Part 2

Review the ten pictures until they can be recalled without difficulty, and until all are clear and distinct. Each time you review, see the same picture as originally made, do not change it, except to add more Exaggeration, Motion or Detail each time and make it more distinct and definite. You will have experienced the fact, that in each case where you made and visualized a good picture you remembered the words without difficulty. Where the picture is not strong you have trouble in recalling the word. Any picture that can not be recalled easily can be made to do so by adding more of the three elements, Exaggeration, Motion and the Unusual. Take the poorest picture, the one most difficult to recall, exaggerate the size of the objects, or make them move farther or faster, stand them on their heads or do any thing unusual and see how much easier you can recall it the next time.

Two Mental Operations

There are two distinct operations in this method. First the Imagination takes the two objects and determines how they shall be arranged; what they shall do; or how they are to look in the picture. Second, the mind's eye photographs the picture so arranged by the imagination. The impression is made upon the brain when the picture is photographed. You may decide upon a good combination of the objects, but if you do not SEE the picture you will not remember. The impression is made upon the brain when the mind's eye actually sees the picture which your Imagination has constructed. Just as the photographer first arranges his group in the manner that he thinks will make the best effect, then presses the bulb and exposes the plate. If he only arranged the group and did not expose the plate he would have no picture, and so, if you imagine the picture and do not SEE it, you will have poor memory.

Add to Your List

In the same way form pictures of the following objects. Use your own imagination to bring the objects together into motion pictures. In adding to your list, always begin with the last object and revisualize it with the new object. Thus you will link all together in an endless chain. Make memory pictures of the following:

Dishes and Wagon

Pile the dishes high upon the wagon and see them rattle off and break as the wagon moves. Be a cartoonist, make unusual pictures.

Wagon and Table

Make your own picture, and fix your attention upon it for a moment by seeing the details. What kind of a wagon is it? What color? How drawn?

Table and Carpet

See the color and pattern in the carpet.

Carpet and Fence

Fence and Bread

It will be easier for some to make the Memory Pictures into a story, that is to see the Dishes thrown at the Wagon and fall off onto the Table where they are put into a Carpet and hung up on a Fence, which has a loaf of Bread on the top of a high picket. This story can continue indefinitely, as long as your imagination adds to it. There is a danger, however, in this kind of a picture; it is in the tendency to see more than two objects in each picture. The idea may be continuous, the picture must never be. It may be a continuous idea connecting separate and distinct pictures but you must be sure to drop the first object before you add the new one, so that there are but two objects in each. Continue picturing these words in pairs as you did before, using the story idea if it seems easier.

=Bread and Walk.= =Walk and Lamp.= =Lamp and School.= =School and Stove.= =Stove and Piano.=

Now, go back to Dishes and review the pictures, naming both objects in each picture. Can you see each clearly? If not, strengthen the picture, put in more motion, or make it more unusual.

Without the aid of the list go back to the House and recall the entire series from House to Piano. After you have succeeded in this, try to see the series of pictures and speak them as a list, thus, House--Clock--Flowers--Circus--Soldier, etc. Do this a couple of times until it can be done without hesitation.

You Can Reverse the Process

Test the availability of these visual impressions that you have made by starting with the picture of the Piano and follow each picture carefully back to the House. Thus, Piano--Stove--School--Lamp--etc.

You now have a series of twenty unassociated words so impressed upon your mind that you can say them forward or backward. You can as easily begin in the middle and go either way, or you can think of any word at random and tell which word precedes it or follows it in the list.

=Strong visual impressions properly associated can be recalled at will.=

It has taken some time to make and photograph these pictures, practice will soon make the process so easy and natural that the same result can be accomplished in a few seconds. It is not unusual for children, after a little practice, to take a list of twenty words and visualize them in one careful reading, so that they can recall them in any order desired. Practice will do the same for all regardless of how difficult they may find the idea at first. All have the faculties, awaken them and make them serve.

The important thing is not that the child has easily learned a list of words which he can repeat forward or backward, but the fact that he has experienced the memory value of a definite mental operation. The learning of the list is merely the exercise through which the process of visualization is applied to the memory. The child may possess the knowledge, but practice is the only way to make it most useful. This same kind of exercise should be continued and will later lead to many practical applications.

Three Steps Necessary

All educational progress has three steps, To Know; To Do; To Be. What a child becomes as he grows to manhood depends upon what he DOES, with what he KNOWS.

Knowing is the first essential, but without the doing there is little result. The purpose of this book is memory development.

