Chain method

The images are connected in association in pairs. The sizes of the images are approximately the same in each pair. When you have formed a connection between the first and second image, the first image is removed from consciousness by transferring attention to the second. After that, a relationship is formed between the second and third image, and so on.

The Chain method is one of the simplest mnemonic techniques. Its essence lies in the pairwise connection of images. At the same time, the relative sizes of the images in each pair are the same - large, and the images themselves are bright and memorable. You form a link between the first and second image, and then remove the first image from consciousness by transferring attention to the second. After that, a relationship is formed between the second and third image, and so on. In each pair of images, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between the first and second images of the pair.

The second image of the couple penetrates the first.

The second image of the pair is on top.

The second image of the pair is on the right.

Always form connections clearly according to a certain system. If the association is horizontal, place the first image on the left.

If the association is vertical - place the first image at the bottom.

If the images penetrate each other when combined, place the second image in the first one. When recalling, read the images in the same order.

For example, we need to remember a shopping list: a loaf, milk, sausages, salt, a newspaper, a battery. Large, vividly imagine a fresh, crispy loaf - and on top of it lies a package of milk. Consider this connection for a second or two, and then connect the milk carton with the second image of the chain: the package is lined with sausages. Fix the connection and move on to the salt. When you remember the first image - a long loaf, "milk" will inevitably pop up in your memory, milk will bring up the image of sausages in your memory, and so on along the chain.

The chain method does not require preliminary memorization of the support image system, it can be used without preparation. However, this technique is difficult to memorize sequences with a repeating element. In addition, if you forget one link, the chain will break and you will not be able to remember the rest of the elements. Therefore, the role of the chain in modern mnemonics is rather auxiliary and training. But in Everyday life(remember the to-do list, the shopping list, the order of actions according to the instructions) the chain can be used quite often.

When doing training exercises, you can memorize long sequences images, when the long-term preservation of connections is not important. In this case, the number of linked images is practically unlimited - you can link dozens and even hundreds of images.

Cicero's method

We regularly see the same visual images- objects in the apartment, objects on the street, along which we constantly return home, etc. These are the supporting images from which natural associations are formed. Since the connections between the objects we regularly see already exist in our brain, they do not need to be memorized. We remember them anyway. It is only necessary to fix in memory the sequence of images familiar to us, that is, to repeat them many times. That is, the memorized units of information must be mentally arranged in a well-known room in a strictly defined order. And then it is enough to remember this room and reproduce the necessary information. This is the essence of the method of Cicero or the method of the Roman room.

This method is named after one of the most brilliant orators in world history. Mark Thulius Cicero (106-43 BC) - statesman of the Roman Empire, became famous for never using notes or clues in his public speeches. Cicero reproduced from memory many facts, dates, historical events and names. In order to memorize the prepared speech in a strictly verified sequence, Cicero broke his speech into parts and prepared each part in one of his many chambers. Directly at the speech, Cicero mentally walked around his numerous chambers along a certain route, and this helped him clearly remember the part of the speech that he was preparing there.

According to other sources, the roots of this method go back to Ancient Greece (the poet Simonides successfully applied this technique). Allegedly, Simonides accidentally got out alive from under the rubble of the roof, which collapsed on a large feasting company. The relatives of the dead asked Simonides to indicate in which part of the collapsed building to look for the bodies of loved ones. The poet, remembering, found that he managed to name almost everyone thanks to the familiar details of the situation in the room. He considered this observation valuable and subsequently developed the idea. Thus, Cicero's method is the most ancient of all the memorization techniques known to date.

Learn to identify support images Cicero's method on the following example. Consider your apartment (house). Determine the sequence of rooms for yourself. For example, remember the rooms in the following order - corridor, bathroom, kitchen, large room, bedroom, balcony.

Then, you need to focus your attention on one room and mentally go around it around the perimeter (and always in the same direction - clockwise). Think of 10 objects in this room.

Now do the same in other rooms and select 10 images in each (for example, pieces of furniture).

As a result, you will memorize a sequence of 50 objects. That is, you fix the selected images in memory by repeated recall.

