I know not everyone uses the major system, or some people just make up major system words as needed rather than having 00-99 images memorized. But I love that all of us who do use the major system know exactly what we’re talking about here. This is like a foreign language, but it makes perfect sense to us.
A random but related aside: many of the things I memorize are “indexed”. I find it useful for finding positions, like to find the 38th president I just need to remember the president at position 40, and then go backwards by 2 presidents. In my presidents journey, 40 is “rose” = Ronald McDonald shooting dogs in the dog park with a ray gun (Ronald Reagan) which burst into roses as he shoots them. I’m starting to wonder if I did not use “rose” consistently for “40”, would I be able to find Reagan so easily? When one of my 00-99 images really does not work in a particular loci, I have been using the major system alphabet to come up with a different image. On second thought, I’m starting to think that for indexed things, I should always use my standard image.
Actually, I guess the same would apply for things with dates. If you remember that an event happened in 1801, you can find 1801 in your mind much more easily if 18 always means “tough (the hulk)” and 01 is always “seed”. Hmmm… I think the case for use the same 00-99 images always is pretty strong, unless it is a one-off thing that you do not ever intend to search for. I memorized my credit card numbers, and I know for sure I’ll never need to search for the 8th digit there!
I think I agree with you on this, although I haven’t tested it. I’ve only ended up with multiple images for the same numbers as a result of working on my first memory palace—the US states and the dates they entered the Union—and not looking back at previous images when it came time to add new states. So it was just pure carelessness that sometimes I used x and sometimes y for the same thing. And then there have been times when I’ve been using an image that I didn’t really love, found a new one I liked much better, but didn’t go back and “update” my memory; so the old and new ones end up coexisting.
That hasn’t been an issue for me (yet). But I also haven’t been memorizing in such a way that I’ll go looking for a specific date. I’d start with a name—a state, a movie, a person—and then dig down for further information.
Making up words ad hoc is better than nothing but it’s hard to imagine anyone arguing that it is more efficient, or even as efficient, as having the stock words ready.
At least for anyone who hasn’t completely mastered this technique and makes them up effortlessly. The leaves out all beginners and almost all of the rest of us. As to the “masters” they probably already know ALL of the good words for each number up to some small number like 6.
Yes, there is also value in KNOWING which word you would have used as in the example given above using “40 - ROSE”.
With 40 you get immedially to ROSE which gets you SOME Pictures with a ROSE which is pretty close to getting you the right answer.
Though I probably would have used “Ronald McDonald shooting Ronald Regan in the ROSE GARDEN (of the White House) with a RAYGUN that shoots ROSES.”
One of the keys for mnemonics to be truly effective is for the mnemonic keys, pegs, places, links etc to be IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE to your conscious mind without effort.
You want them to be as immediately available as counting numbers, multiplication tables, the things you already know and love etc…
My 4 year old daughter used the Ready Set Remember book with the well-known pegs to learn all of her Multiplication Tables, Presidents (in order), and States with Capitals.
In the process I incidentally learned all of the Presidents and the 2-3 states I didn’t know readily.
To this day I can still see the book pictures clearly from that excellent book: Washing TON of close while Chief Her Son …Lincoln running into a GRANiTe rock to RayGun.
The Ronald McDonald example was from a journey, the dog park was the location on that journey.
HerbM, your 4 year old daughter remembered all that stuff? That’s fantastic. I don’t remember at what point in my youth I was remembering useful facts at school, but it sure as heck wasn’t 4. Did your daughter continue to use these tricks later in life (or… maybe she is still 4 now… )? I certainly wish I knew mnemonics when I was in school, not only would it have made many learning tasks easier and more fun, but more of the things I learned would still be with me today at age 48 - assuming I also learned the discipline of periodically reviewing my journeys.
Plus, if I learned how to do this at a much younger age, I would have spent a lifetime keeping an eye out for really interesting real world journeys. That’d be nice to have in my head.
States with capitals. I just added that to my “todo” list for things to remember. So obvious, and, yes, I have forgotten too many of them.
I know I am really rambling here, but if you’ve read this far: does anyone have mnemonic suggestions for memorizing maps? States and capitals will be easy, that just requires a standard memory palace or maybe just the linking method. But as far as I know, mnemonics won’t help me recognize where Kentucky is on a map, or, larger scale, how to find Mali in Africa.
There are systems for memorizing maps and other similar shapes. I’d recommend doing a search here for “memorizing maps,” although you may have to dig through a lot of results that focus on mind maps (not what you’re looking for). Unfortunately, the one time I explored this area, I was left utterly baffled! Hopefully you’ll have better luck understanding and incorporating the techniques.