Andy, do you know anything at all about memory techniques?

I can see from your post that you have somehow misunderstood me. In memory techniques you replace numbers with things that are easier to remember, for example people, or things. I did not write I try to remember numbers as opposed to objects/people, I wrote I have difficulties using people TO REMEMBER numbers.

Mikael

Try reading "Your Memory: A User's Guide" by Alan Baddeley for an interesting look at how (and why) memory works (and doesn't).

How does your memory work?
I do not remember

Everyone's memory is different. For example, try this. I am going to give you a word, then you think of five words that you associate with that word. Do this for real, don't just read this post. Ready?

The word is:

BRICK


The words that you though of are?


If you thought: red, wall, chimney, fireplace, mortar, etc. you are a visual thinker, you will do well with pictures.

If you thought: brake, broke, trick, stick, etc. you are an auditory thinker, perhaps bigwolf with his swing to remember big numbers is like this.

Most people are visual thinkers. That's why it's called imagination. You make mental images. I don't know if there is an equivalent term for making mental sounds.

I am not particularly good at remembering people without using mnemonics. Dominic O'Brien's people method would not be well suited for me, but obviously it works great for him. The key is to find out how your mind works, then use what works for you.

One last thing: use your whole brain. By this I mean that if you are looking for images with strong emotional content, do not restrict yourself to the emotions of happiness, joy and contentment. Use disgust, horror, pity, everything. Don't neglect sex and violence. Your limbic system is part of your brain too, get in there and make it work for you.

You already have a great deal of stuff in your memory. Learn how to hook the junk that you are memorizing for tricks to the stuff you already have and you can work wonders. But you must discover how to do this yourself.

Good luck!

Yours,

Paul

http://www.memoryelixir.com

Mikael,

It takes me a while to remember name-position-extension number people stuff.

It seems as if I can't remember nominal distinctions until I can imagine them and recall what I felt about them.

Someone said I'm a 'sensation' type, which means basicly that I go from internal sensation to external references when I associate things. While it has advantages, being able to meet and remember a room full of names and faces is NOT one of them. Being able to remember if coffee was served and what was there for snacks is nice though.

I have come to some conclusions concerning memory techniques.

I have found the memory stunts like memorizing a deck of cards, or memorizing a 30-digit number to be of no value for me or most people in the daily life.

Therefore I have given up my plans of doing these things, especially since I could never really learn to do them well.

Instead I will lean back and watch my ability to remember names, happenings, phone numbers etc grow. These are some of the things I encounter in my daily life, and I'm happy to say that my ability to remember them are increasing, even if I don't use memory techniques. I have made some discoveries myself about how to remember more. Some of which I might not even be able to formulate. I also have some theories concerning memory and also speed reading I'm going to test. If the speed reading thing works, it will be a new method, that I have not seen described anywhere.

The only bad thing about not doing stunts, is that I can't really show the efficiency of memory techniques to people. They have to trust my words. And I have made painful discoveries the last months that people don't trust the words of others.

Mikael

My memory is great ever since I took that Fred Carnigie course

Jeff

Quote:
"How does your memory work?"

What is a memory?
Vaclav

I have a mind like a steel trap...anything that gets into it gets mangled.

Steve

In a name Tony Buzan. look him up for info.

The issues you have with recall can be put down to a few things, but this is the most common...
The pegs and hooks you use can loose all meaning if you use the same ones for everything. After a while you may have over 300 hooks for one peg that you have over used. This will send your skill into reverse.
What is advised is to use a master prefix before you memorize. ie. To memorize PI you may use a master key of a giant apple pie, you then associate all pegs to the apple pie. This keeps all pegs with PI hooks under the Master image.

If I say to you "close your eyes and picture a cat", you don't have to SEE a cat on the back of your eyelids. You just have to imagine a cat, to think about it. Imagine a 50 meter tall cat with a giant ringing bell around its neck. Now you should be imagining the sound of the bell too.
When I 'Visualise' I use the term to encompass all senses. I see the cat, I hear the cat, I smell the cat, I stroke the cat. I run and jump with the cat. This makes the memory near unforgettable.
With people, I have a good overall recognition. I can see who people are, by posture and gait from behind and at distance. I have spotted an aquaintance in a busy crowd across a road, not planned too meet. Seen an ex-workmate in a supermarket in Spain, Just got about 1/4 second glimpse and that was enough.
Anything I learn about someone it repeated and stored using standard visu-SEMM3 to their existing profile.

I can average a deck of 52 cards in about 3-4 minutes. each has a basic hook value.
Big numbers are getting to be a fave of mine. I get a spec to write a 25-50 digit number. I look at it for 1 minute then give it back.
Then they can test me at any time. Like 20 minutes later or straight away. Any number any position, sum of adjacent numbers when only 1 number given.

I drive people crazy with facts about themselves that they had forgotten. Things like, "Remember in the second grade you were wearing that blue and yellow outfit and Mrs Smith said..." I always get reactions of disbelief and then amazement that I remembered something so insignificant about others. I can list all my teachers and friends back to the first grade and even their pets and parents names.
I can tell you I'm popular at reunions of all kinds. Ha Ha!

Ask me what I had for dinner last week, however, and I forget. I heard it has something to do with our brain cells dying off as we age.In our youth, our brain cells were vibrant and fresh so we retain those memories. The reason scientist give to why people with Alziemers (sp?) remember their childhood but forget things that occurred even a day before.

I'm terrible with names now and often forget but will always remember faces. It must be that I am a visual learner?

A few years ago I took a linguistics course and the instructor had us list an adjective before our names. Within minutes every one knew and remembered their classmates names, including myself. It worked!!

HI Doc!

When I read what 'Big Wolf' had to say about memorizing PI to that many places I IMMEDIATELY thought of Doc Wilson... why ? Because HE has memorized it to several thousand decimals !

Surprised me that one, he appeared here so shortly after I thought of him (kinda magical), and two, that he didn't 'toot his own horn' on that subject... Mikael, you would be wise to follow the good Dr.'s advice, he KNOWS what he speaks of !

Can you give a few examples, and what was the explanation it works?



Mikael