One thing to be careful about when using peg words is this: Because
you're using the same words when memorizing different things, there is
the potential for confusion. For example, if you memorize a list of
countries and capitals on peg words as in the last example, then you
memorize the Amendments to the U.S. Constitution on the same pegs, you
might, given a peg, want to recall a country and get an Amendment
instead. Oops! How can you avoid this?
It actually depends... some people may be able to have several things
on the same peg with no difficulty, while others may get confused
very quickly. This is where practice comes in... by practicing
memorizing things, you learn what works and what doesn't. But to save
you some trouble and to help you benefit from my own experiences, here
are some suggestions:
- Short-term lists
- If you are memorizing lists for short-term memory, such as shopping
lists, then you don't have to do anything special. By the time you
memorize your next list, you don't care if you've forgotten the first
one.
- Medium-term lists
- If you are memorizing lists for medium-term memory, such as a list
of things to do for the week, or an upcoming football schedule, try
using different sets of pegs. No, you don't have to memorize several
hundred new peg words... most of the time, you only need about 10
anyway. So you can use the normal 1-10 on the first thing you're
memorizing, then you can use 11-20 on the next thing. You will, of
course, have no problem realizing that 11 really means 1, 12 really
means 2, etc. (This is why it is handy to have 100 peg words instead
of 10!)
- Long-term lists
- Memorizing lists permanently requires the most planning. As an
example, I've memorized both countries/capitals and area codes using
the same peg words. But this was done several months apart, so it
turns out that my brain can actually keep
the two things separate.
Also, since there are over 200 countries but only 110 peg words,
I had to re-use peg words again. But instead of linking a new
country to a peg words, I linked it to another country. This makes
recall slower, because I have to think of the intermediate country
to get to the desired country, but it is encoded more
efficiently
and reduces confusion. In the next section, I'll give a little bit
more detail on this. But one last comment: If I am recalling countries
constantly, eventually I'll think of the country and capital without
having to remember the peg word or mental pictures. When this happens
(and it already is beginning to)... great! Not only does this increase
the speed of recall, but it allows you to "recycle" the peg words and
other pictures into something new that you need to memorize.
- Long-term, super-fast lists
- This is somewhat off the subject, but I mention this because
someone sent me Email asking for advice
with memorizing the multiplication table.
This is actually a little
different than the case above because not only is a list (of
multiplication equations) memorized permanently, it is essential
that the items are recalled very fast. Normally we only care if
we remember the items at all... we don't care if it
takes a few seconds. But it would take forever to do math if we
couldn't recall equations like "6 x 9 = 54" very quickly. So in
this special case we forget peg words and just memorize by brute
force... by saying "6 x 9 = 54" over and over again to yourself.
This is not easy! It will take a lot longer
than the other methods given in these web pages. But in this case
we have no choice. Fortunately, only a few things have to be
memorized this way... and, fortunately for you, you now have
some memory techniques that will help you avoid memorizing
everything the slow, difficult way!
- One last suggestion
- Do not use the peg word system when not necessary. For example,
if I want to memorize a phone number, always will want to recall the
number given a person's name, but never the other way around. In this
case, there is no need to use specific peg words. The number 372-6624
can be converted to "ma coin Josh Nero" or "Macon ash China row" or
a number of other things... you are free to choose words/pictures you
haven't used before. If you have a short list, you could use the link
system rather than pegs. The peg words would be saved for more
complicated things, like long lists or lists in which the number is
an important piece of information. Basically, you use whatever memory
technique works the best for what you are trying to memorize (this
is why it is helpful to learn a bunch of different techniques).
Document last modified
27 May 00. (C) 1996-2000
Kevin Jay North; see also full
copyright notice & disclaimers..
