MEMORIZATION:

MEMORIZATION:

The History And Application

MOTIVATOR

TLO:

• ACTION: Understand historic memorization techniques and be able to use the modern application of these techniques in COE.

• CONDITION: Given conference presentation, student notes, student handout, and demonstration.

• STANDARD: Understand and be able to answer questions about the History and Use of memory techniques. Be able to memorize 25 items, in order, in under 10 minutes.

ADMINISTRATIVE:

• RISK ASSESSMENT LEVEL: Low

• SAFETY REQUIREMENTS: Stay Awake, Stay Alive

• ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS: Police up your gear and any trash you have before leaving

EVALUATION:

• Students will be expected to remember several key historical figures.

• The reasoning behind using repetition vs. visualization.

• Three different mnemonic memory techniques.

COE:

WHAT WE WILL COVER:

• History of mnemonics and memorization theory

• Modern research related to memorization

• Practical application of a few memorization techniques.

HISTORY:

• Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 – 43 BC)– Considered Rome’s

greatest orator– Introduced Rome to the

Greek school of thought– Wrote extensively on

memory as pertains to oration

– Could purportedly remember the name of everyone he ever met

History: (Cont.)• Simonides of Ceos

(556 – 468 BC)– A well known Greek lyrical

poet.– One of the first to create

poetry to be read instead of recited.

– Realized the potential of spacial memory after a disaster caused by the twin gods Caster and Pollux.

History: (Cont.)

“Writing weakens the memory and destroys the mind, it is an inhuman thing”

- SocratesPainting “The Death of Socrates”

History: (Cont.)

- Organization of the mind

- Rich imagery attached to spatial memories

History: (Cont.)

• Thomas Aquinas (AD 1225 – 1274)An Italian Dominican Priest

• Francisco Petrarch (AD 1304 – 1374)An Italian Scholar and Poet

• Giordano Bruno (AD 1548 – 1600)An Italian Dominican Friar

Many more people have written on memory systems; most are based on the classic spatial memory systems.

History: (Cont.)

• Today the most common memory systems use repetition.

• These systems are made necessary by the group emphasis in learning.

• Classic education meant personal responsibility. • The only corporate push to be educated, involved a

family name or title that needed to be protected. It included personal tutors, mentors and very few classroom environments as we have today.

QUICK CHECK ON LEARNING:

• QUESTION: What did Socrates think about writing?• ANSWER: He thought that it weakened the mind.• QUESTION: What was “Cicero” known for in Rome

and through his writings?• ANSWER: His excellent oratory skills and his work on

memory.• QUESTION: What was the historic use of mnemonic

systems?• ANSWER: Public speaking and debate, Oratory skills.

MODERN RESEARCH:

• With new innovations in science in the 20th century, interest in the brain has grown dramatically.

• The ability to track which area of the brain is active at any given time. Has allowed researchers to validate what area of the brain is being used by mental athletes.

• Researchers have specifically been able to target the right posterior hippocampus as an extremely active area in someone who uses these types of visualization techniques.

MODERN RESEARCH: (Cont.)

• In 1928 a Russian journalist began to be studied by a Russian neuropsychologist by the name of A.R. Luria.

• This journalist had two conditions: – One was that he basically remembered everything.– The other was a condition known as synesthesia.

• Synesthesia is a condition that causes every sense to be interpreted visually.

• This journalist described the way he was able to maintain his sanity, “I imagine I’m walking down the street and I take memories and paste them as I got so that they have a place to stay.”

MODERN RESEARCH: (Cont.)• In 2000 a neuroscientist by the

name of Eleanor Maguire did an MRI study on taxi drivers.

• In it she found that taxi drivers in London tended to have a right posterior hippocampus that is on avg. 7% larger than normal.

• This was not surprising as it is the part of the brain involved in spatial navigation.

MODERN RESEARCH: (Cont.)

• Maguire later decided to test a group of mental athletes with the same test while doing minor memory gymnastics.

• Not only did their spatial navigation area light up but so did the part of their brains that controlled visual memory.

• The mental athletes describe a very similar process in memorizing that the Journalist from 1928 described.

• Remember Simonides and his trick of remembering spatially?

Interesting Story:

• Does anyone know who Samuel Clemons was?

• Twain was a huge proponent of the study of memory

• Created and marketed “A walk in History”


• QUESTION: Where in the brain is does your spatial navigation operate?

• ANSWER: Right Posterior Hippocampus.• QUESTION: What is Synesthesia?• ANSWER: A condition that causes someone to

experience the senses visually.• QUESTION: Who is Samuel Clemons?• ANSWER: Mark Twain.

APPLICATION:

• You will learn 3 different methods of memorization today.

• Unlike the methods you may be used to, these rely heavily on visualization.

• Have fun, your brain is awesome.

APPLICATION: (Cont.)

• The “Chain” Method:– Images are connected in pairs.– You must distinguish first from the next one in line and

so on.– The next image will always be on, in, or connected to the

right side of the first image.– The images should always be visualized as approximately

the same size, and in contact with each other.– Memorize with the greatest amt of detail possible.– Try to visualize each set for about 6 seconds.


Example, If you are given these five words to memorize:

Phone – Cupboard – Book – TV set – Cup

It might something like this:1. A Cupboard sitting on a Phone2. A Book in a Cupboard3. A TV Set in the book4. A Cup on the TV Set


• The Peg Method:– The strength of the Peg Method is that it has number association

to it.• These associations can get extremely complicated attaching systems of

letters to each number and then creating word visualizations from those letters.

– The one you will learn to day will simply be a rhyming peg system.• 1. Bun, 2. Shoe, 3. Tree, 4.Door , 5.Hive , 6.Sticks , 7.Heaven , 8.Gate,

9.Vine , 10.Den• These images will be your “support images” they are the pegs your hang

your memories on.• We will do word pairs with this just like with the “Chain Method” except

we won’t link them together.• Remember it’s important to visualize similar sizes,


Example, If you are given these five words to memorize:


It might something like this:1. Bun: Visualize the Phone being put in a bun2. Shoe: Visualize a giant Shoe Cupboard filled with dishes3. Tree: Visualize a tree with books growing from it4. Door: Visualize a TV set with a door in it5. Hive: Visualize a beehive inside a cup.


• The System of Loci – or The Memory Palace:– The idea is to memorize a route through your home. – In this route through your home you will memorize

certain items.– These items will be your “support items,” just like the

number pegs in the “Peg Method”– The spatial navigation that you are using acts as a

support to your memories.– Once practiced this method is incredibly strong and

has been used for thousands of years by Orators.

APPLICATION: (Cont.)Example, If you are given these five words to memorize:


It might something like this:1. I open my front door, but instead it’s an iPhone.2. I stoop to keep from hitting my head on the Cupboard hanging in the

chandelier.3. A Piano is to my left with book spines for keys, all of them have the one

title.4. Across the room is a lamp that is inserted into the broken top of a TV Set.5. I walk into the next room and notice a cup the size of my easy chair

sitting in my easy chair.


• Explain the basic idea of the Chain Method

• Explain the basic idea of the Peg Method

• Explain the basic idea of the Loci Method

DEMONSTRATION:

• As a group come up with 25 random objects

• One student will text the list to the instructor:(440) 454-3771

• The Instructor will have five minutes to memorize the list of 25 items in order:

• The instructor will write or verbalize items to be verified by the classroom.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE:

• Students will be given a handout with 25 random items.

• Students will be given 10 minutes to memorize the list of 25 items in order.

• The class will review items to be verified as a group.

• Remember… Have Fun!

CHECK ON LEARNING:

• QUESTION: Who is credited with first coming up with the idea of spatial memory

• ANSWER: Simonides of Ceos• QUESTION: Who was Cicero?• ANSWER: A great Roman philosopher and orator• QUESTION: Why is repetition the main way of

memorization taught in schools today?• ANSWER: It is an easier method to use in a group

setting as different people have different ways of visualizing things.

CHECK ON LEARNING: (Cont.)

• QUESTION: What are some situations where a strong memorization would be an asset.

• ANSWER: Tactical Military Operations, Medical Operations, Business, Relationships, Shopping for groceries.

• QUESTION: Name the three memory systems that we talked about today.

• Answer: Chain Link System, The Peg System, The Loci System/ Memory Palace System.

SUMMARY:• Some really intelligent individuals of the past needed to

remember stuff.• They created systems to organize the way we remember.• These systems (like any other art) take effort to master.• These systems of memory are still relevant today as they force us

to become masters of our own minds.• When we master ourselves, we become masters of the situations

we find ourselves in.• This is relevant to us as service members for obvious reasons. We

constantly face the possibility of being in life or death situations. Where our understanding and memory could mean the difference in life and death for ourselves and those we protect.

TLO: (Restated)

• ACTION: Understand historic memorization techniques and be able to use the modern application of these techniques in COE.

• CONDITION: Given conference presentation, student notes, student handout, and demonstration.

• STANDARD: Understand and be able to answer questions about the History and Use of memory techniques. Be able to memorize 25 items, in order, in under 10 minutes.

Questions:

THIS CONCLUDES MY CLASS

AAR:

• What was supposed to happen?

• What really happened?

• Strengths.

• Weaknesses.

• How to improve on weaknesses.

Documents

MEMORIZATION: