a traditional place (for example, if the thermometer is put in the first aid kit) .

Memory training methods

This section focuses on some of the many methods for improving memory. I will start by discussing the mnemonic devices that we use in everyday life. After that, we will get acquainted with the achievements of some mnemonists and with the strategies that underlie their outstanding memory. Finally, let's take a look at some of the most important techniques designed specifically to improve human memory.

Mnemonic tricks

John Harris conducted a survey among university students and housewives to find out what mnemonic devices are most commonly used by people, or what can be called "memory aids" (John Harris, 1980). The questionnaire he used (in a modified form) is presented in box 16.1.

Compare your use of mnemonic devices to those demonstrated by participants in two of Harris's groups. The figures given are the most common results. As a result, Harris found that the pattern of using mnemonic devices by the two groups is almost the same and there are only minor differences. For example, housewives are less likely than students to write on their hands, but they are more likely to write on calendars.

Harris found that almost everyone in his survey used some form of mnemonic device, but the vast majority used external"memory helpers" - diaries, calendars, lists and timers. In 1990, Douglas Herrmann and Susan Petro asked a group of people what external mnemonic devices they found most useful (Herrmann & Petro, 1990). It turned out that most often people resorted to such traditional "helpers" as calendars, diaries and alarm clocks. Beeping keys that can be "found" by clapping your hands, as well as answering machines and calendars with "reminders" were found to be extremely useful.

Harris, in a survey of students and housewives, found that almost all of them use mnemonic “helpers” such as diaries, calendars, lists, and timers to one degree or another (Harris, 1980)

Block 16.1. A modified version of the Harris Inventory (Harris, 1980)

How often do you use memory aids? Rate your use of each of the following "memory aids" on a scale from 0 to 6 using the following scale:

0 = never use;

1 = less than three times in the last six months;

2 = less than three times in the last four weeks;

3 = less than three times in the last two weeks;

4 = three to five times in the last two weeks;

5 = six to ten times in the last two weeks;

6 = eleven or more times in the last two weeks.

A difference of two points or more indicates a large difference between individuals. The given scores refer to a certain subgroup of respondents.

Memory helpers	Questions	Your rating	students	Housewives
1. Shopping Lists	1	.	3,2,1	.
2. "Memory Helper"- first letter. For example, the first letters of the acronym "every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits" correspond to the first letters of the colors that form the rainbow.	2	.	1	0,1
3. diaries	3	.	1,6	6
4. Rhymes. Rhymed lines: In fourteen hundred and ninety-two. / Cohimbus sailed the ocean blue(literal translation; in 1492 Columbus swam across the blue ocean) help to remember the date of the discovery of America - 1492	4	.	0	0
5. Familiar places. To remember objects, you need to imagine them in familiar places, and then, in order to remember them, it is enough to “look” at a familiar place.	5	.	0.1	0,1
6. Notes on hand(or on any other part of the body or clothing)	6	.	0	0
7. Writing stories. Writing stories in which the objects to be memorized are in the correct order	7	.	2,3	4,3,2
8. Recalling a sequence of events or actions in memory to boost" memory. Useful when you need to remember where you left something, lost something, or at what stage something important happened.	8	.	.	1,5,6
9. Alarm(or any similar devices) for morning awakening only	9	.	0,1	4,0
10. Kitchen timer just for the kitchen	10	.	0	0
11. Alarm(or any other device that can be used for the same purpose, such as clocks, radios, timers, telephones, calculators) was used not only for getting up in the morning or when cooking	11	.	0	0
12. Hanger word method. Allows you to memorize any word according to its position in the list “One is a penguin, two is firewood, three is monasteries, four is a hole in the cheese, five is a bed, etc.	12	.	0	0
13. Replacing numbers with letters. For example, to remember phone numbers	13	.	1,2,5,6	2,3
14. Reminders. For example, writing notes and to-do lists for yourself	14	.	0	0
15. face-name associations. Turning people's names into something meaningful and pairing them with something unusual about their faces. For example, the red-bearded Mr. Holmes can be imagined with a mound growing out of his beard.	15	.	1	0,1
16. Alphabetical search. To remember the name, you go through the alphabet letter by letter. What letter does her name begin with? A... B... C... Yes! Faith!	16	.	0	6
17. Calendars, posters, plans for the year, indicator boards and so on.	17	.	2	3
18. Requests to other people to remind you of something	18	.	0	3,4,5
19. Leaving objects in special or unusual places to serve as a reminder	19	.	0	0

Recent years have been marked by a rapid growth in the number of various commercial "memory assistants", based mainly on the achievements of microelectronics. So, portable personal computers have replaced unpretentious notebooks and diaries.

