Your Mind and How to Use It Part 3

Not only is attention necessary in forming clear memory records, but careful perception is also important. Without clear perception there is a lack of detail in the retained record, and the element of a.s.sociation is lacking. It is not enough to merely remember the thing itself; we should also remember _what_ it is, and all about it. The practice of the methods of developing perception, given in a preceding lesson, will tend to develop and train the retentive, reproductive, recognitive, and locative powers of the memory. The rule is: _The greater the degree of perception accorded a thing, the greater the detail of the retained impression, and the greater the ease of the recollection_.

UNDERSTANDING AND MEMORY.

Another important point in acquiring impressions in memory is this: _That the better the understanding of the subject or object, the clearer the impressions regarding it, and the clearer the recollection of it_.

This fact is proved by experiment and experience. A subject which will be remembered only with difficulty under ordinary circ.u.mstances will be easily remembered if it is fully explained to the person, and accompanied by a few familiar ill.u.s.trations or examples. It is very difficult to remember a meaningless string of words, while a sentence which conveys a clear meaning may be memorized easily. If we understand _what a thing is for_, its uses and employment, we remember it far more easily than if we lack this understanding. Elbringhaus, who conducted a number of experiments along this line, reports that he could memorize a stanza of poetry in about one tenth the time required to memorize the same amount of nonsense syllables. Gordy states that he once asked a capable student of the Johns Hopkins University to give him an account of a lecture to which he had just listened. "I cannot do it," replied the student; "it was not logical." The rule is: _The more one knows about a certain thing, the more easily is that thing remembered_. This is a point worth noting.

CHAPTER VIII.

Memory--Continued.

The subject of memory cannot be touched upon intelligently without a consideration of the Law of a.s.sociation, one of the important psychological principles.

THE LAW OF a.s.sOCIATION.

What is known in psychology as the Law of a.s.sociation is based on the fact that _no idea exists in the mind except in a.s.sociation with other ideas_. This is not generally recognized, and the majority of persons will dispute the law at first thought. But the existence and appearance of ideas in the mind are governed by a mental law as invariable and constant as the physical law of gravitation. Every idea has a.s.sociations with other ideas. Ideas travel in groups, and one group is a.s.sociated with another group, and so on, until in the end every idea in one's mind is a.s.sociated directly or indirectly with every other idea.

Theoretically, at least, it would be possible to begin with one idea in the mind of a person, and then gradually unwind his entire stock of ideas like the yarn on the ball. Our thoughts proceed according to this law. We sit down in a "brown study" and proceed from one subject to another, until we are unable to remember any connection between the first thought and the last. But each step of the reverie was connected with the one preceding and the one succeeding it. It is interesting to trace back these connections. Poe based one of his celebrated detective stories on this law. The reverie may be broken into by a sudden impression from outside, and we will then proceed from that impression, connecting it with something else already in our experience, and starting a new chain of sequence.

Often we fail to trace the a.s.sociations governing our ideas, but the chain is there nevertheless. One may think of a past scene or experience without any apparent cause. A little thought will show that something seen, or a few notes of a song floating to the ears, or the fragrance of a flower, has supplied the connecting link between the past and the present. A suggestion of mignonette will recall some past event in which the perfume played a part; some one's handkerchief, perhaps, carried the same odor. Or an old familiar tune reminds one of some one, something, or some place in the past. A familiar feature in the countenance of a pa.s.ser-by will start one thinking of some one else who had that kind of a mouth, that shaped nose, or that expression of the eye--and away he will be off in a sequence of remembered experiences. Often the starting idea, or the connecting links, may appear but dimly in consciousness; but rest a.s.sured they are always there. In fact, we frequently accept this law, unconsciously and without realizing its actual existence. For instance, one makes a remark, and at once we wonder, "How did he come to think of that?" and, if we are shrewd, we may discover what was in his mind before he spoke.

There are two general cla.s.ses of a.s.sociation of ideas in memory, viz.: (1) a.s.sociation of contiguity, and (2) logical a.s.sociation.

a.s.sociation of contiguity is that form of a.s.sociation depending upon the previous a.s.sociation in time or s.p.a.ce of ideas which have been impressed on the mind. For instance, if you met Mr. and Mrs. Wetterhorn and were introduced to them one after the other, thereafter you will naturally remember Mr. W. when you think of Mrs. W., and vice versa. You will naturally remember Napoleon when you think of Wellington, or Benedict Arnold when you think of Major Andre, for the same reason. You will also naturally remember _b_ and _c_ when you think of _a_. Likewise, you will think of abstract time when you think of abstract s.p.a.ce, of thunder when you think of lightning, of colic when you recall green apples, of love making and moonlight nights when you think of college days. In the same way we remember things which occurred just before or just after the event in our mind at the moment; of things near in s.p.a.ce to the thing of which we are thinking.

