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| Thread: How to win at rote memorization | |
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The_Polyglot
Promising
Supreme Hero
channeling capybara energy
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posted February 13, 2016 05:59 PM |
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How to win at rote memorization
I hate rote memorization. It's dull, takes up a lot of time, and is borderline pointless in this day and age. Yet, time and time again, I have to cram useless lists of abstract snow into my brain, and I can't always afford the luxury of overloading my short-term memory, vomit the list up one time, and then forget about it. What's more, as time goes on, this brute force method will lose effectiveness as I turn into an old, snow-for-brains fossil. SO! As a last resort, I usually take the lazy way out. And now, because I'm just so cute and snow, I'mma be sharing it with you all.
Our example: Learning the 50 states and capitals of the US of A, complete with geographic locations.
Seems hopeless, right? I thought so too, and I actually have to do this for class. Not even a full day later, I can list about 90% of them, complete with region and relative position to one another. The geography still needs some work, but so far so good.
The more associations you have with a memory, the easier it becomes to recall. A random collection of arbitrary sounds by itself does not make a lasting impression on your brain. So the first thing to do is find something concrete that is intrinsically linked to it.
MUSIC
Music has a beat, which lodges itself pretty easily in your ear, tends to have a nice tune, AND even if you can't recall the words, the rhythm reminds you of the number of syllables needed. If this were an obscure topic, I'd just match a basic rap beat to nothing but the names I have to learn, but that's not that much help, Fortunately, people have already produced much more intricate and effective songs for this.
This is a basic, states-only song that has little to no content besides actually listing them, in alphabetical order, which is of little use to us, because we need to be able to place them on a map. On the plus side, it's a simple melody, and the words are almost without exception the names of the states themselves, making it easy to match them to the tune.
Animaniacs' number is actually nice, but not perfectly suited to our task either, as it lists the states in a rather arbitrary order that is hard to replicate when you need to place the states on a blank map. And because the melody is comparatively intricate, it's that much harder to learn it. We do get some factoids that we can incorporate if we choose to.
By far the most useful I found so far is this number, which while being a little aggravating, is little more than a basic beat, but actually orders the states in a logical manner, teaching us the different regions in different verses. It also goes mostly from state to neighboring state, which FINALLY helps with the geographical portion. What's more, it has a nice accompanying video, which contains the stuff we need as visual information. Even with the sound off, it's a good learning tool.
Now we have a selection of auditory information linking to the boring stuff, and some basic visual information too. I'm not satisfied yet though, because the easiest memories to recall all have a personal component that while seeming less than logical to outsiders, already has strong associations with it in each person's mind.
And we come at last to the true shortcut: Now that we know something about the stuff we need to memorize, it's time to [border] these things in a basic mind palace.
What is a mind palace?
You may have encountered the term in Sherlock, where both the main character, and a powerful antagonist have near-perfect recall that they explain is because they ordered all the information they acquired in a mind palace which they can visit when they need to dig up obscure bits of information.
While this is mostly exaggeration for dramatic effect, mind palaces do exist, and there's a grain of truth to what the show wants us to believe. Mind palaces consist of a series of detailed images that a person comes up with, which make the person think of the information instantly when they see it. You do not store the information directly, but encode it in an image, which is much easier to remember than lists. The more detailed and outlandish an image is, the more easily it sticks in your mind, and the easier it sticks in your mind the easier to recall it to remind you of the encoded bits of information when you need it.
For example, let's say you need to remember the order of the 52 cards in a deck as quickly as possible. To do this, you prepare 52 images, each corresponding to a card. You know you found a good image when the assigned card instantly flashes to the forefront of your mind when you think of the image. Then, you note the order of the cards are in, and you imagine yourself going through the 52 images in the same order the cards are shuffled in. You prepare 1 image per 'room' in your mind, and you go from room to room 52 times. You can even create a narrative of sorts. In fact, if you do, it makes remembering THAT SPECIFIC ORDER a lot easier. Pros can come up with storylines like that in seconds, but that takes lots and lots of practice.