Let us return to Harris's study (Harris, 1980) and pay attention to interesting results: it turned out that the participants in his survey rarely resorted to internal mnemonic tricks. Such mnemonic tricks are often very useful in situations such as exams where the use of external "helpers" is not allowed. Most memory training focuses on them. We are talking about trainings that take place under the motto "systems that never fail and help to remember everything." What is included in these systems? Of course, this book does not purport to be a guide to memory training, but it seems appropriate to discuss at least some of the more popular mnemonic systems. However, before proceeding to this, let's talk about people with extraordinary memory, who are called mnemonists. This is useful information about the strategies that can help us significantly improve our memory.

Mnemonists

You may have heard of the memory tricks performed by individuals with a unique gift. Some of these tricks are so implausible that the thought of fraud involuntarily creeps in. Of course, among these people there are also charlatans, but there are also people whose unique memory no one doubts.

Perhaps the most prominent of all mnemonists was Shereshevsky. He possessed a truly phenomenal memory, based primarily on imagination. For several years, this unique person was observed by the Soviet psychologist A. R. Luria, who wrote the wonderful Little Book of Great Memory (Luria, 1968). Shereshevsky was a reporter for one of the newspapers. Every morning, the department editor gave his staff assignments, listed the places they needed to visit, and told them exactly what the staff needed to learn in each place. Among the employees who received instructions was Shereshevsky. The list of addresses and orders was quite long, and the editor noted with surprise that Shereshevsky did not write down a single order on paper. The editor was ready to reprimand the inattentive subordinate, but at his request, he repeated all the instructions and addresses exactly. The editor tried to get a closer look at this and began to ask Shereshevsky questions about his memory, but he only wondered: is it unusual that he remembered everything? Realizing that he was an unusual person, the editor referred him to Luria, who gave him a series of extremely difficult tests. It seemed that the possibilities Shereshevsky's memory has no limits: he memorized lists of more than 100 digits, long rows of meaningless syllables, poems in an unfamiliar language, intricate figures, complex scientific formulas. Luria wrote that "he perfectly reproduced everything he remembered, even in reverse order and even years later!" (Luria, 1968).

What was the secret of Shereshevsky's phenomenal memory? He had a unique imagination. He not only easily and quickly created many visual images, but also had an amazing ability to synesthesia.

A slight manifestation of synesthesia is a common phenomenon. For example, most people have only a very limited ability to associate high sounds with bright colors and low sounds with more subdued hues. In the case of Shereshevsky, the overlap was enormous. Hearing a tone at 2000 Hz, Shereshevsky said: “Something like fireworks, painted in pink-red. The streak of color is rough, unpleasant and has a disgusting taste of spicy pickle. You could hurt your hand on it." The numbers reminded Shereshevsky of people: "One is a proud, well-built man, and two is a brave woman."

Shereshevsky became a professional mnemonist and demonstrated his unique abilities on stage. However, his pronounced synesthesia gave him not only huge benefits, but also created problems. For example, if while the material that he was to memorize was being read out, a cough was heard in the hall, it was imprinted in his memory as a cloud of vapor, which could interfere with subsequent reproduction. Sometimes Shereshevsky suffered so much from his rich imagination that it was difficult for him to understand even a simple prose passage: “Every word evokes images; they collide with each other and the result is chaos. I can't understand anything about this. And then there's your voice... One more stain... then - complete confusion.'

Perhaps you envy Shereshevsky and his amazing memory. However, the fact that it was difficult for him to forget something means that various information was stored in his memory, completely unnecessary to him. In the end, he found a very simple way out: he imagined that this information was written on a black slate, and simply erased it. It's hard to believe, but it worked!

Gifted by nature or strategists?

Why do some people have a much better memory than most of us, and who are these people? Is it a gift of nature or does it take a lot of time to learn effective mnemonic techniques? Wilding and Valentine found that some mnemonists were gifted at birth, while others primarily rely on different memory strategies (Wilding & Valentine, 1994). Taking advantage of the fact that the World Memory Championship was held in London (at that time they both worked at a college at the University of London), they assessed the memory of the contestants and some of the spectators who demonstrated outstanding memory.

Key term:

Synesthesia - a phenomenon of perception, manifested in the fact that when one sense organ is stimulated, along with sensations specific to it, sensations corresponding to another sense organ arise.

Wilding and Valentine divided their "wards" into two groups: 1) strategists, who, by their own admission, often used different memorization strategies, and 2) " straight people”, whose abilities were approximately on the same level and who assured that they had an outstanding memory from childhood. Two types of tasks were used:

1. Strategic tasks(for example, it was necessary to remember names by faces). This job depends on the use of memory strategies. At first glance, this task will seem non-strategic, but below we will look at reasonable strategies that increase the ability of people to associate names with faces.

2. Non-strategic tasks(for example, recognition of snowflakes).

Rice. 16.1. The results of the implementation of strategic and non-strategic
tasks "strategists" and "straight" (Wilding & Valentine, 1994)

As a result, an important difference was revealed between strategists and naturals (Figure 16.1).

