Performance Enhancement through Mnemonic Training Michael N. Quigley Chevron Science Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pinsburgh, PA 15260 Students who perform poorly throughout their courses and during examinations often feel frustrated with the sheer volume of information that they must try to understand and remember. Improper understanding or even incomprehension is often encountered among those students who are too timid or embarassed to question a poorly understood topic. This type of situation may be improved by lecturing students on the basics of memory enhancement. I hope that the following discussion will help instmdors who are intent on imorovine - their own skills, as well as their students'. Over the vears. manv articles oublished in this Journal have helpe> teaiherhersand students remember various pieces of information concerning chemistry. Since 1960,articles, letters, and notes have included mnemonics relating to atomic principles (131, thermodynamics (4-91, and isomerism (10, 11).DeLoach presented a bibliography of mnemonic articles a ~ ~ e a r i in n gthe literature before 1960 1121. Iklcvant nrticlrspubli~hedin thi.scl~~ur,ud Idore this date includc those relating to transition elements ,131,actinide elements (141, l a n t k d e elements (15-181, activity series (161, sugars (19-221, dicarboxylic acids (20, 23), amino acids (201, and thermodynamics (24). Although memory-training books have been reviewed (251, no concise and comprehensive account of the wider use of mnemonic theory has been published in this Journal. Many people use mnemonic devices without ever appreciating their wider use. For instance, the Great Lakes can be recalled by remembering the phrase HOMES on the lake where each letter of HOMES represents the initial letter of one of the lakes (26) Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior Acronyms such as "HOMES" are not just effective memory aids. They help to eliminate verbiage, and organizations are especially fond of using them. Generations of high school students have probably been taught to remember the visible spectrum Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red using the acronyms VIBGYOR and ROY-G-BN or using syntactic mnemonics such as "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain" Interestingly, very few acronyms have been published in this Journal (23) as compared to verses (3, 12-17,20,27). For remembering a small series of words, such methods are effective,but memorization of large amounts of information requires a n improved strategy. Linkwords One well-tested method for improving memory involves the transformation of one word into another that is phonetically similar, but has high visual imagery. These visual images may then be linked together, preferably by imagined physical interaction, to create a "story".
138
Journal of Chemical Education
Advertising agencies oRen capitalize on the f a d that unusual or bizarre images are likely to remain in peoples' minds longer than more sensible images. Actually, the basic premise can be traced back to Medieval times. Art of that period typically depicted scenes with a moral or religious theme. Since unusual images were incorporated, the themes depicted remained longer in the minds of the people. Since people arc more likely to remember something unusual, it has been sugeestrd that a mnemoiuc .'storvS'and its encoded contents GYll be remembered better if the story contains bizarre images. However, there is contention among educational ps~chologistsas to whether this is really the case (2931). From a personal point of view though, I have found no difficulty in visualizing the bizarre, so for me at least the creation of a. crazy story works well. Let us consider the elements of Group 14 (previously 4A), and try to put ourselves in our students'position. The elements we must remember are carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, and lead. It is not difficult to fit some "soundalike" words of high visual imagery for these elements. carbon = carbon paper silicon = sillv mnvict lead = lead pipe
By incorporating each image into a story, students have the ability to remember all the elements in sequential order. The example is trivial, but it does serve to demonstrate the potential uses of the technique. Numeric Pegwords Another way in which lists may be remembered is by noting the relation of the item to its associated number in the list. Each number is assigned a souud-alike equivalent. In Figure 1, pegwords for numbers 1-10 are those quoted by Baine (32) with alternatives in parentheses by me. Optional ~ e m o r d for s numbers 11-20 have been devised bv some &&ors (331, but personal pegwords may be just as effective. Pegwords for numbers 11-20 could also be obtained by combination of the 0-9 digits. For example, the pegword for 20 might be obtained by additionof theimages "shoe" and "hero". Taking the Group 14 elements, the position of germqnium as third in the group might be remembered by visualizing a tree ("three") draped with geraniums ("germanium"), or one that is crawling with germs. The main criterion in such association is that the words should be easily visualized by the individual. Abstract pegwords such as "free" = 3 are not as effective as those with high visual imagery. Other pegword methods do not rely on the phonetic similarity between numbers and words of high visual imagery, but have apparently worked well. Nutt suggested the following pegwords from 1-10 (34). one = alarm clock two = pants three =chair four = table
zero = = one two = three = four = = five six = seven = eight = nine = ten
=
(Hero) bun, gun (wand) shoe(chew) tree door (Ford) beehive, knives sticks oven, heaven gate, plate line, wine, (mine) pen, hen. (tent)
Table 1. Consonant Transformation of Numbers 11
=
Hell
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
=
EH
=
=
Fur Fort Fib Sweet sixteen Vent 18thhole Knight
20
=
Twin
= = =
= =
L
I
Figure 1. Numeric pegwords that enable the retention and recall of numbers one through twenty.
