Tricks and Devices

The finest ship in the world never takes to sea without a lifeboat on board. In the same way, the most exceptional and fauldess memory, just like the most luxurious liner, sometimes needs a litde help. Mnemonic methods, those one selects from the vast range that already exist and those that one creates for oneself, are there precisely to be used as a means of recall when faced with a sudden loss of memory.

The temporary mental block that occurs when one is overcome with examination nerves, when one is making a speech or is involved in a debate – or, for that matter, in any everyday situation – is not something that happens just to others. It is at moments like these that one must have one’s life-boat and know how to launch it in time.

In order to retain what one does not want to forget, often the safest way – besides a good general knowledge of one’s subject – is to learn a certain number of tricks or devices.

We have all used devices at school when we were young in order to remember, for example, how to spell certain words. ‘I before E except after C’ is just one of many that help us spell correcdy when we have a temporary lapse of memory.

Others include ‘Knock off the Y and add IES’ and the sentence that ensures we spell ‘necessary’ correctly: Never Eat Cake Eat Smoked Salmon And Remain Young.

In this section there are a range of tests of varying difficulty. However those who have mastery of the areas covered or have the appropriate mnemonic keys will be able to answer the questions without hesitation.

It is really a matter – in the form of a game – of practising certain mental tricks and thus developing your own personal methods of retaining those facts that you wish to remember.

With most of the tests, there is a table for scores so that you can evaluate your performance.

ONE ANCIENT METHOD

In ancient Greece, when people settled a boundary between two fields, they brought with them a child and gave him a good spanking. The idea was to fix the contract in his mind so that he would be a sort of human land register in case the grown-ups were killed in battle. But we would not advise teachers to adopt such a procedure!

THE LOCI

In ancient times people attached great importance to ‘landmarks’ in order to memorise a speech. Knowing how to visualise these was believed to be the key to a good memory. Among the Romans, having a good memory was an essential part of rhetoric. An orator had to be able to make long speeches with the greatest precision. And to do that, he had to implant in his mind a series of ‘places’ (loci, the plural of locus, is the Latin for places).

So the orator would chose a building or rooms in a house with their various ornaments. Each of these he associated with the various images he needed to recall in his speech. So, for example, if he wanted to talk about liberty, he would mentally ‘place’ a bird in the square outside – or a spear if he wanted to discuss war. To jog his memory, all he had to do was to go through these ‘places’ in the order of his discourse and in this way he remembered, following a logical progression, the subjects he wanted to cover.

This theory of ‘places’ was developed by various writers, notably Cicero. And herein lies the origin of the expression ‘in the first place’.

NINETEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE

This exercise consists of checking whether you remember English writers of the 19th century. All you have to do is write down the name of ten writers, poets or philosophers of this great period on an answer paper. The object is not particularly to test your literary knowledge. It is in no way a question of ‘culture’ in the strict sense of the term, but more a way of measuring your ability to recall names that you know but which are perhaps buried deep in your memory.

Even if you are not necessarily familiar with their works, you will inevitably have come across the names of these people in one context or another. In order to come up with many more that ten, you would probably have to delve deep into your store of knowledge.

If the names do not come to mind instandy, then you have lost the ‘key’ to this store and have no magic formula to help you. If you had, then you would be in a position to fill in the table with the minimum of effort.

You have three minutes to complete the exercise. Score two points for each correct answer. Answers are given on the next page.

Possible answers for evaluation

1. Charlotte Bronte

2. Robert Browning

3. Lord Byron

4. John Keats

5. Thomas Hardy

6. Robert Louis Stevenson

7. Alfred Tennyson

8. William Thackeray

9. William Wordsworth

10. Charles Dickens

MEMORY AND MNEMONIC METHODS

In Greek mythology, Mnemosynis was a Titan, one of the six daughters of Uranus (who personified the Sky) and Gaia (the Earth). She personified Memory (memoria in Latin).

Mnemonic methods are techniques that everyone can use for helping their memory. They consist of converting information into images or of finding a simple formula for retention through analogy or phonetic or visual comparisons.

You invent a relationship or association between something you want to remember and something that is already firmly fixed in your mind, like your date of birth for example.

Answer analysis

A word of advice

Learning this sentence by heart will not, of course, make you an expert in nineteenth century literature. Such a method has its limits. However it can, in addition to enabling you to make a list, enable you to place a writer straight away in his or her correct period.

Remember

To find the names of ten writers from the nineteenth century, remember the following sentence:

Hardy Bronte lay browning by Ron Keats and Tenny’s son Thackeray, while Steven’s son recited words worthy of Dickens.

ENGLISH RIVERS

Among the practical geographical exercises pupils are presented with at school is one in which they are asked to mark certain natural features on a blank map of a country. For example, they may be asked to identify the main rivers in England.

This test involves your capacity to remember eight of the major rivers in ENGLAND, not the British Isles. You certainly learned these at school and this exercise is not so much a question of testing your general knowledge as of measuring your capacity to recall ‘stored’ information.

Here is a list of different British rivers. Extract the ones that flow in England and list these on your answer paper:

Severn

Tay

Foyle

Tyne

Exe

Erne

Mersey

Clyde

Mourne

Humber

Tees

Dee

Medway

Bann

Forth

Thames

Answers for evaluation

1. Severn

2. Tyne

3. Exe

4. Mersey

5. Humber

6. Tees

7. Medway

8. Thames

Answer analysis

Seven tiny ex-mercenaries hum Bertie’s tune midway themselves.

From this sentence, you can extract the following:

Seven

=

Severn

Tiny

=

Tyne(y)

Mercenaries

=

Mersey(naries)

Hum Bertie’s

=

Humber/Tees

Midway

=

Medway

Themselves

=

Thames(elves)

A word of advice

In order to remember these ‘trick’ sentences, repeat them to yourself, in bed for example, when you are having some trouble sleeping.

Remember

Seven tiny ex-mercenaries hum Bertie’s tune midway themselves.

EUROPEAN UNION

This test is relatively easy. It does not require any particular knowledge and can be successfully completed without any recourse to a mnemonic method. However we all know that the obvious is the first thing we forget, particularly when we have to answer correcdy against the clock.

In other words, it is not enough to know the countries that make up the European Union to be able to list them without any hesitation when required.

This question appears regularly in the course of various exams and is of topical interest.

You have three minutes to complete this exercise. Score two points for each correct answer.

Answers for evaluation

(in any order)

1. France

9. Denmark

2. Italy

10. Greece

3. Luxembourg

11. Sweden

4. Austria

12. United Kingdom

5. Finland

13 Ireland

6. Germany

14. Spain

7. Belgium

15. Portugal

8. The Netherlands (Holland)

Answer analysis

Even those who know the subject very well can easily, on the day of the exam or when it is really necessary to come up with the answer, find themselves in difficulty remembering all fifteen countries. In this case a mnemonic method can give them the support they need to rattle off the list.

The best speakers, the most conscientious students and even the top teachers can all have an off day when they cannot quote the information they know so well. One could make a comparison between memory and sailing: even the most experienced sailors are not immune to sea-sickness. One day the sea’s turbulence may get the better of them. So it is essential to have access to a magic formula to overcome the problem.

For this exercise, one trick amongst many that can help is to construct a sentence that includes at least one of the syllables of the name of each country, or at least sounds suf-ficiendy similar to serve as a reminder. So you could end up with something like:

Frankly Luke’s austere finger, beholden to the greasy swede, unites our land and sport.