The strategists did much better on the strategic tasks, while the straights did well on both types of tasks. The results are presented in percentiles, which allows comparison of both groups with the control sample (i.e., the fiftieth percentile). Undoubtedly, the most impressive results, surpassing those of 90% of the population, were obtained by strategists in the performance of strategic tasks. This should please all of us and give us hope that with the help of training you can develop an excellent memory. Brain imaging techniques have been used to study those with brilliant memories, most of whom excelled at the World Memory Championships (Maguire, Valentine, Wilding & Kapur, 2003). Those with extraordinary memory and those in the control group memorized strings of three numbers, faces, and snowflakes, with the former most notably outperforming the latter in remembering numbers and least of all in remembering snowflakes. The key result, obtained by Maguire et al., was that during memorization, mnemonists significantly more activated areas of the brain involved in spatial memory and navigation. Perhaps this result is consistent with the fact that 90% of the top mnemonists reported using the place method (more on that later) on some or all of the tasks. This method involves the visualization of information to be memorized at various points on a known road, and therefore actively uses spatial memory. Ericsson (2003) believes that phenomenal memory (namely, phenomenal, and not just very good) is more the result of labor than a gift of nature. In other words, the secret of great mnemonists is that they have spent a lot of time developing effective strategies. The exception is Rajan Mahadevan, who has a unique ability to memorize numbers. For several years he held the world record for memorizing the signs of a number. pi after the decimal point: within four hours he named 31811 digits! When it was tested in the laboratory, its digital memory capacity was found to be 59 digits for visual presentation and 63 for auditory presentation (Thompson, Cowan, Freiman, Mahadevan, Vogl & Freiman, 1991). The authors note (Thompson et al., 1991) that nature endowed Rajan with a unique memory. When most people (including mnemonists) memorize sets of numbers, they usually divide them into groups of three or four digits each. This makes some sense, because such an approach corresponds to the possibilities of attention. However, Thompson, Cowan, and Frieman (1993) write that Rajan divided strings of digits into groups of 10–15 digits, and he did this because his base memory was much larger than other people's base memory. The authors acknowledge that Rajan developed different strategies that enabled him to memorize over 30,000 digits. pi after the decimal point, but claim that his unique abilities are the result of an extraordinary amount of base memory.

Ericsson, Delaney, Weaver and Mahadevan, after conducting several experiments with Rajan, obtained results refuting this interpretation (Ericsson, Delaney, Weaver & Mahadevan, 2004). So, they estimated his memory capacity per character using ten characters, including ?, @, *, and #. Initially, his memory capacity was six characters, that is, it was the same as that of college students. With the help of training, he achieved an increase in volume to thirty characters. However, he achieved this by replacing the characters with different numbers, and then, using his usual strategies, memorized the resulting series of numbers. In addition, Rajan's results on some other tasks, including memorizing the position and orientation of images of various objects (Biederman, Cooper, Fox & Mahadevan, 1992) and memorizing lists of words and prose passages (Thompson et al., 1993), were only average. These results, and above all those of Ericsson et al. (Ericsson et al., 2004), cast doubt on whether Rajan has a unique memory capacity from birth.

If Rajan has only an average amount of basic memory, how does he have a digital memory that is about nine times the digital memory of most people? By studying the amount of digital memory, Ericsson et al. obtained relevant evidence (Ericsson et al., 2004). It turned out that Rajan used different mnemonic associations and patterns to group the numbers. For example, he remembered "007" by association with James Bond, and "2025" - as "45x45".

Some strategists have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours developing their memory. Dominic O'Brien, who became the world memory champion in the early 1990s, prepared for this for six years and subsequently won this title eight times. One of his most prominent performances took place in May 2002 at the Simpson Restaurant in central London. He spent 12 hours memorizing 54 decks of playing cards (2808 cards) shuffled together and presented to him one at a time. Trying to remember all the cards in order, he correctly remembered 2800 cards, and his error was only 0.3%.

What was Dominic O'Brien's motivation? Here is what he writes himself:

Now, if at the reception I am introduced to a hundred people, I perfectly remember the names of all. Imagine what that means for your social confidence. My memory has helped me live a more orderly life. I no longer need diaries: I perfectly remember all the appointments. I can give speeches and carry on conversations without any cheat sheets. I can absorb and remember huge amounts of information, which is especially useful if you are preparing for an exam or studying a foreign language. Thanks to my memory, I made a lot of money in the casino playing blackjack (O'Brien, 1993).

Dominic O'Brien's phenomenal memory was at least in part due to his exceptional ability to encode and record information.

One of the most outstanding examples of the limitless possibilities of memory was demonstrated by Akira Haraguchi, a sixty-year-old Japanese psychotherapist who became famous in 1995 when he remembered 83,431 digits of a number. pi after the decimal point, almost doubling the previous record. On October 4, 2006, he broke his own record by remembering 100,000 characters! It took place in Japan, in the Kisarazu Hall, for sixteen and a half hours! Akira Haraguchi himself spoke of his achievement with unusual modesty: “One hundred thousand is just a continuation of the previous record. I am no genius. I'm just an ordinary old man." It turned out that the essence of his memorization strategy was that he rhymed with Japanese words to make the numbers more meaningful.

