Memory Key Newsletter

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T h e M e m o r y K e y
<http://www.memory-key.com>

Your resource for information about memory and memory improvement

June 2006

http://www.memory-key.com/newsletters/issue_83.htm

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THIS MONTH ON MEMORY-KEY.COM:

USING MNEMONICS IN STUDY

WEBSITE CHANGES

PODCAST

BLOG

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Find out more about my e-book on "Remembering intentions" at:
http://www.memory-key.com/shop/intention_ebook.htm

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Find out about my new YA novel at:
http://www.fmmcpherson.com/

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USING MNEMONICS IN STUDY

I’ve had a lot of correspondence with readers interested in mnemonics lately — specifically for the purpose of aiding study, rather than for the main purpose of mnemonics, which is the rote memorization of essentially meaningless items, such as words and numbers.

However, it’s worth noting that the evidence suggests that although our ancestors developed quite complex mnemotechnics, we are wrong to think their main purpose was to learn "by heart", word for word, screeds of text. Rather the intent was to remember the gist - what the texts were about, the narrative flow, etc. In fact, it seems they thought rather poorly of the ability to simply regurgitate a text – what was valued was the ability to connect a text with another – to come up with a new way of understanding or interpreting a text – to use a familiar text to shed light on a new problem. But they understood that to be able to make such connections, you needed to “know” many texts.

Here’s a lovely quote from Mary Carruthers which contrasts their perspective and ours: “The difference is that whereas now geniuses are said to have creative imagination which they express in intricate reasoning and original discovery, in earlier times they were said to have richly retentive memories, which they expressed in intricate reasoning and original discovery.”

Although we have now have unimaginably large stores of information at our fingertips, I don’t think it is the case that what was true for our forebears is no longer true. I think we don’t recognize the value of memory as much today.

It is all very well to say, as so many do, "you can look up any facts you need", but your understanding of what is being discussed or written about will be severely limited if you don't have enough "facts" to know what is being discussed. And if you wish to "look up" some information, you still need some basic knowledge that helps you search, and helps you understand what you are reading.

Our recognition of an "educated" person does not in fact typically derive from our perception that he does good research, but on our perception that he has a good stock of knowledge.

And indeed, the definition of an “expert” involves having a large store of knowledge.

So, yes, mnemonics, used wisely, can be a valuable learning tool to help secure the knowledge you need, but true learning takes you beyond that. True learning requires you to work with the information, making connections, deepening understanding. Learning is a partnership, requiring both (not either/or!) knowledge and skills.

But since modern education emphasizes skill learning and not knowledge accumulation, I think I should emphasize the latter! Just remember that you can’t be brilliantly creative until you have the raw materials safe in your memory store.

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WEBSITE CHANGES

And on the same subject, as promised, I’ve written up some more of my old newsletter articles. There’s one on the Art of Memory (with particular reference to Carruthers’ work):
http://www.memory-key.com/Mnemonics/aom.htm

and another, that is pretty much completely new, since the reference in the original newsletter was quite fleeting, on the subject of exceptional memorizers:
http://www.memory-key.com/NatureofMemory/champs.htm

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PODCAST
http://www.memory-key.com/podcasts/podcasts.htm

In this podcast, following on from the new articles I posted on the art of memory and memory champions, and the matters I discussed in my newsletter, I discuss the value and limitations of mnemonics, leading to a discussion of the importance of attention and how to achieve it.

This link will take you to a schedule for the program:
http://www.memory-key.com/podcasts/podnews706.htm

There is also a transcript available.

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BLOG
www.memory-key.com/blogger.html

Latest posts:

* mental immaturity – the good and the bad
* empathy in mice
* Images of eyes keep people honest
* no particular advantage in a single-sex education
* fatherhood alters the brain
* stuttering and emotional arousal and control

* How to be happy
* Haptic communication
* prenatal exposure to pollutants
* Mozart and visual perception

Note that the blog is indexed chronologically at
http://www.memory-key.com/indices/blog_index.htm

And by subject, at http://www.memory-key.com/indices/blog_index2.htm

You can also access my blog with an RSS feed. The URL is
http://memory-key.com/ftp.memory-key.com/atom.xml, or just click the
Bloglines button on the sidebar of my blog.

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The Memory Key website is named after my book "The Memory Key", a
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genuine, long-lasting memory improvement.

http://www.memory-key.com/AboutTheSite/about_book.htm

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