Here are some important rules of the Cicero method:

The visual images that you highlight should not be repeated. Only the names of objects can be repeated, and the images must be different.
You need to draw out the connections that already exist in your brain. Therefore, highlight the images, remembering them. Try to pick up such images so that five sub-images can be distinguished from them.
Experience Cicero's method when preparing your speech or when memorizing a text.
The sequence of working with text is as follows:

Read the text and answer the question what it is about.
Break the text into several semantic parts.
Remember each part of the text in different rooms of your apartment or house, clearly defining the order in which they follow (entrance hall - bath - toilet - kitchen - living room - nursery - bedroom)
Play the entire text aloud, taking into account the sequential presentation of the parts.

Demonstration of the method on the example of the fairy tale Kolobok

1) we will divide the plot of the fairy tale into 6 semantic parts and represent each in the following way:
flour - a bun on the road - a hare - a wolf - a bear - a fox eats a bun
These images in mnemonics are called auxiliary. They encode the information we want to remember.
The image of a place that already exists in our memory and we know it very well is called a reference image in mnemonics.

2) Let's combine in our imagination auxiliary images (flour, a bun on the road, a hare ...) with supporting ones (kitchen, living room, bath ...):
the flour is in the kitchen;
the gingerbread man rolls along the road in the living room;
hare in the bathroom;
wolf in the toilet;
bear in the kitchen
the fox eats a kolobok on the balcony.

3) we repeat the tale, using auxiliary images to remember the plot, and supporting images to remember the sequence of events.
Remembering, it is important to represent each image clearly, large. Do not think that this operation will take a lot of time. In order to store one pair of images in memory, a few seconds are quite enough. Cicero's technique is so simple that some experts even recommend teaching it to preschoolers.

The advantage of the Cicero method over, for example, "Chain", in addition, is the following:
- the method of Cicero uses images that are very familiar to us
- in the "Chain" technique, in order to get to some element of the sequence, it is necessary to go through the entire sequence; in the Cicero method, you can move through the memorized material much more freely.
This method is also useful when memorizing long verses or poems. Try it in practice and you will see that it really works!

It happens that when you come to the store, you realize that you left at home a list of products that you needed to buy. Once you master the Dominic O'Brien method, you can easily keep a list of everything you need in your head.

Let's take 10 arbitrary products for this example:

Apples - milk - cheese - butter - battery - chess board - basketball - tennis racket - mug - hanger

Many of you will be able to memorize 4-5 items without much effort, a small part - 7-8.

They will come to the rescue special exercise developed by Dominic O'Brien to improve memory.

Try to remember how today went, what she remembered, what happened yesterday, last week. What left the most vivid memories?

Take a pen and paper and write down everything that you remember over the past day, some of the things that you remember will surprise you with their presence in this seemingly most ordinary day.

Here important role It is the associations that play, with which, this or that event, certain memories are associated with you, how vivid it was.

So, you went shopping. Put mentally each item in certain places along the route. For better memorization, give the image of objects a certain hypertrophy and brightness.

As time passes, you will be able to remember what you need to buy on the way to the supermarket, because each item is clearly associated with specific associations.

1. Memorization by the "Cicero" method

The “Cicero” method is a memorization method associated with memory for places.

This method is also called the "place" method. The Greek poet Simonides (d. 469 B.C.) is considered its creator, and the following story is told.

“Simonides was invited to a rich man for a feast. When the guests were already sitting at the table, the poet was summoned on an important matter, and he immediately left the room. As soon as Simonides left, the room collapsed, and all the people in it died. To bury the dead, their relatives and friends asked the poet to identify the bodies. And Simonides remembered everyone sitting at the table in the place they occupied. “This gave him a reason to discover the law that one can remember the image of a famous person in a place, and this led to the discovery of a method of remembering.” (G.I. Chelpanov, 1900)

Thus, the discovery was made that our memory is closely connected with the place. Indeed, when we meet a familiar person, we can remember his name only after we remember where we saw him. The same thing happens in a situation where we were busy with something, and we were suddenly distracted. We can remember what we did or what we thought only when we return to that place.

The method is named after the great orator Cicero because he was the first to describe and apply it to memorize his speeches. This method is still used to memorize long speeches and a large number accurate information.

