MEMORIZATION: The History And Application - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

MEMORIZATION:

The History And ApplicationSlide2

MOTIVATORSlide3

TLO:

ACTION:

Understand historic memorization techniques and be able to use the modern application of these techniques in COE.

CONDITION:

Given conference presentation, student notes, student handout, and demonstration.

STANDARD: Understand and be able to answer questions about the History and Use of memory techniques. Be able to memorize 25 items, in order, in under 10 minutes.Slide4

ADMINISTRATIVE:

RISK ASSESSMENT LEVEL: Low

SAFETY REQUIREMENTS: Stay Awake, Stay Alive

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS: Police up your gear and any trash you have before leavingSlide5

EVALUATION:

Students will be expected to remember several key historical figures.

The reasoning behind using repetition vs. visualization.

Three different mnemonic memory techniques.Slide6

COE:Slide7

WHAT WE WILL COVER:

History of mnemonics and memorization theory

Modern research related to memorization

Practical application of a few memorization techniques. Slide8

HISTORY:

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 – 43 BC)

Considered Rome’s greatest orator

Introduced Rome to the Greek school of thought

Wrote extensively on memory as pertains to oration

Could purportedly remember the name of everyone he ever metSlide9
Slide10

History: (Cont.)

Simonides

of

Ceos

(556 – 468 BC)

A well known Greek lyrical poet.

One of the first to create poetry to be read instead of recited.

Realized the potential of

spacial

memory after a disaster caused by the twin gods Caster and

Pollux

.Slide11

History: (Cont.)

“Writing weakens the memory and destroys the mind, it is an inhuman thing”

- Socrates

Painting “The Death of Socrates”Slide12

History: (Cont.)Slide13

History: (Cont.)

Thomas Aquinas (AD 1225 – 1274)

An Italian Dominican Priest

Francisco Petrarch (AD 1304 – 1374)

An Italian Scholar and Poet

Giordano Bruno (AD 1548 – 1600)

An Italian Dominican Friar

Many more people have written on memory

systems; most are based on the classic spatial

memory systems.Slide14

History: (Cont.)

Today the most common memory systems use repetition.

These systems are made necessary by the group emphasis in learning.

Classic education meant personal responsibility.

The only corporate push to be educated, involved a family name or title that needed to be protected. It included personal tutors, mentors and very few classroom environments as we have today.Slide15

QUICK CHECK ON LEARNING:

QUESTION: What did Socrates think about writing?

ANSWER: He thought that it weakened the mind.

QUESTION: What was “Cicero” known for in Rome and through his writings?

ANSWER: His excellent oratory skills and his work on memory.

QUESTION: What was the historic use of mnemonic systems?

ANSWER: Public speaking and debate, Oratory skills.Slide16

MODERN RESEARCH:

With new innovations in science in the 20

th

century, interest in the brain has grown dramatically.

The ability to track which area of the brain is active at any given time. Has allowed researchers to validate what area of the brain is being used by mental athletes.

Researchers have specifically been able to target the right posterior hippocampus as an extremely active area in someone who uses these types of visualization techniques.Slide17

MODERN RESEARCH: (Cont.)

In 1928 a Russian journalist began to be studied by a Russian neuropsychologist by the name of A.R. Luria.

This journalist had two conditions:

One was that he basically remembered everything.

The other was a condition known as

synesthesia

.

Synesthesia

is a condition that causes every sense to be interpreted visually.

This journalist described the way he was able to maintain his sanity, “I imagine I’m walking down the street and I take memories and paste them as I got so that they have a place to stay.” Slide18

MODERN RESEARCH: (Cont.)

In 2000 a neuroscientist by the name of Eleanor Maguire did an MRI study on taxi drivers.

In it she found that taxi drivers in London tended to have a right posterior hippocampus that is on avg. 7% larger than normal.

This was not surprising as it is the part of the brain involved in spatial navigation.Slide19

MODERN RESEARCH: (Cont.)

Maguire later decided to test a group of mental athletes with the same test while doing minor memory gymnastics.

Not only did their spatial navigation area light up but so did the part of their brains that controlled visual memory.

The mental athletes describe a very similar process in memorizing that the Journalist from 1928 described.

Remember

Simonides

and his trick of remembering spatially?Slide20

Interesting Story:

Does anyone know who Samuel Clemons was?

Twain was a huge proponent of the study of memory

Created and marketed “A walk in History”Slide21

QUICK CHECK ON LEARNING:

QUESTION: Where in the brain is does your spatial navigation operate?

ANSWER: Right Posterior Hippocampus.

QUESTION: What is

Synesthesia

?

ANSWER: A condition that causes someone to experience the senses visually.

QUESTION: Who is Samuel Clemons?

ANSWER: Mark Twain.Slide22

APPLICATION

:

You will learn 3 different methods of memorization today.

Unlike the methods you may be used to, these rely heavily on visualization.

Have fun, your brain is awesome.Slide23

APPLICATION: (Cont.)