Mnemonic tricks

All books addressed to people who want to improve their memory contain many examples of effective mnemonic techniques (see, for example, McPherson, 2004). Indeed, a great many such methods are known. We will focus on some of the most important mnemonic devices and evaluate their advantages and disadvantages. The mnemonic devices that will be discussed are divided into two groups: mnemonic devices based on visual representations and mnemonic devices based on words. However, it should be remembered that this is only a conditional distinction: many mnemonic devices are based on a combination of words and visual images.

Reading about different mnemonic devices, you may be surprised Why they are so effective. However, before answering this question, we should talk about them. But if you're itching to know the answer, you can read the section "Why do mnemonic tricks work?" right now.

Mnemonic devices based on visual representations. Place method

Mnemonic devices based on visual representations have been known since time immemorial. According to Cicero, the Greek poet Simonides was the author of this mnemonic device, mentioning it around 500 BC. e. A certain Greek who won the wrestling competition at the Olympic Games celebrated this event in his house. Among the guests was Simonides, who was supposed to read an ode in honor of the winner. Shortly after the poet finished his eulogy, he was called on some business. He was very lucky, because immediately after his departure, the floor of the banquet hall collapsed, as a result of which many guests were killed or injured. Many people were unrecognizable. What was left for the relatives of the dead to bury them with dignity? It was then that Simonides announced that he perfectly remembers where each guest was at the moment when he left the banquet hall, and thanks to this he identified the bodies. After that, he thought: if he has such a good visual memory, can it help him remember other information as well? He developed a system in accordance with which he imagined in all details a certain room and in it, in certain places, various objects. Each time he needed to remember one of these objects, he "looked" at a certain place in the room that was in front of his mind's eye, and then named the object. This mnemonic device, known as places method, gained great popularity with such ancient orators as Cicero, and is widely used to this day. You can see for yourself that it is light enough and, most importantly, effective (block 16.2).

One of us (Alan Buddley) often used the place method with students and always got very good results. Although the place method is easier to use with the names of specific items, it is also effective for remembering abstract concepts such as Truth, hope And patriotism. The use of visual representations can be interfered with by running a spatial memory task at the same time, so don't try this method while skiing down a mountain or driving a car!

The place method is extremely effective. Bower compared the memorization of lists of twenty nouns with and without this method (Bower, 1973). Participants in the experiment who used the place method remembered 72% of the words, and those who did not use it, only 28%. Similar results have been obtained by other authors (Kondo, Suzuki, Mugikura, Abe, Takahashi, Iijima & Fujii, 2004). In addition, these authors used brain imaging techniques to assess the effect of the place method on brain activation. It turned out that when using the method of places, some areas of the brain (right frontal inferior gyrus, frontal middle gyrus) are activated more than when using traditional techniques. These data indicate that when using the method of places, the process of encoding information is more scrupulous and diverse.

Place method: how it works

First, imagine ten places in your house, choosing them so that the sequence of progress from one to the next is quite obvious. For example, the front door - corridor - kitchen - bedroom, etc. Make sure that you can mentally move from one of these ten places to another consistently and without interference. Now think of ten objects and imagine them in these places. If the first item is a smoking pipe, imagine that it sticks out of a mailbox that hangs on the front door, and puffs of smoke escape from it into the street. If the second item is a cabbage, imagine that there is a gigantic head of cabbage in your hallway, etc. When you need to remember the list of items, all you have to do is take a mental tour of your house.

Now try to create equally expressive images associated with the ten places you have chosen, using the following words: shirt, eagle, paperclip, rose, camera, mushroom, crocodile, napkin, sausage, mayor.

Rice. 16.2. a - dependence of the results of memory testing after a short break on the type of presentation of the material (oral or written) and memorization strategy (repetition and place method); b - dependence of memory test results after one week on the type of presentation and memorization strategy (De Beni et al., 1997)

The same selected places can be used repeatedly as long as you remember only those items that were “put” there most recently. Of course, those items that you "put" there before will suffer from interference effects, unless, of course, you consciously link them in some kind of chain. Try to remember the ten words above. No, don't look! Rely on the images you have created in different places around you.

You can create a system that includes more than ten places. This was the case with classical mnemonic systems and with the complex and somewhat mystical systems created in the Middle Ages. Ross and Lawrence found that people using the place method could recall more than 95% of a list of 40–50 objects after one training session (Ross & Lawrence, 1968).

Despite its effectiveness, the method of places is not without drawbacks. For example, it can be difficult to remember a particular item without going through the entire list until you get to it. In addition, you can often hear that the method of places is useless if people in real life are trying to remember some material. A group of authors have attempted to respond to these criticisms (De Beni, Moy & Cornoldi, 1997). They presented students orally or in writing with a text containing 2000 words; students had to memorize as much as possible using the place method or by repeating parts of the text. Memorization was tested shortly after the presentation of the text and after a week. The results of both tests indicated that the method of places made it possible to remember the text better (Fig. 16.2). Consequently, the method of places is extremely effective even when the material is presented in the form of a lecture. When the material was presented in writing, the memorization method had no effect. It has been suggested that the place method is ineffective in written presentation because its visual nature precludes the use of visual representations within the place method itself.

