As someone who, for decades, has performed memory feats in front of large audiences, I agree with you professor Kaplan. A word I like much better than "association" is the word "Connection". The mind is a connecting machine. We connect new information to that which we already know. I also really liked the fact that you talked about using index cards as flash cards. I teach the same thing. Another reason that it's such a powerful memory aid is that the act of handwriting notes forces a person to use more of their 5 senses, thus strengthening the neural pathways (synapse) inside the brain. Thank you for your clear message.

I've always heard of people memorizing things by using their imagination or imagery, but when you incorporated it with the flashcards it genuinely blew my mind. I never thought of combining the two. It's going to be a real change to my studying, thanks.

Key Takeaways: 1. Mnemonic Cues - make a story that ties in with memorization. Intuition is like an effective program and our cognition is our means of writing the program. By putting in the work to make a relationship/correlation, you foster memorization. 2. Spaced Repetition and Active Recall - Although active recall was not mentioned in this video, there's a plethora of research proving active recall combined with spaced repetition is one of the best ways to learn. Spaced repetition increase the intervals of time between learning attempts and we learn things more efficiently. Active recall can be combined with looking through your flashcards by attempting to answer the question first (audibly or in your head) before flipping the card. Online software like Anki is used to help with this process by giving you flashcards based on how difficult/easy the card was and when the last "learning attempt" occurred. I open Anki every morning and make flashcards every night. [ Note: It's okay to use flashcards made online from similar topics you are studying, however there is a great benefit to taking time to make your own cards. 1) It allows you more time to process and think through the material you're trying to memorize/study 2) You choose directly what you want to put in your deck of cards (as opposed to finding a card in a deck that's not important or the deck is missing important study material) ] I have been taking notes throughout the whole playlist and look forward to trying to integrate this into my educational life. I wish I had seen this when I first began college - I'm currently facing my first B, which has made me re-think my studying strategies, because being "naturally" smart does not work in college.

Two more things I’d add: 1. Put multiple related questions on one card 2. Never look at the answer of the card until you’re sure you can not answer the question We understand information relative to what we already know (schemas) and we chunk stuff together. So what I’ll do is make notecards with multiple questions all relating to the same topic. If I’m in an intro to ethics, instead of making three cards on (1) the definition of utilitarianism, (2) the ‘founders’ of utilitariansim, and (3) objections to it, I’ll just make one card with three questions. Then, the next card will move onto Kant’s deontological ethics. This has all the advantages of before + the ability to group information relative to what you already know and what you are learning-instead of learning it in isolation. One last thing-it saves 3x-4x notecards And about the second point, we learn much much much better through active recall (jogging your memory) than simply seeing the answers. We remember things by forcing our brains (or our minds…🧐) to recall the information. It’s like going to a gym. You want to gain muscle, lift heavy. You want to remember, try to remember things without looking at the answer.

For years, I tried off and on to learn Morse Code, but I'd get to around "F" and give up because I couldn't keep the dots and dashes straight. But someone recommended that I should associate each letter with a word that has the same cadence, and doing that, I had all the letters memorized in no time. For example, Morse Code for "A" is dot-dash, which has the same rhythm as "ahoy". So the letter equivalences I came up with are: ahoy, Bob Balaban, Casablanca, dog catcher, eat, Fibonacci, green bean soup, hootenanny, icky, Jafar has lice, kill the lights, Lothario, Morse Code, noisy, Omaha, protect my butt, quick find a towel, revolver, Sierra, tea, uniform, vitamin D, Wakanda, X marks the spot, you're a big jerk, Zagnut City.

I learn SOOO much from this series! The pop quizzes are brilliant and I wish I had you as a prof way back when. Your students are very fortunate! Thank you!

I just found out about this guy and I can honestly say, there is a level of stress that has gone down just listening to him break down the methods to memorize. I always thought I had an issue, I always thought I wasn't smart enough and despite doing other things to help change that internal narrative, Jeff's information and ease of explanation are such welcomed assets in my attempt to learn Spanish and other relevant knowledge. Cheers!

This is a fabulous way to learn. My daughter struggles with remembering what she studied and uses index cards all the time. But still struggles due to her learning disability. This is soooo awesome! I'm gonna share this with her. Thank you for sharing your wisdom on how to remember things. This is super cool!

I am a lifelong learner. You are without a doubt the most astute teacher I have ever been exposed to especially how to take notes and how to remember what you read. Thank you SO much!

I like using telephone numbers to remember dates. For example, the American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865. The student uses their own phone number and changes the last 4 numbers to the date they need: XXX-XXX-1861 and XXX-XXX-1865. I’ve seen this work, and I’ll say these methods you’ve outlined should begin much earlier than college. I’m an educator and I very much appreciate your videos… Cheers!

I’m back here after 4 years…. I forgot how to remebr

I did this [mnemonic cues] to memorize the top 200 medications prescribed in 2013 for pharmacy tech school. I still remember some of the brand/generic combos because of the stories. I used spaced repetition for a lot of math through school.

This is such a wonderful concept. I didn't know this thing had a name. This is how I have learnt to memorize all my life, right to Postgraduate. It is so nice, seeing this video. My method of memorizing wasn't a secret at all. It's a concept. Wow. Great job !

Your didactics are very useful ; Thanks a lot ! Still works when you reach the age of 70+ ! And it saves you a lot of times from getting angry ‘cause you think you “forgot” what you were looking for ! Just keep on being disciplined and don’t let it go thru !

This is honestly just how my brain works, I make stories for things and I don't even have to think about it. But using it for studying? I have never thought of that- it's absolutely brilliant! And by the way, I got both of the Korean words correct

Loving your purpose and service to others Jeff!

I used Mnenomic without realising it when I was learning origin and insertion of muscles in Anatomy, that is pretty cool 😎 Thankyou 🌻

I can offer up another method that worked really well for me in my software engineering course. I memorized the list of the names of design patterns (dp) by assigning a letter to each name, where each letter was just the first letter of the name itself. So for the Builder dp I abbreviated it to "B", etc. Then I grouped the letter abbreviations together into acronyms of around 5 letters per group, effectively chunking them. Each acronym corresponded to the 3 categories of dps (Creational, Structural, Behavioral). Then I used space repetition to remember the acronyms, and then I used spaced repetition to remember what the abbreviations meant in each acronym. So for example: ABFPS (Creational), stands for "[A]bstract factory", "[B]uilder", "[F]actory method", "[P]rototype", "[S]ingleton". The whole list is ABFPS, ABCDFFP, CCII-MMO-SSTV. I also assigned mnemonic cues to the groups, where it helped me to think about how the second group starts with ABCD, and ends with double F's. Also it helped me to see that in the third group, it had sub-groups, and it had repeating letters: CC, MM, SS. I also found that this approach using acronyms works for remembering a list of sentences, where you assign a single letter to each sentence, and create an acronym for the list. Then I used spaced repetition to remember the sentences by first recalling the abbreviation, then recalling what each letter in the abbreviation meant. So for example "Adding more people to a project increases the time to complete the project", a project management concept. I would pick the most important word in the sentence (mnemonic cue), like "people", abbreviate it to "P", and combine that with other abbreviations into an acronym. So for instance, for a list of 4 related sentences, you might have: PINE. I would use spaced repetition to remember the acronym, and I would use spaced repetition to remember the abbreviated sentences. To test myself, I made a sheet of just the lists of acronyms, and I would use it to quiz myself about what each stood for. When I got good at it, I could even remember the acronyms without first prompting myself using the sheet. I have only ever used this approach to study for college exams. I am not sure how effective this is for remembering something longer term, but I think that one could continue quizing yourself after a course is completed in order to achieve long term recall.

This is the way I’ve been learning my entire life so I 100% agree with you. If I don’t have stories/ associations I can guarantee you I won’t remember. This is the same as remembering peoples name. I always have to relate it to something.

As useful and clever as I always expect Prof JK to be! 👏🏻

00:00 Science has discovered two ways to memorize things: mnemonic cues and spaced repetition. Helpful cues are associations like stories that cause you to recall other information. Mnemonics 00:42 She asked a group of her friends to come in and participate in a study, and we had to learn Korean words and their English definitions. At the end of the study, we took a quiz to see how much we could retain. Korean Mnemonics 01:44 When I was shown a word in Korean, I noticed that part of the word looked like a roof or an umbrella. I imagined a little stick going here and it opening and closing like an umbrella, and then the five seconds were over, and that symbol disappeared. 02:44 To make it easier to remember two things, you can add a third thing: a story. The human mind remembers things based on levels and points of connection, so you can do this for all sorts of things. 03:42 When I learn the names of 50 students in a lecture classroom, I look at the student, ask them their names, and make up little stories with little associations with those things. I don't tell them all this out loud, but I focus on that weird thing about the student. 04:41 To memorize things, you have to repeat them within a shorter space than you repeat the ones you already know. The old-fashioned way to do this is with index cards. Spacing Repetition 05:11 Using this flashcard would be best if you learned some words, labels, or facts. 05:27 You test yourself by looking at one side of the card and seeing if you know what will be on the back. If you do, you put it at the back of the pile. 05:59 You can do it, as a matter of degree. If you don't know a concept, could you put it in the middle; if you have no clue, put it close to the front? 06:26 Lightner Method is straightforward and refreshes the cards in whatever order the software thinks is the best order. Other Methods 06:50 The simplest, best way to memorize things is to use index cards. Spaced repetition is an efficient way to get a whole bunch of stuff in front of you and to get it to stick in your memory. 07:28 These methods work well and have been used throughout my academic career. It's amazing how infrequently people use them when they want to memorize things. 07:51 You can find the Korean word for umbrella right here, but which symbol means mango? Pop Quiz 08:27 One of these symbols is the Korean word for mango, and when you were looking for the word umbrella, you looked for this thingy, told yourself this little story, and knew that this was the answer.

A strange thing happened after I fell from a ladder head first onto a concrete patio . That night I happened to see an article about the constant pi. It had listed the first 100 digits. I moved on but later on I found myself recalling the first 50 digits. I went back to that article to check if my recall was accurate. I found I was able to recall the 100 digits in a few minutes. This went on for a few days and I built my memory of pi to 1000 digits with no effort. However, this gift from a knock on the head began to fade and fade quickly. In just a few days my recall had faded to the first 12 digits. My recall ability is now back to where it was before the fall. It was fun while it lasted!

I have never seen a better teacher

How amazing is it that I watched this video learning the Korean word then I watched this video the following days and I was able to recognise Korean umbrella immidiatelly

Who else was as easily able to memorise mango? Lol Anyways thank you sir, I feel like the flash card technique you suggested can really help me! From a law student ❤

You are an amazing teacher. Keep it up!

Minor point: unlike Chinese characters, Korean "symbols" are alphabetic, i.e. each component of the character represents a sound. The "roof/umbrella" he uses as a mnemonic is actually the letter "s".

re: spaced repitition, you could always read a book that contains the words you need to learn. Reading in Spanish massively accelarated my comprehension and contextualized the language far better than a ton of 'flash' cards would have. I get random reoccurences of words, the variation of which is more stimulating than anticipating their arrival at some point. To be honest, reading a story (or atleast something meaningful) brings the two concepts together.

I got both correct with your method. I quickly memorized the “mango” words by identifying the sideways “Fendi” name brand. That’s how I remembered it. Thank you!

it works! after watching this video I will co-sign this technique. I will also agree that the "index card" method is far superior for assimilating new information to memory. I will reinforce this by adding to; the index method. the simple action of writing/drawing the character (Korean) strengthens the encoding for memory recall. the written language is the greatest invention of all time I believe. excellent video. thank you, facilitator

I have learned about the 'spaced repetition' in 'learning how to learn' and it is such an amazing way to memorize subject matter. But mnemonic cues are an interesting technique, and I am looking forward to using it during my study sessions. You are an impeccable explainer, please do continue the wonderful job. To return the favor, I subscribed to the channel, and I am going to like the video and I hope at least I have given back an iota of what you have given me.

This is very interesting. I’ve never applied mnemonic in the way you did. Very ingenious. Thank you.

So good! Learned something new!

Awesome style Of Teaching And Conveying The Word with good Feeling And Expression..i want To Get such Attributes in myself, first video yours I Ever Watch

Your a great teacher thanks for explaining that so well!

I wish I learned this in school. But, I am still super grateful you shared this. Thank you

You do an amazing job! Thank you!

I taught adult students how to memorize a list of 10 totally unrelated words. I would list each member (word) from 1 to 10 and then tell them that in 30 minutes they would be able to not only remember all 10 things but if asked what was number 6 in the list, they would know. And then what was number 2, then 5, etc. It was easy. All they had to do was associate each word with something that rhymed with their associated number, and the more extreme the association the easier it was to recall them in any order. Say the first word was 'house', you then think of a gun (rhymes with one) shooting a house. The second word could be 'grey', then think of a shoe (rhymes with two) that's grey. On and on with tree for three, door for four etc. Worked every time.

I've been teaching myself a foreign language for 2 years. I've used pneumonic cues the whole time without knowing it. What amazes me the most is sheet size of vocabulary I've developed and yet my brain is able to keep processing and storing more and more cues.

