Memory Techniques For Learning.pdf

Techniques for memorizing important information include:

Acronym: an invented combination of letters with each letter acting as a cue to an idea to be remembered. Example: BRASS for how to shoot a rifle - Breath, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze.

Acrostic: an invented sentence where the first letter of each word is a cue to an idea to be remembered. Example: EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FUN for the order of the G-clef notes on sheet music - E,G,B,D,F.

Rhyme-Keys: a 2-step memory process involving memorizing key words associated with numbers and creating an image of the items to be remembered. Example: Food groups - 1. Dairy products: one-bun-cheese on a bun, 2. Meat, fish, and poultry: two-shoe-livestock with shoes.

Loci Method: imagining placing items to be remembered in specific locations in a familiar room. Example: To remember presidents - place a dollar bill (George Washington) on the door, see Jefferson reclining on a sofa and Nixon eating out of the refrigerator.

Keyword Method: selecting foreign words, identifying an English word that sounds like the foreign one, and imagining an image involving the key word with the English meaning of the foreign word. Example: In Spanish, the word "cabina" means phone booth, invent an image of a cab trying to fit in a phone booth.

Image-Name Technique: inventing a relationship between a name and the physical characteristics of the person. Example: Shirley Temple - her curly hair around her temples.

Chaining: creating a story where each word or idea to be remembered cues the next idea to be recalled. Example: Napoleon, ear, door, Germany - story: Napoleon had his ear to the door to listen to the Germans in his beer cellar.