Association & Memory Training

Association & Memory Training

There are two processes involved in every act of memory. We must first impress, and then we must associate. Without a clear impression being formed, that which is recalled will be indistinct and inaccurate; and unless it is associated with something else in the mind, it cannot be recalled. 

In order that what is in the memory may be recalled or brought again before consciousness, it is necessary that it be regarded in connection, or in association with one or more other things or ideas, and as a rule the greater the number of other things with which it is associated the greater the likelihood of its recall. 

Suppose an idea existing in the mind by itself, unconnected with any other idea, its recall would be impossible.

The reproducing power greatly depends upon the nature of the associations by which the new idea has been linked on to other ideas already recorded in the mind.

The association of ideas connects our various thoughts with each other to create certain order in the mind. Association of ideas depends upon two principles known, respectively, as (1) the law of contiguity; and (2) the law of similarity. 

Association by contiguity is that form of association by which an idea is linked, connected, or associated with the sensation, thought, or idea immediately preceding it, and that which directly follows it. Each idea, or thought, is a link in a great chain of thought being connected with the preceding link and the succeeding link. 

Association by contiguity may be separated into two sub-classes

·         contiguity in time; and

·         contiguity in space.

In contiguity in time there is the tendency to recall the impressions in the same order in which they were received. The first impression suggesting the second, and that the third, and so on. In this way the child learns to repeat the alphabet, and the adult the succeeding lines of a poem. 

In a poem, the end of each preceding word being connected with the beginning of the succeeding one, we can easily repeat them in that order, but we are not able to repeat them backwards till they have been frequently named in that order. 

Some persons are able to repeat long poems from beginning to end, with perfect ease, but are unable to repeat any particular sentence, or verse, without working down to it from the beginning. 

Contiguity in space is manifested in forms of recollection or remembrance by "position." Thus by remembering the things connected with the position of a particular thing, we are enabled to recall the thing itself.

It is on this principle of contiguity that mnemonical systems are constructed, as when what we wish to remember is associated in the mind with a certain object or locality, the ideas associated will at once come up.

When each word or idea is associated with the one immediately preceding it, so that when the one is recalled the other comes up along with it, and thus long lists of names or long passages of books can be readily learnt by heart.

Association by similarity is that form of association by which an idea, thought, or sensation is linked, connected, or associated with ideas, thoughts, or sensations of a similar kind, which have occurred previously or subsequently. 

The first form of association is the relation of sequence—the second the relation of kind.

The law of similarity expresses the general fact that any present state of consciousness tends to revive previous states which are similar to it. The similars may be widely apart in space or in time, but they are brought together and associated through their resemblance to each other. 

Thus, a circumstance of to-day may recall circumstances of a similar nature that occurred perhaps at very different times, and they will become associated together in the mind, so that afterwards the presence of one will tend to recall the others.

The habit of correct association i.e. connecting facts in the mind according to their true relations, and to the manner in which they tend to illustrate each other, is one of the principle means of improving the memory. This kind of memory is an essential quality of a cultivated mind.

The more relations or likenesses that we find or can establish between objects, the more easily will the view of one lead us to recollect the rest.

In order to fix a thing in the memory, we must associate it with something in the mind already, and the more closely that which we wish to remember resembles that with which it is associated, the better is it fixed in the memory, and the more readily is it recalled. 

If the two strongly resemble each other, or are not to be distinguished from each other, then the association is of the strongest kind. The memory is able to retain and replace a vastly greater number of ideas, if they are associated or arranged on some principle of similarity, than if they are presented merely as isolated facts. 

Lack of effective arrangement is often the main reason of poor memory rather than the magnitude of data.