The essence of Cicero's method is to

choose some well-known place or room;

select objects (or places) in order, and it is important to immediately decide on the sequence and accept once and for all one option to bypass the room or place, for example, clockwise;

it is better to choose bright and well-remembered items that are constantly in this place, for example, a closet. If the subject regularly changes its location, then confusion is possible. For example, if the vase is rearranged to another place, then, “reading” the information, you can name it in the wrong order;

you can not use duplicate items, tk. the sequence may be broken when you remember. For example, if you have two identical armchairs in the room, then it is better to choose the first one;

connect the items you have chosen in the room with the information you remember in pairs (we will talk about how to connect them later).

Helpful notes

Before memorizing, it is advisable to take a walk in the place where you will remember the information.

Prepare your seats and memorize the sequences of items. You will need this to memorize a large amount of information. It is desirable to have a system of 10 rooms, in each of which 10 items are allocated. Then you will be able to remember 1000 units of information on this matrix! And this is a textbook!

One list, memorized by the “Cicero” method, is stored in memory for up to three days without repetition. If you want to save information for a long time, then never use this list to remember other information. Each previous list is “erased” under the influence of the next one. If you need to memorize information only for a few days, then you can remember today for one list, tomorrow for another, the day after tomorrow for a third, and two days later return to the first.

Control recall is a prerequisite

So, let's go around the well-known room clockwise. Now we select a sequence of objects, i.e. 1 - door, 2 - bed, 3 - curtain, 4 - window, 5 - bookshelf.

Please note that there is a second window in the room, which is not suitable for memorization!

6 - desk, 7 - armchair

So, we have prepared a list of items that meets all of the above requirements.

Vasilyeva E.E. Vasiliev V.Yu. “SUPERMEMORY FOR EVERYONE”

Hello, dear readers of Valery Kharlamov's blog! Today we will talk about what the Cicero method is. It is one of the simplest and effective ways memorization. It is mastered in just a couple of workouts and, importantly, it is applied in absolutely any conditions and situations, regardless of whether you are in line or on your way to work. In general, given all the advantages over other techniques, I want to say that it was not for nothing that he was named after the famous orator from Rome - Marcus Tullius Cicero.

A little about the history of origin

Although it is called the method of Cicero, the great speaker has nothing to do with the history of the emergence of this unique technique. He just actively used it in preparation for performances. Shocking the public with the fact that he did not need records at all, declaring large volume material just from memory.

There is a legend that during one large-scale feast in Ancient Greece the roof suddenly collapsed, under the rubble of which many people died. However, one poet Simonides managed to get out of there alive. Relatives of the victims asked to tell where their relatives were at that moment, so that, having unearthed the bodies, they could bury them with all honors.

Simonides was able to name every one, focusing on the fact that the room was well known to him. It only remained to remember who was doing what at that moment in order to accurately indicate the coordinates. Subsequently, the poet realized how valuable his discovery was, and set about improving it. These days, you can find other variations of names such as the room system or the method of places.

Advantages and essence of this method

The bottom line is that a person, presenting the image of the room where he spends the maximum amount of time, whether it is an office or a bedroom. Mentally places in it those key units that should be fixed in memory for a long time. Moreover, unlike other techniques, it is really possible to memorize a whole text, and not just a series of words. You can use the same room countless times, the information will not be confused and lost.

An amazing feature is that absolutely under any conditions you can use it, the main thing is that you are not distracted at this moment, otherwise you will not be able to concentrate. And as soon as you need to remember the learned piece of material, you will imagine the image of the selected room, and all the data will instantly pop up.

This method affects spatial imagination, developing it and improving it, so over time you will be completely unconscious, without making any effort to remember everything that is needed. Plus, it develops thinking, the ability to concentrate and analyze the situation of various places that a person visits. Using it on a regular basis, you will be able to capture a lot of details that you did not notice before, which will only improve the quality of your life.

The method relies on connections created “automatically” in the brain due to the frequent perception of the same visual stimuli. Here, for example, when you come home, you turn on the light unconsciously, since the reflex has already developed. You know well not only which side of the room the switch is on, but you can easily find it by touch.

And so, daily observing the same objects in the room where you spend a lot of time - you form these connections, using which you can gain control over your memory.