Of course, the sentence in itself is nonsense, but strange enough to be remembered! It works as follows:

Frankly

=

France/Italy

Luke’s

=

Luxembourg

Austere

=

Austria

Finger

=

Finland/Germany

Beholden

=

Belgium/Holland/Denmark

Greasy

=

Greece

Swede

=

Sweden

Unites

=

United Kingdom

Our land

=

Ireland

Sport

=

Spain/Portugal

It is up to you to find your own sentence or other device which can work as a key to remembering the fifteen countries.

Remember

• In order to remember the fifteen member countries of the European Union:

Frankly Luke’s austere finger, beholden to the greasy swede, unites our land and sport.

THE COMMON MARKET

In 1946 Winston Churchill launched the idea of the United States of Europe. In 1950 a French economist, Jean Monnet and the French Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Schuman proposed a common policy between France and West Germany for coal and steel production.

This was the first step towards a common economic market. The basis of the original community – France, West Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – was established in 1951. In 1973 Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ireland joined and Greece followed in 1981. Spain and Portugal joined in 1986 and the recent addition of Austria, Finland and Sweden makes fifteen members of what is now known as the European Union.

THE PHILOSOPHERS’ GARDEN

This test is a little more difficult than the previous ones. It includes on the one hand Greek philosophers and on the other the difference between the leaves of the beech and hornbeam trees. While one may well know all about Greek philosophers, one’s knowledge of trees may not be quite so comprehensive.

The section relating to Greek philosophers – Plato, Aristotle and Socrates – consists of ticking the proposition you believe correcdy states who was influenced by whom. You have six possibilities, but you will only have to put three ticks, since each proposition has its opposite.

The section relating to the trees offers four propositions but, equally, you only have to tick two of them.

Simply tick those propositions you believe to be correct, which will be five out of the possible ten.

With the philosophers, be careful. There is a slight trap which some will avoid without problem. Those who have some helpful mnemonic keys for answering the questions instandy and easily will obviously be at an advantage.

You have three minutes to tick the five correct propositions. Score two points for each correct answer.

Answers for evaluation

The propositions that you should have ticked as being correct are:

1, 2, 5, 7, 10

Answer analysis

Remember

THE GREAT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

We know very little about Socrates (470-399 bc). As he did not write anything, it is principally to Plato that we owe the development of his doctrine, despite the efforts of Zenophon to belittle him. Plato was twenty when he met Socrates and he spent eight years close to him. The teachings of the master, whose wisdom was considered unrivalled, were confined to conversations and speeches. He was the founder of western philosophy. In search of justice and truth, he knew how to introduce into the most simple discussions an extraordinary moral dimension. His motto was: ‘Know yourself.

As for Plato (427-347 bc), he could be considered as the founder of western philosophical writing. His works took the form of dialogues in which his master Socrates, to whom he was deeply attached, figured as the principal speaker. Plato exercised his influence on Aristotle (384-322 bc), who imprinted largely his mark on European thought. In effect it was Aristotle who, in the Middle Ages and also during the Renaissance period, was considered the point of reference. He symbolised all the knowledge of the Ancient Greeks and was regarded as the real creator of the sciences of anatomy and physiology, as well as logic. One of the greatest intellectual minds in of all time, Aristotle was influenced in part of his philosophical thinking by his master Plato. As for his peripateticism (from the Greek peripatein, to walk around talking), he was linking himself with one of the Socratic traditions.

POST-WAR AMERICAN PRESIDENTS

Since the end of the Second World War (1945) there have been ten presidents of the United States. The following exercise, still related to mnemonic methods, consists of naming them, preferably in chronological order although this is not essential. The important thing is to be able to list them all.

You have five minutes to name your ten presidents. Score two points for each correct answer.

Answers for evaluation

The following, in chronological order, are the ten presidents of the United States since the end of the Second World War:

Answer analysis

Remember

In order to remember the ten American presidents since the Second World War:

True ice Kenjo nicks for car-ray buckling.

ONE IMAGE HOLDS ANOTHER

To help your memory, all the previous mnemonics are valuable only if they prove effective at the time you need them. The most important key to success lies in your ability to imagine, to hang images on situations and create points of reference.

Nowadays, with so many electronic devices available for noting down information (tape recorders, computers, video recorders, etc), we all too often lose sight of the role and importance of the memory. We ignore it and abuse it when it is to us like lava is to a volcano – that is to say, a power with the potential to change our lives.

In the ancient world, when printing was unheard of, memory was of prime importance. Without it, the orator could not make his speech. For the Romans, there were two kinds of images: the first concerned ‘words’ and the second ‘objects’. They were used to recall arguments, ideas or things. For the student of rhetoric, objects represented the subject of the discourse and words its language.

While the image was commonly used by all Roman authors, who were gready inspired by the Greeks, some of them even went as far as supporting the idea of creating images strong enough to cause emotional shocks in order to improve their retention.

All this work amounted to some real mental gymnastics, which called on motivation, concentration and self-discipline.

This test is based on methods of memorising which will be well-known to some and less known – or even completely new – to others. But its importance does not lie there. What really matters is to activate your mind in such a way that you can produce, in whatever situation, your own set of formulae which will act as the lifeline for your memory if this suddenly fails you at a critical moment.

You have one minute for this, test. Score two points for each correct answer.

Yes/No

Answers for evaluation

1. No. Finland is not a Scandinavian country.

2. No. Port is not on the right.

3. Yes. The history of Mesopotamia is linked with the Tigris and the Euphrates.

4. Yes. The word embarrass is spelt with two Rs.

5. No. In maths, + x – does not equal +.

6. Yes. The ratio between the circumference and the diameter is 3.1415926535.

7. Yes. Domitian was the last of the Twelve Caesars.

8. Yes. The pneumo-gastric is a cranial nerve.

9. Yes. Mercury is the nearest planet to the Sun.

10. No. Ramsgate is not one of the Cinque Ports.

Answer analysis

Question 1

In spite of what certain books might say, geographically Finland is not part of Scandinavia. On the other hand, from an economic, social and cultural point of view, there is a Nordic council made up of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland. From a linguistic point of view, Finnish belongs to the Balto-Finnish group of Finno-Ugrian languages and is in no way connected with the Scandinavian languages. Scandinavia is made up of three countries: Sweden, Norway and Denmark. To remember this, there is a key: 145. In the word Scandinavia, the first letter is an S (Sweden), the fourth an N (Norway) and the fifth a D (Denmark). There is no F (Finland).

Question 2

Facing the prow (or front end) of a boat, port is on the left and starboard is on the right. One way of remembering this is that P (as in port) comes before S (as in starboard) and L (left) comes before R (right). Another way you might find helpful is that starboard contains two Rs – doubly right!

Question 3

Both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers played a determining role in the history of Mesopotamia (now Iraq) on both a strategic and cultural level, as well as having a catastrophic effect due to flooding. So the two rivers, which share the same mouth (in the Persian Gulf) are both linked to the history of Mesopotamia. The following simple sentence might help you remember them: In Iraq the tiger makes you afraid.

Question 4

The word embarrass has two Rs. One way of remembering this is to think how red you go with it (i.e. more than one R). Another way is to think of doubling letters – two Rs and two Ss.

Question 5

This is wrong. + x – = -. Here is a good old method of making sure you get your plusses and minuses right.

Question 6

This is correct. The ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter is 3.1415926535, also known as pi. One way to remember this is to break up the numbers, such as 31-41-592-65-35, so that you retain them as a kind of jingle. You could also create a sentence, where the letters comprising each word correspond with the numbers. So: How (3) I (1) mark (4) a (1) round (5) formation (9) by (2) using (6) radii (5) and (3) rings (5).

Question 7

Domitian is certainly the last of the ‘Twelve Caesars’, an expression taken from the work of the Roman historian Suetonus (ad 75-160) for designating Julius Caesar and the eleven Roman emperors who succeeded him. The list, in chronological order, is: Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. One of the best known ways of remembering them all is to learn by heart the following triplet, which contains the first syllable of each name in the correct order: Caeautica Claunegalo Vivestido.