Logical a.s.sociation depends upon the relation of likeness or difference between several things thought of. Things thus a.s.sociated may have never come into the mind at the same previous time, nor are they necessarily connected in time and s.p.a.ce. One may think of a book, and then proceed by a.s.sociation to think of another book by the same author, or of another author treating of the same subject. Or he may think of a book directly opposed to the first, the relation of distinct difference causing the a.s.sociated idea. Logical a.s.sociation depends upon _inner relations_, and not upon the outer relations of time and s.p.a.ce. This _innerness_ of relation between things not connected in s.p.a.ce or time is discovered only by experience and education. The educated man realizes many points of relations.h.i.+p between things that are thought by the uneducated man to be totally unrelated. Wisdom and knowledge consist largely in the recognition of relations between things.

a.s.sOCIATION IN MEMORY.

It follows from a consideration of the Law of a.s.sociation that when one wishes to impress a thing upon the memory he should, as an authority says, "Multiply a.s.sociations; entangle the fact you wish to remember in a net of as many a.s.sociations as possible, especially those that are logical." Hence the advice to place your facts in groups and cla.s.ses in the memory. As Blackie says: "Nothing helps the mind so much as order and cla.s.sification. Cla.s.ses are always few, individuals many; to know the cla.s.s well is to know what is most essential in the character of the individual, and what burdens the memory least to retain."

REPEt.i.tION IN MEMORY.

Another important principle of memory is that the impressions acquire depth and clearness by repet.i.tion. Repeat a line of poetry once, and you may remember it; repeat it again, and your chances of remembering it are greatly increased; repeat it a sufficient number of times, and you cannot escape remembering it. The ill.u.s.tration of the phonograph record will help you to understand the reason of this. The rule is: _Constant repet.i.tion deepens memory impressions; frequent reviewing and recalling what has been memorized tends to keep the records clear and clean, beside deepening the impression at each review_.

GENERAL RULES OF MEMORY.

The following general rules will be of service to the student who wishes to develop his memory:--

_Making Impressions._

(1) Bestow attention.

(2) Cultivate interest.

(3) Manifest perception.

(4) Cultivate understanding.

(5) Form a.s.sociations.

(6) Repeat and review.

_Recalling Impressions._

(1) Endeavor to get hold of the loose end of a.s.sociation, and then unwind your memory ball of yarn.

(2) When you recall an impression, send it back with energy to deepen the impression, and attach it to as many new a.s.sociations as possible.

(3) Practice a little memorizing and recalling each day, if only a line of verse. The memory improves by practice, and deteriorates by neglect and disuse.

(4) Demand good service of your memory, and it will learn to respond.

Learn to trust it, and it will rise to the occasion. How can you expect your memory to give good service when you continually abuse it and tell every one of "the wretched memory I have; I can never remember anything"? Your memory is very apt to accept your statements as truth; our mental faculties have an annoying habit of taking us at our word in these matters. Tell your memory what you expect it to do; then trust it and refrain from abusing it and giving it a bad name.

FINAL ADVICE.

Finally, remember this rule: You get out of your memory only that which you place in it. Place in it good, clear, deep impressions, and it will reproduce good, clear, strong recollections. Think of your memory as a phonographic record, and take care that you place the right kind of impressions upon it. In memory you reap that which you have sown. You must give to the memory before you can receive from it. Of one thing you may rest a.s.sured, namely, that unless you take sufficient interest in the things to be remembered, you will find that the memory will not take sufficient interest in them to remember them. Memory demands interest before it will take interest in the task. It demands attention before it will give attention. It demands understanding before it will give understanding. It demands a.s.sociation before it will respond to a.s.sociation. It demands repet.i.tion before it will repeat. The memory is a splendid instrument, but it stands on its dignity and a.s.serts its rights. It belongs to the old dispensation--it demands compensation and believes in giving only in equal measure to what it receives. Our advice is to get acquainted with your memory, and make friends with it. Treat it well and it will serve you well. But neglect it, and it will turn its back on you.

CHAPTER IX.

Imagination.

The imagination belongs to the general cla.s.s of mental processes called the representative faculties, by which is meant the processes in which there are re-presented, or presented again, to consciousness impressions previously presented to it.

As we have indicated elsewhere, the imagination is dependent upon memory for its materials--its records of previous impressions. But imagination is more than mere memory or recollection of these previously experienced and recorded impressions. There is, in addition to the re-presentation and recollection, a process of arranging the recalled impressions into new forms and new combinations. The imagination not only gathers together the old impressions, but also _creates_ new combinations and forms from the material so gathered.