Here is an article which explains this process a little more eloquently than I just did, complete with a list of mnemonic suggestions you can use. While at first it will be easier to use the suggestions, I don't recommend relying on a system someone else came up with, because the more closely your system meshes with your usual way of remembering things, the more effective it will be for you and you alone.
In the article the images chosen are 52 celebrities. This wouldn't work for me, because I don't give a crap about them, and I'd waste time making the sort of instant connections someone more familiar with them find nothing short of instinctual artificially. So in the version presented the Kings and Queens correspond to female/male halves of celebrity couples? I'd have to memorize 4 celebrity couples before I could use the same system the guy in the article uses. I'd more readily remember 52 assorted fictional characters that inhabit universes I'm more familiar with. To somewhat reflect the article, I'd choose fictional couples. Hearts for most romantic pairing I can think of, Diamonds for richest couple, Spades for luckiest couple, and Clubs for most tragic couple. My Kings and Queens would be the following:
Esmeralda and the Hunchback tend to Hearts
Snape and Lily are the overlords of Clubs
Edward and Bella are the tyrants of Diamonds
Beren and Luthien are the demigods of Spades
Note my word choices! To reinforce the images, I imagined what kind of leaders they would be, as a sort of running theme for the 4 suites. If I completed this particular exercise, tender people would be chosen for Hearts, vapid and shallow people for Diamonds, well-meaning but misguided people for Clubs and simpler, merrier folk would roam around in Spades. In addition, Clubs would be fanfiction characters, Diamonds would be contemporary characters, Spades would be mythological characters, and Hearts would be characters from classic romance novels.
See? This system, I could actually be comfortable with, and yet it uses the same principles.
I thought I'd wrap this up by listing some mnemonic images I came up with to help me with the original exercise.
North and South Dakota, Bismarck and Pierre respectively:
Otto von Bismarck playing chess with Ensei Tankado alias NDakota playing chess in Hell which is 'deep south' using brittle pieces fashioned out of pebbles, which is to say Pierres. In addition, Tankado is sporting a beret, to remind me I need to switch from English to French while deciphering the image.
Salem, Oregon:
Oregon from Fresh Meat being burnt at the stake for being a witch. She is clad in Connie Booth's witch costume, just to be safe. This image takes advantage of the fact I deeply associate Salem with the witch trials. And I deeply associate Connie Booth with witches 
Boise, Idaho: A couple of horny boys chasing a very sexy ho named Ida
Richmond, Virginia: Richmond from The IT Crowd making passionate love to Virginia from the Tenth Kingdom on a snow-white queen-sized bed, the linens stained crimson to remind me that Virginia was a virgin
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: A Polish lesbian couple, Louise i Anna pleasuring each other with a blood-red baton, wearing nothing but one pair each of blood-red Wellington boots: The boots are there to remind me that Louisiana is boot-shaped.
You might notice that most of these are sexually overcharged, arousing images. Sexy women are easy to remember when you're a frustrated virgin filled to the brim with hormones I designed my set of mnemonics with this in mind, to take advantage of my depravity.
When I finish, I will go from room to room in the order the third song enumerates the states, with the door always being on the side of the room where the two states connect. Since I started in the wee hours of today's morning, I'm not quite finished; I always sucked at geography.
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Stevie
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted February 13, 2016 06:37 PM |
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Edited by Stevie at 03:44, 14 Feb 2016.
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You're very much onto something here poly, and I'm glad you found a way to overcome your memory's shortcomings. Personally I never needed to employ such an alternative method to remember things as I've always read up everything once or twice and after that I needn't worry. It was not a flawless process by any means, but it seemed to be quite enough to cover anything I needed.
What I'm most intrigued about from everything you've said is the psychology of association. By mere coincidence I was also dwelling on the subject but with regards to gaming experience. I have noticed that I developed a certain connection with a set of triggers like weather, temperature, music, people around me, location and various objects that induce in me a certain state or mood. For example, I feel most comfortable playing WotLK during late fall and winter as I associate the game with snow and cold. Another game, Endless Space, I played one time during summer and now whenever I think of it I instantly associate it with green, rain, a pleasant freshness in the air and an open door to my balcony. And this happens to many games and other stuff which may either put you off or get you in the mood.
