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The term ‘Mnemonics’ is derived from the Greek Goddess of memory Mnemosyne.
Broadly speaking Mnemonics are a group of memory aids, or mental ‘slights of hand’ that together facilitate the quick and easy assimilation of information of all kinds. Oberservation, visualisation and imagination are all used in mnemonics to facilitate the quick assimilation of knowledge. In a nutshell, mnemonics are mental methods for aiding memory!
A simple mnemonic might consist of for example a word whose letters represent the first letters of the items in a list. A more complex visual mnemonic however might function by linking together a familiar or very distinct image with new information that is trying to be commited to memory. The result of which is that when you think of the familiar image, the new image (representing a fact, number, name or practically anything else) is also recalled.
Visual mnemonics
In professions such as medicine, visual mnemonics are extremely popular (in this case they are known as medical mnemonics). A visual mnemonic might be an image of something that might look or sound like the thing that is trying to be memorized. This image might then be associated or linked to another image (possibly by creating a simple story). This second image also represents information that is being memorized. The second image is then linked to a third, then to a forth etc… The result of which is a sequence of easy to visualize images, which convey a series of facts.
Acronym mnemonics
These forms of mnemonics are very simple in nature and rely on using the first letters of the words of a list or perhaps a rhyme to recall facts and information. These types of mnemonics are very simple to construct, however they lack the strength of the visual mnemonics.
The benefits of mnemonics
Facts, figures, names, faces and events, all can be learned and recalled far easier by using mnemonics, than by using the conventional methods of rote learning by repetition.
Mnemonics use the imagination in conjunction with all of the individual
senses (sight, sound, touch and smell), in order to transform a dull,
dry piece of text into a firm and vibrant memory that is not just
easy to remember, but difficult to forget!
Mnemonics gain their power by making use of the way that our minds
absorb information. For memories to be formed the following events
must occur: