But these ideas may be brought up not only voluntarily; we have also a
certain degree of power in making these images clearer and more
accurate. It is rather foolish to have the examiner invite the witness
to “exert his memory, to give himself the trouble, etc.” This effects
nothing, or something wrong. But if the examiner is willing to take the
trouble, he may excite the imagination of the witness and give him the
opportunity to exercise his power over the imagination. How this is done
depends naturally upon the nature and education of the witness, but the
judge may aid him just as the skilful teacher may aid the puzzled pupil
to remember. When the pianist has completely forgotten a piece of music
that he knew very well, two or three chords may lead him to explicate
these chords forward or backward, and then--one step after another--he
reproduces the whole piece. Of course the chords which are brought to
the mind of the player must be properly chosen or the procedure is
useless.
There are rules for the selection of these clews. According to
Ebbinghaus: “The difference in the content of the recollected is due to
discoverable causes. Melodies may become painful because of their
undesirable obstinacy in return. Forms and colors do not usually recur,
and if they do, they do so with noticeable claims on distinctness and
certainty. Past emotional conditions are reproduced only with effort, in
comparatively pallid schemes, and often only by means of the
accompanying movements.” We may follow these clews, in some directions
at least, to our advantage. Of course, nobody will say that one should
play tunes to witnesses in order to make them remember, because the
tunes have sunk into the memory with such undesirable obstinacy as to be
spurs to recollection. It is just as futile to operate with forms and
colors, or to excite emotional conditions. But what has been said leads
us back to the ancient rule of working so far as is possible with the
constantly well-developed sense of location. Cicero already was aware of
this: “Tanta vis admonitionis inest in locis, id quidem infinitum in hac
urbe, quocumque enim ingredimur, in aliquam historiam vestigium
possumus.” Indeed he deduces his whole doctrine of memory from the sense
of location, or he at least justifies those who do so.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account