I was waiting for this!!! Thank you! :)

Now I'll never forget the word for umbrella in Korean! "Usan"! I used to know it, then forgot. I learned the Korean alphabet in a few days by making associations with the shapes and using flash cards. I also used words that are the same or similar in English, as in your example, mango in Korean is... mango! In fact I think I even used that word in my studies. The alphabet is fascinating and easy to learn. It was designed to represent mouth and tongue shapes, if not actual umbrellas in the case of the "S" (siot) in Korean! :) SSSSSS, the sound of rain perhaps? ;)

Just great your students are vert LUCKY!!! Thanks for taking the time to make this.

Well done! I have shared this with my students. Great information.

Thank you Atty. Tiamson for introducing me to professor Kaplan.

Great video, very well explained and I didn't know about spaced repetition done like this.

I am happy I discovered your Channel!

Thanks a lot for this concise way of memorising.I do appreciate

Fantastic tips! As a grad student, I'm always looking for effective strategies to enhance my learning, and your methods of mnemonic cues and spaced repetition are definitely something I'll be implementing. I do have a question about the use of index cards. I've found that creating and organizing physical index cards can be quite time-consuming, and there's always the risk of misplacing them. Do you have any tips for creating these cards quickly and keeping them organized? Also, I'm curious about your thoughts on digital cards. Are there specific situations where you would recommend using digital cards over physical ones? Again, thank you so much for sharing these valuable insights!

I totally agree with this. This is really beautiful ❤

Mnemonics are like adhesive which allow us to stick two different ideas in memory.

Great!, it works!

I knew the one for mango. It is because I know and use the method described. You were talking about an umbrella, I was associating square with fruit... Yep, this method works. Also, spaced repetition... I always use it for learning words of the language I am learning. But always the word has to be in a phrase. Not just word, but a word in use. So a card for spatial repetition works also as a mnemonic cue.

Really solid info, captain!

Great videos. Thank you.

for some reason i never thought you could do this with just index cards, i thought you needed a software haha but this is super straightforward! thanks! i think i might move to doing flashcards physically (i'm used to always doing them digitally).

When I took an exam for a post office job many years ago. Approx.40 years. We were shown a series of boxes each with street names and address ranges for I think five minutes. Then you had to identify from memory which of the boxes the newly presented images of those streets and numbers appeared in. I focused so hard on those three street names all those years ago that I still remember them. Spruce, Wren and.Nye. Meanwhile I forget people's names in an instant.

This is so valuable and informative. Where was this when I was studying? One question: Where are the videos leading up to #10? Thank you.

I have untreated ADHD, and as a result, my memory is absolutely terrible and always has been. James Heisig has written books for learning Chinese and Japanese characters and suggests using the exact techniques you describe here, and I was able to learn about 3000 Chinese characters using that technique, which is not something I ever thought I would be able to do.

Dude this is magic. Thank you so much!

I just found your channel and I watched all the videos on studying. I like how you explain things. on the topic of spaced repetition and retention, I want to know your thoughts on this: I have actually been implementing spaced repetition for a couple years. I applied it when I was learning German, when I majored in engineering, and when I was learning programming on my own. but there is always this question that I have: I don't know when I should stop reviewing the flashcards or the information. I'm afraid that if I let go I will forget. but it's also not realistic to still be reviewing a course that you took in the first semester when you are in the last semester. (that would be a ton of flashcards and a ton of work) I usually let go after reviewing something about 3-4 times (the last one right before exams). so, when do you think one should let go of trying to retain the information? and what about after graduating, do we just let go of everything?

What a fantastic teacher!

this is how i learned a lot of japanese with "remembering the kanji" by james heisig. fun stuff!

I think it is a little strange because I clicked on this video because I thought it might help me study Korean. I had no idea you made this video just for me. Thank you.

The only thing I would add is that placing the mnemonic images into a location you know well, you'll have a mind palace and it will be even more powerful.

I subscribed after Jeffrey said "sometimes students look weird" 🤣🤣

In simple words it’s about visualization and practicing it in time intervals.

Very good. I remembered Mango because I noted that it was a simpler form.

Your an amazing intellect. Ive been doing this subconsciously. I was convinced im mad

I am really impressed by the way a simple algorithm blows your mimd .imagine you try to figure out how dynamic programming in the case of hidden markov chains models works.

When studying, you should always keep your notes in the order found in your text. Your memory works a lot like a file cabinet; if you put something into your brain in a systematic way, it is usually easy to retrieve it. Like a file drawer/cabinet, if you just cram things in anywhere they fit, you may have a difficult time finding them later. Most authors spend a lot of time on their outlines, so their end product is in proper order. Therefore, I recommend hole punching your homemade index/study cards and running an opened up paper clip through them and fastening the ends together so they stay in order. This can be really helpful in most subject areas!

