Mnemonic Devices

Mnemonic devices are methods to help remember information.  A rule of thumb when using mnemonic

devices is to keep them simple and clear.  Also, we tend to remember things that are weird, funny, or personal.                                         

1. Grouping.

Classify lists on the basis of some common characteristics. Remember the main element of the group is a key to remembering all the items. For example, group minerals by metals or stones.

 

2. Rhymes.

Set what you need to remember to a rhyme. For example, "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

 

3. Acronyms.

Use acronyms to help you remember lists of words. To create an acronym, take the first letter from each word in a list to form a key word or name. Examples- MADD (mothers against drunk driving), AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), etc.

 

4. Acrostics.

Acrostics are similar to acronyms in that you use the first letter of each word you wish to remember. Instead of making a new word, though, use the letters to make up a phrase or sentence. Here are some examples:

My Dear Aunt Sally (mathematical order of operations: Multiple and Divide before you Add and Subtract)

King Phil Came Over for the Genes Special (Biology: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Genus, and Species)

 

5. Visual Association.

Use images in your mind to link two ideas or items. The Peg system is a good way to apply this. To use the peg system, first memorize a list of "peg words." These words can be from your own imagination, or they may follow this form:

                          One - bun               four - door          seven - heaven         Ten - pen

                          Two - shoe             five - alive            eight - gate

                          Three - tree            six - sticks           nine - line 

Once the peg words are memorized, then the list words are associated with the peg word.  For example, if you had to memorize the following words: cat, bike, car, store, and, dentist. You would associate the peg words with the list words. You may picture a cat eating a little boy's hot dog bun.  A little girl rides her bicycle in front of you and her shoe gets caught in the chain, so you help her get free.  A big tree falls on top of your new car.  You have to go through a big door to enter the grocery store.  When you go to the dentist, your fear comes alive because you may have a cavity.

 

Try to make these mental pictures as vivid as possible.  Perhaps it may help to use activities and objects with which you associate every day.   Also, it may help to imagine things as extra big, extra small, weird looking, colorful, etc.

 

6. Loci.

This system consists of two steps. First, memorize a series of familiar locations in some natural logical order.   Second, place the items to be memorized with each location that you have memorized. This is like a mental filing system.

            An example of the Loci system:

            Let's say that we want to remember a list of five words: coat, fan, boat, office, and ski.

 Using my apartment as my location system, I would memorize the words by putting them into my daily routine as follows: I wake up in the morning and go to the sink to brush my teeth and look into the mirror where I look at myself and think, I do not want to go to the office today.  Second, I turn the fan on in the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed.  Third, I sit down to eat breakfast.  As I eat breakfast, I read the paper and notice a nice boat for sale.  Fourth, I go to the closet and get my coat to leave for work.  Fifth, I drive down Main Street and notice all the cars with their ski equipment on top heading to the resorts. I think how nice it would be to have the day off.