Mnemonic

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A mnemonic (pronounced [nəˈmɒnɪk] in RP, [nɪ'mɑnɪk] in GA) is a memory aid, and most serve an educational purpose. Mnemonics are often verbal, something such as a very short poem or word (which may be made up), particularly lists. Mnemonics rely not only on repetition to remember facts, but also on associations between easy-to-remember information and to be remembered lists of data, based on the principle that the human mind much more easily remembers data attached to spatial, personal, or otherwise meaningful information than that occurring in meaningless sequences. The sequences must have some connection to a person's existing semantic associations; if a random mnemonic is made up, it is not necessarily a memory aid.

The word mnemonic is derived from the Ancient Greek word μνημονικός mnemonikos ("of memory") and is related to Mnemosyne ("remembrance"), the name of the Mother of the Muses in Greek mythology. Both of these words refer back to μνημα mnema ("remembrance").^[1] The first known reference to mnemonics is the method of loci described in Cicero's De Oratore.

Contents 1 Mnemonic systems 1.1 Key-word mnemonics 1.2 Acronym and acrostic mnemonics 1.3 Anamonics (Scrabble) 1.4 Other mnemonic systems 2 Arbitrariness of mnemonics 3 Assembly mnemonics 4 UK Fuel Mnemonics 5 References 6 External links

Mnemonic systems

Key-word mnemonics

Main article: List of visual mnemonics

Visual mnemonics are very popular in medicine as well as other fields. In this technique, an image portrays characters or objects whose name sounds like the item that has to be memorized. This object then interacts with other similarly portrayed objects that in turn represent associated information. Mnemonic techniques can also be strategies for encoding information so that recall is easier, if perhaps recall is necessary.

Acronym and acrostic mnemonics

Main article: Mnemonic acronym system

One common mnemonic for remembering lists consists of an easily remembered word, phrase, or rhyme whose first letters are associated with the list items. The idea lends itself well to memorizing hard-to-break passwords as well. Though easy to derive, they are often not as powerful as the classical systems because they do not make use of visualization techniques.

Anamonics (Scrabble)

Many tournament Scrabble players employ anamonics, a form of initialization mnemonic, for the purposes of learning and quickly recalling sets of acceptable words. An anamonic consists of a "stem" (usually of six or seven letters), paired with a semantically related phrase, in which each letter of the phrase can be added to the stem and rearranged to form at least one acceptable word. For example, if a player has the tiles ACDEIRT on her rack, and recalls the anamonic "DICE-ART = casino math diploma", they will know precisely which letters may be played through to form 8-letter words, and will hopefully be aided in finding the words: ACCREDIT, RADICATE, ACRIDEST, RATICIDE, DICENTRA, CERATOID, TIMECARD, CITRATED/TETRACID/TETRADIC, TRACHEID, READDICT, PICRATED, and ARTICLED/LACERTID.

Other mnemonic systems

• Mnemonic major system
• Mnemonic dominic system
• Link System
• Room System
• Goroawase System
• Journey method
• Method of loci
• Mnemonics for Latin study

Arbitrariness of mnemonics

A curious characteristic of many memory systems is that mnemonics work despite being (or possibly because of being) illogical, arbitrary, and artistically flawed. "Roy" is a legitimate first name, but there is no actual surname "Biv" and of course the middle initial "G" is arbitrary. Why is "Roy G. Biv" easy to remember? Medical students never forget the arbitrary nationalities of the Finn and German. Any two of the three months ending in -ember would fit just as euphoniously as September and November in "Thirty days hath...", yet most people can remember the rhyme correctly for a lifetime after having heard it once, and are never troubled by doubts as to which two of the -ember months have thirty days. A bizarre arbitrary association may stick in the mind better than a logical one.^{[citation needed][original research?]}

One reason for the effectiveness of seemingly arbitrary mnemonics is the grouping of information to reduce cognitive load. Just as US phone numbers chunks 10 digits into three groups, the name "Roy G. Biv" chunks seven colors into two short names and an initial. Various studies (most notably Miller's The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two) have shown that the human brain is capable of remembering only a limited number of arbitrary items; chunking these items permits the brain to hold more of them in memory.

Assembly mnemonics

In assembly language a mnemonic is a code, usually from 1 to 5 letters, that represents an opcode, a number.

Programming in machine code, by supplying the computer with the numbers of the operations it must perform, can be quite a burden, because for every operation the corresponding number must be looked up or remembered. Looking up all numbers takes a lot of time, and mis-remembering a number may introduce computer bugs.

Therefore a set of mnemonics was devised. Each number was represented by an alphabetic code. So instead of entering the number corresponding to addition to add two numbers one can enter "add".

Although mnemonics differ between different CPU designs some are common, for instance: "sub" (subtract), "div" (divide), "add" (add) and "mul" (multiply).

This type of mnemonic is different from the ones listed above in that instead of a way to make remembering numbers easier, it is a way to make remembering numbers unnecessary (by relying on some external way to tie each mnemonic to a number).

UK Fuel Mnemonics

All UK petrol (gas) stations use a code known as a Mnemonic to identify itself. This remains the same no matter how many times the service station changes hands. These are made up of seven letters. The first three letters are the site name. The next set of three are the name of the town the site is located in or near. The seventh letter is always an R. For example, a site named Rock in Stamford has the mnemonic ROCSTAR. Occasionally an extra letter is added if there are, or once were, two sites with the same name on either side of a motorway or trunk road. As the sites are usually appended South or North, depending on which side of the road they are, this letter is added either between the 3rd and 4th letter or before the final R. So a site called Orsett North near Ockendon becomes ORSNOCKR or ORSOCKNR, and Orsett South is ORSSOCKR or ORSOCKSR.

References

1. ^ Liddell, H. G.; R. Scott (1889). Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-910206-6. 

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