APPLYING MNEMONICS
I can't tell you what method to use in each situation, instead I can provide you tools that help you to decide what kind of mnemonic you think you need to construct. Of course there are mnemonics that are almost ready to use, like the knuckle mnemonic. The problem with ready made mnemonics often is that they have been created by people who have different schemata of things, which means that they associate differently.
When you begin creating mnemonic, think first what problems memory task includes. Is the information abstract, what is the size of the data, what kind of information it is, do you have to memorize it in sequence? The less there is to get grip on the information the more you have to use different techniques to memorize it. In memory competitions participants are challenged to memorize lots of abstract information with in time constraint (from minutes to hour), to do this they need to use different mnemonics at same time. For example to memorize long list of numbers competitor could encode the numbers in pairs to form words corresponding to each pair. Now competitor have established some meaning into the numbers. To memorize the order of the words he can place those words in his memory palace. This approach needs lots of preparation in advance like creating memory palace and encoding system. Joshua Foer tells about his methods to win memory competition.
When you begin creating mnemonic, think first what problems memory task includes. Is the information abstract, what is the size of the data, what kind of information it is, do you have to memorize it in sequence? The less there is to get grip on the information the more you have to use different techniques to memorize it. In memory competitions participants are challenged to memorize lots of abstract information with in time constraint (from minutes to hour), to do this they need to use different mnemonics at same time. For example to memorize long list of numbers competitor could encode the numbers in pairs to form words corresponding to each pair. Now competitor have established some meaning into the numbers. To memorize the order of the words he can place those words in his memory palace. This approach needs lots of preparation in advance like creating memory palace and encoding system. Joshua Foer tells about his methods to win memory competition.
EXAMPLE APPLICATIONS
Periodic table of elements
Periodic table is something that is very useful, especially for STEM students, but needs extensive memorizing. I would personally encode the elements combining them to peg system and fuse the meaning of the corresponding peg number to either the element itself (a bun shaped hydrogen balloon or zeppelin) or to some word that resembles the element ( a bun swimming through hydro power plant). Other method could be creating song or story. Below is song made to remember the whole perioidic table.
Periodic table is something that is very useful, especially for STEM students, but needs extensive memorizing. I would personally encode the elements combining them to peg system and fuse the meaning of the corresponding peg number to either the element itself (a bun shaped hydrogen balloon or zeppelin) or to some word that resembles the element ( a bun swimming through hydro power plant). Other method could be creating song or story. Below is song made to remember the whole perioidic table.
Taxonomic order of species
Remembering the order of the levels of taxonomic system is very useful for biologists. The levels are: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. The practical thing would be forming some kind of sentence by replacing each word with some other word beginning with same the letter.
Remembering the order of the levels of taxonomic system is very useful for biologists. The levels are: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. The practical thing would be forming some kind of sentence by replacing each word with some other word beginning with same the letter.
Anything can be made to mnemonic. When you have the tools to alter the information and form assoiciations to link it together you can memorize almost everything. Here is site that collects user created mnemonics, site contains mainly sentences made from words. Be wary that they might not work for you, instead it's better to use them as guides to building your own.
Jump to summary of mnemonic skills.
Jump to summary of mnemonic skills.