1. The first step is to decide what the sequence of zones of your apartment or office will be. It is recommended to start from the corridor, eventually moving to neighboring rooms, depending on the layout of the home. Usually it is a toilet, a bathroom, a kitchen, and then a hall, bedrooms and balconies.
2. If you are a beginner, then it is better to focus on one room, and over time, having honed your skills, you will move to a new level, like in a game, opening up a new space. Now you must close your eyes and imagine that you are in this moment are in the hallway. Look around, only very carefully, and select for yourself 10 static objects, that is, those that you usually do not move or rearrange.
3. Now you need to consolidate the material, think about the sequence of finding these items. By the way, instead of premises, you can use well-known routes. Let's say that on a daily commute to work, what shops, cafes or stops do you encounter?
4. Now that the preparation is complete, it's time to move on to the material to be learned. And to be more precise, you need to place it depending on which method you have chosen - route or office, home. Let's take for example an office in the office and the need to remember the list of products for dinner. You arrived at work, and as soon as you entered the office, you immediately noticed a hanger on the right. Arrange lemons on it, decorating it like a Christmas tree. Then, after walking a couple of steps, you stumble upon a closet, open the doors and neatly put lettuce leaves on the shelves ... I think that's enough, the principle is clear, right?
5. When the time comes to get the learned material from the depths of memory, mentally walk along the route, carefully looking around, and all the information instantly “pops up” in front of you.
6. In the future, add new items, you can even go “for a walk” around the house, especially if there is a need to remember too much information that does not fit in one room.

• Training should be on an ongoing basis so as not to lose the skill, but only move forward, and the performance will increase.
• To simplify the process, bring some details to the point of absurdity, then they will surely be remembered. For example, you are preparing for the presentation of the project, and at the bus stop you meet the President of the United States, he is reading a newspaper, the first column of which contains a large piece of text from your notes. Sitting on the bus, on the back of the seat you see the continuation of your speech, written in clumsy handwriting using a marker, etc. etc.
• Play with the dimensions of the images, imagining that the closet is the size of a cat, and the chair is up to the ceiling.
• Also focus on the dynamics and brightness of objects. If you imagine the usual mezzanine painted bright orange and swaying from side to side, then remembering this piece of furniture will be much easier.
• It will help you if, before proceeding with the actions from step by step instructions, you will actually walk along the usual path or room.
• Connect sensations and feelings, that is, in addition to what you see, you must also hear, smell and even taste.
• Also a good help in the development of memory, online games can serve to develop brain strength. I have already recommended this service to you several times, here's a link.

Conclusion

And that’s all for today, dear readers! Develop, improve, and then you will become a harmonious conscious person, the main thing is to persevere and not retreat in the face of difficulties. Try Cicero's method in practice, and to make it easier to master it, see the article

It bears the name of one of the great Roman politicians, who became famous for the fact that in the process of his bright speeches he never used records. At the same time, the speaker operated with a lot of figures, names, facts, and also quite often used quotes.

According to some sources, Cicero's method was used with great success long before its official author. In particular, the famous ancient Greek poet Simonides actively and successfully practiced it.

This method is simple and effective at the same time. Another name for it is the Roman room system. It is based on the fact that the key units that need to be remembered must be placed in thoughts in a certain order, imagining a familiar room in the head. After such a procedure, it is enough just to restore this room in memory in order to restore everything that you recorded in memory. Cicero, when he was busy preparing for a public speech, walked around the house and placed in his head the main key points of his speech in various places.

Before you start practicing Cicero's memorization, decide how you plan to go around the room. Choose a sequence of places where you plan to mentally place key units. For some, the idea of ​​a room in the head will suffice. However, for the first time, it will not be superfluous to walk around the house, as the great speaker did. At the same time, it is worth choosing a familiar room, for example, your personal office. You can choose to move clockwise.

With experience, you will be able to use an increasing number of objects and places, thereby expanding your ability to record information. You can use absolutely any items. Let it be a sofa, TV, shelf, desktop, computer and so on. You can mentally move from left to right, and up and down. You don't have to limit yourself to just your room. Familiar routes and the like can be used to more efficiently commit to memory.

You need to associate key points of the information you are trying to remember with certain items through associations. Starting to practice this method, it will not be superfluous to have a set of room elements in your head. Thus, you will always have a “handy” set of so-called mental hooks for which you can hook on the necessary key points.

As an example, consider how easy it is to remember a list of the following items: bicycle, backpack, bottle, plasticine. These elements will be placed sequentially in accordance with the scheme of the house. Let's start with the corridor. It is necessary to use non-standard connections so that its reproduction is not difficult even after a long time.

