Mnemonic Strategies From Brain Matters Presented by Ron Runyan

Types of Mnemonic Devices 1.Acrostic sentence 2.Acronyms 3.Rhymes 4.Phrases 5.Keyword mnemonics 6.Loci mnemonics 7.Narrative chaining

Acrostic Sentence Every Good Boy Does Fine – lines on treble clef for music My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas – order of the nine planets from the sun outward (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto)

Acronym RAVEN – remember affect (is a) verb, effect (is a) noun McHale – mechanical, chemical, heat, atomic, light, electrical (forms of energy)

Rhymes I before E except after C, or when sounding like A as neighbor and weigh Thirty days has September, April, June, and November, all the rest have thirty-one, except for February which has 28 (29 on leap year)

Phrases The principal is your pal (principle) Dessert is bigger in the middle, just like you’ll be if you eat too much of it (desert) Stationery goes in envelopes (stationary) There is a rat in separate It’s too bad the two of you can’t talk to each other

Keyword Mnemonics Associating two items using mental imagery To memorize vocab for Spanish –Rote rehearsal (repeat) –Flash cards –Mental picture Abstract prose… Carta (letter) –Large grocery cart –Giant letter in the cart Pato (duck) –Duck with pot on head

Loci Mnemonics Linking words to physical locations Visualize items in a location in your house Helps to make images vivid by exaggerating size, make them animated, changing their color Grocery list – eggs, milk, orange juice, ice cream, margarine, egg plant, rhubarb, salt –Memories…first letter of words rearranged and items are located in kitchen

Narrative Chaining Weaving items to be remembered into a story framework. Freedoms listed in first amendment –Freedom of religion, speech, the press, assembly, right to bear arms Schools of psychology –Structuralism, functionalism, biological, behavioral, gestalt, humanism, psychoanalytic