Hello I'm Dr. Anadale and I teach philosophy at Mount Saint Mary's University
in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
In his Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas gives four techniques for improving memory.
In this video I will quote from the Summa, adding my commentary
on how to apply St. Thomas's advice.
To begin the quote: “Just as aptitude for prudence is in our nature, while its perfection
comes through practice or grace, so too memory not only arises from nature, but is also aided
by art and diligence.”
So St. Thomas here says that memory is like prudence: both of them are natural human capacities,
but they require practice or grace to reach their full development.
This means that our actions and habits can affect our ability to remember well.
And this is good news, because it means that we can choose to think or behave in ways that
improve our memory.
Thomas next gives four techniques or rules for perfecting memory: “There are four things
whereby a man perfects his memory.
First, when a man wishes to remember a thing, he should take some suitable yet somewhat
unusual illustration of it, since the unusual strikes us more and so makes a greater and
stronger impression on the mind.
And this explains why we remember better what we saw when we were children.
Now, the reason for the necessity of finding these illustrations or images is that the
simple and spiritual impressions easily slip from the mind unless they be tied, as it were,
to some corporeal image, because human knowledge has a greater hold on sensible objects.
For this reason, memory is assigned to the sensitive part of the soul.”
So Rule 1 is: Create an unusual or striking association.
Thomas says we should choose odd or striking mnemonics, as these are easier to remember.
We should choose something that is exaggerated, that is large, or that is an odd color, that
we associate with the idea we're trying to remember.
Abstract ideas are very easy to forget.
We remember visual and bodily things better, since our minds are naturally oriented toward
our senses.
This makes sense even from an evolutionary perspective, when you think that our minds
are well adapted to noticing things in our environment through our senses that are odd
or unusual and for that reason potentially threatening.
We're not well adapted to thinking about or remembering lists of abstract objects or names
or numbers.
So choose some sensible image or thing to associate with what you wish to remember,
and the more unusual the better.
When we were children, Thomas observes, everything strikes us with wonder, and so we form lasting
memories as a result.
What we want to do is to reproduce that effect now as adults.
So, back to the quote: “Secondly, whatever a man wishes to retain in his memory he must
carefully consider and set in order so that he may pass easily from one memory to another.
Hence the Philosopher says, ‘Sometimes a place brings back memories to us, the reason
being that we pass quickly from the one to the other.’”
So rule 2 is: Put things in a memorable order.
Thomas says proper order is vital to remembering a sequence of things.
We must put things in a memorable sequence if we want to recall them later.
We need to put them in an order in which the memory of one naturally leads us to the memory
of the next.
This is the key idea behind the memory palace, in which you use a sequence of familiar places
to aid your memory.
I will say more about the memory palace in another video.
“Thirdly, we must be anxious and earnest about the things we wish to remember, because
the more thing is impressed on the mind, the less it is liable to slip out of it.
Wherefore Tully says in his Rhetoric that ‘Anxiety preserves the figures of images entire.’”
So rule 3 is: Care about what you memorize.
We remember what we care about.
The more concern we have for something, the more strongly it can be impressed upon our minds.
If we want to remember something, it should be important to us.
Memorizing things we regard as trivial or unimportant is very difficult.
Parents and teachers will recognize this, that young students can easily memorize song
lyrics or the names of every Pokemon, but will have difficulty memorizing the kings
of England or the Pharaohs of Egypt, unless they care about those things in some deep way.
If you need motivation, think of exactly why you wish to remember what you are memorizing.
Now some people memorize baseball statistics: these people value baseball, or they value
being the kind of person who is recognized as an authority on baseball stats.
Back to the quote: “Fourthly, we should often reflect on the things we wish to remember.
Hence the Philosopher says that ‘reflection preserves memories,’ because, he remarks,
‘custom is a second nature.’
Wherefore when we reflect on a thing frequently, we call it quickly to mind though through
passing from one thing to another by a kind of natural order.”
So rule 4 is: Practice often.
Students of language know this: the more often you practice vocabulary, the easier it becomes
to remember.
Practice daily, with or without a memory aid.
Frequency is much more important than duration in helping you to remember, in my experience.
I once memorized GK Chesterton's poem Lepanto about 10 years ago by listening to it on cassette
in my car on the way to and from work.
Twice a day for several months I listened and recited along with the recording.
I still remember it to this day and I perform it for my classes every October.
That's the whole of Thomas's section on memory which, occurs in the part of the Summa where
he's talking about prudence. I hope you've enjoyed it.
I've tried just to distill out of it four rules for aiding your memory.
That's all for today. Thanks for watching; goodbye.