I think it's pretty important to realize things like these because if you get to understand them, you can shape them to your benefit.
____________
Guide to a Great Heroes Game
The Young Traveler
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted February 13, 2016 07:01 PM |
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Well, do us a favor; after 3 months, post here again and tell us how much of this new information remains in your head. It wouldn't mean much if it only works for a week.
That "mind palace" episode triggered my curiosity, too, no matter how obviously exaggerated it was. I also read some similar technics back in the day when I was a kid trying to learn new words in English. I recall, to remember what posterity meant, you memorized it as poster iti (poster dog in Turkish) which reminded you of youth, since they have posters on their walls all the time. But the thing is, there was so many of these tricks and this is the only word I remember by this method. In my experience, it really doesn't last long. The only way to truly digest information is to actually use it.
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted February 13, 2016 07:54 PM |
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Enjoyable topic  Basically everything can work as a memory shortcut, from images, to temperature, to sounds, to keywords. I use keywords a lot to remember things easier. A simple word can make you recall a long string of information. I also use comparisons a lot, especially when it comes to numbers. For instance edam tends to cost as much as gouda. Chopper tomatoes cost 10 cents less than peeled. Both are in a category that comes in red can, along with xyz other products. Cheeses are catalogued near products that are typically sold together like ham, salami and bacon. If you form enough links you can memorize an impressive amount of things. Visual aid can make the process a lot easier.
____________
H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted February 13, 2016 08:34 PM |
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3rd Rachmaninoff Concerto has about 39 000 notes in, then there are dozens of pianists, from 14 yo to 60 playing it regularly by heart. It is impossible to memorize such thing without creating mental images, virtual structures etc. Yet such forced mental constructions grasp the totality of your energy, and usually the people working on it become autistic, the time to learn it.
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted February 13, 2016 08:47 PM |
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Music itself helps a lot. I can memorize song lyrics much faster than poems. There are people called hafiz who can read the Quran from first page to last from memory and it's a tradition, there are hundreds of them. But they don't actually read it, they chant it.
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted February 13, 2016 08:54 PM |
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Actually what helps you to memorize is the melody shapes and outlines. Now add about 15-35 notes vertically, under that melody, and this coming with every note of it, then you get why it isn't really easier because the music. And the irony in it is that this doesn't improve your overall memory at all. Just the part trained for that matter. At this day I can write that concerto but I am unable to recall half of my actual students names. It just doesn't want to enter!
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted February 13, 2016 09:01 PM |
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Yes, but that's his goal to begin with, isn't it, to memorize something specific (in this case the US states and their locations), not everything.
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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fred79
Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
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posted February 13, 2016 09:40 PM |
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this is something i should really be working on. my memory has been an issue since childhood, and even attempting to strengthen it would at least be more worthwhile to me realistically then all the distractions i surround myself with. the primary reason i haven't gone to college yet, is because i don't think i'll be able to remember anything i'm taught, because i simply do not care. i just don't give a snow about learning what someone else thinks i should learn to jump through their continual hoops, just to earn my right to have a place in society.
at least, if i can work on my memory, i should be able to force myself through what i don't like. i can't just get through life by guessing; that might have worked through school and to get my GED, but college... you can't GUESS your way through an essay.
i first saw the idea of "memory palaces" when the book "hannibal" came out.
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted February 13, 2016 11:18 PM |
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Edited by Elvin at 23:21, 13 Feb 2016.
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I don't think a memory upgrade is what you'te missing fred. You'd be still hard-pressed to give a snow
Focus is more important than memory anyway. You can overcome memory shortcomings with notes and todo-lists.
____________
H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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fred79
Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
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posted February 13, 2016 11:28 PM |
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it's hard for me to focus when i don't care.
i think society just needs to invent a legit profession that captures my interests. until then, it and i will be forever incompatible.
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