What is the best way to remember things?

[Littlemews]

I am kinda curious about knowing someone's secret formula to improve their memory for remember things, such as the thing you learn, the thing you see, the thing you hear etc...

this is sad, haven't taking any astronomy course for just 1 semester, and I end up almost forget everything I learn in the past... T-T

[Algenon the mouse]

Music. Just look at commericals. I still remember some McDonalds ads from when I was a kid and I am a vegetarian.

[Chook]

Memory works by association and tricks.
Years ago I could remember any list of things immediately - it REALLY works: Here's how ...

List things by the numbers 1 through whatever, say 10.
You MUST already have learned to associate each number with an object, say ..
1 with gun, 2 with shoe, 3 with tree etc.
You now associate each object in the list with its number - the sillier the better because it sticks.
Say the first article is Tomato Sauce. Quickly visualise shooting tomato sauce out of the barrel of the gun. Make it vivid! Got the picture?
Second article is Bread. Quickly visualise somebody trying to put their shoe on with several slices of bread inside the shoe. Make it vivid! You'll remember.

To remember several numbers just add the associations together. For example, to remember 31415 vividly see a tree (3), a gun is hanging from it by a piece of string (1), the gun goes off (BANG!!&#33 and shoots a hole through a door (4) lying on the ground near the tree. Strangely the gun goes off for a second time (BANG!!&#33 but, this time shoots a hole through a bee-hive (5) near the door. This sequence of silly, unusual events is extremely ease to remember but it represents your number.

Names are another embarrassement to some people to remember. Once again association helps. Of course the ease ones are the Greens, Blacks, Whites, Browns, Plumbers, Millers, Smiths, Sawers, Players etc. because you visualize Mrs. Green having a green nose; or Mr. Plumber with a soldering iron in his hand. What about the unassociatable ones - the Pzizzers or the Bringlery. The recommended method here is the repeat the name as often as possible - "Yes, Mrs. Pzizzers; of course Mrs. Pzizzers. Three bags full Mrs. Pzizzers!"

There are other methods for names. I remember Faulkner by imagining him bending over to pick up something and the "fork" of his trousers splitting open and Weasellbunny splitting her sides laughing at him. Can you "see" the image?

[Tinaa]

The only sure way I know of not to forget what you've learned is to teach someone else. For some reason, the process of teaching puts your knowledge into long term memory. You must access that knowledge so it becomes more available. It is a technique used with success, especially with learning disabled students. So share what you know!

[Chook]

Women use that technique, Tinaa, and never stop!
(God help us men! :angry: )

[Cambo]

Any more suggestions please. please bring them on.
I'm an actor and remembering lines is a bug bear of no small dimension for me.
Endless repetition of reading, saying, reading, saying; then add intention, action, on top of that add movement.
Now I have found that movement on a stage does help me but by that time I've read, reread the script sooo many times it's difficult to say that movement is a quick way of learning lines.
It would be good to have some new approaches.
BTW I remember my elder brother having to learn the periodic table many years ago; he learned it as a sentence starting with Hot HElen's .... I never studied it even in high school, was more into english, law and history based subjects.
I also agree with Tinaa; teaching something brings the information into a different part of the brain and therefore makes it more readily accessible.

[Peter Canuck]

Repitition is still the best tool I use.

Heck I can still recall our phone number from when I was 7 years old. Mom made sure we all knew it in case we had to call home. She would ask us as we left the house to tell her our number. So just thought repition I still recall it.

Same thing in what I do today. Though now its more repition and association. I asssociate something I'm working on with something else. Usually they are related in some way, but not always.

Cambo, this may not help much for recalling lines and scripts, but its what I use.

Not all memory tricks work...

I heard about a fellow (NOT ME) who wrote a note to himself and stuck in on the refridgerator.

The note was a list of incredients... then it said "saute veg and oil for 12 minutes, let stand for 12 minutes - boil dry pasta - drain and let stand for 12 minutes - blend ingredients with pasta - bake for 12 minutes - add shredded cheese and bake 12 minutes more - turn off oven and leave casserole in for 12 more minutes.
then serve.

His anniversary is on the 12th. The guy (NOT ME) made that casserole 3 times before his anniversary and forgot to get his wife anything.

[drodo2002]

the best method is to relate things with each other...to remember numbers imagine them to some figure or picture..for words..repeat with rhyme ...like a parrot.. writing again and again is also a good method.
i still remember the periodic table i mugged up in my school..and yea pictures are the best way to remember..these are the most hard to vanish from ur memory...just think u may still remember some sights of ur early childhood though no guarantee of words...

[Faulkner]

Littlemews was making reference to course content...I'd suggest simply reading all around the subject. Stuff doesn't "disappear" from the brain, it might just get buried & forgotten. Putting in lots of reading time will inevitably dredge all that stuff up & link it all up into a coherent picture that will remain fixed in memory.

Try to make a picture of all those facts & figures you're taking in! Mental pictures help.

Chook was onto something, but there's another way: Instead of associating words with numbers, just take your string of random words (eg "gun, shoe, tree, tomato sauce...") and weave a story through it, such as "My gun went off, shot me in the foot, so I took off my shoe & threw it in the tree, the blood on my foot looked like tomato sauce", etc etc. Apparently the more outlandish & wacky the narrative, the easier it lodges in the brain...!?

[DippyHippy]

When I did amateur dramatics, I used to learn the entire scene I was in by reading the script over and over until I memorised it. I'd read a scene about ten times in quick sucession and then cover my lines and read it again, repeating my lines from memory.

The other actors used to love me because I'd know their lines too so I could always prompt them if they forgot theirs LOL

I did once play a pretty big part where I had lines on almost every page and managed to literally memorise the entire script... but I hated learning lines LOL For two or three months before the show, I'd sit and read my script during my lunch breaks, when in fact I'd much rather be reading the paper LOL