MEMORY, HOW TO DEVELOP, TRAIN AND USE IT/PART 17
CHAPTER XVII.
HOW TO REMEMBER FACTS.
In
speaking of this phase of memory we use the word "fact" in the sense
of "an ascertained item of knowledge," rather than in the sense of
"a happening," etc. In this sense the Memory of Facts is the ability
to store away and recollect items of knowledge bearing upon some particular
thing under consideration. If we are considering the subject of
"Horse," the "facts" that we wish to remember are the
various items of information and knowledge regarding the horse, that we have
acquired during our experience—facts that we have seen, heard or read,
regarding the animal in question and to that which concerns it. We are
continually acquiring items of information regarding all kinds of subjects, and
yet when we wish to collect them we often find the task rather difficult, even
though the original impressions were quite clear. The difficulty is largely
due to the fact that the various facts are associated in our minds only by
contiguity in time or place, or both, the associations of relation being lacking.
In other words we have not properly classified and indexed our bits of
information, and do not know where to begin to search for them. It is like the
confusion of the business man who kept all of his papers in a barrel, without
index, or order. He knew that "they are all there" but he
had hard work to find any one of them when it was required. Or, we are like the
compositor whose type has become "pied," and then thrown into a big
box—when he attempts to set up a book page, he will find it very difficult, if
not impossible—whereas, if each letter were in its proper "box," he
would set up the page in a short time.
This
matter of association by relation is one of the most important things in the
whole subject of thought, and the degree of correct and efficient thinking
depends materially upon it. It does not suffice us to merely "know" a
thing—we must know where to find it when we want it. As old Judge Sharswood, of
Pennsylvania, once said: "It is not so much to know the law, as to know where
to find it." Kay says: "Over the associations formed by
contiguity in time or space we have but little control. They are in a manner
accidental, depending upon the order in which the objects present themselves to
the mind. On the other hand, association by similarity is largely put in our
own power; for we, in a measure, select those objects that are to be
associated, and bring them together in the mind. We must be careful, however,
only to associate together such things as we wish to be associated together and
to recall each other; and the associations we form should be based on
fundamental and essential, and not upon mere superficial or casual
resemblances. When things are associated by their accidental, and not by their
essential qualities,—by their superficial, and not by their fundamental
relations, they will not be available when wanted, and will be of little real
use. When we associate what is new with what most nearly resembles it in the
mind already, we give it its proper place in our fabric of thought. By means of
association by similarity, we tie up our ideas, as it were, in separate
bundles, and it is of the utmost importance that all the ideas that most nearly
resemble each other be in one bundle."
The
best way to acquire correct associations, and many of them, for a separate fact
that you wish to store away so that it may be recollected when needed—some
useful bit of information or interesting bit of knowledge, that "may come
in handy" later on—is to analyze it and its relations.
This may be done by asking yourself questions about it—each thing that you
associate it with in your answers being just one additional
"cross-index" whereby you may find it readily when you want it. As
Kay says: "The principle of asking questions and obtaining answers to
them, may be said to characterize all intellectual effort." This is the
method by which Socrates and Plato drew out the knowledge of their pupils,
filling in the gaps and attaching new facts to those already known. When you
wish to so consider a fact, ask yourself the following questions about it:
I. |
Where did it come from
or originate? |
II. |
What caused it? |
III. |
What history or record
has it? |
IV. |
What are its
attributes, qualities and characteristics? |
V. |
What things can I most
readily associate with it? What is it like? |
VI. |
What is it good
for—how may it be used—what can I do with it? |
VII. |
What does it
prove—what can be deduced from it? |
VIII. |
What are its natural
results—what happens because of it? |
IX. |
What is its future;
and its natural or probable end or finish? |
X. |
What do I think of it,
on the whole—what are my general impressions regarding it? |
XI. |
What do I know about
it, in the way of general information? |
XII. |
What have I heard
about it, and from whom, and when? |
If
you will take the trouble to put any "fact" through the above rigid
examination, you will not only attach it to hundreds of convenient and familiar
other facts, so that you will remember it readily upon occasion, but you will
also create a new subject of general information in your mind of which this
particular fact will be the central thought. Similar systems of analysis have
been published and sold by various teachers, at high prices—and many men have
considered that the results justified the expenditure. So do not pass it by
lightly.
