You Can Learn to Remember: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life pdfdrive com

memory and the senses
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ncorporating all our five senses into whatever memory techniques we favour
will make it easier for us to memorize and recall. Let us say that one of the
techniques we use involves imagining a tree. When we conjure up that tree in
our minds, the more realistic our image, the more realized the memory. At the

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simplest level, we might conjure up merely a two-dimensional image of a tree.
But if instead we imagine an oak, in full leaf, with a light wind whistling through
its leaves, and the smells of summer all around, this will make a deeper
impression. It will also give us more potential associations to make with any
items alongside the tree.
As a general rule, the most powerful senses for recall are sight, sound and
smell. Sight is the basic interpretative sense, which we crucially use for
navigation. Sound is the main method by which we communicate with others.
Both sight and sound play a part in memorizing words and numbers, which
otherwise can have an elusive abstract quality. Smell and taste are particularly
powerful memory cues, possibly because these senses were once so important to
our survival. Smell bypasses the thalamus region of the brain stem, and connects
directly with the neurons in the cortex – creating a direct route to our memory
store. This is why a scent can instantly transport us back to a highly emotive
event in our past, or remind us so strongly of a particular person. Spend some
time trying to recognize the smells that have particular significance for you.
Think of this as part of a sensory tuning designed to open up your mind more
fully to your experiences – the beneficial effects for your memory training will
follow on naturally.
the memory kaleidoscope
EXERCISE SEVEN
All too often we rely solely upon sight when conjuring something up in our
minds. This visualization exercise is intended to help you appreciate the
significance of the other senses. At the same time it stretches the imagination in
ways that benefit the practice of memory techniques.
1. Close your eyes and imagine a complex yet readily identifiable item, such as a
racehorse and jockey. Visualize the horse and its rider meticulously in your
imagination – the colourful blouson of the rider, the harness and saddle, the fine,
proud expression on the horse’s face, the jockey’s face shadowed under the peak
of his cap.
2. In turn, think of aspects of touch, sound, smell and taste associated with the
image. For touch, you might think of the satiny texture of the jockey’s blouson,
the smoothly groomed coat of the horse, the coarse hair of the mane; for sound,
the galloping hooves and the cheering crowd; for smell, the leather and the

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sweat; for taste, perhaps a sugar lump fed to the horse before the race (feel at
the same time the horse’s slurpy tongue on your fingers).
3. This is just one random example. Now think of other readily identifiable
images to treat in the same way. It does not matter if one or two of the senses at
first seem irrelevant to the image – you will eventually think of ways of bringing
them in, even if you have to resort to surreal imaginings.