Brain Development for Learning Enhancement - (Includes a $120 course discount voucher and online course password)

Author: Xie Hua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features:
II. Association Elements
Association Memory Method is specifically divided into the following three types:
(I) Story Association Method
In our daily lives, we have routines: waking up, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, going to school or work, etc. This fixed pattern of daily life makes it easy for us to associate waking up with brushing teeth, then with eating breakfast, and then with going to school or work. Therefore, if the things we need to remember follow a certain sequence or if we can create a similar sequence through association, we can form a strong and unbreakable chain of memory that allows us to remember from beginning to end, and naturally, from end to beginning. This type of association is what many people know as "story association." Story association is a simple form of association. Why is it simple? It's like watching a movie—once you've seen the plot, you can recall the details. Indeed, movie plots are generally easier to remember than book knowledge, aside from the fact that movies combine sound, light, and images (auditory memory + visual memory). The rich storytelling is the key to quick memorization. So, if you have some information to remember, consider using the story association method to make your memory more detailed, richer, and more layered. For example, suppose today you need to remember buying CDs, buying cabbage for your wife to cook at home, and picking up a pre-ordered cake from a bakery at 5 p.m. to give to a friend as a birthday gift. When faced with these tasks, instead of writing them down, you can create a story to remember them. For instance, you can imagine that a friend of yours has released a CD and that today you are treating them to a cake at home, while also asking your wife to cook a delicious cabbage to celebrate their birthday. By doing so, through the self-written and directed story—encompassing CDs, cabbage, and cake—people find it easier to remember these originally unrelated items. The advantage of story association is that as long as there is a plot, you can remember all the information you need. Let's try a story association exercise: Suppose today I need you to help me buy batteries and a, as well as book a train ticket for next week's business trip for me at the station. How can we weave this into a story? For example, my recording batteries are running low, so I go to a convenience store to buy some. While buying batteries, I run into a friend, so we go to a coffee shop and drink coffee with beautiful. Then, my friend tells me that I should definitely find an opportunity to buy a train ticket to travel to Guilin, a scenic place. Throughout this process, the entire storyline includes why I went to the convenience store to buy batteries, the encounter with my friend during which we drank coffee with, and my friend suggesting that I take a train to a beautiful tourist destination. After completing these two examples, some might ask, "It was originally just a few items to remember, and rote memorization would have sufficed. Why create a story more complex than the information itself?" That's a good question. In the story association exercise above, the story itself is indeed more complex than remembering just three items. However, our brains find it easier to process a flow like a movie script, so we first connect some simpler information or items that need to be remembered. Additionally, the benefit of memory training is that the method is simple and the process is consistent. Although you may only need to remember a few items now, once a solid foundation is established, remembering more information using story association will not be a problem. Moreover, if these items are important, they can be stored long-term through story association, unlike simple rote memorization, which is more prone to being forgotten.