Have the researchers been able to prove that the place method is effective in real life as well? Not really. Yes, the situation they used was more like real life than the situations used by their predecessors. Nevertheless, not every one of us often has to memorize texts containing 2000 words!

Mnemonic devices based on visual representations. hanger word method

The hanger word method is similar to the place method in that it is based on visual representations and allows you to remember a list of ten objects in the correct order. First of all, you need to remember ten words-hangers. To do this, hanger words rhyme with numbers from 1 to 10, which is quite simple. Try it yourself: one is a penguin, two is firewood, three is monasteries, four is a hole in the cheese, etc. By doing this, you are ready to memorize ten unrelated words (suppose you need to memorize a list consisting of the following words: battleship, pig, chair, sheep, h A wet, carpet, grass, beach, milkmaid, binoculars). Take the word "penguin" - the first hanger word that rhymes with "one" - and imagine a penguin interacting in some way with a battleship (for example, you can imagine a battleship passing along a beach inhabited by penguins). Then take the second hanger word - "firewood", which rhymes with the word "two" - and imagine firewood interacting with a pig (perhaps it will be firewood on which the pig is lying). Do the same with the rest of the words, creating a suitable visual image for each. We are absolutely sure that, after completing this work, you will be able to reproduce the entire list in the correct order without spending a lot of time memorizing it.

All three authors of this book, using the method of words-hangers, state with satisfaction that it works! The fact that it is extremely effective is also evidenced by experimental data. For example, Morris and Reid found that with the hanger word method they were able to remember twice as many words as without it (Morris & Reid, 1970). However, the word-hanger method also has disadvantages. First, to use it effectively, you need to practice a lot. Second, it is easier to use when you want to remember specific concepts than when talking about abstract concepts. For example, it is not so easy to create visual images with such abstract concepts as "morality" or "insincerity". Thirdly, it is not completely clear whether it is useful in everyday life.

There is much in common between the method of places and the method of words-hangers. The main difference is that the hanger word method uses numbers instead of places, and links between numbers and images are created using rhymes: one is a penguin, two is firewood, three is monasteries, four is a hole in cheese, etc. e. The method, which was developed in the 17th century at the University of Cambridge by Henry Herdson and is a cross between the method of places and the method of hanger words, is based on a series of visual images shaped like various numbers. So, a unit can be represented as a candle or a tower, a two as a swan, a three as a trident, etc. As a result, the first object in the list must be imagined interacting in some way with a candle (or with a tower), the second with a swan, the third with a trident, and so on. A sophisticated version of this system, combined with the method of places, was used in the 18th century by the mnemonist Gregor von Feneigl.

Mnemonic devices based on visual representations. Remembering surnames

Remembering names is a problem for many people. When we are introduced to someone, we look at this person and say words appropriate to the occasion, while his name "flies in one ear and flies out of the other." You must be familiar with the feeling of awkwardness that arises whenever you realize that you have completely forgotten the name of this or that person.

You can try to memorize surnames using mnemonic techniques based on visual representations. You need to start by looking for a mentally reproducible name replacement (for example, Tverdokhlebov becomes "hard bread"). Then some noticeable feature of the person's face is selected. For example, the nose becomes a knife raised over a loaf. Short training leads to the fact that in laboratory conditions this method improves the memorization of surnames by almost 80% (Morris, Jones & Hampson, 1978).

The mnemonic method of remembering surnames performed well in the quiet of the laboratory. However, this does not mean at all that it is also effective in real social life, when it is difficult for a person involved in a conversation to find time to use it. Morris et al. invited university freshmen to a party, warning each of them to remember the names of the other invited students (Morris, Fritz, Jackson & Roberts, 2005). The first group of students had to use a mnemonic device. The second group had to try to remember the last names at increasing intervals after they first heard them. There was also a control group, which was supposed to simply remember the names of the invitees. After 24 hours and then after 72 hours, the students were given the following task: to sign the names under the photographs of everyone who was on it.

The results obtained by Morris et al. left no doubt (Morris et al., 2005). The students in the second group remembered 50% more surnames than the students in the control group (24 and 16 surnames, respectively). The mnemonic device turned out to be even less effective than the absence of any memorization strategy: students from the first group remembered only 12 surnames. Therefore, the effort put into remembering the names of people you just met at a party or in some other social situation pays significant dividends "translated into the language" of long-term memory.

Verbal mnemonic devices

Although the mnemonic devices that were used in ancient times were based mainly on visual representations, later everything changed. Thus, the Puritans gave a clear preference for verbal systems, and they did it for a very funny reason: they considered visual images to be sinful and give rise to "depraved carnal feelings"!

