Chapter 100 The third law of nature: association

The Secret of a Good Memory—Much has been said about the first two laws of memory.The third law to be discussed below—association—is also indispensable to memory.In fact, it amounts to an explanation of memory itself.Professor James wisely points out that our mind is basically an associative machine... Suppose I were silent for a while, and then said in a commanding tone: "Remember! Recall it!" Will your memory organs obey this command? , and can recall some kind of affirming image that you have experienced in the past?of course not.It would freeze on the spot, bewildered, and ask, "What do you want me to remember?" Simply put, it took a little instruction to make it work.That is, if I say, remember your date of birth, or recall what you had for breakfast, or think of the sequence of notes, then your memory apparatus will immediately produce the result I request : This hint concentrates many possibilities on a particular point.And if you look a little further into how this happens, you immediately notice that the cue has some sort of connection to what you recall. The phrase "my date of birth" has an ingrained association with a particular number, month, and year; You lead to coffee, bacon, and eggs; the noun "note" is the neighbor of "do, re, mi, fa, so, la, si, do."In fact, the laws of association govern our train of thought, and are never hindered by emotion.

Anything that comes to mind has to be channeled.Immediately after being channeled into the mind, it associates with something that was already in the mind.Whether it's what you recall, or what you think... it's the same thing.An educated memory also depends upon organized systems of associations for its functioning; its essence rests upon two of their characteristics: first, the permanence of associations, and, second, their numbers.Thus, the "secret of a good memory" is to make varied associations with the facts we wish to remember.But what is this connection with the fact, except to think as much of it as possible?In simple terms, of two people who have the same external experience, the one who thinks the most about his experiences and weaves them into the most systematic relation to each other will be the one who has the best memory.

How do you tie your facts together?And how do we go about weaving the facts into a most systematic relation to each other?The answer is this: find out what they mean and think about them.For example, if you can question any new fact and answer the following questions, it will help you weave that new fact into a systematic relationship with other facts: why? How did this happen? When did it become like this? Where did this happen? Who said so? For example, if what we want to remember is the name of a stranger, and it is a very common name, we may be able to associate it with a friend with the same name.On the other hand, if what we are trying to remember is a very rare name, we can also use this opportunity to ask questions.This usually prompts the stranger to mention his own name.Example: While I was writing this chapter, I was introduced to a Mrs. Salter.I asked her to tell me how to write the surname, saying that hers was a rare one.She replied, "Yes, it's a rare surname. It's a Greek word that means 'savior'." Then, she told me that her husband's people were from Athens, and that many relatives had served as senior officials in the Greek government. .I've found it's easy to get people to talk about their names, and doing so helps me a lot in remembering them.

Pay attention to the stranger's appearance, pay attention to his hair and eye color, see his facial features, pay attention to his clothes, and listen to the tone of his conversation.Obtain a clear, deep and vivid impression of his appearance and personality, and associate this impression with his name.The next time these strong impressions come back to your mind, they will help you remember the person's name. Haven't you also had this experience? — You've met someone twice or thrice, and you realize that although you remember what he does, you just can't remember his name.For example, 20 people, strangers to each other, met recently at the Panth Athletes Club in Philadelphia.Everyone was asked to stand up and state their name and occupation, and then invent a sentence linking the two.In this way, within a few minutes, everyone present can remember the names of other people in the room.After many meetings of this kind, neither their names nor their occupations have been forgotten by others, because the two have been linked so that they can be remembered.

Below are a few names from that group, in alphabetical order.After the name is the sentence used to connect the name and occupation: Mr.GPAlbrecht (sand and gravel industry) - "sand and gravel make everything bright (au bright)." Mr. GWBayless (asphalt industry) - "Using asphalt saves a lot of money (payless)." Mr. HMBiddle (wool industry) - "Mr. Biddle piddles (in) the wool industry." Mr. Gideon Boencke (Mining) - "Mr. Boeficke bores (drill) mines very fast." Mr. Thomas Devery (Printing Industry) - "Everyone (everyone) needs Devery's printing."

