The main difference between modern life is the huge flow of information that a person has to deal with almost every day. Many of us need to get acquainted with the assigned tasks and planned plans, speak in front of a large number of people, correctly and beautifully expressing our thoughts to them, engage in training, arousing the interest of our students, etc. However, not every person is able to quickly and completely enter the received data into memory. And very often, in order to remember the necessary information, people use the association method. However, it is not always quite effective. Its disadvantage lies in the fact that this method is suitable only for a small number of objects. But sometimes there is a need to master an arbitrary text of medium length. In this case, the associative technique will not bring the desired result. And then a method that is based on working with images – mnemonics – will come to the rescue. Cicero's method is one such method. It allows you to remember a large amount of information.
Translated from ancient Greek, the word “mnemonics” means “the art of remembering.” As a result of its mastery, a person not only develops his memory, but also gets the opportunity to thoroughly and smoothly present the necessary information, that is, acquire oratory skills.
History of appearance
The Cicero method is named after the statesman of the Roman Republic. Marcus Tullius Cicero went down in history as a famous orator who became famous for his ability to reproduce from memory a large number of historical facts, quotes and dates without using the text of his speeches prepared on paper.
However, a similar technique was used even before Cicero. It was used by the ancient Greek poet Simonides. One day he took part in a magnificent and plentiful meal, which he left before all the guests. After the poet left, the ceiling in the room collapsed. The guests and the owner of the house died. Simonides came to identify the dead and was able to reproduce in his memory the location of each person in the process of celebration.
But no matter who was at the origins of this method, Cicero’s method is today considered one of the most ancient memorization techniques.
A little about the history of its origin
Although it is called Cicero’s method, the great orator has nothing to do with the history of the emergence of this unique technique. He simply used it actively in preparation for performances. Shocking the public by the fact that he did not need any notes at all, declaring a large amount of material simply from memory.
There is a legend that during one large-scale feast in Ancient Greece, the roof suddenly collapsed, under the rubble of which many people died. However, one poet Simonides managed to get out of there alive. Relatives of the victims asked to tell them where their loved ones were at that moment, so that, after unearthing the bodies, they could be buried with all honors.
Simonides was able to name every single one, based on the fact that the room was familiar to him. All that remained was to remember who was doing what at that moment in order to accurately indicate the coordinates. Subsequently, the poet realized how valuable his discovery turned out to be, and began to improve it. These days, you may also come across other names such as the room system or the seat method.
Causes of poor memory
Why are not all people able to quickly remember a large amount of information? The fact is that each person’s memory has individual characteristics. So, someone can easily, after reading only once, be able to memorize the multiplication table, but at the same time almost immediately forget the name of the person they just met. Other people, on the contrary, are naturally gifted with a good visual memory, but they struggle to learn the most basic rules of the Russian language. What are the causes of memory impairment? There are only five of them. Let's take a closer look at them.
Usage example
Let's look at a clear example of how to use Cicero's technique for memorizing information.
Let's take ten words necessary for memorization (numbers, events, speech points, foreign words). For example, these will be the following words: curtain, postcard, bird, sour cream, packaging, mouth, hair dryer, tambourine, book, speaker. You need to set them for specific objects of the selected system (for example, a room). Next, let's move on to the next level of the task. Take a sheet of paper, a pencil and write down all the objects in the room
It doesn't matter how many there are. The main thing is that they create “niches” for our matrix
In addition, you should remember their location and in what order they are located. An approximate list of items in the room: window, sofa, wardrobe, TV, pouf, floor lamp, armchair, bookcase, shelf, piano, stove, rug and more. The third thing is to connect the words from paragraph 2 with places with a list of points to remember.
Inattention
Another reason for poor memory is low concentration on the data received. Today, modern people are bombarded with a huge flow of information every day. This simply does not give him the opportunity to delve into the data received. Sometimes people, without even understanding the essence, do not strive to put into practice the information they have received. And this, unfortunately, becomes a habit. Also, the productivity of a person is negatively affected by the simultaneous performance of several tasks.
Other reasons
It is worth noting that nature does not give us a good memory. It is a skill that requires development. Its level is affected by poor nutrition, vitamin deficiency and oxygen starvation of the body. The real scourge of modern man – depression – also negatively affects memory. With such a state of health, it is hardly possible not only to remember newly received information, but also to reproduce already familiar information.