Question 8

This is correct. The pneumo-gastric is one of the twelve cranial nerves. Here is the full list of them: olfactive, optic, common ocular motor, pathetic, trigeminal, external ocular motor, facial, auditory, glosso-pharyngeal, pneumo-gastric, spinal and hypoglossal. Although not the kind of information one would normally keep on the tip of one’s tongue, for medical students it is necessary to remember such information. One way is through devising a sentence in which each word starts with the first letter of each of the nerves. So one could have: Out of common practice the expert finds a good plaster stops haemorrhages.

Question 9

This is correct. Mercury is the planet nearest to the Sun. In order of their proximity to the Sun, the nine principal planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. To remember this list, you simply have to make up a sentence you will easily remember, in which the first letter of each word corresponds to the first letter of each planet. For example: My vicar enjoys making jokey sermons using naughty pictures.

Question 10

This is incorrect. Ramsgate is not one of the Cinque Ports. These are a group of sea-ports in the South East of England which in olden days provided the major part of the Navy and were in return given certain important privileges. The original five (hence Cinque) were Dover, Hastings, Hythe, Romney and Sandwich, which were later joined by Rye and Winchelsea. One way of remembering the names of the seven ports is through the following sentence: Over-hasty Hyrom forgets which is the right winch. This takes in key syllables and uses phonetics to introduce all the ports.

Exercises

Make up your own magical formula or device for remembering different facts, information and names, based on the principles given here. For example, who are the current members of the Commonwealth? Can you name all the Socialist Prime Ministers? How many pints are there in a litre – or pounds in a kilo?

WORDS AND NUMBERS

In order to memorise numbers – and before creating your own code – it would be helpful to familiarise yourself with some of the methods which already exist.

In our society, numbers occupy an increasingly important place. Each of us carries around a considerable quantity of numbers. For practical reasons, there are some we need to remember, such as our own and other people’s telephone numbers, our bank card code and our National Health number. In particular, it is vital to remember the burglar alarm stop code, useful to have the bank account number to hand and advisable to know the birthdays of relatives and close friends. There are doubdess many more. Equally, it can be helpful to have some historical references and to know certain dates connected with our studies, our particular interests, our research, our social life and so on.

The method involved in this test is a variant of that developed in the seventeenth century by Henry Herdson. It involves linking a word to each number so that an image can be planted in our brain. The exercise here is to memorise the following list and then to sort out the words that correspond to the numbers given in the ten questions:

1 = pencil

6 = cube

2 = shoes

7 = curve

3 = triangle

8 = glasses

4 = square

9 = magnifying glass

5 = hand

0 = orange

You can then use the code to make up a short sentence using these words. For example: 82 = glasses – shoes

You could make up the following sentences using these two words: “My glasses are in my shoes” or “I put on my glasses to find my shoes”.

655 = cube – hand – hand

Your sentence could be: “I take a cube in both hands”.

9123 = magnifying glass – pencil – shoes – triangle

Your sentence could be: “I take my magnifying glass and my pencil, I change shoes and I draw a triangle”.

You have four minutes to memorise the above list and then five minutes to decode the ten sets of numbers below and write down the relevant words. Score two points for each correct set of words.

Answers for evaluation

Answer analysis

Remember

To remember numbers with words:

THE ORIGINAL CODE

The code devised by Henry Herdson does not correspond exactly to the one we have used here, except for the numbers 5, 8, 9 and 0, which we have not altered. His 1, for example, was a candle – a common and indispensable object before the days of electricity. The 3 was a trident, a three-pronged fork of an earlier age. As for the 7, this was a ‘cut-throat’ razor now generally only used in very old fashioned hairdressing salons.