We place the bike on a hanger near the door, and it is in an upside down position. Such an association will easily be deposited in our head. Next comes a backpack that hangs on the door, and a cat peeps out of it. We put a sunflower flower in the bottle and place it on the bedside table. We completely seal the mirror located in the hallway with plasticine, thereby creating a non-standard association and fixing the last key element on our list. Thus, we have a rather unusual associative array, which we can easily restore in our heads.

It is very important to pre-determine those objects that will meet us on the way. Otherwise, there is a risk that you yourself will look for details that will be easier to associate with a particular keyword. As a result, memorization will be inefficient.

Of course, Cicero's method should be used for much more difficult problems. The above example is just to help you understand how remembering information. This method is productive in the process of fixing in memory the text, the plan for the day, the order of the necessary phone calls, and so on. Moreover, when the information is logically related data, and not just a collection of words, you will be able to use the same room repeatedly. At the same time, the rows of key elements will not be mixed up, and you will be able to easily restore data on a specific topic.

To learn how to use this method, a few trainings are enough. This is its main advantage, if we compare this technique with others. Moreover, this technique can be used anywhere. And the room where you are can be an excellent starting point for remembering information. You do not need to use the linked association method or take a long time to restore the chain, as is necessary when using the sequential association method. You just need to recall a familiar room or use where you are at a particular moment. It is quite enough to look at the room, while placing key words and tying them to some objects. Restoring information is also easy. Enough to remember the situation. Using this method, you will be amazed at how easily and quickly even very complex material can be mastered.

Cicero's method is unique mnemonic device which everyone can learn. Even if you do not consider yourself to be a person with a good memory, using this technique, you can easily surpass each of them.

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The association method works well for a relatively small number of objects. If you want to remember some arbitrary text, several thousand characters long, the association method becomes inefficient. If you need to remember a large amount of information, then it is more convenient to use the Cicero method. This method, or variants of it, goes by various names. It can be called as: the method of places, the method of roads, the method of matrices, the system of the Roman room, the method of geometric places.

Regardless of the name, the essence of the method remains the same: a sequential system is created, or as it is also called a matrix of images. Each cell of the matrix or, as you can say, a place in the system contains an image. Key words of memorized information are associated with each image of this system in turn: numbers, words, objects. The image system may contain enough a large number of images - 100 and more, so the memorized amount of information is also significantly larger than using the method of associations.

The method was named after the ancient Roman orator Cicero, who used it to memorize his speeches.

Creating a Matrix

First you need to create a system or matrix of images. It is best to take images from some well-known area so that there are no problems with remembering them. Possible various options to create a system.

Option one: use the decor of your room as images. Take turns sorting through the objects in the room: a chair, a wardrobe, a window, a light bulb, etc. In order not to get confused about what is already in the system and what is not yet, so as not to miss something and not create problems for yourself when mentally reproducing the system , it is better to sort through the objects of the room in any order: for example, clockwise. Having dealt with one room, you can mentally go to the next one. As a basis for building a system, you can use not only your apartment, but also the apartments of your friends. Tony Buzan in the book "Supermemory" suggests inventing room furnishings. Imagine an empty room and furnish it to your liking. Since this room exists only in your imagination, you can not restrain yourself. Once you're done with one room, move on to the next.

Option two: use the road that you often have to walk on. By sorting through the individual objects encountered on the way (tree, bench, kiosk, shop, etc.), you can create fairly large image systems.

Option three: whatever. As an option, any familiar situation can be used, which can be broken down into separate images.

Once you've created an image system, practice using it. To do this, try to mentally imagine images in turn from the first object to the last, and then in reverse order - from the last to the first. This will allow you to accelerate the mental appearance of the images that make up the system.

Cicero's method: remembering and retrieving from memory

Having created a system, you can begin to use it for memorization. General principle memorization next. From the stored information, images are extracted, which in turn are associated with the images of your system. The first image with the first element, the second - with the second, and so on.

In order to remember the memorized word, you need to remember the first image of the system with the created association. Based on the association, the first image is remembered, then we move on to the second. If necessary, it is advisable to prepare several roads and use them in turn. Otherwise, there may be confusion with associations - when creating several associations with one system image, confusion may arise - which association should be used in this case.