That is why each of us should include healthy food in our diet, constantly take walks in the fresh air, exercise, take an active lifestyle and not give in to depression.
Hard work
The fame of the statesman and orator Cicero spread throughout the country and throughout the world literally at the speed of light. His talent for delivering speeches is still held up as an example to our contemporaries. So, was the ability to speak in front of a huge audience without notes or prompts his gift or painstaking work to develop the skill of memorization? Without any doubt, hard work, the implementation of which is accessible to everyone.
Having mastered the Cicero method, anyone can easily retain phrases, words, numbers, dates and other information in their memory. However, in order to achieve such a result, a huge amount of daily work will be required. In other words, Cicero's memory training should be done every day.
Example to remember
It sounds complicated, but let's look at the method in action using a simple example. For consideration, let’s take a list of items and remember them in a given sequence:
- calendar,
- tripod,
- towel,
- iron,
Cicero's Method or Roman Room
- cup,
- microphone.
The essence of the method
What is the main meaning of this method? Memorization using the Cicero method involves creating a matrix of images. They subsequently allow large amounts of data to be recorded in memory, and not just one of the text fragments.
Memorization according to Cicero's method consists of identifying key pieces of information, which are then mentally arranged in a certain order in a well-known room, for example, in a room in your own home. During the performance, it is enough to remember in all the details the interior created in the imagination and reproduce it for the audience.
Cicero himself did the same. Before each speech, he walked through the many rooms of his house, “arranging” the important ideas of his future speech in various places in the rooms he knew well. This allowed the speaker to brilliantly remember the text.
The necessary conditions
The necessary conditions for applying the Cicero method are:
- if the room is used to create associations, it should be well lit and familiar;
- the associations created must be clear and vivid specifically for the person who remembers. Therefore, it is not recommended to use outside help when creating them.
- when creating associations, it is recommended to change the sizes or colors of memorized objects to the opposite or absurd. For example, a mosquito the size of an elephant or vice versa;
- For complete memorization, two or three repetitions of the selected sequences are enough.
Cicero's method can be successfully used when studying foreign languages, not only for memorizing words, but language structures for constructing questions and sentences.
Initial stage of work
Cicero's method of memorization is to use mnemonics. In order to reproduce his speech in strict sequence, the speaker divided the text of the speech into parts, preparing each of them in one of his chambers. Before going out into public, Cicero took a mental walk through the rooms, following a certain route. All this helped him remember exactly that part of the speech that he was preparing in a particular room.
Before you start working with the text, you will need to read it and find out what it is about. Next, all information should be divided into several parts that carry their own semantic meaning.
Mnemonics is
Photo by Ben Mack: Pexels
Any mnemonic technique in itself is a system of a kind of coding, when connections are made between visual images taken from memorized information. This is a kind of coding. Any mnemonic coding can be divided into four sequential actions:
- actual encoding into images;
- formation of a connection between two images;
- remembering a sequence;
- consolidation in memory.
Walking around the premises
Next, according to Cicero’s method, you need to remember each of the highlighted sections of information. Moreover, this must be done in different rooms of your house or apartment. The order in which they are followed must be strictly defined. For example, from the hallway you need to go to the bathroom, from there you need to go to the toilet, then go to the kitchen, go through the living room, visit the nursery and finish your route in the bedroom. In this case, the text must be reproduced taking into account the sequential presentation of all its parts. And to better remember specific information, you will need to mentally walk around each of the rooms. At the same time, specific data should be placed in its certain places, which can later be easily reproduced. To begin with, just as the author of the technique himself did, it is recommended to walk around the room and mentally arrange all the necessary elements in it. Only a few such trainings will be needed. After this, a person easily begins to reproduce the image of the room in his memory, mentally remembering all the objects that are in it.
The Cicero method is based on the principle of spatial imagination, and to use it most effectively it is important to maintain a sequence of movements around the room. The route, for example, can be laid clockwise or in the direction from one wall to another. There is no need to complicate your task when using Cicero’s method. To remember information, you need to choose a room that has already been studied quite well.
Instead of a house or apartment, for example, an office can be chosen. You can also use the road to the nearest store or to work. A system of images can also be created on an imaginary path. This will allow you to remember any amount of information, since such a path simply has no end. Another option is to create an imaginary room. Its interior can be chosen in accordance with your own wishes and taste. There is no need to limit your imagination. After all, the room exists only in the imagination and in thoughts.
