Mnemotechnics is a word of Greek origin that is formed by the combination of two terms: mnéme, which means memory and techne, which means technique . Thus, mnemotechnics is a procedure or method that serves to remember something more easily. In a colloquial sense, there are certain tricks for memorizing information , such as word lists, number sequences, telephone numbers, recipes, etc.
Various explanations of mnemonics
Mnemotechnical techniques help to enhance memory and this makes it possible to face different situations with greater guarantees of success. In this way, students and opponents can use this learning as an effective tool, especially if the subjects of study incorporate a large amount of hard data . Mnemotechnics
Mnemotechnics can be simple entertainment, but in fact there are contests where the objective is to demonstrate a supermemory.
From a therapeutic point of view, mnemotechnics is useful to exercise the brain and enhance mental agility.
Certain mnemotechnical exercises are performed to restore memory in some patients.
Some poker or blackjack players resort to mnemotechnics to count cards during the course of the game, this way they have useful information to complement their game strategy.
An example of a mnemonic technique
Among the various existing techniques, we can mention one as an example, known as the memory palace. It consists of creating an imaginary story where a list of words is successively related. Mnemotechnics
When we want to remember certain words like dog, plane, lights, dream, sock, coat and friend, we can make a story like the following. The dog entered the plane when the lights went out and the passenger was in a deep sleep, at this time he wrapped himself in his friend’s sock and coat. This nonsensical little story reminds us of the previous list of words.
The role of mnemonics in the context of new technologies
When you have a computer device to store large amounts of data, we don’t need to use our memory, because we know where and how to retrieve all the information we need. Memory capacity has partially lost its usefulness, as computing has replaced the human brain in many tasks. Mnemotechnics
In antiquity, much knowledge was transmitted orally from generation to generation. For this, memory was used as the main information tool. Currently, the memory exercise cannot be performed using traditional schemes.