Introduction to mnemonics

Introduction

Good day! At once I will make a reservation that the purpose of this article is to introduce and, perhaps, interest you with such a thing as mnemonics . Mnemonic is the science of memorization. I mean a set of methods and tricks that will help you remember large amounts of information in the correct sequence (for example, 100 random words (numbers) can be memorized sequentially with an interval of an average of 6 seconds). Some manage to remember a few thousand digits after Pi. Mnemonics also helps in mastering a foreign language). But it is too early for us to think about it. You ask: "Why do I need your mnemonic?" I will answer: you can use it not only as a hobby (from simple easing of life, to the fact that you can surprise your friends by inviting them to memorize N information one by one), but also to participate in competitions (yes, there are memorization competitions, where not innate geniuses are involved, but people who have trained their memory).

Try something to remember

Mnemotechnology is based on the method of linking information with images. To begin, consider a fairly simple example of memorization: let's say you need to remember the password for the mail.
In mnemonics, there are many ready-made and generally accepted 'standards', and which you can use to memorize the information you need. Here is the ready memorization of the digits pattern: 1-GJ, 2-dt, 3-kx, 4-bsch, 5-pb, 6-shl, 7-cz, 8-bf, 9-RC, 0-nm .

The code is compiled by a simple principle. In the main figure there corresponds a consonant letter with which the name of the number begins: Four - H, Five - P, Six - S, Seven - S, Eight - V. The second consonant letters are consonant with the first: CHCH, SZ, VF. But these principles are not always followed in this code. Why? Yes, because in Russian only 20 consonants, and all of them are used. Therefore, a few exceptions to the rule you just need to memorize: 1-GJ, 3-kx, 9-RC.
When I tried to practice mnemonics, they brought me such an action plan in the literature:
1. For example, you chose Rambler mail. To remember that this password is from this mail, we will create an image of Rambler-RAM (window).

2. Recall any poem that you know very well: “The faces are erased, the colors are dim, or people, or dolls ...”
')
3. Mark this poem visually. In this case, you can imagine the doll on the ropes.

4. Link the poem to Rambler. To do this, in your imagination, the image of a “window frame” needs to be hung with a “doll” image. A few seconds, consider the resulting combination of images.

5. And now, practice typing numbers on your computer’s numeric keypad. Speak mentally a passage of a poem and transform EVERY CONSENT AGREEMENT into a number in accordance with the learned alphanumeric code. In this case, the password will look like this (words are separated by dots): 69. 7292. 3973. 2736. 2. 6. 62. 2. 6. 336. (LC. STRT. KRSK. TSCL. T. L. LD. T. L. CCL). It turned out the password of 23 digits. But no one bothers you to enter a password from a larger number of numbers.

6. During the day, remember several times the connection between the window and the doll and speak the corresponding passage of the poem. It is necessary to consolidate information (communication) in the brain.

If you get the hang of it, you can, as mentioned earlier, with an interval of 6 seconds (it usually takes so long to come up with an image / to associate information with a specific template) to remember a decent number of digits. You can surprise your friends by arguing with them on a bottle of beer that you will memorize 20-30 numbers that a friend will call, but a friend will not.

Let me give you one more, more complicated, but rather illustrative example, so that you can better imagine what we are talking about.

At mnemonic competitions, there is such a form as memorizing binary numbers.
The binary combination of numbers is encoded into octal digits as follows:

000 - 0
001 - 1
010 - 2
011 - 3

100 - 4
101 - 5
110 - 6
111 - 7

So for quick memorization of binary numbers you need to memorize the correspondence of numbers in binary and octal number systems.

Memorized series of zeros and ones should be divided into groups of 6 digits.

111010001101000100110000010101001111010110100000011110

(111.010) (001.101) (000.100) (110.000) (010.101) (001.111) (010.110) (100.000) (011.110)

Memorization speed depends on your coding rate. The coding speed must be brought to automatism.

Each triple of digits is replaced by the octal number sign.

(7-2) (1-5) (0-4) (6-0) (2-5) (1-7) (2-6) (4-0) (3-6)

Octal numbers are combined in pairs.

