Chapter seven. Memory. Psychologists class as representative mental processes those known as memory
and imagination, respectively. The term representation is used in psychology to indicate the
processes of representation or presenting again to consciousness that which has formerly been presented to
it, but which afterwards passed from its field. As Hamilton says, the
general capability of knowledge necessarily requires that, besides the power of evoking out of
unconsciousness one portion of our retained knowledge in preference to another, we possess the
faculty of representing in consciousness what is thus evoked. Memory is the primary representative
faculty or power of the mind. Imagination depends upon memory for its material as
we shall see when we consider that faculty, every mental process which involves the
remembrance, recollection, or representation of a sensation, perception, mental image,
thought, or idea previously experienced must depend upon memory for its material. Memory
is the great storehouse of the mind in which are placed the records of previous
mental experiences. It is a part of the great subconscious field of mental activity,
and the greater part of its work is performed below the plane of consciousness.
It is only when its results are passed into the field of consciousness that
we are aware of its existence. We know memory only by its works.
Of its nature, we know but little, although certain of its principal laws
and principles have been discovered. It was formerly customary to class memory with the
various faculties of the mind, but later psychology no longer so considers it.
Memory is now regarded as a power of the general mind, manifesting in connection
with every faculty of the mind. It is now regarded as belonging to the
great subconscious field of mental and its explanation must be sought there. It is
utterly unexplainable. Otherwise the importance of memory cannot be overestimated. Not only does
a man's character and education depend cheaply upon it, but his very mental being
is bound up with it. If there were no memory, man would never
progress mentally beyond the mental state of the newborn babe. He would never be
able to profit by experience. He would never be able to form clear perceptions,
He would never be able to reason or form judgments. The processes of
thought depend, for material upon the memory of past experiences. This material lacking,
there can be no thought. Memory has two important general functions. Those
are one the retention of impressions and experiences, and to the reproduction of the
impressions and experiences so retained. It was formerly held that the memory retained only
a portion of the impressions and experiences originally noted by it, but the present
theory is that it retains every impression and experience which is noted by it.
It is true that many of these impressions are never reproduced in consciousness, but
experiments tend to prove, nevertheless, that the records are still in the memory,
and that appropriate and sufficiently strong stimuli will bring them into the field of
consciousness. The phenomena of somnambulism, dreams, hysteria, delirium, approach of
death, etc. Show that the subconscious mind has an immense accumulation of apparently
forgotten facts, which unusual stimuli will serve to recall. The Power of the
memory to reproduce the retained impressions and experiences is variously called remembrance, recollection,
or memory. This power varies materially in various individuals, but it is an
axiom of psychology that the memory of any person may be developed and trained by
practice. The ability to recall depends to a great extent upon the clearness and
depth of the original impression, which in turn depends upon the degree of attention
given to it at the time of its occurrence. Recollection is also greatly aided
by the law of association, or the principle whereby one mental fact is linked
to another. The more facts to which are given fact is linked, the
greater the ease by which it is recalled or remembered. Recollection is also greatly
assisted by use and exercise. Like the fingers, the memory cells of the
brain become expert and efficient by use and exercise, or stiff and inefficient by
lack of the same. In addition to the phases of retention and reproduction,
there are two important phases of memory. That is three recognition of the reproduced
impression or experience, and four localization the impression or its reference to a more
or less definite time and place. The recognition of the recalled impression is quite
important. It is not enough that the impression be retained and recalled. If
we are not able to recognize the recalled impression as having been experienced before,
the recollection will be of but little use to us in our thought processes.
The purposes of thought demand that we shall be able to identify the record impression
with the original one. Recognition is really recognition re knowing. Recognition is akin
to perception. The mind becomes conscious of the recalled impression just as it becomes
conscious of the sensation. It then recognizes the relation of the recalled impression to
the original one, just as it realizes the relation of the sensation to its
object. The localization of the recalled and recognized impression is also important. Even
if we recognize the recalled impression, it will be of comparatively little use to
us unless we are able to locate it as having happened yesterday, last week,
last month, last year, ten years ago, or at some time
in the past, and as having happened in our office house, or in
such and such a place, in the street, or in some distant place.
Without the power of localization, we should be unable to connect and associate
the remembered fact with the time, place, and persons with which it should
be placed to be of use and value to us in our thought processes.
Retention, the retention of a mental impression in the memory depends very materially upon
the clearness and depth of the original impression, and this clearness and depth,
as we have previously stated, depend upon the degree of attention bestowed upon the
original impression. Attention, then, is the important factor in the forming and
recording of impressions. The rule is slight attention, faint record, marked attention,
clear and deep record. To fix this fact in the mind, the
student may think of the retentive and reproductive phases of memory as a phonographic record.
