Speaker 1: General instructions. In this chapter, we shall call your attention
to certain of the general principles already mentioned in the
preceding chapters, for the purpose of further impressing them upon
your mind, and in order that you may be able
to think of and to consider them. Independent of the
details of the special phases of memory. This chapter may
be considered in the nature of a general review of
certain fundamental principles mentioned in the body of the work.
Point one, give to the things that you wish to
memorize as great a degree of concentrated attention as possible.
We have explained the reason for this advice in many
places in the book. The degree of concentrated attention bestowed
upon the object under consideration determines the strength, clearness, and
depth of the impression received and stored away in the subconsciousness.
Thecharacter of these stored away impressions determines the degree of
ease in remembrance and recollection. Point two. In considering an
object to be memorized, endeavor to obtain the impressions through
as many faculties and senses as possible. The reason for
this advice should be apparent to you if you have
carefully read the preceding chapters. An impression received through both
sound and sight is doubly as strong as one received
through but one of these channels. You may remember a
name or word either by having seen it in writing
or print, or else by reason of having heard it.
But if you have both seen and heard it, you
have a double impression and possessed two possible ways of
reviving the impression. You are able to remember an orange
by reason of having seen it, smelt it, felt it,
and tasted it, and having heard its nos pronounced. Endeavor
to know a thing from as many sense impressions as possible,
Use the eye to assist ear impressions, and the ear
to assist in eye impressions. See the thing from as
many angles as possible. Point three. Sense impressions may be
strengthened by exercising the particular faculty through which the weak
impressions are received. You will find that either your eye
memory is better than your ear memory, or vice versa.
The remedy lies in exercising the weaker faculty so as
to bring it up to the standard of the stronger.
The chapters of eye and ear training will help you
along these lines. The same rule applies to the several
phases of memory. Develop the weak ones, and the strong
ones will take care of themselves. The only way to
develop a sense or faculty is to intelligently train, exercise
and use it. Use exercise and practice will work miracles
in this direction. Point four. Make your first impression strong
and firm enough to serve as a basis for subsequent ones.
Get into the habit of fixing a clear, strong impression
of a thing to be considered from the first. Otherwise
you are trying to build up a large structure upon
a poor foundation. Each time you revive an impression, you
deepen it. But if you have only a dim impression
to begin with, the deepened impressions will not include details
omitted in the first one. It is like taking a
good sharp negative of a picture that you intend to
enlarge afterward. The details lacking in the small picture will
not appear in the enlargement, but those that do appear
in the small way one will be enlarged with the picture.
Zero point five. Revive your impressions frequently and thus deepen them.
You will know more of a picture by seeing it
a few minutes every day for a week than you
would by spending several hours before it at one time.
So it is with the memory. By recalling an impression
a number of times, you fix it indelibly in your
mind in such a way that it may be readily
found when needed. Such impressions are like favorite tools, which
you need every little while. They are not apt to
be mislaid, as are those which are but seldom used.
Use your imagination in going over a thing that you
wish to remember. If you are studying a thing, you
will find that this going over in your imagination will
help you materially in disclosing the things that you have
not remembered about it. By thus recognizing your weak points
of memory, you may be able to pick up the
missing details when you study the object itself the next time.
Zero point six. Use your memory and place confidence in it.
One of the important things in the cultivation of the
memory is the actual use of it. Begin to trust
it a little, and then more, and then still more,
and it will rise to the occasion the man who
has to tie a string around his finger in order
to remember certain things soon begins to cease to use
his memory, and in the end forgets to remember the
string or what it is for there are many details,
of course, with which it is folly to charge the memory,
but one should never allow his memory to fall into disuse.
If you are in an occupation in which the work
is done by mechanical health helps, then you should exercise
the memory by learning verses or other things in order
to keep it in active practice. Do not allow your
memory to atrophy. Zero point seven. Establish as many associations
for an impression as possible. If you have studied the
preceding chapters, you will recognize the value of this point.
Association is memory's method of indexing and cross indexing. Each
association renders it easier to remember or recollect the thing.
Each association gives you another string to your mental bow.
Endeavor to associate a new bit of knowledge with something
already known by and familiar to you. In this way
to avoid the danger of having the thing isolated and
alone in your mind without a label or index number
and non name. Connect your object or thought to be
remembered with other objects or thoughts by the association of
contiguity in space and time, and by relationship of kind, resemblance,
or oppositeness. Sometimes the latter is very useful, as in
the case of the man who said that Smith reminds
me so much of Brown, he's so different. You will
often be able to remember a thing by remembering something
else that happened at the same place or about the
same time. These things give you the loose ends of recollection,
whereby you may unwind the ball of memory. In the
same way, one is often able to recollect names by
slowly running over the alphabet with a pencil until the
site of the capital first letter of the name brings
the memory of those following it. This, however, only when
the name has pre obviously been memorized by sight. In
the same way, the first few notes of a musical
selection will enable you to remember the whole air, or
the first words of a sentence the entire speech or
selection following it. In trying to remember a thing which
has escaped you, you will find it helpful to think
of something associated with that thing, even remotely. A little
practice will enable you to recollect the thing along the
lines of the faintest association or clue. Some men are
adept memory detectives following this plan. The loose end in
memory is all the expert requires. Any associations furnish these
loose ends. An interesting and important fact to remember in
this connection is that if you have some one thing
that tends to escape your memory, you may counteract the
trouble by noting these associated things that have previously served
to bring it into mind with you. The associated thing,
once noted, may thereafter be used as a loose end
with which to unwind the elusive fact or impression. This
idea of association is quite fascinating when you begin to
employ it in your memory exercises and work, and you
will find many little methods of using it. But always
use natural association and avoid the temptation of endeavoring to
tie your memory up with the red tape of the
artificial systems. Point eight. Group your impressions. This is but
a form of association, but is very important. If you
can arrange your bits of knowledge and fact into logical groups,
you will always be master of your subject. By associating
your knowledge with other knowledge a along the same general lines,
both by resemblances and by opposites, you will be able
to find what you need, just when you need it.
Napoleon Bonaparte had a mind trained along these lines. He
said that his memory was like a large case of
small drawers and pigeonholes, in which he filed his information
according to its kind. In order to do this, he
used the methods mentioned in this book of comparing the
new thing with the old ones, and then deciding into
which group it naturally fitted. This is largely a matter
of practice and knack, but it may be acquired by
a little thought and care aided by practice, and it
will repay one well for the trouble in acquiring it.
The following table will be found useful in classifying objects ideas, facts,
et cetera, so as to correlate and as sociate them
with other facts of a like kind. The table is
to be used in the line of questions addressed to
oneself regarding the thing under consideration. It somewhat resembles the
table of questions given in Chapter seventeen of this book,
but has the advantage of brevity. Memorize this table and
use it. You will be delighted at the results. After
you have caught the knack of applying it. Query table,
ask yourself the following questions regarding the thing under consideration.
It will draw out many bits of information and associated
knowledge in your mind. One what two, whence three? Where four?
When five? How? Six? Why? Seven? Whither. While the above
seven queries are given you as a means of acquiring
clear impressions and associations, they will also serve as a
magic key to knowledge if you use them intelligently. If
you can answer these questions regarding anything, you will know
a great deal about that particular thing. And after you
have answered them fully, there will be but little unexpressed
knowledge regarding that thing left in your memory. Try them
on one thing. You cannot understand them otherwise unless you
have a very good imagination,