(72) (15) (04) (60) (25) (17) (26) (40) (36)

The resulting numbers are encoded into figurative codes of numbers, which are also memorized to automatism.

Sito - Guby - Tea - ShiNa - ToPor - Gus - DushSh - ChayNik - Klay

Figurative codes of numbers are memorized on a previously prepared system of reference images (lokas).

Decoding (recall) occurs in reverse order.

Reference image - the figurative code of the number (Cito) - 72 - (7 - 2) - 111 010

When automating the encoding process, the mnemonist sees six digits (111010) - one visual image (sieve).

If the speed of memorization of one image is 6 seconds, then the time of memorization of one binary digit will be equal to 1 second.

In fact, it should be understood that the mnemonist remembers exactly the visual images, and the speed of memorization in the tables of records on mnemonics is incorrectly indicated.

For example. If the table indicates a record of memorization of binary numbers of 0.66 seconds per digit (average), then this should be understood as follows: the speed of memorization was equal to an average of 4 seconds per image, encoding 6 binary digits at once.

Based on this memorization technique, a simple “focus” can be shown. Invite friends to lay coins on the table, with tails (1) or an eagle (0) up, in random order, 6 rows of 6 coins each. In the course of putting the coins on the table, remember them (6 coins - this is just one visual image). After memorization, turn away and call “eagle” - “tails” - “tails” - ...

Since the speed of memorizing all the coins can be just 18 seconds (3 seconds x 6 rows), and while you remember the coins as they are laid out, it seems that you remember a whole bunch of coins at a glance. You can say that you have a photographic memory, and you see all 36 coins on your inner screen. (The description of the focus is from the book by V.Posin “How to develop superpamyat.”)

Notable mnemonists

I will also tell you about one known mnemonist - Dominic O'Brien, a six-time world champion in memorization. O'Brynu closed the entrance to many casinos. Dominic set a world record: memorized a deck of 52 cards in 41.43 seconds. Dominic's use of his memory is wide: he participates in a television show, demonstrating his abilities live, can learn about 400 foreign words per hour, etc. And most interestingly, in his childhood Dominic was a Losers. His childhood memory was even slightly weaker than his peers. He is not a born genius, he is an ordinary person who has trained his memory from a normal state.

Conclusion

At first I planned to write a rather detailed educational program, but imagining how much space and time it would take (about 15-20 times more than this: backing up with tables, biographies, etc.) set another task: to interest you. I think this will not be a negative side, since the links below will enable you to study this interesting and, most importantly, useful activity in great detail. I hope that I aroused your initial interest in mnemonics and you will continue your acquaintance on your own. There are a lot of advantages, but I did not find any minuses in this lesson. If you speak English at a sufficient level, then after the initial acquaintance look for information on gourmet sites. That's all that I wanted to convey to you. The rest will find on the links. I hope that you will get some benefit . Good luck in your endeavors!

References:
Excellent Russian site about mnemonics. Recommend.
http://www.mnemonica.ru/
http://brainplanet.ru/
A good resource for learning about memory.
Memory, speed reading, etc.

UPD: Transferred here, since you can save time using mnemonics)
UPD: at the request of adding links about the study of foreign words.
clack
clack
clack
I also found a great site: memos. Here are ready-made images.

UPD: A few comments appeared with claims that there is no practical benefit from this, that what is the use of memorizing certain information in a sequential presentation. It upset me. So I could not bring what I wanted. About the "benefits of consistency": you can memorize as you want - even in the sequence, even without. The practical benefits are incredible: you learn to memorize large amounts of information correctly. There was also a comment about the fact that it does not last long in the memory. Again, not true. It all depends on you: what images you come up with, what method you will memorize. I ask you to take back your words back to those who have not studied this issue in more detail, begin to write here about not understanding the purpose of this lesson: it just puts me in a daze. What is the use of well-tuned memory? There was also a comment about the fact that “having remembered several thousand numbers after the comma of Pi, people can forget to take off their pants in the toilet” - for your information, these people in old age are very good: they don’t practically suffer from Alzheimer's syndrome, I don’t have schizophrenia etc., unlike most 80-90-year-olds. Sorry, it's just unpleasant to read this kind of unsubstantiated comments.