For most people that one was easy. We have stored in our brains thousands of jingles, songs, advertising slogans, folksy sayings, and so on. The fact that our brains stores these many years after we first encountered them illustrates how powerful repetition and structure are to helping people's memory. Long before we had a written body of literature, poems and legends were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. Most of these were set to a rhyming and rhythmic patterns to make it easier for people to memorize them.

Many students learned long ago the power of special memory aids called mnemonics to help them remember details. The word HOMES is a mnemonic to remember the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. Beginning music students use Every Good Boy Does Fine to remember the five lines on the treble clef, and many of us learned the jingle, "Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November..." to help us recall how many days are in each month.

As a student, there may be times in a class when you need to create memory devices like these to help you remember a listing of items. The more "off the wall" your mnemonic is, the more likely you will be able to recall the information. Give it a try next time you are faced with a tough memorization task.

By the way, the LAC has an excellent film that illustrates some other methods of helping you with memorization. Its title is How to Increase Your Memory Ten Times. You can check it out to view in the LAC.