The keyword mnemonic technique

The keyword method is extremely versatile and has a variety of helpful applications. One possibility is in teaching new vocabulary words.

The keyword technique help to remember that barrister is another word for lawyer, first create a keyword for the unfamiliar word, barrister. Remember, a keyword is a word that sounds like the new word and is easily pictured. A good keyword for barrister then, is bear. Then, you create a picture of the keyword and the definition doing something together. It is important that these two things actually interact and are not simply presented in the same picture. Therefore, a picture of a bear and a lawyer in one picture is not a good mnemonic, because the elements are not interacting. A better picture would be a bear who is acting as a lawyer in a courtroom, for example, pleading his client's innocence. We have created pictures and shown them on overhead projectors, but you could show them in other ways as well. When you practice this strategy, be certain understand all parts of it.

Mnemonics can also be used in acquiring foreign language vocabulary. A list of some Italian vocabulary words (from Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1991, p. 24) and corresponding mnemonic strategies are given in Table 1. Before you read, cover up the keywords and strategies and see if you can come up with your own.

 Keywords have also been used to improve recall of map locations. It is much more learning disabilities were much more successful in locating Revolutionary War battle locations on a map when they were mnemonically encoded (e.g., a picture of a tiger, keyword for Fort Ticonderoga) than when representational pictures were used. When asked for the location of Fort Ticonderoga, students proved much more able to identify where on the map the tiger had been than they were to identify the location of a more traditional illustration. Further, if the tiger was shown tending a cannon, students were more likely to remember that at Fort Ticonderoga, cannons were captured that were helpful in the American war effort (Brigham, Scruggs, & Mastropieri, 1995).

The most important step toward a better memory is deciding that you want to improve your skills. You can improve your memory if you follow simply evereday rules and then practice, practice, practice.

Simonides mnemonic technique

This memory trick was invented after a grisly event in ancient Greece. Back in around 500 BC, a Greek who won a wrestling match in the Olympic games celebrated by having a feast at his house. A man named Simonides gave a speech praising the wrestler, then he left the banquet hall. While he was out, the roof collapsed, crushing everyone inside. though the bodies of the guests were mangled beyond recognition, Simonides could remember where each person had been seated. By doing that, he could name all of the people who were at the feast. Knowing where each person was sitting helped him remember who was there.

Simonides realized that he could use his imagination and a set of locations to help him remember other things. The trick you just learned is the same as Simonides's trick -- but you used places in your house instead of seats at a banquet table.

This trick helps you remember for the same reasons that telling yourself a story about the pictures helped you remember. You are connecting all these different things and you are picturing them in your mind.

With this trick you are doing one more thing: you are giving yourself a hint that helps you pull out the memory of something. Sometimes all you need to help you remember something is a little hint. When you think "bathtub," that tells you to remember "duck" (or whatever you put in your bathtub).

First, walk through your house and find 10 different places where you could put something. For instance, you could put something on the couch in the living room, the top of the TV set, on the counter in the kitchen, the refrigerator, the bathtub, your own bed, and so on.

Choose any 10 places you like, but make sure that you can walk from one to the next easily and in the same order every time. Spend a little bit of time imagining yourself walking from one place to another, looking at each one. Make sure that you can remember all 10 places.

Next, look at the pictures you are want memorize for two minutes. When you look at the pictures, imagine each object in one of the places in your house. The sillier the picture you imagine, the more likely you are to remember it.

Do the same thing for every other item on the list. Imagine yourself walking from one place to another in your house and seeing the things you've imagined.

Any time you need to remember a list, you can use the same set of locations in your house. One warning: creating a new list usually wipes out the old one. So if you need to remember more than one list you need to have more than one set of locations.

Try these tricks when you have to remember a list of things -- whether it's stuff you need to buy at the store or vocabulary words for school -- and see how your memory improves!

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