=The improvement of the memory will depend upon what the child does with the knowledge he receives.=

Sharpen the Tools

Your experience has proven that poor, weak impressions are recalled slowly and with difficulty. At the same time when you succeed in recalling a poorly made impression it is indistinct, it lacks that clear definiteness which brings assurance and confidence. To overcome this you need to sharpen the tools with which the impressions are made upon the brain. You cannot expect the best results from untrained senses any more than a carpenter can expect to do a fine quality of work with dull tools.

The senses can be sharpened and improved as you have seen in the First Book, but practice is the whetstone and every stroke will produce its proportionate result; without it you can not expect to become proficient in anything. The methods by which the senses can be trained are suggested in the First Book, and if they have been overlooked, or slighted, you can now see the importance of paying proper attention to them.

=Practice is the motive power which can propel you along the road of progress toward the goal of perfection.=

Continue the Memory Pictures

In the same manner in which you learned the first twenty words fix the following in mind. Begin with the last object of the previous list, Piano and add the next one, Spoon.

Now, add to Spoon, Road. See a Spoon with arms and legs running down the Road. Make a real cartoon of it. Continue to picture the words in pairs, always dropping the first when adding a new one. Now take Road and Picture; Picture and Desk; Desk and Window; Window and Apple; Apple and Book; Book and Door; Door and River.

Stop a moment and review these Memory Pictures, first in pairs as Piano and Spoon; then as a list. Now go over the list backwards.

Add more words and be sure you stop each time to see a clear, definite picture. You must fix your attention upon it for a moment, use motion, exaggeration and the unusual.

Picture River and Dress; Dress and Hammer; Hammer and Ball; Ball and Train; Train and Gun; Gun and Moon; Moon and Curtain; Curtain and Pepper; Pepper and Bed; Bed and Scissors.

Review the series as before, those pictures which come slowly should be improved. With the book closed, start with House and repeat the entire list. See each picture clearly before you speak the word, even though you may feel sure what the following word is, see the picture first, this will insure accuracy. Then begin with Scissors and go through the series of pictures backwards working your way, picture by picture, back to House. Take time to be accurate, do not try to go rapidly at first. See each picture and try to see it more clearly, adding all the detail you can. Mental exercise is necessary to development. See that you perform this one often and accurately.

Have Learned Forty Words

When the child can say the list he has learned a series of forty words which he can repeat forward and backward. These words are unassociated and would be difficult to learn by the old cumbersome method of repetition. Yet the feat is accomplished easily by the application of these simple and natural principles.

Be Gratified But Not Satisfied

Do not be satisfied that these simple facts, and the use which has been made of them, has proven resultful. Ideas are only of value because of the profit which comes from their continued use. Prove their worth to your utter satisfaction and then by continuous effort make them a part of the mental makeup. Become thoroughly familiar with these principles and see that the child knows just how to proceed in the use of them. Remember it is the visual faculty you are cultivating for great future usefulness, not merely learning a list of words. Review these pictures many times, use the same ones, do not make new ones.

Avoid the mistake of seeing only one object at a time; always see two, as the House and the Clock, the Clock and the Flowers. This causes one picture to recall the next, because the object appears in two pictures, or is associated with two objects. One by natural mental operations recalls the other.

For further practice and development add to the list of forty words now learned, some of those following, or make a list of your own. Any words will do, picture them two and two and review them after you have added ten or so.

List for Memory Exercise

House Spoon Fire Brush Pail Clock Road Hose Salt Ice Flowers Pencil Box Paper Sugar Circus Picture Bridge Button Porch Soldier Window Bell Tooth Log Church Apple Grass Sack Pump Rocks Book Soap Letter Rope Auto Door Boat Ring Barrel Shoes River Towel Pipe Corn Dishes Dress Pins Street Board Wagon Hammer Cannon Spool Spoon Table Ball Ladder Penny Shovel Carpet Train Cotton Comb Leaf Fence Gun Bicycle Umbrella Shell Bread Moon Ribbon Chimney Bank Walk Curtain Coat Swing Hat Lamp Pepper Hair Sled Cow School Bed Stove Rake Bat Store Scissors Bottle Fish Tree Piano Chair Pie Nail String

To Develop Definite Pictures

Some persons have difficulty in making their pictures definite enough to avoid confusion between objects of similar shape. Overcome this difficulty by teaching the child a few lists of objects somewhat similar in shape. This will require making clear and definite pictures. The exercise following is a good one for this purpose. Visualize the following list and see to it that the pictures are definite, so that they can be recalled in proper sequence, either forward or backward.