Morris et al. have shown that visual mnemonics are less effective in remembering surnames than no memory strategy in a social situation (Morris et al., 2005). © Falko Updarp/zefa/Corbis

During the Victorian era, students had to memorize a huge amount of facts, including the dates of the accession of kings and queens. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that at that time a lot of verbal mnemonic devices appeared, designed to alleviate their fate. Thus, the headmaster of the Yorkshire school, Reverend Brayshaw, in 1849 published a book entitled "The Use in Geography, Astronomy, and Chronology of Metric Mnemonic Devices," which contained more than two thousand rhymed lines about numerical facts in physics, astronomy, history, and geography, numbering more than two thousand. The author's favorite technique was to replace the consonants with certain numbers and then use the consonants to create words. Brayshaw's code looked like this:

To use this code to turn a sequence of digits into a word, you need to choose an acceptable consonant for each digit and insert vowels where necessary. For example, 1914 (the year World War I began) can be represented using the consonants CTBS, which form the words CAT (cat) and BASE (base). In fact, since all the dates Brashaw used were after 1000 CE, e., he ignored the first thousand. The following are examples of his rhyming lines that contain dates referring to English kings:

By MeN, near Hastings, William gains the crown (Duke William won the crown at the Battle of Hastings in ...)……………………1066

A RaP in Forest New brings Rufus down

Gaul's CoaSt first Henry hates, whose son is drowned(King Henry, whose son drowned, ascended the throne in…)…………..1100

The fundamental information about the date is always contained in the second or second and third words of the line, which ends with the mention of the name of the monarch and some of his features. Thankfully, memorizing dates is no longer an important part of learning history these days, but this trick can be useful if you have a lot of phone numbers, pin codes, and zip codes to remember.

There are many other situations in which verbal mnemonic devices are very useful and widely used. Imagine that you want to remember the order of the colors in the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, indigo and violet). Taking the first letters of the flowers (KOZHZGSF), you compose the phrase: "every hunter wants to know where the pheasant is sitting." Future medical students of anatomy often have to memorize just as much information as Brayshaw's students, and mnemonic devices help them with this.

The names of the cranial nerves are memorized in anatomy lessons with the following rhyme:

On Old Olympia's Towering Top A Finn and German Vault And Hop. (At the top of the old tower of Olympia, a Finn and a German jump and jump.)

The names of the nerves according to the first letters of the rhyme: olfactory ( olfactory), visual ( optical), block-shaped ( trochlear), ternary ( trigeminal), branch ( abducens), facial ( facial), auditory ( auditory), glossopharyngeal ( glossopharyngeal), wandering ( vagus), adventitious ( accessories), sublingual ( hypoglossal). It is believed that future doctors know the specific names of the nerves, but cannot always reproduce them in the proper order.

One of the most effective verbal mnemonic techniques is the storytelling method. It is used to remember in the correct order a list of unrelated words, for which they are placed in the context of a story. Note that this method requires not only sentences, but also the use of visual representations. To demonstrate how this method works, we will use the ten words we used to illustrate the hanger word method ( battleship, pig, chair, sheep, h A mok, carpet, grass, beach, milkmaid, binoculars): on campus battleship pig sat on chair, there was also sheep who previously lived in castle; in the port the sailors took carpet and settled on grass near beach; sitting there they saw milkmaid who watched over them binoculars.

Bower and Clark have shown that the storytelling method can be extremely effective (Bower & Clark, 1969). Participants in their experiment had to memorize twelve lists of ten words each and, after being prompted by the first word, reproduce them in the correct order. Those subjects who composed stories memorized 93% of the words, and those who did not, only 13%. The disadvantage of this method is that it requires a very thorough training: it took me several minutes to compose the above story! Another disadvantage of this method is that in order to find the right word (for example, the seventh), you have to remember the entire story.

How to improve memory and learn to remember everything easily and quickly
What time of day is the best time to remember information?
How to train memory with minimal effort and time

Ivan Sechenov called memory "the cornerstone of mental development", "the main condition of mental life". Memory is a powerful force that becomes "the basis of all mental development." Without this power, every sensation would have to be felt for the millionth time as for the first time. A person would be deprived of the opportunity to comprehend concrete sensations with consequences for mental development. Therefore, it is not in vain that the question how to improve memory, worries everyone today. An excellent memory is especially important for the CEO, who has to take into account many aspects and details in his work. To improve memory and attention, several effective methods can be recommended that do not require a significant investment of time and effort.

How to improve memory

1. Leni fight! A person who is lazy in his actions and thoughts cannot count on a good memory.

An entrepreneur's brain doesn't work the way most people do. This view is receiving more and more scientific confirmation through research.

We have prepared a useful article in which we tell you how entrepreneurial thinking differs and how to train it.

Bonus! In the article you will find 4 Ways to Train Your Entrepreneurial Brain.

