Journey System

The journey method is based around the idea of remembering landmarks on a well-known journey. You use the Journey Method by associating information with landmarks on a journey that you know well. This could, for example, be your journey to work in the morning; the route you use to get to the front door when you get up; the route to visit your parents; or a tour around a holiday destination. Once you are familiar with the technique you may be able to create imaginary journeys that fix in your mind, and apply these.

To use this technique most effectively, it is often best to prepare the journey beforehand. In this way the landmarks are clear in your mind before you try to commit information to them. One of the ways of doing this is to write down all the landmarks that you can recall in order on a piece of paper.

To remember a list of items, whether these are people, experiments, events or objects, all you need do is associate these things with the landmarks or stops on your journey.

This is an extremely effective method of remembering long lists of information. With a sufficiently long journey you could, for example, remember elements on the periodic table, lists of Kings and Presidents, geographical information, or the order of cards in a shuffled pack.

The system is extremely flexible: all you need do to remember many items is to remember a longer journey with more landmarks. To remember a short list, only use part of the route!

One advantage of this technique is that you can use it to work both backwards and forwards, and start anywhere within the route to retrieve information.

Example:

You may, as a simple example, want to remember something mundane like this shopping list:

Coffee, salad, vegetables, bread, kitchen paper, fish, chicken breasts, pork chops, soup, fruit, bath tub cleaner.

You could associate this list with a journey to a supermarket. Mnemonic images could be:

Front door: spilt coffee grains on the doormat Rose bush in front garden: growing lettuce leaves and tomatoes around the roses Car: with potatoes, onions and cauliflower on the driver`s seat End of the road: an arch of French bread over the road Past garage: with its sign wrapped in kitchen roll Under railway bridge: from which haddock and cod are dangling by their tails Traffic lights : chickens squawking and flapping on top of lights Past church: in front of which a pig is doing karate, breaking boards Under office block: with a soup slick underneath: my car tires send up jets of tomato soup as I drive through it Past car park: with apples and oranges tumbling from the top level Supermarket car park: a filthy bath tub is parked in the space next to my car!

As the journeys used are distinct in location and form, one list remembered using this technique is easy to distinguish from other lists.

Taking shortcuts mnemonic

Although the visual mnemonic route (the Link system) can potentially carry much more than just one image, the lack of time you have could make identifying an image impractical in some situations.

Visual mnemonics take much more time for you to develop than do peg, link, story, or phonetic mnemonics. When you don't have a lot of time and need to develop a quick way to remember something important, using a peg may be wiser.

For example, if you're listening to a lecture and don't have a notepad, then you'll end up in the dust when the lecturer moves on to another subject while you're trying to conjure up a visual image.

One of the advantages the Peg system has over the story mnemonic system, phonetic, or link systems is that you can select individual items from a list. In contrast, the link system relies on a sequence. Like the Loci system, which depends on pre memorized location-connected links, the Peg system use pre memorized word or number links. With the Peg system, that information connects to nouns.

The more complex or abstract the noun, the more vulnerable it may be to association with other words or ideas. The nouns are most useful if they are concrete nouns.

Whatever mnemonic system you use, make sure that it's flexible and meets the demands of what you're trying to remember. Practice using mnemonics so that you'll be versatile in their use.

Project index

• 15 Math game and memory game.
• 15_01 Math game and memory game.
• 15_slip02 Math game and memory game.
• digits_chain Math game and memory game.
• math_chain Math game and memory game.
• math_square Math game and memory game.
• memorize_digit_01 Math game and memory game.
• memorize_digit_02 Math game and memory game.
• sudoku_00 Math game and memory game.
• sudoku_01 Math game and memory game.
• Mnemonic main conclusions
• Mnemonic article
• Herbal and memory
• Acronims mnemonic memory technique
• Sentences and acrostics mnemonic memory technique
• Mnemonic and Practical uses of the system
• Chunking mnemonic memory technique
• Classic Mnemonics
• Memorize the numbers mind online game
• Memorizing Numbers mind game
• Examples of mnemonic techniques
• Mnemonic examples
• Mnemonic History
• Journey System
• The keyword mnemonic technique
• Letter mnemonic memory technique
• What is mnemonic memory