I am interested in tactics for improving my memory. One thing that got me thinking about this is that I have read/heard that Omega 3/6 fish oil improves memory. Kind of a cross between health food and smart drugs I guess. I’m interested in dietary supplements but also practices that help “work out” the memory.
Throw out your calendar and notebooks!
Then you’ll HAVE to remember everything! It may be stupid and radical on a short basis, but it’s the one thing that, over time, will help you to remember things better. I stopped taking notes at school at one point, and I am consistently better than my classmates at remembering things - and I always find the answers quicker scanning through my mind than they do scanning through piles of notes and books. When I actually do remember. For some reason, it’s a lot easier to remember grammatical rules than to remember biological processes - for me at least. Or rather, I remember best what I am most attached to.
Think of the homeric bards in the seventh century b.C.! Or even the great Schliemann, who according to ‘legend’ knew the entire Odyssey and Iliad by heart and chose his wife after how much Homer the girl could recite.
I do not agree with remembering everything you would normally write in your calender. When you write an appointment down, you do not have to worry about it anymore and your mind becomes much clearer. Second, your mind doesn’t HAVE to remember anything. If you don’t write something down, your mind might as well never think about it again. It’s better to put effort into remembering important things than to try to remember your appointment with the dentist in May 27, 2008 at 16:55.
I do think that it’s a good idea to keep lecture notes short. When you have studied the material before class, you probably won’t have to copy everything that’s written down on the board, because you have seen the material before. You want to be able to follow the message the teacher is trying to deliver, instead of copying down everything he says. I have had a few teachers who required that we wrote everything down on paper. This is such a waste of time. If the only goal is to provide information during a lecture, the teacher would be better of handing out sheets with that information or better yet, to send it through email.
You make a good point on that it’s easier to remember something when it is interesting to you. The more passionate you are about something, the easier it is to remember. In high school I had an easy time remembering biology homework, because it was so damn interesting.
In theater, there is a saying - “Memory is a muscle.” In other words, the more you use it, the stronger it gets.
That said, there are different types of memories, as other posters have already pointed out. I do know, from experience, that trying to remember all dates by memory can be a brain drain, because you have to keep refreshing yourself to remember. I don’t take lecture notes myself, though I usually have seen the material before, so it’s just a matter of filling in details and insights.
There are ways to speed up memorization of specific things, but not so much memory in general. The most general advice I can give, besides “Memory is a muscle”, is that if you understand what you are trying to remember, you will remember it much easier.
Regarding fish oils. I am definitely a believer. They can also improve “mood”. Medical doctors are known to subscribe fish oils in cases of depression.
Physical exercise can also help.
Specific to memory for language learning. I suggest.
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Read aloud…do this a lot. The same passages, over and over
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Listen …do this a lot. The same passages, over and over
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Write things down … key structures or words you are trying to master; or distinctions between similar words; keep them in a notebook or on flash cards. I will admit I don’t actually do this one, though I believe in it. It just isn’t my style.
I would never throw out my calendar. That leaves my brains free for more interesting work.
With respect to our favorite languages, a characteristically lapidary Latin proverb: qui scribit, bis legit, “who(ever) writes reads twice.”
I was and still am interested in improving my memory, but again, I’m lazy. Would be cool if someone could share something that they personally have experience with.
I have a relatively good long-term memory. My short-term memory, however, is as good as my history grades; 40-60%. Unlike subjects like math, English and languages in general; straight hundreds.
Would be cool if someone could share something that they personally have experience with.
Hi !! Well, I did share a several things that I personally have experience with. Kindly see above my remarks earlier in this thread. If you are interested in memory in general, I guess there are plenty of books and perhaps even courses.
As for languages, the best memory tool according to me is SOUND, both SPOKEN by yourself and what you HEAR from other sources. These time proven techniques work for me and for many others. Thats why almost all modern language courses have recorded components and why teachers do oral repetition drills (amo amas amat amamus amatis amant). Writing and note taking are also recommended. I do have experience with composition and can testify that THAT also fortifies the memory. As for note-taking, I do very little though I believe in it. One of our members has previously reported that he followed something called the Dowling Method. In the Dowling method the student is required at the very outset of study to write out all the paradigms for model inflected words X times, where X, if i recall well, represents a number at least as great as 50. The results obtained by the DOWLING method are purportedly quite impressive for those sufficiently disciplined to follow through conscientiously.
Another area that I have direct, practical and longterm experience with is DIET and LIFESTYLE. These factors can have a huge impact on memory as well as on every other facet of our existence on this plane.
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Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables, especially those high antioxidants, the brassica, carrots, beets, green beans, apples (one a day) mangoes, citrus, melons and especially any kind of berry. I recommend blueberries, black berries, and cranberries. Lots of green leafy vegetables. I recommend the leaves the tropical yams, spinach, kale Through in a few nuts (not too many) as many of these have beneficial oils. There are lots of magazines that specialize in helping folks eat well.
