Memory
Remembering Names and Faces
1. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE NAME.
Pay attention - you can not remember something you did not
listen too in the first place
2. MAKE THE NAME MEANINGFUL BY ASSOCIATE IT WITH
A DISTINCTIVE FEATURE.
Find a distinctive feature of the person, and associate it with
something meaningful. (“Eye-rings” for President Eyring’s
glasses)
Three R’s of
Remembering
1) Receive information
2) Retain information
3) Recall information
3. REVIEW THE NAME AND THE ASSOCIATION.
Remember the importance of repetition! Repeat the name
throughout the conversation, ask about it, write it down, etc.
MNEMONICS
1. ACRONYMS/ACROSTICS
Acronyms: Make a word using the first letters of each item on a list
Acrostics: The first letters of each word become the first letters of a
word in a new sentence
Example: Remembering the order of mathematical operations
(Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition,
Subtraction)
Acronym: PEMDAS Acrostic: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
3. PEG SYSTEM
What Kind of
Learner Are
You?
Visual
Learns by seeing
Find “pegs” you can use to “hang” the items on your list
(rhyming words with numbers, the alphabet, the Scout oath)
Associate the new material with each of the peg words in order
Example: Remembering the 10 Commandments.
One-gun No other gods before me: People worshipping a golden
gun.
Two-glue, No graven images: People making an image out of glue.
Seeing written words
Watching the Professor
Rewriting important topics
3. LINK AND STORY METHOD
Listening to the Professor
Participating in class
Study groups
Get a picture of the first item in your mind.
Associate the item with the next item on your list by visually
picturing both items together in a ridiculous or impossible way.
Example: Remembering a Grocery list – milk, eggs, bread, and
cereal. Imagine eggs floating in milk visualize cracking an egg and
finding bread inside. Imagine breakfast cereal shaped like bread
slices.
Auditory
Learns by hearing
Kinesthetic
Learns by doing
Taking notes
Raising hand in class
Hands on activities
For more information about our workshops
2590 Wilkinson Student Center
(801)422-2689
ccc.byu.edu
Seven ways to Retain Information
Theses seven properties can make it easier to retain and recall information. The more properties
that are involved the more likely a person will be able to remember information.
1.
MEANINGFULNESS: “THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE”
•
Become more familiar with the subject.
•
Make up a rhyme involving the material to be learned.
•
Find a pattern, rule, or underlying principle.
2.
ORGANIZATION: “GET IT ALL TOGETHER”
•
Arrange and order the material in a meaningful sequence.
•
Group material into similar categories.
•
The serial position effect says that material presented at the beginning and at the
end is easiest to remember. Arrange items so that less meaningful items are in
the middle, or spend more time learning items in the middle.
3.
ASSOCIATION: “THAT REMINDS ME”
•
Associating information with yourself and with events in your life can help you
remember it
•
Association also gives us cross-references in our memory
•
Try the “think about it” technique: think of everything you can that might be
associated in anyway with the specific item you are trying to remember
4.
VISUALIZATION: “I CAN SEE IT ALL NOW”
•
Visualization of verbal material does not mean picturing the words themselves in
your mind but picturing the objects, events, or ideas the words stand for.
•
Images are inherently more memorable than words.
5.
ATTENTION: “What did you say”
•
Attention to learning tasks correlates more highly with school achievement than
does amount of time spent on the task.
•
The failure to pay attention is the most common reason for “forgetting” the
names of people we meet.
6.
RELAXATION: “TAKE IT EASY”
•
People with high general anxiety level tend to do worse in memory tests than
people with low general anxiety level. Stress is a frequent cause of mental blocks;
you are more likely to experience a block when you are under pressure.
7.
REPETITION: “WHAT WAS THAT AGAIN?”
•
Overlearning orcontinued learning beyond the point of bare mastery, has been
shown to be effective in strengthening learning and improving retrieval speed.
•
Repetition should be combined with other principles of learning to be effective.