The Mind Map Memory Technique can give you Perfect

Memory...
Your Memory is perfect
This is possibily the most contentious point on our whole site, yet there is lots of
evidence showing it to be true. All you need is the correct trigger.

Many scientists believe that nothing is ever forgotten. With the correct trigger you can
remember things you thought to be long forgotten. All you need to exploit your perfect
memory is a good Memory Technique.

Consider the following:

Dreams

Many people have dreams of friends or family they haven't seen in years. The images
come back perfectly clear. All the colours and details are exactly as they were in real life.

Hypnosis

Under hypnosis, people recall what their conscious mind cannot. Often, the hypnotist
takes people back to their early childhood to describe the details of events that took place.

Surprise, random recall

Nearly everyone has had the experience of turning a corner and suddenly recalling people
or events from previous times in his or her life.

This often happens when people visit their old school. A single smell, touch, sight or
sound can bring back a flood of memories thought to be long forgotten.

Near Death experiences

The term 'My whole life flashed before my eyes' has become a cliche that goes with a
near death experience. Many people insist that it was their entire life that played out in
slow motion.

These and many more scientific experiments are freely available.

Can I learn a new Memory Technique?

You may ask whether this applies to you. Of course it does. Many of the people that
compete in the World Memory championships tell how 'ordinary' their memories were
until they discovered the 'secret' to perfect memory.
Some principles of memory and recall will be covered in this article, as well as the basics
of the mind map memory technique. It merely scratches the surface however and it's up to
you to take it further.

Tony Buzan covers memory in all his books, but he has two books devoted entirely to
memory, Use Your Perfect Memory: Dramatic New Techniques for Improving Your
Memory; Third Edition (Plume) and Master Your Memory . Both are excellent books on
the subject and I highly recommend them.

Now let's start with some of the memory principles and tips to improve your memory.
We will direct our focus to learning and studying and not on things like remembering
names, faces, lists, cards, etc., even though many of the techniques can be used for that as
well.

The Five Senses

Just in case you don't know, the five senses are:
 Sight
 Sound
 Smell
 Taste
 Touch

This is the first memory technique. By using any of your senses when memorizing will
dramatically enhance your recall. The key is to actually use them when you learn.

Let's use Christopher Columbus sailing off for India as an example.

Sight

Picture the words on the page. With the Mind Map Memory Technique you can
actually picture the position on the page. You can also picture the size and the colour
of the branch.

In a subject like history you can picture the event happening.

You could picture the blue sea, the colour of the boats, the clothes they wore, etc. See
them sailing in your mind. You now have a powerful visual image to attach the rest of
your facts.

Write your notes in different colours. You could write the names of the oceans, the seas
he sailed, the ports he landed in etc. in blue.

Picture the colours of the boats. Write the names of the boats in those colours.

Draw a picture of his route, etc., etc.

Sound

You could also picture the sound of the waves on the shore, the water lapping against
the boat, etc. Now you've used two of your senses.

You could also read the words aloud to yourself, or get a recording of a movie, or a
clip off the Internet. You could also record your own voice and save it as an Mp3, or a
podcast.

Smell

Smell the sea air, the wood of the ships and the perfume of the women seeing him off.

Touch and Taste

Add the feel of the wood standing on deck, holding the rails. Feel and taste the salty
water splashing against your face.You've now used all five senses to form a picture of
the day. This will make a huge difference when you are learning facts about his trip, as
you have powerful 'hooks' to which you can attach your facts.

Explore your study material with as many of your senses wherever you can. The more
you practice the better you will get.

Categories and Hierarchies

In the Mind Map book, Tony Buzan explains how things are easier to remember if
categorised.

In a study on memory, subjects were divided into two groups.

Group A was given a list of musical instruments to remember. The instruments were
given as a random list.

Group B was given a categorised list. The list was divided into brass, wood- wind,
percussion etc. Group B did phenomenally better in recall tests.

A more comprehensive example is given in 'Use your head':

Group A was given a book to study and told that they were going to be tested on the
complete text.

Group B was given the same book, but told that they would be tested on the main themes
and they must study accordingly.
Both groups were actually tested on the whole book. To the surprise of many, Group
B did much better than Group A.
This is explained by the fact that the mind creates 'hooks' to which information is
attached. When recalling the information the same hooks act as triggers, triggering better
recall.

Pictures
The ability of the brain to remember pictures has been exploited by the greatest
marketing company of all time - Microsoft. Its Windows operating systems promoted
the use of pictures, called icons, in all applications, including the operating system itself.

This power of pictures was clearly evident to me when we were in Holland for a few
years. The operating system of our personal computer was in Dutch. So were the
applications, including Microsoft Office. Within no time we were using the
applications with ease, despite our poor understanding of the Dutch language.

This can only be attributed to the fact that actual functionality of applications is
represented by icons on toolbars. These pictures speak a universal language!

Adding images to your learning notes will increase your recall dramatically. Use
colour wherever possible. Your notes will be more alive.

A Mind Map with images and colours, naturally forms a picture.

Mnemonics
The word Mnemonics is derived from the Greek god, Mnemosyne. They so worshipped
memory that they made a goddess out of her!

At school, many years ago, I learned the acronym 'ROYGBIV' to signify the colours of
the rainbow. For those that don't know the colours, take this as a personal challenge!

The Greeks realised that there were two main keys to superpower memory: Image and
association.

Once again Tony Buzan comes to our rescue in 'Use your memory'. He highlights the
necessities of a good mnemonic.

 Synaesthesia/Sensuality
 Movement
 Association
 Sexuality
 Humour
 Imagination
 Number
 Symbolism
 Colour
 Order
 Positive Images
  Exaggeration

This in itself can be represented by the mnemonic: SMASHIN' SCOPE.

Mind Mapping
Tony Buzan introduced Mind Maps to the world in 1974. The story of him entering the
library and asking for a book on using his brain is almost folklore. He was shown to the
medical section!

The librarian did not realise that he wanted operate the brain, not operate ON the
brain.

His discovery that he was in virgin territory inspired him to invent the greatest brain tool
ever invented - Mind Maps!

By combining the five senses, pictures, categories, hierarchies and mnemonics, the
brain can be trained to recall vast amounts of material with minimal effort. It can also
become creative and use the imagination constructively. After all, it was Einstein that
said something to the effect that imagination was more important than knowledge.