The “Chain” Method:

Images are connected in pairs.

You must distinguish first from the next one in line and so on.

The next image will always be on, in, or connected to the right side of the first image.

The images should always be visualized as approximately the same size, and in contact with each other.

Memorize with the greatest amt of detail possible.

Try to visualize each set for about 6 seconds.Slide24

APPLICATION: (Cont.)

Example, If you are given these five words to memorize:

Phone – Cupboard – Book – TV set – Cup

It might something like this:

A Cupboard sitting on a Phone

A Book in a Cupboard

A TV Set in the book

A Cup on the TV SetSlide25
Slide26

APPLICATION: (Cont.)

The Peg Method:

The strength of the Peg Method is that it has number association to it.

These associations can get extremely complicated attaching systems of letters to each number and then creating word visualizations from those letters.

The one you will learn to day will simply be a rhyming peg system.

1. Bun, 2. Shoe, 3. Tree, 4.Door , 5.Hive , 6.Sticks , 7.Heaven , 8.Gate, 9.Vine , 10.Den

These images will be your “support images” they are the pegs your hang your memories on.

We will do word pairs with this just like with the “Chain Method” except we won’t link them together.

Remember it’s important to visualize similar sizes, Slide27

APPLICATION: (Cont.)

Example, If you are given these five words to memorize:

Phone – Cupboard – Book – TV set – Cup

It might something like this:

Bun:

 Visualize the Phone being put in a bun

Shoe:

 Visualize a giant Shoe Cupboard filled with dishes

Tree:

 Visualize a tree with books growing from it

Door:

 Visualize a TV set with a door in it

Hive:

 Visualize a beehive inside a cup.Slide28
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APPLICATION: (Cont.)

The System of Loci – or The Memory Palace:

The idea is to memorize a route through your home.

In this route through your home you will memorize certain items.

These items will be your “support items,” just like the number pegs in the “Peg Method”

The spatial navigation that you are using acts as a support to your memories.

Once practiced this method is incredibly strong and has been used for thousands of years by Orators.Slide31

APPLICATION: (Cont.)

Example, If you are given these five words to memorize:

Phone – Cupboard – Book – TV set – Cup

It might something like this:

I open my front door, but instead it’s an

iPhone

.

I stoop to keep from hitting my head on the Cupboard hanging in the chandelier.

A Piano is to my left with book spines for keys, all of them have the one title.

Across the room is a lamp that is inserted into the broken top of a TV Set.

I walk into the next room and notice a cup the size of my easy chair sitting in my easy chair.Slide32
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QUICK CHECK ON LEARNING:

Explain the basic idea of the Chain Method

Explain the basic idea of the Peg Method

Explain the basic idea of the Loci MethodSlide34

DEMONSTRATION:

As a group come up with 25 random objects

One student will text the list to the instructor:

(440) 454-3771

The Instructor will have five minutes to memorize the list of 25 items in order:

The instructor will write or verbalize items to be verified by the classroom.Slide35

PRACTICAL EXERCISE:

Students will be given a handout with 25 random items.

Students will be given 10 minutes to memorize the list of 25 items in order.

The class will review items to be verified as a group.

Remember… Have Fun!Slide36

CHECK ON LEARNING:

QUESTION: Who is credited with first coming up with the idea of spatial memory

ANSWER:

Simonides

of

Ceos

QUESTION: Who was Cicero?

ANSWER: A great Roman philosopher and orator

QUESTION: Why is repetition the main way of memorization taught in schools today?

ANSWER: It is an easier method to use in a group setting as different people have different ways of visualizing things.Slide37

CHECK ON LEARNING: (Cont.)

QUESTION: What are some situations where a strong memorization would be an asset.

ANSWER: Tactical Military Operations, Medical Operations, Business, Relationships, Shopping for groceries.

QUESTION: Name the three memory systems that we talked about today.

Answer: Chain Link System, The Peg System, The Loci System/ Memory Palace System.Slide38

SUMMARY:

Some really intelligent individuals of the past needed to remember stuff.

They created systems to organize the way we remember.

These systems (like any other art) take effort to master.

These systems of memory are still relevant today as they force us to become masters of our own minds.

When we master ourselves, we become masters of the situations we find ourselves in.

This is relevant to us as service members for obvious reasons. We constantly face the possibility of being in life or death situations. Where our understanding and memory could mean the difference in life and death for ourselves and those we protect.Slide39

TLO: (Restated)

ACTION: Understand historic memorization techniques and be able to use the modern application of these techniques in COE.

CONDITION: Given conference presentation, student notes, student handout, and demonstration.

STANDARD: Understand and be able to answer questions about the History and Use of memory techniques. Be able to memorize 25 items, in order, in under 10 minutes.Slide40

Questions:Slide41

THIS CONCLUDES MY CLASSSlide42

AAR:

What was supposed to happen?

What really happened?

Strengths.

Weaknesses.

How to improve on weaknesses.