Memory How It Works & How To Improve It KENNETH L.HIGBEE, Ph.D. SECOND EDITION WITH A NEW PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR YOUR Memory How It Works and How to Improve It KENNETH L. HIGBEE, PH.D. SECOND EDITION • WITH A NEW PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR Marlowe & Company New York Published by Marlowe & Company An Imprint of Avalon Publishing Group Incorporated 161 William Street, 16th Floor New York, NY 10038 Your Memory: How It Works & How to Improve It Copyright © 1977, 1988 and 1996 by Kenneth L. Higbee Preface © 2001 by Kenneth Higbee All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Higbee, Kenneth L., 1941- Your memory : how it works and how to improve it / Kenneth L. Higbee.—2nd ed. p. cm. Originally published : New York : Prentice Hall, cl988. Includes bibliographical reference and index. ISBN 1-56924-629-7 1. Mnemonics. 2. Memory. I. Title BF385.H48 1996 153. 1 '4—dc20 95-49468 CIP 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 Printed in the United States of America Distributed by Publishers Group West To Dawn, Janelle, Loren, and Lana, who have accepted their roles as children of a memory researcher and willingly (?) tried many of the techniques in this hook. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 https://archive.org/details/yourmemoryhowitworOOhigb Contents PREFACE INTRODUCTION: WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM THIS BOOK? Why Did I Write It? • Why Should You Read It? • What Will You Find in It? 1 _ WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM YOUR MEMORY? TEN MYTHS 1 Myth 1: Memory Is a Thing • Myth 2: There Is a Secret to a Good Memory • Myth 3: There Is an Easy Way to Memorize • Myth 4: Some People Are Stuck with Bad Memories • Myth 5: Some People Are Blessed with Photographic Memories • Myth 6: Some People Are Too Old/Young to Improve Their Memories • Myth 7: Memory, Like a Muscle, Benefits from Exercise • Myth 8: A Trained Memory Never Forgets • Myth 9: Remembering Too Much Can Clutter Your Mind • Myth 10: People Only Use 10 Percent of Their Mental Potential 2 _ MEET YOUR MEMORY: WHAT IS IT? 16 What Are the Stages and Processes of Memory? • What Is Short-term Memory? • What Is Long-term Memory? • What Are the Measures of Memory? • What Is the Tip- of-the-Tongue Phenomenon? vi Contents 3_ MEET YOUR MEMORY: HOW DOES IT WORK? 32 How and Why Do We Forget? • How Fast Do We Forget? • How Do We Remember Pictures Versus Words? • How Do Exceptional Memories Work? • How Well Does Sleep Learning Work? 4_ HOW TO REMEMBER ALMOST ANYTHING: BASIC PRINCIPLES 46 Meaningfulness: “That Doesn’t Make Sense” • Organization: “Get It All Together” • Association: “That Reminds Me” • Visualization: “I Can See It All Now” • Attention: “I Don’t Get It” 5 _ HOW TO REMEMBER ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE: MORE BASIC PRINCIPLES 62 Repetition: “What Was That Again?” • Relaxation: “Take It Easy” • Context: “Where Am I?” • Interest: “What’s It to Ya?” • Feedback: “How Are You Doing?” 6 _ STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE LEARNING: STUDY SKILLS 74 Reduce Interference • Space It Out • Break It up? • Recite It • Use a Study System • How Well Do the Principles and Strategies Work? Contents vii 7 _ WORKING MIRACLES WITH YOUR MEMORY: AN INTRODUCTION TO MNEMONICS 93 What Are Mnemonics? • First Letters and Keywords • Basic Principles of Mnemonics • How to Make Effective Visual Associations • More on Effective Mnemonics 8 _ THE LEGITIMACY OF MNEMONICS: LIMITATIONS AND PSEUDO-LIMITATIONS 113 Some Limitations of Mnemonics • Some Pseudo- Limitations of Mnemonics 9 _ MENTAL FILING SYSTEMS: LINK AND STORY MNEMONICS 131 Your Mental Filing System • What Is the Link System? • What Is the Story System? • How Well Do the Link and Story Systems Work? • How Can You Use the Link and Story Systems? 10 _ MENTAL FILING SYSTEMS: LOCI MNEMONIC 144 What Is the Loci System? • How Well Does the Loci System Work? • How Can You Use the Loci System? n_ MENTAL FILING SYSTEMS: PEG MNEMONIC 157 What Is the Peg System? • How Well Does the Peg System Work? • How Can You Use the Peg System? viii Contents 12_ MENTAL FILING SYSTEMS: PHONETIC MNEMONIC 172 What Is the Phonetic System? • How Well Does the Phonetic System Work? • How Can You Use the Phonetic System? 13 _ USING MNEMONICS: REMEMBERING PEOPLE’S NAMES AND FACES 188 How Do We Remember Names and Faces? • A System for Remembering Names and Faces • How Well Does the System Work? 14 _ USING MNEMONICS: ABSENTMINDEDNESS AND EDUCATION 203 Absentmindedness • Prospective Remembering • Retrospective Remembering • Mnemonics in Education • Memory in Education APPENDIX: KEYWORDS FOR THE PHONETIC SYSTEM 219 CHAPTER NOTES 223 INDEX 255