To understand how memory works, it is necessary to recall your childhood. When you were very young, your parents didn't put a textbook in your hands and say, "Learn!" Reading would have been impossible. You didn't even know the alphabet. They knew such demands would not work. Instead, they opened a book, pointed to pictures, and identified them. They probably said, "This is a cat. This is a dog. This is a horse." You began to identify pictures and lock images into your mind. Later you could easily identify the pictures. The information had become knowledge. You never lost or "forgot" the information, because pictures were locked into your mind. For the most part, before you entered school, you learned almost everything by this "picture" concept.
Unfortunately, after you started to school, your normal and natural learning procedure was quietly abandoned. No longer were you learning by seeing pictures. Intangible letters, words, and numbers slowed down the learning process. They had no real meaning to you. They were just lines, curves, and squiggles that didn't relate to the familiar pictures you could easily identify. The uphill struggle began. Today, you and millions of others continue to have "The Learnin' Blues.B
Many people think they must have a "photographic memory" in order to remember a lot of material. With a photographic memory, one would be able to scan several pages of printed material, photograph a mental picture of those pages, and later recreate pictures in the mind and read the information from the mental pictures. It is doubtful that anyone has that ability.
However, there is a skill that is very similar to a "photographic memory." It is a "photographic mind." Everyone has one! No, people cannot see and recreate mental pictures of printed pages, but they can easily see and recreate mental pictures of tangible objects. Everyone has done it since childhood. It is a God-given ability. As items are named, you will form an image or picture of the items. What about a zebra? You saw a zebra in your mind, didn't you? How about a giraffe, a ladder, an elephant, or a car? You simply create mental images of the items as you read the names.
God has gifted everyone with the ability to see pictures in the mind. Even blind persons do it. The mind is connected to "a giant computer"-the brain. Every time you think of a tangible object, the computer causes the camera to duplicate and project that object onto a mental screen. The computer works automatically, That is the gdt you used for learning before you entered school.
Once a mental picture is developed, it is filed away for future reference. The picture may be retrieved at any time. For example, though you may not have seen one recently, you can picture a cow in your mind right now. Do you think you will be able to form a mental image of a cow tomorrow? Of course! What about next week, next month, or next year? You will always remember a cow. The mental picture is filed forever. It is always easier to remember things that are seen rather than what is heard or read. The cliche, "A picture is worth a thousand words," is certainly true.
Because of the ineffectiveness of the learning systems in use today, professional teachers must assume the role of drill sergeants saying, "Just say it repeatedly until you learn it" Such attempted "learning" is no fun and becomes stressful for the teacher, the student, the parent who tries to help, or the adult who is trying to learn. Far too many times this begins a negative syndrome that affects a person's attitudes and self-worth. Negative attitudes are continued into adulthood. Then statements are heard like, "I can't seem to remember anything," and "I have a terrible memory." People don't have "bad" memories, simply "untrained" ones.
When training the memory, "intangible" or "unpicturable" words must be made tangible. This is now made possible by using the "Sound-Alike Word System.""' Intangible words can be seen as easily as tangible objects, and learning them can be as easy as learning to identify objects in childhood.
Memory is simply the process of associating or connecting two pieces of information-one thought triggering another. For example, when you see a person's face, you should be reminded of his name.
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