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Become an endurance athlete. Scientific studies - please don’t request citations - have confirmed that there is a correlation between cardio vascular fitness and mental function. Memory is a part of mental function.
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Include a number of spices in your diet in diet such as tumeric, cumin, kalonji seeds, anise seeds. Many spices are rich in antidoxidants and may have ANTIFLAMATORY properties. Also ginger.
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Eat a small can of canned SARDINES every day unless you have ethical objections to taking animal life to sustain your body. Sardines are one of the BEST and CHEAPEST sources of those wildly popular omega 3s everyone is talking about.
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Eat DARK chocolate. Very dark chocolate. Wonderful source, once again, of those miraculous antioxidants. Don’t over do the chocolate because of the risk of excess calorie intake.
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Pray. Praying helps us become harmonious. When we are harmonious we are content and we approach the service we perform with an enthusiastic spirit.
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Become a mystic YOGI. Increased prana flowing to every member of the body will enhance your sense of peace, give you lots of energy, and will definitely help with all kinds of memory tasks. I personally highly recommend yoga as a memory tool. Like all the suggestions under the rubric of “diet and lifestyle” it is something that I personally have experience with. Be sure to do a lot of deep breathing exercises and meditations along with the more vigorous physical postures taught in the Hatha system.
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Go to bed early. Get up before dawn. Let this your invariable schedule. But don’t sleep to much for that is said to be Tamasic and will work against developing a keen memory.
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Keep your weight within normal limits.
Now here is my system in a nutshell: Study hard using the right methods and live well according the well established principles of living healthily.
Good luck on your journey. Sincerely, Kyneto
PS: the Jesuits developed elaborate mental landscapes and inwardly constructed images of palaces to enhance memory. What they did, I think, is try to associate an item to be remembered with different objects or places within the MEMORY PALACES. Then when it was time to remember, they would walk through the palaces mentally and the concepts, words, facts that they were trying to remember would come immediately to mind as the reviewed the objects/places within the palaces that were associated mentally with those concepts, words, facts etc.. I think some of the professional memory folks around today might use variations of this technique. Haven’t used it personally.
Note: None of what I say below is really about improving memory. The first paragraph is a comment to the quote, the second is the method I use instead of the Dowling method, and the third is elaborating on the second paragraph. This should probably be under learning Latin instead, but its dependent upon the quote above.
It’s actually 200 times. I tried the Dowling method six months ago — while using Wheelock’s with a daily, cumulative review of Latin vocabulary; I didn’t have Lingua Latina. I only got to the 96th repetition before I gave up. Needless to say, it was quite possibly the most horrifying experience I’ve ever put myself through, but I was able to recognize declensions very quickly.
Now, I’m finding that trying to read Cicero’s de Oratore — even with a dictionary — is discouraging. Maybe it’s too far of a stretch for me (I only know first/second/third declension; first/second/third present/imperfect/future indicative active conjugations; hic/haec/hoc; personal pronouns). Perhaps someone could recommend an easier reader for me? Anyhow, I’m trying a hybrid Hanafi-Traditional method (the two methods are defined here) where I learn lots of vocabulary and progress through the grammar at a pace slow enough to keep me happy, but fast enough to be making progress (about a chapter or two per week right now). I realize that Latin grammar is probably too hard to just pick up by talking to people, hence my not doing a pure Hanafi method.
To satisfy the Hanafi portion of my hybrid method, I found a way of learning vocabulary that is the most painless method I know. I don’t know how effective it is for memorizing things verbatim, but it gets the gist of the word’s meaning in my head. It’s called the supermemo method by pencil & (notebook) paper. I’ve modified it a bit to suit myself; here it goes:
I write the vocabulary out in two columns (Latin on the left, English on the right), and leave the margin for dots. At the top of the piece of paper, I write “Repetition: 1 2 3 4 … 15.” It’s kind of like flash cards: I cover up one side and go down the list; if I make a mistake, I put a dot next to the word. Back to the flashcards analogy, this would be taking the card out of the pile each time I make a mistake, and putting it in another. Then, I go back and go through all the words that have a dot next to them, and put another dot next to the words I miss. Analogy: I go through the flashcard pile with words I missed, and take those out of the pile, putting them in yet another pile. I take that pile, and go through it, taking out the words I miss… &c. Anyhow, I keep doing this until I’m left with no words/cards, and then I do it the other way around (e.g. if I were doing English->Latin, I would do Latin->English). When I’m done with that, I circle the smallest number that hasn’t been circled (at the top of the page).
That’s my substite for the first five steps of the method documented here.
