The Secret Is Out!

Yes, it's true. The esoteric memory exercises, not fit for the unwashed masses, that we have been practicing in class have been revieled in this month's Women's Health (sister magazine to Men's Health) in an article titled "Total Recall". The article gives four ways to help place things in the memory.

The first one, similar to the meathod in Ad Herennium (p 11, Yates), recommends that for long lists, such as grocerie lists, you should visualize each item that you want in an unusual way. Since few people go shopping for ram's testicles, the articles uses the example of "Ryan Reynolds holding the milk in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other, wearing nothing by boxer briefs made out of your favorite cereal." (I'm not sure who Ryan Reynolds is, but, from the context of the article, I can assume that he is somebody who one might find strange or interesting to look at.)

Secondaly, "Total Recall" suggests that to remember random things, such as a string of numbers in a phone number, one should try to find groupings within those numbers that can be connected with on a personal level, such as birthday or lucky number.

The third meathod mentioned is our Memory Palace (although the article calls it "Use the Room").

The fourth meathod isn't so much a memory system as it is an information processing technique. When being introduced to new people, the article states, pause at every third person and comment on something about him, clothes, name, appearance, etc., and while doing this mentally review the names of the previous two people. The object of this is to slow the flow of information, giving the memory a chance to store new information before receiving more.