Yes, you catch hold of listeners. ❤

Now I scientifically know what I have been doing for years without knowing it.

Thanks Professor Kudos👌

This is amazing! this really does work! thanks professor Kaplan! wish i found your channel sooner before doing my professional certification test in cybersecurity which i failed woefully:) ... oh well better late than never

that's it! you discover the secret of how our brain stored the information. thanks.

Great information professor..

1:04 Mnemonic (sounds like “pneumonic” [new-mon-ick] 3:32 Symbol + Story = Learning Meaning

The quiz at the end was extremely easy even when looking just with a corner of your eye earlier on. The bigger issues arise when you, for example, try to learn a language on a decent level. I studdied german for half a year or so, using Anki (spaced repetition) and it was going great 60% of the time, fine 30% and frustrating 10% of the time. The 10% being words I just couldn't get to stick no matter how often they came up...words or phrases, whatever. I also read, listened to audiobooks, I had a daily routine and I kept adding lots of words but after a few months it just became unsustainable. Yet if you stop at some point, many words just disappear from your memory untill you find them again, possibly translate again. This is kind of prohibitive if you truly want to communicate (or use knowlege). Nothing works unless you're chellenged to use the knowledge regularly in different circumstances.

I got both of them correct. Your videos are very good.👍🏼

Good stuff! Thanks

Understanding is far better than memorizing.

Thanks. New knowledge

I automatically used mnemonic ques before your example. The mango fell out of the tree and is laying on the ground. The T is the umbrella and the O above it is the water

I can memorize the image of a page in my mind and refer to it. Though I can't do this if the number of pages or the amount of contents is more than a few pages ie too much. Which one of these two categories does that belong?!

I'm fascinated by how good you are as a teacher and how helpful this series is! As a physician here in Brazil, I've come across a bunch of techniques to memorize and retain information that sometimes seems too hard to grasp. I appreciate your work. Thank you, Professor Kaplan.

10 seconds in: “mnemonic cues and spaces repetition.” Attention span exhausted, but I think I got it

Hi Mr Kaplan, very clear explanations. Any thots on how differently music, say, would be memorized compared to text? This could be another avenue to add to Mnemonic Cues ...

It's storing - identifying consciously what you encounter, presenting it in mind and burning it into short term memory binding by comparing- relating it to what you know, finding similarities differences, patterns, categorising it so more like two things the more of the hooks and realisations the better sleeping - sorting new neural connections, solidifying them, making a physical structure in brain and letting mind to process test it through dreaming finding possibilities for new bindings or discarding failed connections recalling - forcing memory to use the new neural paths making it stronger, adding connections and expanding structure upgrading paths/roads - changing your delivery routes, creating backup pathways, managing traffic also time of learning, stimuli that accompanied it like coffee matters you will remember it better in the exact circumstances environment you were learning it fasting will also improve recall, as brain loves ketones and stable high quality fuel without toxic fluctuations

I think it has to do with the time you were born and how you discovered your ability to memorize things!!! I can even remember the dreams that I had like 20+ years ago when I was even suffering from the 2.5 years of nightmarish insomnia...That simply tells me one fact: the memory had never been erased, if you don't remember that, you just simply didn't look at the right connections...

Thank you so much

Love your channel. 👍🏻

The best lecture I've seen all year.

thanks you gave me an idea to memorize javascript programming fast.

As a person who doesn't speak korean. I memorized "umbrella" effectively

Can you please a video on how to memorize lines like an actor? Thank you!

❤Got it all correct 💯 whilst I thought I I was bad at memorizing 😢

Not a way to study, but you really think the clearest while travelling on foot I find.. Sort of like shower thought’s - great advice I took from Werner Herzog. Even a brief and pensive walk can be more revealing than hours of writing at home.

As a life long learner i'm teaching myself Algebra. I'm currently on Algebra 2. Trouble is by the time i finished learning a new subject, i forgot what i had done a month ago, so i'm forced to go back and revise it. So from now on for every new topic i'm studying, i'm going back a bit to make sure i haven't forgot the previous work done, so that i keep the chain of acquired knowledge unbroken. In other words, practice, practice and more practice. Sure it's going to take longer but this way i will be able to steadily retain all the concepts i'm trying to learn.

Wow, It works. Thank you sir

I just love this guy! He's brilliant! I got the Korean for mango, no problem. But I do know Chinese...