The receiving diaphragm of the phonograph represents the sense organs, and the recording
needle represents the attention. The needle makes the record on a cylinder deep or
faint. According to the condition of the needle. A loud sound may be
recorded, but faintly if the needle is not properly adjusted. And further,
it must be remembered that the strength of the reproduction depends almost entirely upon the
clearness and depth of the original impression on the cylinder. As is the record,
so is the reproduction. It will be well for the student to carry
this symbol of the phonograph in his mind. He will aid him in developing
his powers of memory. In this connection, we should remember that attension depends
largely upon interest. Therefore, we would naturally expect to find that we remember
interesting things far more readily than those which lack interest. This supposition is borne
out in actual experience. This accounts for the fact that everyone remembers a certain
class of things better than he does others. One remembers faces, another dates,
another spoken conversation, another written words, and so on. It will
be found as a rule that each person is interested in the class of things
which he most easily remembers. The artist easily remembers faces and details of faces,
or scenery and details thereof. The musician easily recalls passages or bars of
music, often of a most complicated nature. The speculator easily recalls the quotations
of his favorite stocks. The racing man recalls without difficulty the odds posted on
a certain on a certain day, or the details of a race which was
run many years ago. The moral is arouse and induce an interest in the
things which you wish to remember. This interest may be aroused by studying the
things in question, as we have suggested in a preceding chapter visualization in Memory.
Many of the best authorities hold that original impressions may be made clear and
deep and the process of reproduction accordingly rendered more efficient by the practice of visualizing.
The thing to be remembered by visualizing is meant the formation of a mental
image of the thing in the imagination. If you wish to remember the appearance
of anything, look at it closely with attention, and then turning away from
it, endeavor to reproduce its appearance as a mental picture in the mind.
If this is done, a particularly clear impression will be made in the memory,
and when you recall the thing, you will find that you will will
also recall the clear mental image of it. Of course, the greater the
number of details observed and included in the original mental image, the greater the
remembered detail perception in memory. Not only is attention necessary in forming clear memory
records, but careful perception is also important. Without clear perception, there is
a lack of detail and the retained record and the element of association is lacking.
It is not enough to merely remember the thing itself. We should also
remember what it is and all about it. The practice of the methods of
developing perception given in a preceding lesson, will tend to develop and train the
retentive reproductive recognitive and locative powers of the memory. The rule is the greater
the degree of perception accorded a thing, the greater the detail of the retained
impression, and the greater the ease of the recollection. Understanding and memory.
Another important point in acquiring impressions in memory is this that the better the understanding
of the subject or object, the clearer the impressions regarding it, and the
clearer the recollection of it. This fact is proved by experiment and experience.
A subject which will be remembered only with difficulty under ordinary circumstances, will be
easily remembered if it is fully explained to the person and accompanied by a few
familiar illustrations or examples. It is very difficult to remember a meaningless string of
words, while a sentence which conveys a clear meaning may be memorized easily.
If we understand what a thing is for its uses and employment, we remember
it far more easily than if we lack this understanding. Elbringhouse, who conducted
a number of experiments along this line, reports that he could memorize the Stanza
of poetry at about one tenth the time requires to memorize the same amount of
nonsense, syllables God. He states that he once asked capable students of the
Johns Hopkins University to give him an account of the lecture to which he had
just listened. I cannot do it, replied the student. He was not
logical. The rule is the more one knows about a certain thing, the
more easily is that thing remembered. This is a point worth noting. End
of chapter seven, Chapter eight, memory continued. The subject of memory cannot
be touched upon intelligently without a consideration of the law of association. One of
the important psychological principles, the law of association. What is known in psychology
as the law of association, is based on the fact that no idea exists
in the mind except in association with other ideas. This is not generally recognized,
and the majority of persons will dispute the law at first thought. But
the existence and appearance of ideas in the mind are governed by mental law as
invariable and constant as the physical law of gravitation. Every idea has associations with
other ideas. Ideas travel in groups, and one group is associated with another
group, and so on, until in the end, every idea in one's
mind is associated directly or indirectly with every other idea. Theoretically, at least,
it would be possible to begin with one idea in the mind of a
person and then gradually unwind is entire stock of ideas, Like the yarn on
the ball. Our thoughts proceed according to this law. We sit down in
a brown study and proceed from one subject to another until we are unable to
remember any connection between the first thought and the last. But each step of
the reverie was connected with the one proceeding and the one secs exceeding it.
It is interesting to trace back these connections. Poe based one of his celebrated
detective stories on this law. The reverie may be broken into by a sudden
impression from outside, and we will then proceed from that impression, connecting it
with something else already in our experience, and starting a new chain of sequence.
Often we fail to trace the associations governing our ideas, but the chain
is there. Nevertheless, one may think of a past scene or experience without
any apparent cause. A little thought will show that something seen, or a
few notes of a song floating to the ears, or the fragrance of a
flower has supplied the connecting link between the past and the present. A suggestion
of mignonette will recall some past event in which the perfume played a part.
