Memory: How to Develop, Train, and Use ItAtkinson, William Walker
Science
Memory: How to Develop, Train, and Use It
Atkinson, William Walker
Memory
We suggest that the student who wishes to acquire a good memory for
words, sentences, etc., begin at once, selecting some favorite poem for
the purpose of the demonstration. Then let him memorize one verse of not
over four to six lines to begin with. Let him learn this verse
perfectly, line by line, until he is able to repeat it without a
mistake. Let him be sure to be "letter perfect" in that verse--so
perfect that he will "see" even the capital letters and the punctuation
marks when he recites it. Then let him stop for the day. The next day
let him repeat the verse learned the day before, and then let him
memorize a second verse in the same way, and just as perfectly. Then let
him review the first and second verses together. This addition of the
second verse to the first serves to weld the two together by
association, and each review of them together serves to add a little bit
to the weld, until they become joined in the mind as are "A, B, C." The
third day let him learn a third verse, in the same way and then review
the three. Continue this for say a month, adding a new verse each day
and adding it to the verses preceding it. But constantly review them
from beginning to end. He cannot review them too often. He will be able
to have them flow along like the letters of the alphabet, from "A" to
"Z" if he reviews properly and often enough.
Then, if he can spare the time, let him begin the second month by
learning _two verses_ each day, and adding to those that precede them,
with constant and faithful reviews. He will find that he can memorize
two verses, in the second month, as easily as he did the one verse in
the first month. His memory has been trained to this extent. And so, he
may proceed from month to month, adding an extra verse to his daily
task, until he is unable to spare the time for all the work, or until he
feels satisfied with what he has accomplished. Let him use moderation
and not try to become a phenomenon. Let him avoid overstraining. After
he has memorized the entire poem, let him start with a new one, but not
forget to revive the old one at frequent intervals. If he finds it
impossible to add the necessary number of new verses, by reason of other
occupation, etc., let him not fail to keep up his review work. The
exercise and review is more important than the mere addition of so many
new verses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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