Mr. OW Doohttle (Automobile Industry) - "You can't sell your car if you don't work hard (Do httle)." Mr. Thomas Fischer (coal industry) - "He fished for coal orders." Mr. Frank H. Goldey (lumber industry) - "There is gold in the lumber industry." Mr. H. Hancock (Saturday Evening Post Magazine) - "Sign John Hancock's name to the Saturday Evening Post subscription form." HOW TO REMEMBER A YEAR—The best way to remember a year is to associate it with an important year that you already have in your mind.For example, it would be difficult for an American to remember that the Suez Canal was opened to navigation in 1869, but if you ask him to remember, the Suez Canal was not opened for the first ship until 4 years after the end of the American Civil War Wouldn't it be easier to pass?If an American wants to remember that Australia's first settlement was established in 1788, the year will disappear from his mind as quickly as a loose screw from a car. But if he associates the year with July 4, 1776 to remember that Australia's first settlement was established 12 years after the United States issued the Declaration of Independence, it will be easy to remember .It's like putting a nut on a loose screw, and you'll never forget it.

It's also a good idea to keep this principle in mind when you're choosing a phone number.For example, the author's own phone number is 1776, the year of American independence.Therefore, no one will feel that this number is difficult to remember.If you choose historic years like 1492, 1861, 1865, 1914, and 1918 when choosing your phone number, your friends won't need to look up the phone book when they call you.They might forget that your number is 1492 because you're so bland when you tell them your number, but if you introduce your number like this: "My number is easy to remember: 1492, which is what Columbus discovered The Year of the New World." Will they forget?

Of course, readers in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and other countries who are reading this chapter can substitute 1776, 1861, 1865, etc., for important years in their own country's history. What's the best way to remember the following years? 1564 - The year Shakespeare was born. 1607 - The British establish their first settlement in America at Jamestown. 1819 - Queen Victoria was born. 1807 - General Lee was born in this year. 1789 - The French Bastille Prison is destroyed. If you want to remember the names of the first 13 states in the United States, and also in the order in which they joined the Union, you will find it difficult to succeed if you only know how to do it mechanically.But if you use a story to connect them together, then you only need to spend a little time to practice, and you can remember it very well.Just read the passage below and focus on it.After reading it, see if you can list the names of the 13 states in the correct order.

"One Saturday afternoon, a young lady bought a ticket from the Pennsylvania Railroad for a vacation. She put a New Jersey sweater in her trunk and went to visit her friend George, who lived In Connecticut. The next day, the hostess and her guests go to Mass (also short for Massachusetts), and the church is on Mary’s Land (referring to Maryland). Then they go down the South Car Line (South Car Line South Carolina) came home and had ham for Chinese food, which was cooked by a black cook, Virginia, who was from New York. After eating Chinese food, they drove along the northbound driveway (North Carolina) to visit the island .”

How to remember the main points of your speech?There are only two ways we think about a thing: first, through "external stimuli"; second, by associating with something that already exists in our minds.This is how they apply to speech: First, you can turn to certain external stimuli—notes and slips of paper, for example—to help you remember the main points of the speech.But who wants to see a speaker with a note?Second, you can connect the main points of your speech to something that is already in your mind.And these points should be arranged in a reasonable order, so that the first point will inevitably lead you to the second point, and then from the second point to the third point, just like the door of one room must lead to another room. nature.