Exercise for definite Visualization

Papa Girl Grandpa Grandma Boy Uncle Sister Brother Woman Mama Man

Animal Lists

The same kind of practice can be gotten by the use of lists of animals, and at the same time another result may be attained. The child must learn just what the animal looks like before he can picture it. In learning these animal lists use the dictionary or encyclopedia, or better still, good books on natural history, and show the child the picture of each animal with which he is not familiar. Teach him all that you can regarding each of these different animals. He will then be able to picture them clearly and retain and recall them without difficulty.

Memory Exercise

Dog Wolf Mule Lamb Lion Camel Giraffe Bear Alligator Sheep Cat Pony Deer Tiger Colt

Memory Exercise

Rabbit Beaver Frog Muskrat Badger Mouse Mink Mole Chipmunk Skunk Squirrel Rat Fox Coyote Possum

The Law of Association

The first requirement of memory is to make a strong impression upon the brain, and this we have seen is accomplished by visualization. We concentrate the strongest of our senses upon the thing we wish to remember and thus make the strongest impression.

The second necessary step is the ability to recall the impression at will. This is equally important in memory and is made possible by the Law of Association. Prof. Kay states that, "Association is the means by which what is in the memory is recalled and brought again before consciousness."

Things which are impressed upon the mind, or which are active in the mind at the same time, will return together, one will suggest or recall the other. A voice, a sound, a sight will often recall a long train of events. One event will recall another that took place at the same time, or in the same place, or one similar in detail. These associations are easily formed though you may be unconscious of the fact at the time. When one of the associated facts is in your mind it becomes the means by which the other is brought again into your consciousness.

The visual picture is the strongest impression that can be made upon the brain, but to be able to recall a new impression at will, it should be linked or associated with some already familiar picture which is easily recalled, and this will bring the associated impression with it.

In the visual exercise in which a list of words was learned, beginning with House, this principle was used. The strong impression was made upon the brain by seeing the House. You also made a strong impression of the Clock, by seeing it, but in order to remember that the word Clock follows the word House the two were associated together by seeing them in the same picture. This is an example of two things impressed upon the mind at the same time. When you see the House it brings the Clock into mind. If you wish to recall what word follows House see the House, and the picture association will supply the second object.

The use of this Law of Association made it possible for you to recall the list of objects. To be easily available the objects must be linked together as strongly as possible, and this is accomplished by the associated picture.

Association is one of the fundamental laws of mental activity, the use of which is absolutely essential to memory operation. In the pages following you will notice the application of this same principle, always using the visual method because of its unusual strength and accuracy.

Much has been written on the subject and some memory courses dwell on it at great length. There are just two essentials to be always kept in mind:

First, to be able to recall the new fact at will it must be impressed upon the mind in association with some familiar knowledge that will be easily recalled.

Second, the visual picture is the strongest association, therefore the most lasting and easily remembered and at the same time it can be used for all needs.

This law of association must be used continuously, without it there can be no accumulation of knowledge or memory. Its operation is simple and need not be in the least confusing.

Reminder Pictures

A simple use of the visual memory is to make a picture of the thing which you wish to do, in the place where you wish to be reminded of doing it, called Reminder Pictures. This principle can be applied to errands and to very important ideas. Seeing the thing you wish to do will form the strongest possible impression. By seeing this picture in the place where you wish to be reminded of it, you have associated it in your mind in connection with the thing which is to be used to bring it again into your consciousness.

The latter half of the picture--the place in which you wish to be reminded of it--must be familiar, at the same time a place or object which is going to be physically visible at the time you want to be reminded of doing the errand. This principle can most easily be understood by the use of illustrations which are actual examples of how others have used the idea.

Forming a Health Habit

Believing in the value of a glass of water taken before meals one person made a picture of a large glass of water covering a greater part of the dining table, and when coming to the table he saw himself spill the glass of water. It is essential to have two objects in the picture--one, the thing you wish to be reminded of doing; and the other, a familiar scene which you are going to see at the time. In this case, when the person sees the table, which is half of the picture, it brings back into consciousness the large glass of water. This reminds him of drinking the water before sitting down to the meal.

A lady had been forgetting to get a certain rug which had been put away in a dark closet, and which she feared might be injured by the moths if it was not taken out and used. As is often the case in such circumstances, she thought of this rug many times, but always when it was inconvenient to get it. She made a picture of the door of the closet in which the rug was stored and also of herself passing this door; the door flew open and the rug jumped out into the hall at her feet. Later, when she was passing, seeing the closet door it reminded her of the rug and she stopped, opened the door, took out the rug and thus attended to the matter which she had been forgetting.