If you are already a subscriber of the General Director magazine, read the article

2. Focus on the memorization process if you want to improve memory and brain function. You should listen, think, draw parallels with the knowledge already gained and your life. The more of your thoughts and feelings, for which the information flow is “fixed”, the higher the probability of remembering the necessary information.

3. If you forget something: the meaning of a word, a figure from a report, the phone number of friends, the name of a singer - it is not at all necessary to immediately go into folders, dictionaries or the Internet. Try to make an effort - within a few minutes, remembering the necessary information on your own. This method will contribute to the development and strengthening of memory.

4. Reading good literature. After reading an interesting book, write down the plot and the names of the characters in the work. You should periodically review the records, restoring what you have read in your memory. This will help improve memory and attention, while you will be a truly erudite person. After all, who else can so easily remember the sequence of chapters in "War and Peace" or the name of the horse of the legendary Don Quixote.

5. Move more, exercise and dance. It has been proven that physical activity improves the blood circulation of the brain, with the activation of the mental processes of the body, for the perception, processing and reproduction of relevant information.

6. Memorization without seeing images before your eyes, understanding, retelling the text in your own words is unprofitable. After all, cramming further than RAM in this case will not work. Similarly, there will be unprofitable attempts to learn “before the exam”, “for tomorrow”, etc. When memorizing, you should put the choice on the item “forever” in order to better remember the necessary information.

7. When you memorize the name of a person you just met, you should mentally associate it with famous personalities or other acquaintances with the same name. And you should definitely add something from yourself “Ksenia. She's like Ksenia Sobchak, but she's married, brunette, and doesn't broadcast." But the nose is exactly the same. ”

8. Repetition is the mother of learning. The well-known phrase now as it is impossible by the way. But it should be repeated not five times immediately after reading the information, but for five days one time. And it is recommended to do it at night.

9. Read relevant literature. Many valuable and memorable tips for improving memory can be found in the publications “Notes for Memory” by S. Peunov, “Secrets of Memory” by B. Sergeev, as well as in the literature of Martin Kunz, Günter Karsten, Gary Small, Nadiel Lapp, Igor Matyugin, etc.

10. Needlework should not be regarded as an outdated occupation, which is inherent only to housewives or our grandmothers. After all, it is known that cross-stitching, weaving various baubles, stringing beads - all these actions have a positive effect on the state of memory and the functioning of the human brain.

11. Stick to the right diet. You should supplement your daily diet with foods that are useful for activating the brain and memory. Among these products, seafood, fish, cereals, vegetable oil can be noted, improving the entire memorization process. Sometimes even a piece of chocolate can activate the work of a tired brain, giving extra strength.

12. In preparation for the upcoming negotiations, you should surround yourself with appropriate aromas that activate memory processes. You can light an aromatic lamp with suitable essential oils: lemon, rosemary or mint.

13. Learn the poems of your favorite poets. Daily memorization of verses, albeit one a day (if difficult, you can limit yourself to quatrains) will be very useful for activating the brain and developing memory. It will be interesting, for example, to organize creative and poetic evenings with your relatives and friends. After just a few months, you can feel a significant improvement in memory.

14. Learn foreign languages. This skill will improve memory and attention. In addition, in pursuit of recipes, how to improve memory, save yourself from senile insanity.

15. It is known that professional "memorizers" of multi-digit numbers have an incomparable imagination - this is their secret. They represent numbers in the form of plants, animals, all kinds of objects. For example, a unit is represented in the form of a pillar, a deuce in the form of a swan, a six is a castle, an eight is a nesting doll, etc. To remember, for example, a telephone, 333-18-10, they make up such sentences: “three swallows flew up to the pole and saw a nesting doll , who was sitting on a nearby pole and chewing a bagel. If the imagination is not developed enough, instead of presenting this image, you can simply draw it on paper.

16. When you tell something, you need to pause for two seconds so that the words are remembered. If you want what has been said to be forgotten soon, you can speak without interruptions. For an ideal result, we recommend speaking figuratively so that the people around you can create images that match your speech.

17. It is very useful to build associative rows. For example, you need to buy coconut pies, milk and broccoli. In order not to forget about your purchase, you should imagine a milky river, in the middle of which there is an island with coconut palms and broccoli. Such associative series will also allow you to remember work questions, remembering technical parameters and indicators related to your business.

18. It is useful to create paradoxical images. The use of this method contributes to the memorization of unusual, complex phrases, professional terms. For this, try to associate any such expression with a paradoxical, vivid, even some protest way.

19. Mentally arrange objects in certain places. You can imagine a street that is familiar to you by placing all the items that you need to remember in front of the entrances of the houses. Mentally assign a certain object to each house - then we walk along this street and restore the entire list in our memory. I began to use this memo relatively recently, when I learned about the methods of theater actors. They often associate a particular line with a particular place on the stage where they are.