(a)Ten units and their letter equivalents Number Consonant Reason forChoice Z, S First letter of "Zero" 0 1 T One downstroke in the letter T 2 n Two downstrokes in the letter N 3 m Three downstrokes in the letter M 4 R Last letter of 'YOUR' 5 L Roman Numeral for50 6 g, ch, sh, j Looks like an inverted "g" 7 K Folding top half onto bonom = "7" 8 1, v Looks like a curly 'f' 9 b, p Looks like an invelted "b" D First letter of "Do?" (b) Examples of letter equivalents to numbers 10 and above.
Number
five = newspaper six = automobile
seven =paliceman eight = revolving door nine = mailbox ten =generaldelivery window He based his system on items in everyday life, j u s t i i g his choice in the belief that people could readily identify with these pegwords. For instance, people are woken up in the morning by an alarm clock (one), pull on their pants (two), sit down in a chair (three), pull the chair up to the table (four), and read a newspaper (five). Items on a list could then be associated with these pegwords in much the same way as a phonetically based system. Nutt went on to suggest further pegwords up to loo! Alphabetic Pegwords Alphabetic pegwords have their own special use in memorization of sequential lists. Sound-alikenames may be ascribed to all the letters of the alphabet as shown in Figure 2. If the list of Group 14 elements had been sequentially ordered against letters instead of numbers, we would again have a system for remembering each element in relation to its associated pegword. Unfortunately, only 26 items can be coded in this way. The main advantage the pegword method has over the linkword method is that items on a list are dissociated from one another, being linked only to their respective pegwords. In this way, link breakage and hence nonretrieval of information may be obviated. The major problem with pegword listing is the potential for "crosstalk" be-
ApeIAce Beelbeetroot Seaheesawtseal Dean Eel Effigy Jeep H bomb Eyefice JailNay (bird) Cake Elbow Ember Figure 2. Alphabetic pegwords.
Wren Oak-tree Peapodlpeep Queuelcucumber ArWarf (dog) Eskimo N (teacup) Ewe Veal Doublemint X-Ray gun Wife Zebra
Word
Number
Word
Number
Word
Toes
Nose
Maze
TeeT
NoTe
MaT
TeeN
NUN
MaN
ToMe
NoMe
MOM
TaR
NeRo
MaRe
TaiL
NiLe
MuLe
ToGa
NaG
MiG
TeaK
NiKe
MUCK
TOFU
Nave
MaFia
TuBe
NiB
MOB
'Author's suggestion tween several lists. In other words, pegwords and associated items on one list might be mixed with those of another. The chance that this unfortunate situation will occur may be reduced by using several pegword systems. Remembering Numbers Although pegwords can be used to remember unrelated numbers, a more efficient method is available. In 1648, Winckleman suggested that numbers be transformed into consonants that are joined together where necessary by "neutral" vowels to create words of high visual imagery (35).Following this system, a story can be made-or at least a word or sentence. The subdivision or chunking of a string of numbers enables larger numbers to be handled more easily. The ten units and their consonant equivalents Table 2. One Way in Which the Avogadro Constant May Be Remembered
Number
Consonant
6
G D
0
s
2
N
x 10
WorcUPhrase Created Godson
Pony
(exponential) 2 3
N
Name
M
Volume 69 Number 2 February 1992
139
