Mnemonics-An introduction:
A mnemonic, originating from the greek word "mnemonikós", is a tool one can use to make the process of remembering something a lot easier. In many cases this can be a song that is short in length, phrase or anything that one can remember easily, that can be used for the purpose of making what one would usually have had a hard time remembering, a lot easier to remember.
A given example is the use of a phrase to memorize a long list consisting of items or numbers that are not easy to remember or, a set of numbers such as those in the mathematical P.I. sequence. Another way to look at mnemonics is the process of remembering things through the use of association, associating in a manner that makes it easy to remember things which involve data recollection.
Types of mnemonics:
Mnemonic types are several. Let us take a look at some below you can make use of as they are very well known for their usefulness and popularity:
One type of a mnemonic is when you use words to form other words you need to remember. To remember the word "mnemonic" easier you can try forming sentences which contain it's letters.
Example: Mister Nicholson Escorted Many Old Nice Individuals Courageously
A second type is very similar to the one above but does not spell out a word. Instead it only helps recall the order of items in a list. Lets say you had an interest in astronomy and are familiar with planet names, to help yourself remember them better would be to form a sentence which contains the first letter of each planet.
Example: My Very Elegant Madam Just Served Us Nice Plumbs--> Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
A third type that is used to remember the number of days in the year's months in the U.S is known as "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November". This however, is just part of a rhyme but happens to be the one people mostly recall and is often completed with sentences like "except February, which has twenty-eight, or twenty-nine in a leap year." The original mnemonic however is believed to be the below stated:
"Thirty days hath September-April, June & November, all the rest have thirty-one, except February alone, which has eight and a score, until leap year gives it one day more."
Variation: "Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one excepting February alone. That has twenty-eight days clear, and twenty-nine in each leap year". I have seen other slight variations too.
A fourth type is what's known as an image mnemonic. An image mnemonic is a way to remember something through the use of pictures. Image mnemonics that are silly tend to be more effective than those that aren't as they make it easier to remember information.
Such images may simply be ones you can use mentally or drawn on a piece of paper. If you cannot draw well, don't worry about how the image turns out as what matters is that you know the meaning of your image in order to help yourself remember and learn.
Example: Lets say you meet someone new by the name of Henry Beavers at an event. In order to easily recall the person's name, imagine a group of wild beavers chasing a Henry. Not the prettiest scene, I know but in terms of effectiveness, can really work to help you recall the person's name a lot easier.
-Mnemonic techniques of a complex nature
A mnemonic technique is one of several memory-supporting tools which is used to associate between things that make it easier to remember these things. Peg lists and mind-mapping tools are two of very well known mnemonic techniques. Now the power of the visual cortex is used by these techniques to make the memories' complexness simpler.
Therefore, simpler memories can be stored in a more efficient manner. For mnemonic techniques to actually be effective, they should be used in combination with active recall. For example, looking at a mind map, is not enough. You need to reconstruct it in your memory.
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