20. Choose the best time of day to remember the information you need. Memory works best in the morning, in the 8-12 hour range. Then gradually the memory becomes dull until 17 hours. Then it is activated again. If you are not very tired, 19 hours is the optimal time for perceiving and remembering information from complex charts and documents, getting acquainted with reports for which you need to process and compare a significant amount of data. At least in my experience, I can confirm such recommendations with confidence.

Unusual Ways to Remember Business Information

How to remember the name of a business partner. For example, we get acquainted with Alexander Petrovich Medvedev, the general director of the Romashka company. To do this, you can use a sticker, we write the name of our new friend on one side of it, on the other - “CEO of the Romashka company”. We attach this sticker, hiding the name of the partner. Imagine a bear (an association with Medvedev), next to a Lexus car (Alexander - sounds like Alexis, Lexus), holding a parsley in his hands (Petrovich). Next, we say aloud several times "Medvedev Alexander Petrovich." This image at this time on a subconscious level will be associated with the name of your business partner. It will be enough to look at the sticker indicating his position in order to instantly remember the last name, first name and patronymic of a person.

Memorization of a difficult name. In particular, it is required to memorize the names of VoIP telephony protocols. In this case, you can use simple and memorable images instead of technical sets of letters and numbers.

IAX2 - the second squad of the Ajax football team
MGCP - gate (translated from English as media gateway control protocol - and means "gate").
Megaco / H.248 - mega prefix;
SCTP - stream (from English the designation translates as "gate");
SCCP - "dry".

From the associations received, we collect a phrase - and in the end we remember how Ajax scored the ball into the goal - this is a mega success; but the torrent of applause soon dried up. While this may sound rather nonsensical, it is quite easy to remember.

Memorization of a number of numbers (for example, a telephone number). If you look at the digital series more closely, you can notice descending or ascending numbers of different sequences, consisting of odd or even numbers, complex or simple. For example, 674523 - there is a descending sequence of even digits, 6,4,2, as well as a descending sequence of odd digits - 7,5,3.

Memorizing the key ideas of the report. We draw up a diagram on a piece of paper (it is advisable not to write the text by hand, but to type on the keyboard to make it easier to parse). We place the main thesis of the report in the center, write out other important thoughts near the main thesis, less significant nuances - on the periphery. You can show the relationship between these ideas using lines. The more obvious the connection of a certain idea with the main idea of the report, the thicker the line can become. Use different colors and fonts to reflect these links. Thanks to this method, it is better to remember a significant amount of information (including exact data) - something that needs to be recounted, but does not need to be memorized.

Mnemonics techniques: how to learn to memorize quickly and easily

Practitioner tells

Denis Sologub, Head of Information Technology, Azbuka Vkusa supermarket chain, Moscow

I am in the information technology market. Therefore, you have to work with huge amounts of information, including numbers. But at the same time, I easily remember all the numbers - although, probably, these are just features of my short-term memory, which does not fail at a crucial moment. But I think that you need to regularly engage in the development of long-term memory - it is important to train it. I manage to achieve this result thanks to regular, weekly participation in the corporate game "60 Seconds" - it is similar to the famous television program "What? Where? When?".

Thanks to this, it is possible to temporarily distract from everyday work, while honing your skills and abilities, streamlining disparate information in your brain, logically linking information with other known data. At the same time, everything needs to be done quite quickly - you need to answer the question in one minute. Thanks to this, new neural connections are formed with a positive effect on long-term memory.

1. Play chess and strategy games. Find time to solve logic problems. Logical thinking can always be developed - there would be a desire. I can also recommend chess and similar board games (it is very interesting to play with your children, for example). Strategic computer games will also be useful.

All this will contribute to the overactive formation of new neural connections in the brain - since the player has to calculate different scenarios much faster compared to everyday life.

The skills gained during such games will be essential for a successful business. They will facilitate the ease of making effective decisions when looking for strategic partners, improving the product, etc. I recommend playing such games for 1-2 hours - with as much regularity as you can afford. It makes no sense to play for less than an hour - you will not have time to understand the meaning of the game. If you play more than 2 hours in a row, the brain starts to get tired, it is difficult to perceive new data.

2. Develop observation. Try, for example, to mark items throughout the day that have something in common with each other. For example, a certain brand or a red car. Each time you need to add a new one to the list of already combined items, and at the end of the day we remember the maximum number of items from our chain. Try also to remember the appearance of all objects or all shades of red. This exercise contributes to the development of mindfulness, with a long-term preservation of a significant amount of heterogeneous information in one's memory.

3. Take vitamins. I regularly take appropriate vitamins. According to doctors, certain vitamins (more precisely B, C, E) will contribute to the improvement of the nervous system, with the acceleration of the transmission of impulses along the nerve fibers - having a positive effect on attention and memory. The action of vitamins also helps to protect the brain from constant stress, with partial relief from the feeling of chronic fatigue. If you don't like all kinds of capsules or tablets, you can think about a healthy diet, including nuts, greens, citrus fruits, bean sprouts and wheat salads.

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