Remembering passages of information

by Simon
(UK)

Hi, I have no idea which memory system would be best to use to remember passages of information. The following text shows part of what I want to learn:

HOLMES-ADIES TONIC PUPIL

- Frequently in young adults (20 to 50's). more women than men (viral illness)
- One pupil is larger than the other and reacts poorly to light
- However long standing cases have a reduction in pupil size with time
- Pupil function becomes more impaired and can involve both eyes (20% of cases)
- Problems with both constriction and dilation

I have tried using the SQR3 technique but it didn't seem to help me. Any help is much appreciated.

Doug's Reply: Try visualization and association plus the Link Method. These methods seem awkward at first, but with practice they go fast and work brilliantly.

The first is explained on this page:

https://www.memory-improvement-tips.com/best-memory-trick.html

The Link Method is described here:
https://www.memory-improvement-tips.com/link-method.html

Here's how to do it. First think of a crazy image that *sounds like* the name of the disease. To me, "Holmes-Adies" sounds like "home" + "a dice". So I imagine a house built of dice instead of bricks.

Tonic Pupil makes me think of a gin-and-tonic drink plus a student (pupil). So a student dressed in graduation attire drinking a gin-and-tonic with dice instead of ice cubes.

I review these images a few times in my mind, in great detail. Now, given the phrase "Tonic Pupil", the image of the student-gin-and-tonic-with-dice-cubes comes to mind. The dice remind me of the home made of dice (Holmes-Adies).

Next step is linking symptoms to the disease name.

Affects age 20's - 50's. Since these are numbers, use the Phonetic Number system (https://www.memory-improvement-tips.com/remembering-numbers.html) to convert the 2 to an "N" and the 5 to an "L".

Adding vowels between N and L gives "nail" for example. I imagine a nail being driven through a glass, shattering it, to remind me of the age range.

Affects women more than men, and due to a virus; modify the nail-glass image so a giant virus in a dress is driving the nail.

Now for one larger pupil. Imagine a pair of eyes wide open but one eye has a virus standing in the center pushing the pupil wider and wider. That links the previous virus-nail-glass image to the next virus-one-larger-pupil image.

"Reacts poorly to light." I imagine an "reed" on stage dressed as an actor (reed-act = react). A spotlight shines into his wide open eyes, he reacts badly to it. This links wide-open-eyes-one-virus image to the reed-actor-poorly-to-light image.

Continue similarly to the next fact, thinking of a crazy image of "long standing pupil size reduction" and link that to the actor image.

This is tedious to explain in words. However, it went very fast mentally, taking me moments to think of each image and links. Thinking through the image sequence I've created, I remember every fact perfectly.

The memory systems are described in detail by memory expert Harry Lorayne in his books The Memory Book and Super Memory, Super Student if you want to learn more. These methods are also described on my site at the links I gave above.

Open your mind to these methods and you'll find your memory can be very powerful. You read the information, probably several times, so it is in your brain. What you need are mental cues to retrieve the facts from memory. That's what the mental images and links are; handles by which you can find and grab facts hidden in your brain.

Regards,
Douglas
Memory-Improvement-Tips.com