Psychology gives us many hairsplitting definitions and distinctions between simple reproductive imagination and memory, but these distinctions are technical and as a rule perplexing to the average student. In truth, there is very little, if any, difference between simple reproductive imagination and memory, although when the imagination indulges in constructive activity a new feature enters into the process which is absent in pure memory operations. In simple reproductive imagination there is simply the formation of the mental image of some previous experience--the reproduction of a previous mental image. This differs very little from memory, except that the recalled image is clearer and stronger. In the same way in ordinary memory, in the manifestation of recollection, there is often the same clear, strong mental image that is produced in reproductive imagination. The two mental processes blend into each other so closely that it is practically impossible to draw the line between them, in spite of the technical differences urged by the psychologists. Of course the mere remembrance of a person who presents himself to one is nearer to pure memory than to imagination, for the process is that of recognition. But the memory or remembrance of the same person when he is absent from sight is practically that of reproductive imagination. Memory, in its stage of recognition, exists in the child mind before reproductive imagination is manifested. The latter, therefore, is regarded as a higher mental process.

But still higher in the scale is that which is known as _constructive imagination_. This form of imagination appears at a later period of child mentation, and is regarded as a later evolution of mental processes of the race. Gordy makes the following distinction between the two phases of imagination: "The difference between reproductive imagination and constructive imagination is that the images resulting from reproductive imagination are _copies of past experience_, while those resulting from constructive imagination are not. * * * To learn whether any particular image, or combination of images, is the product of reproductive or constructive imagination, all we have to do is to learn whether or not it is a copy of a past experience. Our memories, of course, are defective, and we may be uncertain on that account; but apart from that, we need be in no doubt whatever."

Many persons hearing for the first time the statement of psychologists that the imaginative faculties can re-present and re-produce or re-combine only the images which have previously been impressed upon the mind, are apt to object that they can, and frequently do, image things which they have not previously experienced. But can they and do they? Is it not true that what they believe to be original creations of the imagination are merely _new combinations_ of original impressions? For instance, no one ever saw a unicorn, and yet some one originally imagined its form. But a little thought will show that the image of the unicorn is merely that of an animal having the head, neck, and body of a horse, with the beard of a goat, the legs of a buck, the tail of a lion, and a long, tapering horn, spirally twisted, in the middle of the forehead. Each of the several parts of the unicorn exists in some living animal, although the unicorn, composed of all of these parts, is non-existent outside of fable. In the same way the centaur is composed of the body, legs, and tail of the horse and the trunk, head, and arms of a man. The satyr has the head, body, and arms of a man, with the horns, legs, and hoofs of a goat. The mermaid has the head, arms, and trunk of a woman, joined at the waist to the body and tail of a fish.

The mythological "devil" has the head, body, and arms of a man, with the horns, legs, and cloven foot of the lower animal, and a peculiar tail composed of that of some animal but tipped with a spearhead. Each of these characteristics is composed of familiar images of experience. The imagination may occupy itself for a lifetime turning out impossible animals of this kind, but every part thereof will be found to correspond to something existent in nature, and experienced by the mind of the person creating the strange beast.

In the same way the imagination may picture a familiar person or thing acting in an unaccustomed manner, the latter having no basis in fact so far as the individual person or thing is concerned, but being warranted by some experience concerning other persons or things. For instance, one may easily form the image of a dog swimming under water like a fish, or climbing a tree like a cat. Likewise, one may form a mental image of a learned, bewigged High Chancellor, or a venerable Archbishop of Canterbury, dressed like a clown, standing on his head, balancing a colored football on his feet, sticking his tongue in his cheek and winking at the audience. In the same way one may imagine a railroad running across a barren desert, or a steep mountain, upon which there is not as yet a rail laid. The bridge across a river may be imaged in the same way. In fact, this is the way that everything is mentally created, constructed, or invented--the old materials being combined in a new way, and arranged in a new fas.h.i.+on. Some psychologists go so far as to say that no mental image of memory is an exact reproduction of the original impression; that there are always changes due to the unconscious operation of the constructive imagination.

The constructive imagination is able to "tear things to pieces" in search for material, as well as to "join things together" in its work of building. The importance of the imagination in all the processes of intellectual thought is great. Without imagination man could not reason or manifest any intellectual process. It is impossible to consider the subject of thought without first regarding the processes of imagination.

And yet it is common to hear persons speak of the imagination as if it were a faculty of mere fancy, useless and without place in the practical world of thought.