Someone's handkerchief perhaps carried the same odor, or an old familiar tune reminds one
of someone, something, or some place in the past. A familiar feature
in a countenance of a passer by will start one thinking of someone else who
had that kind of a mouth, that shaped nose, or that expression of
the eye, and away he will be off in a sequence of remembered experiences.
Often the starting idea or the connecting links may appear but dimly in consciousness,
but rest assured they are always there. In fact, we frequently accept
this law unconsciously and without realizing his actual existence. For instance, one makes
a remark, and at once we wonder how did he come to think of
that? And if we are shrewd, we may discover what was in his
mind before he spoke. There are two general classes of association of ideas in
memory. Those are one association of contiguity and two logical association. Association of
contiguity is that form of association depending on the previous association in time or space
of ideas which have been impressed on the mind. For instance, if you
met mister and Missus Wetterhorn, who were introduced to them one after the other,
thereafter you will naturally remember mister Thereafter you will naturally remember mister w when
you think of Missus W. And vice versa. You will naturally remember Napoleon
when you think of Wellington, or Benedict Arnold when you think of Major Andre.
For the same reason, you will also naturally remember b at c When
you think of a. Likewise, you will think of abstract time when you
think of abstract space, of thunder, when you think of lightning of colic,
when you recall green apples of love making, and moonlit nights when you
think of college days. In the same way, we remember things which occurred
just before or just after the event in our mind, and at the moment
of things near in space to the thing of which we are thinking. Logical
association depends upon the relation of likeness or difference between several things thought of.
Things thus associated may have never come into the mind of the same previous time,
nor are they necessarily connected in time and space. One may think of
a book and then proceed by association to think of another book by the same
author, or of another author treating of the same subject. Or he may
think of a book directly opposed to the thirst the relation of distinct difference causing
the associated idea. Logical association depends upon inner relations are not upon the outer
relations of time and space. This innerness of relation between things not connected in
space or time is discovered only by experience and education. The educated man realizes
many points of relationship between things that are thought by the uneducated man to be
totally unrelated. Wisdom and knowledge consist largely in the recognition of relations between things
association in memory. It follows from a consideration of the law of association that
when one wishes to impress a thing upon the memory, he should, as
an authority says, multiply associations. Entangle the fact you wish to remember in
a net of as many associations as possible, especially those that are logical.
Hence the advice to place your facts in groups and classes in the memory.
As Blackie says, nothing helps the mind so much as order and classification.
Classes are always few individuals many. To know the class well is to know
what is most essential in the character of the individual, and what burdens the
memory least to retain in memory. Another important principle of memory is that the
impressions acquire depth and clearness by repetition. Repeat a line of poetry once and
you may remember it. Repeat it again, and your chances of remembering it
are greatly increased. Repeat it a sufficient number of times and you cannot escape
remembering it. The illustration of the phonograph record will help you to understand the
reason of this. The rule is constant repetition deepens memory impressions. Frequent reviewing
and recalling what has been memorized tends to keep the records clear and clean,
besides deepening the impression at each review. General rules of memory. The following
general rules will be of service to the student who wishes to develop his memory.
Making impressions. One bestow attention. Two, cultivate interest, three manifest
perception four, cultivate understanding. Five, form associations six, repeat and review
recalling impressions. One, endeavor to get hold of the loose end of association
and then unwind your memory ball of yarn. Two. When you recall an
impression, send it back with energy to deepen the impression and attach it to
as many new associations as possible. Three, practice a little memorizing and recalling
each day, if only a line of verse. The memory improves by practice
and deteriorates by neglect and disuse. Four. Demand good service of your memory,
and it will learn to respond. Learn to trust it, and it
will rise to the occasion. How can you expect your memory to give good
service when you continually abuse it and tell everyone of the wretched memory I have.
I can never remember anything. Your memory is very apt to accept your
statements as truth. Our mental faculties have an annoying habit of taking us at
our word in these matters. Tell your memory what you expect it to do.
Then trust it and refrain from abusing it and giving it a bad name.
Final advice. Finally, remember this rule. You get out of your
memory only that which you place in it. Place in it good, clear,
deep impressions, and it will reproduce good, clear, strong recollections.
Think of your memory as a phonographic record, and take care that you place
the right kind of impressions upon it. In memory, you reap that which
you have sown. You must give to the memory before you can receive from
it of one thing, you may rest assured, namely, that unless you
take sufficient interest in the things to be remembered, you will find that the
memory does not take a fear interest in them to remember them. Memory demands
interest before it will take interest in the task. It demands attention before it
will give attention. It demands understanding before it will give understanding. It demands
association before it will respond to association. It demands repetition before it will repeat.
The memory is a splendid instrument, but it stands on its dignity and
asserts its rights. It belongs to the old dispensation. It demands compensation and
believes in giving only an equal measure to what it receives. Our advice is
to get acquainted with your memory and make friends with it. Treat it well
and it will serve you well. But neglect it and it will turn its
back on you.