Text memorization algorithm
The example given is, of course, primitive. To memorize complex text, you need to:
- break the entire text into small sections;
- highlight keywords in a selected section of text;
- post these words in your room.
Routes and events instead of a room
Instead of a room, you can use familiar routes. An example would be the route from home to work. In the case when a route is used, objects along the route are used as reference objects: a building, a stop, a tree, a pedestrian path, and so on.
To create a sequence of associations, any event or situation that you can easily extract from your memory and break down into clearly established images is also suitable. Now, in order to remember the necessary information, you simply retrieve the situation from memory.
Method demonstration
Using Cicero's method of memorization for children, you can use fairy tale plots with them. For example, working with the well-known “Kolobok” to all of us is as follows:
1. The text is divided into six semantic parts, each of which should be presented in the form of an image: flour - a bun rolling along the road - a bunny - a wolf - a shaggy bear - a little fox-sister who eats a bun. In Cicero's method of spatial imagination, such images are auxiliary. They are needed to encode the information that needs to be remembered. But the image of the place itself, which already exists in our memory and is well known to us, is called “reference” in mnemonics.
2. In the mental combination of auxiliary images created in the imagination - flour and a bun on the road, a hare, etc. with supporting ones, which will serve as the kitchen and living room, bathroom and other rooms. So, the flour is in the kitchen. A bun rolls along the way to the living room. The hare is sitting in the bathroom, and the wolf is in the toilet. The bear can be found in the nursery, but on the balcony the fox is eating a kolobok.
3. In repeating a fairy tale using mental images, which will allow you to remember the plot, supporting images and sequence of events.
Instructions and recommendations
- The first step is to decide what the sequence of zones in your apartment or office will be. It is recommended to start with the corridor, eventually moving to neighboring rooms, depending on the layout of the home. Usually this is a toilet, bathroom, kitchen, and then a living room, bedrooms and balconies.
- If you are a beginner, then focus better on one room, and over time, having honed your skills, you will move to the next level, like in a game, opening up a new space. Now you should close your eyes and imagine that you are currently in the corridor. Look around, just very carefully, and highlight 10 static objects for yourself, that is, those that you usually do not move or rearrange.
- Now you need to secure the material, think about the sequence in which these objects are discovered. By the way, instead of premises, you can use well-known routes. Let's say on your daily commute to work, what shops, cafes or stops do you encounter?
- Now that the preparation is complete, it's time to move on to the material that needs to be learned. To be more precise, you need to place it depending on which method you chose - route or office, home. Let's take the example of an office cabinet and the need to remember a grocery list for dinner. You arrived at work, and as soon as you entered the office, you immediately noticed a hanger on the right. Place lemons on it, decorating it like a Christmas tree. Then, after walking a couple of steps, you come across a cabinet, open the doors and carefully put lettuce leaves on the shelves... I think that’s enough, the principle is clear, right?
- When the time comes to retrieve the learned material from the depths of your memory, mentally walk along the route, carefully looking around, and all the information will instantly “pop up” in front of you.
- In the future, add new items, you can even go “for a walk” throughout the house, especially if there is a need to remember too much information that will not fit in one room.
Advantages of the method
The above examples of Cicero's method give an idea of its use. However, it is worth keeping in mind that this method allows you to solve more complex problems. This could be, for example, memorizing the text of a speech, educational material, the order of making phone calls, a plan for the day, etc.
The positive side of Cicero's method of spatial imagination is that the reproduced material will be a logical, connected text, and not just a collection of random words. At the same time, it is possible to reuse the same room in imagination. The main points will not mix with each other. It is not difficult for a person to recall data on a certain topic.
Another advantage of the Cicero method is the ease of its development. Just a few training sessions are enough and you can use this method anywhere. In this case, you won’t have to come up with associations and spend a long time restoring their chain. It is enough just to remember a familiar room or carefully examine the room in which a person is currently located.
Secrets of Cicero
The oldest method of effective memorization that has come down to us is the Cicero method
. This method is named after one of the most brilliant orators in world history, a statesman of the Roman Republic. His name is Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC). He also became famous for the fact that he never used recordings in his speeches, reproducing from memory many facts, quotes, historical dates and names.
This is a surprisingly simple and at the same time extremely effective method, also called the place method or the Roman room system. Its essence is that the memorized units of information must be mentally arranged in a well-known room in a strictly defined order
. Then it is enough to remember this room to reproduce the necessary information. This is exactly what Cicero did when preparing for his speeches - he walked around his house and mentally placed the key points of his speech there.
