Mnemonic Devices to Remember Things

If you've ever had a "senior moment" when you knew you had information stored somewhere in your brain but simply could not retrieve it, mnemonic devices may help. Mnemonic devices help to store information into smaller chunks, making them easier to remember. The word "mnemonic" comes from the Greek word "mnemonikos," which refers to the mind. These mind games can help us to remember names, word order and even the grocery list.

Interactive Imagery

• Interactive imagery improves memory recall by linking words to pictures, allowing the mind to form clear and detailed images. This is a common technique to use when trying to remember names. If you have ever been to a party and run into someone you knew long ago but can't recall his name, it can be helpful to find someone at the party who knows his name and then work on creating an interactive imagery mnemonic device. If the person's name is Charley, you may think 'I deserve a 'charley horse' for forgetting his name." Imagine that you are experiencing a charley horse, think about the pain you are experiencing and form a clear mental picture, associating this person's face with the pain of your charley horse. It's unlikely you will forget Charley's name if you run into him in the future.

Acronyms

• Acronyms are made up by using each beginning letter of a series of words or phrases to recall complex information. This mnemonic device is often used for lists. If you want to remember to pick up butter, eggs, alfalfa sprouts and milk from the grocer after work, you may create the word "BEAM" to remember (butter, eggs, alfalfa and milk). It's much easier to remember one word than four.

Rhymes

• Rhymes can be an excellent way to remember the spelling of words ("I before E, except after C") or complex things such as the number of days in each month of the year. Next time you don't have a calendar nearby, remember this rhyme: "Thirty days hath September; April, June and November; All the rest have thirty-one; Excepting February alone; Which hath but twenty-eight, in fine; 'Till leap year gives it twenty-nine."

Phrases

• This mnemonic device can be used to help remember the order of a series. The beginning letter of each word in the phrase represents a letter or word in the series. Musicians can remember the order of sharps (F, C, G, D, A, E, B) by remembering the phrase "Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle." The order of flats is the same phrase in reverse: "Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father." Before 2006, when astronomers ruled that Pluto is not a planet, schoolchildren studying the solar system remembered the number and order of the planets with phrases such as "My Very Easy Method: Just Set Up Nine Planets" (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto).