Memory By Association

However, if as mentioned above, our memory works by association, then we should actively work at finding a way to create an association between the two bits of information relating to the flight.

So, for example, you could imagine in your mind that the plane you need to catch at 2pm has 2 wings. There then is your association “2 wings = 2pm”. In this way, we are 10 times more likely to remember the time at which the flight is due to take off, even once it has gone from our short term memory.

However, you may well find that when certain pieces of information are not obviously related, you will need to be a little more creative with linking things together in order to form an association.

But it really isn’t as hard as it may seem at first. When you were at school, you were always being taught rhymes and acronyms at school which helped you t remember things, so why not use the same method now? For example, one such one you may have learned at school was “Never Eat Shredded Wheat”, which provides you with the points of the compass “North East South West”.

These particular methods work, as they form an easy to remember, but yet clever association between themselves and the information that it is we are trying to remember.

The whole idea when using association in order to remember things is to be creative. There is no need for you to invent a rhyme or a poem for each time you want to remember something, in most cases, just thinking of some picture in your mind which links pieces of information together, which is either unusual or silly, can make it much easier to remember certain things.

If you want to see how effectively association works, then look at the some of the words shown below and try to come up with something that will associate the word on the left with the one on the right. Say, for example, with the first pair you should imagine a mouse that has a long tail and when it is sat still, it tail curls round in to the shape of the letter S. Whereas with popcorn, the easiest way to associate it with chair is that you are watching your favorite movie, either at the cinema or at home, and eating popcorn while lounging in a chair.

Mouse s
Train Bridge
Popcorn Chair
Bermuda Triangle
Carrot Donkey

So now you have begun to form associations between these groups, you may have had trouble with 1 or 2 of them. Now cover up the words on the right hand side of the list and see if you can name them using the word that is associated with them on the left.

If you have been able to form a vivid but clear association between each of them, you will be amazed at just how many of them you will be able to quickly and easily remember.