The
more other facts that you manage to associate with any one fact, the more pegs
will you have to hang your facts upon—the more "loose ends" will you
have whereby to pull that fact into the field of consciousness—the more cross
indexes will you have whereby you may "run down" the fact when you
need it. The more associations you attach to a fact, the more
"meaning" does that fact have for you, and the more interest will be
created regarding it in your mind. Moreover, by so doing, you make very
probable the "automatic" or involuntary recollection of that fact
when you are thinking of some of its associated subjects; that is, it will come
into your mind naturally in connection with something else—in a "that
reminds me" fashion. And the oftener that you are involuntarily
"reminded" of it, the clearer and deeper does its impression become
on the records of your memory. The oftener you use a fact, the easier does
it become to recall it when needed. The favorite pen of a man is always at his
hand in a remembered position, while the less used eraser or similar thing has
to be searched for, often without success. And the more associations that you
bestow upon a fact, the oftener is it likely to be used.
Another
point to be remembered is that the future association of a fact depends very
much upon your system of filing away facts. If you will think of this when
endeavoring to store away a fact for future reference, you will be very apt to
find the best mental pigeon-hole for it. File it away with the thing it
most resembles, or to which it has the most familiar relationship. The
child does this, involuntarily—it is nature's own way. For instance, the child
sees a zebra, it files away that animal as "a donkey with stripes;" a
giraffe as a "long-necked horse;" a camel as a "horse with long,
crooked legs, long neck and humps on its back." The child always attaches
its new knowledge or fact on to some familiar fact or bit of
knowledge—sometimes the result is startling, but the child remembers by means
of it nevertheless. The grown up children will do well to build similar
connecting links of memory. Attach the new thing to some old familiar thing. It
is easy when you once have the knack of it. The table of questions given a
little farther back will bring to mind many connecting links. Use them.
If
you need any proof of the importance of association by relation, and of the
laws governing its action, you have but to recall the ordinary "train of
thought" or "chain of images" in the mind, of which we become
conscious when we are day-dreaming or indulging in reverie, or even in general
thought regarding any subject. You will see that every mental image or idea, or
recollection is associated with and connected to the preceding thought and the
one following it. It is a chain that is endless, until something breaks into
the subject from outside. A fact flashes into your mind, apparently from space
and without any reference to anything else. In such cases you will find that it
occurs either because you had previously set your subconscious mentality at
work upon some problem, or bit of recollection, and the flash was the belated
and delayed result; or else that the fact came into your mind because of its
association with some other fact, which in turn came from a precedent one, and
so on. You hear a distant railroad whistle and you think of a train; then of a
journey; then of some distant place; then of some one in that place; then of
some event in the life of that person; then of a similar event in the life of
another person; then of that other person; then of his or her brother; then of
that brother's last business venture; then of that business; then of some other
business resembling it; then of some people in that other business; then of
their dealings with a man you know; then of the fact that another man of a
similar name to the last man owes you some money; then of your determination to
get that money; then you make a memorandum to place the claim in the hands of a
lawyer to see whether it cannot be collected now, although the man was
"execution proof" last year—from distant locomotive whistle to the
possible collection of the account. And yet, the links forgotten, the man will
say that he "just happened to think of" the debtor, or that
"it somehow flashed right into my mind," etc. But it was nothing but
the law of association—that's all. Moreover, you will now find that whenever
you hear mentioned the term "association of mental ideas," etc., you
will remember the above illustration or part of it. We have forged a new link
in the chain of association for you, and years from now it will appear in your
thoughts.
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