Before you begin to learn how to apply this method, you need to agree with yourself on the sequence of walking around the room, in other words, on the sequence of places in which you will place your information, that is, prepare a reference list of places
. It is not necessary to walk around the house, as Cicero did, it is enough to imagine the room in your mind (the room, of course, should be very familiar).
Start with your room (office) as the most familiar. Let the starting point be the door
, then the near
left corner
or whatever is there, then
the left wall
, then
the far left corner
, etc. clockwise. Once you have enough experience with Cicero's method, you will be able to use more and more items in the room, meaning you will have more places to place your list items, but for now limit yourself to the most visible items in the room. Use consistently all the objects that always have the same place in your room: castle, sofa, picture, sconce, sofa, cornice, curtains, window sill, bookshelves, table. In addition to the sequence from left to right, follow the sequence from top to bottom (if two objects are located one below the other).
To memorize lists of various elements, you can use the entire apartment and well-known apartments of friends and relatives, and the office, and even well-studied routes or sections of the path on the street: from home to a bus stop, to the metro, to the nearest store, a favorite path in the park, etc. .P.
Bind
elements of a memorized series with objects in the room must be
used with the help of associations
(example below). At first, you can even make yourself a list of the elements of the room (you will get a series of words), in other words, a list of peculiar hooks to which you will attach the memorized elements.
See how you can remember a list of items in a specific order. Here are some words: cheese
,
puppy
,
plasticine
,
ruler
,
thermometer
,
letter
,
puddle
,
forest
.
I will place them sequentially, according to my apartment layout, starting with the corridor. And, of course, I will try to use unusual connections in order to be able to reproduce this series even after a long time. Cheese
I plug the gap in
the lock
,
the puppy
near the door in
the left corner
, but in order not to forget this standard connection, I imagine him starting to chew the baseboard, and I’m trying to forbid him to do this.
I glue
the plasticine the mirror
, and I cover almost all of it with it, so that the reflection is not visible.
a ruler
to the
cabinet
, now it prevents them from opening.
a thermometer
a chandelier
instead of a light bulb .
Now on my way is the door to the room. I insert the letter
into the gap between
the door
and the jamb (I could lay it out instead of a rug).
On the left in the room there is a small sofa
, I imagine that it is standing in
a puddle
and its legs are about to get wet.
All that remains is to connect the bookshelves and the word “forest”. I imagine
a forest
growing the bookshelves , tree branches passing between the books, and the bookshelves themselves are almost invisible.
The main thing before memorizing is to determine in advance the items that will be included in the path diagram
, so that during memorization you don’t have to think about whether to associate the next element with one or another object or whether it is more convenient to connect it with the next one. If you do this, you may make mistakes during playback.
In general, it is more appropriate to use Cicero’s method for more serious things than memorizing a primitive series of words (these words were given only to show how to use it). It has proven itself well in memorizing texts
,
daily routine
, remembering
the order of phone calls
, etc. At the same time, when the information is at least somehow thematically related (and not just meaningless rows of words or numbers), then the same room can be used several times, rather than looking for a new “reference” room each time. The memorized rows of elements will not be mixed, and you will reproduce the elements of the theme you need.
To master the Cicero method, 2-3 training sessions are enough, this is its great advantage compared to many other techniques. Another advantage is that this method can always be used, in any place where you are, and the place itself - an auditorium, a museum, a boss's office - can serve as your “support” room. When using Cicero’s method, you no longer need to remember some well-learned series, as when using the “ordinary” method of related associations, or to pull behind you a long chain of associations, as in the method of sequential associations, it is enough to remember a familiar room or use the one in which you you are. You can simply examine and remember the room (premises), arranging the key words of the memorized material in turn, and when it is necessary to reproduce it, you will need to remember the furnishings of the room (which is much easier and more familiar than, for example, remembering the content of a report or lecture), and you yourself will be surprised at how easily the necessary information was absorbed at the same time as the situation.
I want to emphasize that Cicero’s method is only one of dozens of existing methods of memorization, and in order to use it with greater efficiency, it is important to master some other “tricks” and nuances. You can get acquainted with the whole variety of techniques, techniques and methods for effectively perceiving and assimilating information in.
Tatyana Nikitina, neuropsychologist, (effective perception and assimilation),
