“Strengthening Memories Through Memory Lecture 5 “Strengthening Memories Through Association”

The Association Principle Basis for it: Mind will discard info. if there is no connection (or hook) with which to place it *1st Strategy for Using Association Principle: LOGICAL Associate new with old More you already know about a subj., easier it is to learn more If you know ZERO about a topic, it is hard to get started learning about it Process of associating new with old Use any familiar material to help you learn the new, such as ideas, experiences, attitudes, judgments, places, occurrences, people, songs, pictures, #’s, etc.

Some Examples of How to Associate 1. Physics—3rd Law of Motion Associate it with the kick of a rifle or force of a jet engine 2. History—1st learn a few impt. dates *1066: Battle of Hastings *1492: Columbus *1603: King James Bible *1776: American Revolution *1861-1865: American Civil War You can then remember other historical events by associating them with above familiar dates. *French Revolution: happened about 10 yrs. after American Revolution *Death of Queen Elizabeth: a few yrs. before KJ Bible

When using Association Principle, relate material to MANY contexts… More connections in memory network & stronger these connections are…better chance for recall Example: First Amendment to the Constitution Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

How can you associate the concepts of our First Amendment with many aspects of everyday life? Explain it in your own words. Think of 2 examples of activities protected by the First Amendment. 3.Think of 1 example of an activity contrary to the First Amendment. 4.Ponder this: What would happen if there were NO First Amendment? Main point of above exercise…OVERLEARN a subj. Immerse yourself in it by picking it apart, examining it, adding to it, and going over it again & again until it becomes 2nd nature to you!!!

2nd Strategy for Using the Association Principle: ARTIFICIAL (also called Mnemonic Devices, referred to previously in Lecture 2) Several more examples: To remember the colors of the rainbow (color spectrum) ROY G. BIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, & Violet) To remember levels of classification in biology for plants/animals: Kings play chess on Fridays, generally speaking. *Use the 1st letter of each word in above sentence to help you remember…kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species

Another clever way to use Artificial Association… Take the information you want to memorize and set it to music! A great example of this can be found in the following song, which incorporates ALL the names of the chemical elements from the Periodic Table. Tom Lehrer's "The Elements Song"

One word of warning about mnemonic devices: Only use them IF they are beneficial for you. If they become just 1 more burden for your memory, avoid them or create new ones that suit your learning style!