This sounds simple, but it is not easy to implement, especially for some beginners, whose thinking ability cannot resist the sense of fear.However, there is a very easy way to tie your points together, and it works quickly and without fail.This method is to make up a meaningless sentence.The instructions are as follows: Suppose you wish to talk about a series of subjects which are not coherent with each other and therefore difficult to remember, for example, cows, cigars, Napoleon, house, religion.Let's see if we can connect them together by using the following ridiculous sentence: "The old cow was smoking a cigar, and put Napoleon on its horns, and the house was set on fire by the religious people." Now, please cover the above sentence with your hand, and then answer the following questions: What is the third point mentioned above?What about the fifth point?fourth point?The first point? Does this method work?It really works!If you want to improve your memory, then use it quickly. Any group of thoughts can be connected in this way, and the more absurd the sentences used for the connection, the easier it is to remember. What if I completely forgot?Let us suppose that, despite all the preparation and precautions, a speaker is in the middle of a speech to a group of churchgoers when she suddenly finds that her mind goes blank—she is completely still, staring blankly at the Her audience, unable to continue - a terrible situation.Her pride objected to her sitting down in confusion and failure.She felt that she might be able to think of the next point she had to say, or think of more points, just give her 10 or 15 seconds.But even 15 seconds of flustered silence in front of an audience is serious business.How should I do it?When a well-known U.S. senator was confronted with this situation recently, he immediately asked his audience if he was speaking loudly enough so that the last few rows could hear him.He already knew that his voice was loud enough to be heard by the audience in the back row, so he was not asking for advice, but buying time.In that brief pause, he immediately remembered what he was going to say, and went on. But perhaps the best salvage in this flustered situation is this one: use the last word, or the last sentence, or the last topic of your last conversation as a new paragraph or sentence the beginning ofThis will form a chain that will never end, just like Denison's brook flowing forever.Let's see how this trick works.We might as well imagine that a speaker is talking about "career achievement". After he finishes the following passage, he finds that his mind suddenly has nothing and is blank.He said: "The reason why the average employee can't get promoted is mainly because he has no real interest in his work and shows no enterprising spirit." "Enterprising spirit," to start a sentence with "enterprising spirit," you may not know what you're going to say, or how you're going to end the sentence, but, anyway, start.Even acting poorly is far better than admitting failure. "'Enterprising spirit' is initiative, doing something on your own initiative, rather than waiting for someone else's order." That's not very wise to say, and it's not going to be immortalized in speech.But isn't that much better than painful silence?What are our last words? ——"Waiting for others' orders."Well, let's use this idea to make a new sentence. "Continuously commanding, instructing, and driving company personnel who refuse to engage in any kind of proactive, positive thinking is the most infuriating and unimaginable thing." Ok, this paragraph is done.Let's do it again.This time we have to talk about imagination. "Imagination—that's what we need. Fantasy, 'where there is no fantasy,' Solomon said, 'there is no human being.'" We've successfully finished two paragraphs.Now we can pull ourselves together and move on: "The number of company employees who are eliminated in business competition every year is really sad. I say sad, because as long as they are a little more loyal, aggressive, and enthusiastic, these eliminated men and women can Lift yourself from failure to success. Losers, however, never admit that's why they failed." And so on and on... But while the speaker is uttering all this gibberish, he should be trying to think about the next point in his original speech, what he was going to say. This endless chain of thought, if continued, can drag on for a long time, and may lead speaker and audience to discuss the price of plum pudding and canaries.But it is the best first aid for a wounded mind momentarily out of control because of forgetting: it has saved many a dying lecture. I have already said how to enhance the methods of "getting vivid impressions," "repetition," and "association of the facts we have acquired."But memory is basically an associative matter, and as James pointed out, "memory in general or fundamental cannot be enhanced, we can only strengthen memory in particular associative matters." Memorizing a quote from Shakespeare every day, for example, may increase our memory of literary quotes to some astonishing extent.After each famous sentence enters our minds, we will find that there are many friends who can be combined with each other.But memorizing all of Shakespeare, from Hamlet to Romeo, doesn't necessarily help us remember facts like the cotton market or the ironmaking process. We repeat again: If we combine the principles discussed in this chapter, we can improve our "method" and "efficiency" in remembering anything; but if we don't apply these principles, then even if we remember baseball The 10 million facts in the book don't even help us remember the stock market one iota.Such irrelevant information cannot be associated together. "Essentially, our mind is an associative machine."