@Zelotroper, so this is the most diifficult type of problem that I’ve seen in mnemonics. Lucky you! It involves mixed data types and multiple images. There’s a competitive version of this called Three Strikes You’re Out where memory athletes have to memorize three different pieces of data for each datatype. You can see my original post on the new type of technique for the solution to complex real world problems.
You’ll have to build up your toolkits with PA and PAO systems and get good at visualization of multiple images. I had to create lots of tools to make things easier as I made conversions and eventually published them.
Here’s the conversions that I think work:
- Insurance claim number, use 4 selected digits for a PA image. If two letters are involved use an extended PA system of the alphabet using animals and their actions (bestiary). Alligator splashes large tail, bear eats honey, etc. One letter will invoke the creature but may break up the group into three parts where you should go PAO on it.
- Phone number, use 4 digits for a PA image until you get good and extend it to the full number.
- Repair number, 4 digits, use PA image.
- Customer last name, convert to substitute words.
- Vehicle Make & Model - convert to substitute words, possibly use an action to create damage in the appropriate area.
Now to store the info we’ll use what I call an abstract peg system which looks like a resuable “memory palace” and tie it together with a story narrative. The info must always be stored in the same area and the image will be different for every stored combination of values. Imagine some generic vehicle. Here’s the locations where I would store the same info every time:
| Location | Data type |
|---|---|
| Driver’s seat | Customer last name |
| Passenger’s seat | Repair number |
| Front and back hood | Vehicle make and model |
| Back seat | Insurance claim number |
| Digital panel between seats | Phone number |
Now let’s take an example row of data:
| Data type | Data |
|---|---|
| Customer last name | Donaldson |
| Repair number | 1560 |
| Vehicle make and model | Jeep Grand Cherokee |
| Insurance claim number | 8Z01 |
| Phone number | 0226 |
We convert this into visual mnemonics to make the abstract peg image a concrete image.
| Location | Data | Mnemonic |
|---|---|---|
| Driver’s seat | Donaldson | Donald Duck |
| Passenger’s seat | 1560 | Outlaw making dinner reservations on cell phone (Jewess, it’s a joke “what does a Jewish American princess make for dinner?” |
| Front hood | Jeep Grand Cherokee | Jeep, the cartoon character or Egyptian and his wooden chair that breaks when he sits in it. |
| Back seat | 8Z01 | UFO, (zebra) flying in to jail bars in the back seat, and turned into pita bread by a Saudi baker. |
| Digital panel between seats | 0226 | Swan, (wench) tempting other by flashing her knees in a ruffled skirt |
Now to make the image work so it is navigable, you add some narrative logic to the pieces so that they interact with each other. If you have a good memory for odd images, which I don’t, you can reduce the story details. I need them.
The narrative story: Donald Duck is interested in eating at a seafood restaurant so tells the outlaw to do that. He pulls his gun out and says he’s eating steak. The Saudi in the back seat is making pita bread while he’s in the jail of the back seats for the steak sandwiches he thinks he’s going to get. The outlaw uses the car’s digital panel to call and finds the Tempting Swan Steakhouse nearby and goes there. The woman distracts Donald at the door and runs into an Egyptian going into the restaurant with his wooden chair which smashes on to the hood. Does the Egyptian cause damage to the car anywhere else?
Commiting something like that takes some time and I would document every single image you create, concentrate on one for a minute, review after 10 or 15 minutes and then at the first and end of your day. So, complex data equals complex imagery. There’s lots of moving parts. But it’s orderly, repeatable, and can be converted back into data through the active mnemonic images that I hope stick.
If you have any questions or run into a problem, let me know.
Doug