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old age. Aged individuals remember happenings of their childhood although they are unable to recall experiences of the previous day. This same fact seems to hold true in the case of brain diseases. General terms and general principles tend to persist the longer, probably because they have been used much oftener, and use strengthens the connection. It is for the same reason that such facts and principles are longest remembered in old age.

20. Mnemonic Systems

[WOODWORTH, R. S., Psychology, p. 363. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1921.]

Often some little mnemonic system will help in remembering disconnected facts, but such devices have only a limited field of application and do not in the least improve the general power of memory. Some speakers, in planning out a speech, locate each successive "point" in a corner of the hall, or in a room of their own house, and when they have finished one point, look into the next corner, or think of the next room, and find the following point there. It would seem that a well-ordered discourse should supply its own logical cues so that such artificial aids would be unnecessary.

In training the memory for the significant facts that constitute the individual's knowledge of his business in life, the best rule is to systematize and interrelate the facts into a coherent whole. Thus a bigger and stronger stimulus is provided for the recall of any item. This, along with the principles of "economy" in memorizing, is the best suggestion that psychology has to make towards memory improvement.

21. Mnemonics

[WHIPPLE, G. M., How to Study Effectively, pp. 34-35. Bloomington, Public School Publishing Co., 1916.]

When the material to be learned by heart presents no obvious rational associations, it is perfectly legitimate to invent some artificial scheme for learning and recalling it.

To take a stock instance, I remember that the volcano of Fujiyama in Japan is 12,365 feet high by dwelling on the circumstance that this number embraces the twelve months and 365 days of the year. To avoid getting the wrong volcano I might even concoct some far-fetched association between Fuji

yama and fugitive year. Or, again, I remember that a certain infant used sixteen words at the age of one year by recalling the proverb: "speech is silver," etc., and that Bryan's speech on the silver question argued "16 to 1!" It may be pointed out that most of the books of patent recipes for memorizing err in urging the use of such artificial devices when a rational association, a logical connection, would be preferable.

. . . In any event, if you must use a mnemonic device, invent your own rather than adopt a second-hand one: you are less likely to forget it on account of the very effort that you make in constructing it.

22. Application of Fidelity of Report Facts to School Situations

[NORSWORTHY, Naomi and WHITLEY, Mary T., Psychology of Childhood, p. 144. Copyright, 1923, by the Macmillan Co.] (Adapted.)

The results of experiments made of children's testimony show that their reports cannot be accepted at face value. The younger the child, the more this seems to be true. Much of the trouble between parents and teachers could be averted if all parties concerned would only be convinced of these facts. The child does not mean to lie. His inaccuracies are primarily due to his lack of mental development. He fails to distinguish between the real and the fancied. As he gets more and more experience, the better he will be able to make the distinctions. Questions that contain suggestions are all the more likely to call forth inaccurate reports. Adults will make mistakes in similar situations only to a lesser extent. This does not mean that children should never be asked questions that contain suggestions, but it does mean that such questions should be supplemented with other questions and means.

The very young child can be helped in discriminating between the real and fancied, (1) by having him examine carefully the imagined situations; (2) by building up standards for the real and for the fancied through story-telling by the pupils, etc., and (3) by providing the child with a greater variety of experiences so he can think his way through the situation.

23. Memory Training: The Conditions of a Good Memory [ANGELL, J. R., Introduction to Psychology, pp. 146–148. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1918.]

"A good memory. . . would seem to depend upon (1) ease and rapidity of acquirement, (2) permanency of retention, and (3) the ability to recall information promptly and accurately when wanted. These results clearly involve (a) the original act of impression, (b) the process of retention, and (c) the act of recollection. The original impression and the act of recollection are under our immediate control. The process of retention, once a stimulation is given, depends upon the brain tissues, whose condition we can improve only indirectly by giving ourselves healthful habits and hygienic surroundings."

So far as concerns the original act of impression, it is in the highest degree essential, if memory is to be accurate and tenacious, that there shall be the greatest possible concentration of attention. There can be no reasonable question that the variations in the efficiency of the memories of different individuals are largely occasioned by their different powers or habits of concentrated attending. We give concentrated attention naturally to things which interest us and to things which are emotionally exciting. We have also to some degree the power through sheer effort of will and resolution to focalize our attention for a time even upon subjects which are per se neither interesting nor exciting. The attention given to a considerable part of the ordinary student's work is likely to have in it something of this more or less heroic mastery of one's mind, but it is obviously vastly easier to attend where our interest is sincerely enlisted, and it is for this reason that not a little modern pedagogical theory has insisted that education be so organized as to appeal at each stage to the natural interests of the average boy and girl.

