The Major System

The author describes the Major System, which works by associating letter (sounds) with a certain number, and is useful for remembering sequences of numbers. The author mentions that the number/letter associations are arbitrary (although he does give reasons for the associations he lists), but the choice of letters is not: they are all consonants. Specifically, the letters that are associated with a specific number all share a certain articulatory (phonetic) features.

This makes sense, because you would probably get confused if you associated B and F with a certain number, and then P and V with a different number. (The list of associations in this hack have B and P associated with 9, and F and V associated with 8.) Why is that? Well, P and B share the "bilabial" feature, i.e., both are produced primarily by using both the both ("bi") lip("labial"). Likewise, F and V share the "labiodental" feature, which means they are both produced by using a combination of the lips ("labio") and teeth ("dental"). By associating sounds that are articulatorily similar, it helps guard against mapping the wrong letter (and hence the wrong number) when trying to "sound out" whatever you're trying to memorize.

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Nooks and Crannies

This hack extends the previous one by partitioning each room into different areas which you can then assign information to. For instance, if each room is the title of a comedy of Shakespeare, you can assign the left-wall to the protagonist, the floor to the number of acts or scenes, and so on. The book gives 11 distinct areas within a room that you can use for assigning information to, but for some rooms (like bathrooms) there are automatically other distinguishable objects that can be associated with information.

So this type of memorization seems good for data that forms some kind of hierarchy. Starting up student teaching in a few days, I think this can be a very useful concept for lesson and unit planning.

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In The First Place

Today's hack described what's called "memory journeys", and is another mnemonic system useful for memorizing information. Basically, you imagine walking through different places (e.g., start at your bedroom, then go to the bathroom, then the kitchen, etc.) and associate each location with the information you want to remember. The author gives an example of how he used it to memorize the 10 tragedies of Shakespeare.

Besides that, I learned that coriander and cilantro refer to the same plant, Coriandrum sativum. Coriander is usually the term for the seeds (used as a spice) while cilantro is the term for the leaves. Good to know :-)

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Evolutionarily Vital

The second performance hack continues where the first left off, and explains another system for memorizing tasks to do (the number-shape system). The subtitle for the hack is "Associate numbers with shapes and use the hunting and gathering faculties of your primitive ancestors to remember 21st-century data." In the "How it Works" section, the author states:

Our ancestors used their senses to learn more about the world, find food, escape predators, and perform many other essential tasks. These tasks were vital to our survival in an evolutionary sense, so the faculties involved in processing sensory information were well developed, and today our brains still process this kind of information thoroughly and efficiently.

Our ancestors used their senses to learn more about the world, find food, escape predators, and perform many other essential tasks. These tasks were vital to our survival, so the faculties involved in processing sensory information were well developed, and today our brains still process this kind of information thoroughly and efficiently.

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Remember Things to Bring

The first hack in Mind Performance Hacks: Tips & Tools for Overclocking Your Brain is for using a mnemonic to remember what to bring when you go out, and mentions a few mnemonic methods to help. In the See Also section, the author mentions that he carries a man-purse to help him with all the stuff he likes to bring when he leaves the house. While I haven't made it far enough to get a man-purse, I regularly carry a backpack around, and when I don't have that, I usually make sure I have cargo shorts so that I can stuff things in my pocket. But reflecting a bit more and what I usually like to carry (i.e., a couple books), the backpack is often too large and the pockets often too small. So I think I'm going to break down and buy me a man-purse. Or just start using the tote bag I got from YAPC::NA 2007 that I've neglected to use.

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