I just wanted to mention that there are vegetarian alternatives for fish oils. These omega-3 pills are made of algae and have large amounts of EPA and DHA: http://www.water4.net/ Another vegetarian alternative is flaxseed. There are also eggs on the market with omega-3 fatty acids.
Dear Retyped password. You wrote,
Now, I’m finding that trying to read Cicero’s de Oratore — even with a dictionary — is discouraging. Maybe it’s too far of a stretch for me (I only know first/second/third declension; first/second/third present/imperfect/future indicative active conjugations; hic/haec/hoc; personal pronouns)
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Here is my advice: don’t attempt to read Cicero until you have all the grammar basics down. It is just too frustrating. What I aspire to is to be able to read (not decode) any classical or later text - just like that. Just read. I thought that latin was like Spanish. It is not, it is a lot harder for a variety of reasons. After several years I haven’t given up. Sometimes I feel like it but I know I can do it and that I will achieve my goal if I stick to it. Whatever your reasons for studying are (perhaps you are a home schooler, I really don’t know), I urge you to stick this for the long term. Latin and the study of other ancient languages will enrich your life. So even if you end up being a stock broker or something or if you have no professional interest in these matters, stay with it for its own sake. I say this because I don’t want you to get discouraged. You are having difficulties because this is a tall mountain with many pitfalls that we ascending.
Okay now to get practical. When you have completed the methods that you are now using, take up another grammar book or method such as linga latina. Continue to review grammar and structure as an on-going activity. Then tackle Cicero or whomever. Select you text. Make sure you understand it completely - in terms of flow of thought and grammar that is. It is not cheating to use an English translation to clarify difficulties me judicante. Then practice reading it aloud. Then make recordings of yourself reading that you will listen to at least several times each. If you follow through in this way, I am confident that when you pick up a new text by this author that even if you don’t understand perfectly on the first reading you will at least understand far more than you would have if you hadn’t undertaken the exercise. I myself am doing this and I believe in it.
Right now you haven’t completed grammar so you are not ready for Cicero. You can however apply the method I am describing to more elementary texts. Continue with your studies, continue making progress, and apply the most effective learning techniques. You will get there as you have noted in your signature line. Best.
I’m no memory expert, that’s for sure, but Kyneto’s post reminds me of a technique that some people use, especially for remembering lists or things associated with numbers. Instead of a place, they use numbers and rhymes. For every number (up to a point, I guess) you have a fixed rhyming word that you never forget, such as:
- Gun
- Shoe
- Tree
- Door
etc.
When you have something to remember, you make a mental picture of it associated somehow with the fixed word. For example, let’s say you need to remember to do the following things today:
- Go to the store to buy dog food.
- Call your mother
- Practice your Latin vocabulary
- Cancel your subscription to Newsweek.
For each of these, you just make a mental picture that incorporates both the rhyming word and the task (or thing to be remembered).
- Imagine someone, mad that the store ran out of dog food, holding a gun to the store clerk.
- Imagine your mother keeps calling you to complain that your shoes smell.
- Imagine yourself in a tree, shouting out Latin vocabulary words to unsuspecting passersby.
- Imagine so many unread copies of Newsweek piling up in your house that you cannot shut your door.
Now when you think about what you have to do, you can just go through your numbers and the mental pictures will pop right back into your head.
I’ve seen some presentations by people (trying to market a course that teaches this concept) where they will have people in the audience all shout things out before the talk, then go through the audience and remember who shouted what after the talk. It’s fairly impressive, but it takes some practice, I think.
There’s a somewhat similar technique for learning vocabulary, but rather than make this post any longer, I’ll just link to a thread where it came up once before.
http://discourse.textkit.com/t/learning-vocabulary/6879/1
Now, I need to go call my mother…
This is elaborated upon (for those interested) in The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci by Jonathan D. Spence. I stumbled across it when reading the Thomas Harris trilogy about Hannibal Lecter, since this is the memory technique that his fictional uses (of course, NOT for memorizing vocabulary).
Best,
Chris
Thanks! Your are right ! And that is exactly where I picked up that piece of information about 20 years ago. I used to read a lot of such stuff before I got involved in ancient languages. My own memory for authors and title’s has always been weak. As a consequence “I know” quite a bit of stuff about which if ever challenged about a source I usually go blank as to my sources. I guess I need more lifestyle adjustments to get all my neurons firing.
First off, sorry to be straying so far from the topic.
Thank you. That was very refreshing. Despite my current wish that I begin learning Ancient Greek instead (for a fresh start and a new alphabet), I realize that once I start jumping around, I will never learn any ancient language properly. I’ll try my best to continue with what I have been doing to learn Latin — or more; I have yet to read Latin to myself.
A short comment on the memory palace: I’ve read about the Roman Room technique, and it sounds very similar to this memory palace idea. I won’t elaborate here; just follow the link.