LETTERS FOR NUMBERS

Among the methods that exist for remembering numbers, there is one that is highly regarded in the realm of mnemonics. It is that of a certain Abbé Moigno (1804-1884) who used consonants to represent numbers. His work has inspired numerous memory specialists.

The procedure, which is easy to grasp, has the merit of being highly effective.

Here, among other variations, is a list of possible ‘codes’:

This method calls on one’s imagination and perspicacity. The object is to use the consonants to make up a word in order to remember a number.

For example: 42 = 1 and n. The question to ask is what word should one use that contains these two consonants but none of the others in the coded list? One possible answer is lion.

Take another example: 978 = g, r, f. One possible answer is grief.

You have ten minutes to familiarise yourself with the above coded list and memorise it. Then allow yourself ten more minutes to make up a word or a sentence from your date of birth and your bank account number.

The following test consists of finding a word or building up a phrase or sentence from the ten numbers given, which you must first decode.

You have ten minutes to complete this test. Score two points for each correct answer.

Find the words

Answers for evaluation

Answer analysis

Remember

To learn how to retain numbers with letters:

HOW TO CREATE REFERENCE POINTS

In order to make up your own reference points to help you remember facts, figures or information, there are three basic possibilities:

1. Rely on existing methods.

2. Adapt existing methods.

3. Invent your own methods.

MOTIVATION + ACTION = SUCCESS

There are a number of different methods you can use to memorise a text without any problem.

If it is a rhyming poem, the play of similar sounds at the end of each line or verse helps you remember it.

There is the traditional method which consists of learning the lines two at a time, repeating them and then moving on to the next two after the first two have been memorised. That follows for any text one wants to learn by heart.

Learning in the evening seems to be the most effective, since it provides the best recall of knowledge the following day.

For some, this method of ‘horizontal’ memorising is enough. But there is always an element of risk that one still might forget. To ensure that this does not happen, you need to support it with a ‘vertical’ reference. This will enable you to avoid that famous ‘hole’ in the memory, or the confusion which prevents you from finding the beginning of the next verse.

In fact, it is much easier to remember the rhymes than the first words of each line. You therefore need to create a link so that you do miss anything out.

For an example, we will take William Wordsworth’s well-known poem I wandered lonely as a cloud. . ., which he wrote in 1807.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of the bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed – and gazed – but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Having started by learning the poem using the ‘horizontal’ method, concentrate on trying to retain the first word or two of each line. Thus:

I wandered

That floats

When all

A host

Beside the

Fluttering

Continuous

And twinkle

They stretched

Along the

Ten thousand

Tossing their

The waves

Out-did

A poet

In such

I gazed

What wealth

For oft

In vacant

They flash

Which is

And then

And dances

With a piece of prose, in addition to learning horizontally, you should also remember the first two words of each sentence.

There is a classic method for remembering numbers which consists of associating them with words that sound similar. You could, for example, use the following code:

one = bun

two = shoe

three = tree

four = floor

five = alive

six = sticks

seven = heaven

eight = late

nine = fine

zero = Zorro

It is up to you to make up the code that you are most likely to remember. There is no point in creating artificial reference points with which you are not familiar. Use words that you use regularly in your daily or professional life.

For example, if you are a keen gardener or have a particular interest in plants and vegetables, you could devise a code like the one below:

one = onion

two = tulip

three = pea

four = forsythia

five = chive

six = salix

seven = cedar

eight = potato

nine = lime

zero = azalea

This example may appear difficult and quite inaccessible to all those who are not familiar which such names. However it will be all too obvious for those who have a genuine interest in and knowledge of gardening.

THERE ARE OTHER METHODS

You can, of course, also associate numbers with:

For example, you have to remember the number 1039652.

You could remember this number using the following references:

Using these references, you can also make up a litte story with any contents you like. The essential point is that it becomes indelibly fixed in your brain. This could be something like:

The Prime Minister announced war with Hitler long before my wife was born.