The original impression can sometimes be augmented by appealing to more than one sense avenue, as when, for example, a word is spelled out loud and also written. The Chinese secure a form of intensified attention by reading their lessons aloud. Impressions can obviously be made much deeper by repetition, and for materials which must be mastered verbatim continued repetition will practically always bring success, however tedious the process.

Much more important in retaining an impression is the association of one fact with other logically related facts. A date

in history which is in this way connected up with a great group of antecedent circumstances and a similar set of subsequent events, becomes part of an organized system of ideas and is not likely to be lost, unless the entire group to which it belongs disappears.

On the negative side, anything which serves to minimize distraction will be helpful. Freedom from disturbing noises, from drafts, from uncomfortable chairs, from unduly interesting scenes, is of signal importance.

It is of course evident that while the points touched upon in the last few paragraphs all relate to the matter of securing desirable original impressions, the practical consequences for the memory process are to be found at the moment of recall. In this connection it will be remembered that, earlier in the chapter, in discussing the process of learning and the connected process of forgetting, the significance for retention of recency of stimulation was pointed out.

No single procedure which can be readily commanded is likely to be more serviceable in securing tenacious impressions than the immediate practical application of any item of information which has been memorized. Obviously the special kind of application will depend upon the character of the information. It may be something relating to the use of tools, in which case it should be embodied in the actual manipulation of the tools. It may have to do with geometry. If so, it should be put into immediate demonstration with models or drawings. If of a more abstract character, it may at least be discussed or embodied in some written form. It is of much less consequence what special use is made of it, although this is important, than that it get prompt application somewhere. The conception which was introduced in the opening chapters of the book would lead us to expect exactly such a result as this, because we saw that all our mental processes take their use out of conditions of motor control, and it is therefore natural to expect that the best results will be obtained wherever we realize the translation of sensory and ideational processes into effective motor activities.

24. Memory Training

[BOLTON, F. E., Everyday Psychology for Teachers, pp. 188-189. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1923.]

How to train and improve memory is a theme upon which volumes have been written. Some of the ancients devised sys

tems of mnemonics for memory training, and such systems have been in vogue to the present time. The magazines are full of advertisements of courses of lessons and books on memory systems. "Stop Forgetting!" "Get a Steel Trap Memory!" "Increase Your Efficiency!" are familiar "ads." in the popular magazines.

Because of the remarkable success of psychology in the army a deluge of books on psychology has been published. "Characterology" and "Character Reading at a Glance" and other popular and often populous lectures are being given. Most of these books and these lectures are given by quacks and charlatans. Upon no other topic is more written by these pseudoscientists than upon memory. Most of these and other so-called "memory systems" teach that the way to improve memory is by memory gymnastics.

Upon few other technical questions is the layman so willing to deliver opinions as upon methods of improving memory. He does not feel it hazardous to do so, but regards his conclusions as incontrovertible. The usual advice is to memorize much, verbatim and mechanically. Set apart a portion of every day for committing verses, proverbs, speeches, or strings of dates. It is asserted that the gymnastics thus used will strengthen the memory, not only in the particular direction, but also equally as much in all other directions. It is assumed that the memory is a general power, capable of memorizing anything when once developed. On this theory "the memory organ" might be likened to a muscle, the fiber of which can be strengthened by general gymnastics. Let us investigate to ascertain the facts which have a bearing upon the question.

25. Serviceable Memory

[SEASHORE, Carl E., Psychology in Daily Life, pp. 38-39. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1923.]

A good memory is not one that remembers everything. If one were doomed to remember everything that comes within his experience, he would find himself hopelessly swamped, distracted, possibly insane. Certain forms of idiocy present an allied lack of organization.

The test of a good memory is that it shall be serviceable; that the mind shall be furnished and ready with just the sort of facts which may be needed, and free from the encumbrances of useless, irrelevant, or distracting material. In addition, these

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