Memory Training the New Approach
from the Practical Memory Institute.
Throughout history, people have
sought to improve their memory. A variety of mental techniques
have been passed down over the centuries as key skills for memory
training. Unfortunately, the old memory training techniques
are just about all you get from conventional books and courses.
Because the memory improvement profession has emphasized mental
techniques, most memory experts incorporated little or nothing
of the new memory training methods of modern science.
In the last two decades, psychologists,
psychiatrists, physicians, and other specialists have sought
to develop a new approach to memory training and improvement
because the ancient methods have been found insufficient if
used without the aid of modern memory training techniques. For
example, any mental technique will work poorly if a person is
in poor physical and/or emotional condition. Also, without awareness
of the factors of good social memory skills, a person may fail
to notice and remember information occurring during their interactions
with others. Additionally, without knowledge of the strategies
for good use of the objects and devices around you (also referred
to as external memory aids), remembering may be less than desired.
The new approach to memory training
and improvement involves learning much more than has been recommended
in the past. The new approach to memory training asks the person
intent on memory improvement to learn about all modes of one's
psychology. The new approach is therefore multimodal. PMI endorses
the multimodal approach because it assumes that memory performance
can be influenced by various modes of psychological processing
(e.g., physiological, perceptual, emotional, motivational, social,
and environmental). It also provides a method for improving
memory readiness, the precursor to improving memory performance.
The new approach to memory training
helps explain why people differ so much in their memory performance
over time. People vary in their momentary readiness to perform
memory tasks because their mental, physical, and emotional states
vary from week to week, day to day, and sometimes even moment
to moment. Like a psychological bio-rhythm, mental, physical,
and emotional states change with stress, health status, standard
of living, and other factors. Such state changes can be presumed
to result in individual differences in memory performance that
are sometimes mistakenly attributed to a person's age, sex,
or level of education. If someone wants to improve their memory
performance, attention must be paid to one's overall health
and lifestyle. PMI is dedicated to helping people improve their
memory skills through the new memory training multi-modal approach.
Summary
Memory performance is based on
a broad array of knowledge and skills that pertain not only
to memory but also to other psychological systems. Thus, the
new approach to memory training endorses new methods of training,
aiding, and enhancing memory.
The Practical Memory Institute
teaches both traditional and multimodal methods of memory training
and also goes beyond these methods to review a wide variety
of methods not covered before. PMI brings to the public the
first comprehensive account of how a person's overall psychology
can affect memory. In future programs, techniques for social
interaction will be presented that give your memory a better
chance at success. Also, PMI will present information on various
devices that enhance memory or even perform memory tasks for
you. Finally, instead of offering people a few general procedures
to help memory, PMI will present a wide variety of information
about ways to cope with literally hundreds of individual everyday
memory tasks.
History
Until recently, the new scientific
approach to memory improvement has mainly been practiced in
a small number of universities and colleges, where it was developed.
Virtually every book and commercial course available outside
of these centers still relies primarily, if not exclusively,
on the method of loci and related methods that originated over
2000 years ago.
So, for over 2000 years, students
of all varieties and ages have sought to reduce the chore of
studying. Having good memory skills would seem to help with
studying. Consequently, various people have represented themselves
as capable of improving almost anyone's memory performance.
In 477 B.C., the poet Simonides
astounded his contemporaries with his memory skills. One day,
the roof of the banquet hall where he was a guest fell, killing
many. In order to notify next of kin, positive identification
was necessary but not possible for most of the victims. Simonides
resolved this problem by recalling the name of every person
by seat at various banquet tables. He claimed to remember so
easily because during the banquet he had concentrated in his
mind the images of each person at each table.
Simonides' method came to be
called the "method of loci" and was regarded in ancient Greece
as the "correct" way to learn something. If you lived back then
and asked a memory scholar for help with your memory skills,
you would have been told the following: to learn some pieces
of information, put each piece in a different location of a
spatial image you have in your mind (such as a banquet table,
the rooms of a house, etc.). Later, when you want to remember
the items, recall your image and it will lead you to them.
Over the years, other methods
were derived from the loci procedure. For example, instead of
memorizing items by putting them in a mental image of a physical
place, you might place the items on mental "pegs" organized
on an imaginary wall. Or, one might memorize a rhymed list like
"one is a bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree." This rhyme would
then be used to learn some information, such as three things
to get at a store (milk, eggs, bread). One would imagine the
milk sitting on a bun, some eggs in a shoe, and a loaf of bread
hanging from a tree. When the rhyme is later recited, the images
should help recall the original items.
In the first century B.C., Cicero
taught people how to remember a speech by using the method of
loci to retain each point. As a student delivered a speech,
he would mentally stroll through the loci of his house and recall
the points encountered in each room. In the Renaissance, the
courts of kings and queens employed memory specialists to help
in remembering important facts. In the 1500s, memory specialists
developed complicated peg schemes for members of a court to
remember what they needed to know. The more locations in a person's
mental loci, the more ideas they could recall. In the 1600s
and 1700s, memory specialists ignored the method of loci. Instead,
they emphasized the learning of ideas and the associations among
them. In 1885 Herman Ebbinghaus did the first experiments on
memory. His research showed that people can learn short lists
easily but had great difficulty learning long lists. He also
showed that people forget very quickly after studying information.
Ebbinghaus' methods influenced many generations of memory researchers.
Freud also influenced many students
of human memory. He showed that people forget information that
is charged with negative emotions. People were thought to forget
because they "repressed" memories that were upsetting.
Research done during the past
three decades has shown that the ancient methods do not produce
permanent memory abilities. A growing body of knowledge about
the different factors affecting memory has led scientists and
health-care professionals to look beyond the ancient methods.
For example, it has been shown
that memory can also be improved by a variety of methods that
do not involve mental loci, pegs, and other related procedures.
Techniques to facilitate a person's attitude, physical condition,
mental state, conversational skills, and use of physical memory
aids have been found to reduce memory failures.
Ulric Neisser emphasized the
study of memory in natural surroundings. He argued in the 1960s
and 1970s that laboratory experiments on memory did not reveal
how a person's memory worked in everyday life. Because of his
analyses of memory, many memory researchers quit laboratory
research and began to study memory in real world settings. Gradually,
people began to try to develop methods to improve memory in
everyday life in these real world settings.
Once you understand that you
can improve your memory, it's just a matter of taking the right
steps. Recent scientific research has developed many more ways
to improve everyday memory ability than existed just a few years
ago. The Practical Memory Institute is founded on modern science-based
principles to assist you in improving your memory. Programs
like PMI's can acquaint you with the different ways to optimize
your memory skills and provide opportunities to evaluate your
own memory performance. You can learn how to prepare yourself
for memory tasks by improving your attitude, condition, and
social interactions. You can also learn environmental and social
ways to enhance memory processes.
NOTICE
The limited information
provided on this site is provided as a courtesy only. It is
designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists
between a patient/site visitor and his/her personal physician.
