Dr. Lozanov from Sofia physician psychotherapist brain-researcher

Psychotherapeutic work Lozanov studied people with hypermnesia: Yogi: could repeat 1000 phrases from memory after hearing them once. Maori Chief could recite the history of his tribes over 45 generations. Result: hypermnesia is the result of a suggestive setup directed to the memory potential.

Suggestology Research Institute suggestology investigates primarily the ordinary and the more less forms of suggestion (authority, motivation,…) Suggestion is one of the main factors in the most suitable psychotherapeutic methods for the treatment of neurosis.

THE CLINICAL APPROACH Reasons for hypermnesia Role of suggestions New research subject: Suggestology

Experiments with hypnosis 1 Psychotherapy First experiments in 1955 Anaesthetizing by suggestion in a normal waking state

Experiments with hypnosis 2 All earlier stages of individual developement are preserved in the unconscious mental activity. Consequences: Infantilisation – state of mind

Hypermnesia through suggestion Hypermnesia can be obtained not only in a state of hypnosis but also in a normal wakening state, since suggestion is an increasing universal phenomenon in human psychical activity.

Conclusion from experiments Hypermnesia is the result mainly of a suggestive setup directed toward the memory potential

Suggestopedia Focus: suggestion in the process of teaching and learning Teachers exert an influence on the students not only with what they say, but also with the intonation of their voices, their smiles. Gestures, clothes, movements and their whole atitude toward the pupils.

Suggestopedia Started purely as a psychological experiment aimed at increasing memory capacities in the educational process. It is applied only in a normal waking state

Experiments with suggestive hypermnesia Memorizing experiments in 1965 result high memorization experimental group control group (conventional method)

First variant Step 1 Lesson was a thematic dialogue conversation) – 100 new lexical units 1) Decivering the new material with help of translation, Repetition full explanation of the lexical grammatical units

Step 2 2) Active Session The dialogue was read with the „intonational swing“ – Each word or phrase was read a few times: Tri-step intonation declaratively (heightened) quietly (significant way) authoritatvely (in a sure way)

Step 3 3) Passive session Teacher read the dialogue artistically to a background music (1971 1st time) Music created a kind of monotony, a state of full relaxation (teacher as well as students (contradiction with the theory of suggestology

Step 4 4) Activation The students worked to learn the dialogue in various ways: through reading conversation in pairs discourses, games songs listening to texts Only part of the text was activated; every other day a new dialogue was studied