Help me improve my memory!

March 25, 2006 1:56 PM

I’m studying for an exam and would like some tips on polishing my memorization skills. How do actors remember their lines? I know repetition helps, but what else can I do to retain the questions/answers I’m studying. Any tips, tricks or websites of interest would be appreciated.
posted by johnd101 to health & fitness (9 comments total)

The stuff in this book works. I would expect any of Harry Lorayne's other books to work as well, but I haven't read them.

The foundation for many of the techniques in the book is to make surreal images (in your head)! combining the things you need to remember. The more surreal, the more memorable. Lets say you're playing the game where there are a number of items on a table and you need to remember as many as you can. You start with the first and second items, and create an image with the second item "doing something" to the first item. Let's say the first item is a pen and the second item is a lighter, you could imagine making an enormous bonfire out of pens and setting light to it with the lighter. Then lets say the next item is a stapler, you could make an image of an animated stapler coming along and eating the lighter. The images should be as vivid and exaggerated as you can make them.

More advanced techniques still basically rely on the picture method, but introduce the idea of attaching words that are good for making pictures with to ideas that are bad for making pictures with - for example you can learn a word for each of the numbers from 1 to 100 and once you've done that it'll be easy to use the picture method to memorize up to 100 items in and out of order. The words are allocated to numbers in a way that has enough pattern to make memorizing them a reasonable proposition, while still making the words distinctive enough to be good for making pictures with.

You can use the picture method for things like language vocabulary as well - if you can transform the foreign language word into a familiar word you can make a picture with and then associate it with the English version of the word, you should find that you remember the association and that natural memory will take care of the discrepancy between the transformed word and what you were actually trying to remember.
posted by teleskiving at 2:21 PM on March 25, 2006

If you have enough lead time, nothing beats repetition.
posted by parallax7d at 3:17 PM on March 25, 2006

Summarize what you think you need to know in as condensed a form as possible by writing it out.

I've found that for certain formulae-heavy classes where we've been allowed a one-page "cheat sheet", I almost never need to actually refer to said sheet in the exam because by the time I've grappled with the material long enough to decide what is essential to know and reframed it in terms concise enough to fit on a single page, I've pretty much already "got" it in memory. I now do this kind of thing even for courses where we aren't allowed to take a cheat sheet into the exam. If nothing else, it results in a piece of paper that's handy for last minute review.

Mileage may vary if your material doesn't involve formulae/equations/algorithms etc.
posted by juv3nal at 3:38 PM on March 25, 2006

We've just started memorizing things in my acting class, and the only advice we've gotten so far is similar to teleskiving's solution, however instead of associating it with a picture, associate each line with an emotion (in our case, the emotion that we're acting at the time).
posted by awesomebrad at 3:39 PM on March 25, 2006

FWIW, I act and I study, and I memorize for them in totally different ways. It's more about figuring out what works for you, rather than trying to find a prepackaged one-size-fits-all guide.

Everyone works a bit differently. I study really well when I make a list of formulae or vocabulary terms or facts to know, and copy it out over and over (either by writing or by typing). That's just what works for me. Someone else may get the same effect by making a similar list and reading it aloud -- although that does nothing for me. Another tactic I use is trying to paraphrase concepts or passages; if I can put it in my own words, and I know I'd be able to explain it to someone else that way, I've got it.

One tactic that does cross over for me (besides repetition) is motion. If I'm taking a walk while I study -- whether it's around the block or around the kitchen -- chances are better that I'll remember the material. Also, you may want to try studying in an environment identical to the situation in which you'll need to know that material. It's never helped me, but some people swear by it.
posted by booksandlibretti at 4:28 PM on March 25, 2006

Repetition works ... to a point. Are you being tested on regurgitating facts or problem solving using what you know?

If I'm trying to memorize formulae then I work practice set after practice set. Sometimes even make up my own questions and solve them with the formula.

If I'm trying to memorize things then I try to figure out what they are/do in relation to each other and visualize that in my mind's eye, traveling from one thing to another and remembering what they're relationship is.

For presentations, repetition, repetition, repetition.

For most other stuff, I have a hard time remembering if I don't deal with it on a day-to-day basis. I can just look that stuff up when I need to.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 4:38 PM on March 25, 2006

When I was studying for the bar exam the review course had a set of mnemonics to help remember all of the parts of a rule. I can still remember some of them, and it's been eight years since I sat for a bar exam.

Juv3nal's advice to boil the necessary down to a one-page review sheet is great advice-the process of creating it will drill a lot of knowledge into your brain.
posted by ambrosia at 5:10 PM on March 25, 2006

I've always found that when I have to do straight memorization of a ridiculous amount of info, flash cards got the job done. They utilize the repetition thing, but they are also used to test yourself and tell you what you have learned and not learned. The act of testing yourself, trying to recall the info, is one of the most effective methods of learning (at least according to psychological research).

What I always did was to put everything on flash cards and just read them all a bunch of times. When I moved to testing myself, I would take out the cards that I had no trouble with and focus on the others. Periodically I would put all the cards back together and shuffle them, before beginning the process over. When I could answer all the cards in any order, I was good to go.

Oh yeah, take breaks too. Also keep in mind that several shorter studying periods are more effective than one longer period. For example, you will learn more by studying an hour a day for a test than studying 7 hours the day before.

As usual, YMMV. This method got me A's in art history and behavioral neuroscience, so I swear by it.
posted by spaghetti at 5:44 PM on March 25, 2006

one thing i found worked well with memorization of longer passages or even step-by-step explanations is the ancient "roman room" technique (lots of examples if you google that), in which you imagine walking through a room in your house, and each object you encounter (furniture, etc) is associated with a different trigger phrase or step in a process...i've memorized complete essays this way very efficiently...
posted by troybob at 9:39 PM on March 25, 2006