A business man had been forgetting to telephone an associate. He made a picture of the desk in his office, and when he rolled up the top of the desk the friend jumped out and scared him. This picture was made in the library of his home in the evening. Next morning when he saw the desk the rest of the picture came back to his mind and he took up the telephone and attended to the matter.

These pictures may include more than one object, or even more than one errand. What the average memory needs is a hint to start it on the right track. A husband had been asked, when leaving the house, to order some groceries before going to the train to meet some friends. He made a picture, of his car standing where it would be when he was ready to leave the office, and over the whole car he spread a large beefsteak, on one end of the steak he saw a bag of sugar, on the other end he saw a bag of coffee, then he broke an egg over the whole, for these were the things which he was to order. When he came from his office, seeing the car, a part of the picture, it reminded him of the groceries, and he easily remembered the things wanted.

Pictures which are exaggerated, have strong motion, and are unusual or even startling, are best for this reminder idea. The pictures must be seen clearly in the mind's eye, and the part of the picture, which is used as the reminder, must be something which you will see clearly at the time you wish to do the thing. The illustrations given are from the actual experiences of busy men who are using this idea in their daily life.

This application of the visual memory can become invaluable to the child. In cases where the desired result has not been procured the difficulty, almost invariably, is a lack of vividness in seeing the place, person, or thing which is to act as the reminder. It must be familiar, definite, and clearly visualized. Practice will improve the results. Make an effort to see detailed and distinct objects in your pictures and use the strengthening elements. Here are a few additional examples of how children have used this idea. It works.

A child was sent to the grocery store for four items, and instead of carrying a list he made a picture of the counter in the store as his reminder. The items to be purchased were a sack of Salt, a bottle of Vinegar, some Fly Paper, and Potatoes. He pictured the Fly Paper sticking on the edge of the counter and on it balanced the sack of Salt and the bottle of Vinegar, then he saw himself throwing the Potatoes at them.

A picture of this kind will enable the child to remember a few items without difficulty. The Hitching Post idea which follows soon will be more accurate and enable him to extend the list to any length.

A boy, who often went away to school without bringing in his wood, made a picture of himself running out of the door to school, when slipping off the porch he sailed through the air and landed on the wood pile. The next morning, when he went out of the door and across the porch, his picture flashed into his mind and he stopped and brought in some wood before leaving.

A girl had formed the habit of throwing the towel on the chair instead of hanging it up. She made a picture of herself throwing down the towel when it became entangled in her feet and tripped her up as she walked away, throwing her headlong.

Reminder pictures of this kind must be visualized by the child, even if suggested by the parent. Do this pleasantly and even playfully, being careful not to arouse the antagonism of the child. If he is stubborn in the matter you can gain nothing, unless you secure his co-operation and pleasant interest. To keep these pictures in mind and to use them at every opportunity will aid in forming correct habits. Make them startling and interesting, and when possible, put real feeling into them. Induce the child to feel the pain of his fall; feelings give life and power to visualized pictures.

A boy was told to stop at a neighbor's and deliver a note for his mother on his way to school. He pictured the front gate of this neighbor's fence swinging out and stopping him. He tried to go over the gate and the more he climbed, the higher it became. Seeing the gate as he passed on his way to school reminded him of the note.

A tablet was needed at school and had been forgotten several times. A picture of the tablet barring the door of his home, so that he could not get in, reminded the boy to go at once to the store and make the purchase.

On her way to church a girl was given a message to deliver to a certain lady, after the service. She pictured herself trying to get out of the door of the church, but the lady blocked the way refusing to allow her to crowd through. When she started out, seeing the door, which was part of the picture, it reminded her of the lady, and she delivered her message.

Beware of Procrastination

One of the most subtle foes of a good memory is procrastination. Like conscience, memory can be dulled and almost ruined by continual disregard of its suggestions. Failure to act when reminded ruins what memory power you have and retards your progress and further development.

A Reminder picture will suggest an errand or duty one--two--or more times, but there is an ever increasing lapse of time between each reminder.

To Procrastinate--to put off doing the thing will dull the suggestive power of the memory. It will clutter the mind with undone things which will cause mental worry. It will weaken the will power.

To Act--to accomplish the thing at the first suggestion quickens and improves the suggestive power of the memory. It clears the mind for new thoughts and plans. It relieves the nervous strain and increases and strengthens the volitional power.