Memory Techniques

Stacy 0:06

Hello to all you budding therapists out there and welcome to our podcast . I'm Stacey and this is my co-host , dr Linton Hutchinson .

Linton 0:15

Hey there , everybody . It's a beautiful day and we're back with another episode where we'll be teaching you about a tool you can use to help pass your licensure exam . Today we're talking about one of my favorite , favorite tools mnemonic devices .

Stacy 0:31

Mnemonic devices . Sounds like something to do with robotics .

Linton 0:36

Not quite , although I wouldn't be surprised if Elon hasn't already developed a robot-themed mnemonic generator using AI . But no , a mnemonic device is a way to help you remember things . Mnemonic is the ancient Greek word for memory or remember . These techniques are based on simple memory enhancing strategies using images , patterns and structures . For instance , you might use acronyms to remember lists of principles or theories or what you want to buy at Publix .

Stacy 1:12

There it is again . Linton , I wondered when you'd work in Publix to one of our episodes Seems like you spend a heck of a lot of time shopping there . So yes , acronyms are a great place to start . Say , you're trying to remember the five stages of grief in order that are defined by Elizabeth Koopla-Ross Denial , anger , bargaining , depression and acceptance . So you could just use the acronym DABDA , where D stands for denial , A stands for anger , and so on .

Linton 1:43

Right , and if you want to get really fancy , you can use something called a caustic . It's an acronym . Only , instead of having one word , where each letter is a fill-in for the items you want to remember , you create a sentence or phrase like the one a student of mine came up with Oral Annie's , a pretty little girl , which stands for oral or orphan , anal for Annie , phallic for pretty , latency for little and genital for girl . So orphan Annie's , a pretty little girl , allows you to remember psychosexual stages of development in order . If you've been on our site , you're probably familiar with something we created called narrative mapping . It's a procedure you can follow where , answering multiple choice questions on an exam , you can remember the narrative mapping steps by remembering the phrase please save the world , which stands for please paraphrase save specificity . The topic world words .

Stacy 3:05

Nice Thanks for mentioning that , lynton . That's been a really helpful tool for many test takers . It's not only about acronyms and acrostics those tend to get all the glories , as these mnemonic devices are helpful , but you can also use visualization , where you create mental images , as a way to significantly enhance information retention .

Linton 3:26

For example , if you're trying to remember the core principles of different therapeutic approaches , you could envision a symbol image for each one , like a tree for gestalt therapy .

Stacy 3:38

Okay , following you so far , but why would you specifically use a tree to symbolize gestalt therapy , lynton ?

Linton 3:46

Well , this is how I think about it . A tree is rooted in the ground in the present moment . It's also a living thing that grows and it changes over time . Sound familiar ? Yeah , that's just like gestalt therapy , which emphasizes the client's growth and change over time while trying to live more fully in the present moment . See how that works . When you use visualization to help remember things , they stick better in your memory .

Stacy 4:18

I got you Okay . Well , thanks a lot for the visual , lynton . Now that's what I'm going to think about whenever I look at a tree . I'm going to think gestalt therapy . All right , another mnemonic tool that we've used a lot is called the method of loci , which is also called the memory palace technique . So the method of loci is where you create an imaginary journey through a place that you know well , like your house , for example , and as you walk through it , you associate every item or piece of information with something specific in that place . So , for instance , if I wanted to remember the ethical principles that therapists use , I could imagine walking through my house and seeing each principle in a different room . So if I wanted to remember the first ethical principle , non-malphesence , for example , I could picture a large no sign hanging from the living room ceiling .

Linton 5:12

And you could have a bowl of those heart-shaped candies that we used to get in school on Valentine's Day in your mental palace kitchen to represent the ethical principles of beneficence . Just remember , stacy loci was known as the Norse God of mischief , trickery and deception .

Stacy 5:34

Past Stacy , and hey past Linton , for that matter could really thrive using loci . Now that I know what it was derived from , just blame all those previous shenanigans on loci . Well , as fun as it seems , let's not forget about rhymes and music as mnemonic devices . You can create a jingle for concepts or use rhymes to recall certain procedures . If you think about it , there are lots of different jingles and song lyrics that you remember without even trying .

Linton 6:01

Yeah , back when advertisements were good , they used jingles to help sell products . I remember one for BroCream , a little Dabadouya . That was ages ago and I still remember it .

Stacy 6:15

Was that on the radio Linton pre-TV era ? The one I remember was I don't know if you remember it KitKats , give me a break .

Linton 6:24

Give me a break . Give me a break , Take me off a piece of that KitKat .

Stacy 6:29

Give me a break . Give me a break . There you go , so that'll be stuck in your head for the rest of the day . You're welcome .

Linton 6:34

Thanks a lot .

Stacy 6:37

Well , you're right , those jingles do stick around for a long time and music taps into our auditory memory , which is a very powerful way to retain information . So , in summary , here's a list of the memory devices that we've explored today Acronyms , which involve creating a word where each letter stands for another word that needs to be remembered . For example , the acronym ROYGBIV that you probably remember from elementary school is used to remember the order of colors in the rainbow Red , orange , yellow , green , blue , indigo , violet . Then we have acrostics , and this is a form of mnemonic where the first letter of each word or line forms a phrase or a sentence aiding in the recall of information . So an example would be the sentence every good boy does fine , which is an acrostic used to remember the notes on the lines of the treble clef in music , if you are familiar with music .

Stacy 7:36

And then mental images .

Stacy 7:39

This technique involves creating vivid and memorable visual associations between items to be remembered , for instance to remember a grocery list and no , by the way , we're not getting paid by publics to keep bringing them up into podcasts , it's just Linton's favorite place to shop , and I love their subs so one might visualize a path through their house with the grocery items placed along the way .

Memory Enhancement Techniques

Stacy 8:02

Then we have the method of loci , which is a strategy of memory enhancement that uses visualizations along with spatial memory , where you put items in a familiar setting or environment , so you could visualize a location or a path and then place items or parts of a process to be remembered in that imagined place or path . And then , last but not least , we've got rhymes or jingles , which is where you create , you know , a little , a little rhyme or a little ditty to help you remember information . And an example of this , again pulling on something we've probably all heard in elementary school in 1492 , Columbus sailed the ocean blue , which is a rhyme to remember the year that Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas .

Linton 8:48

Right Stacy . And on that note , we're going to sign off for today and let you practice using mnemonics Until next time . Remember , it's in there , it's in there .