Aneta Wilemska‑Rudnik Mnemonic Devices

MnemonicsmnemonicsMnemonics are a very common waycommon waycommon way of aiding memoryaiding memoryaiding memory, but many people do not even know that they use them. There are mnemonic devices helping us memorisememorisememorise how to spellspell spell difficult words, how to put a list of words in proper order, or even how to do something seemingly as simple as remember left from right. Mnemonics can help people who may find these difficultfind these difficult [find something difficult]find these difficult. These mnemonic devices can take ontake ontake on many forms, whether it be a song or a musical jinglemusical jinglemusical jingle, or an acronymacronymacronym, a funny phrase, or a meme. They all have something in commonin common in common, which is that they are easy to remember and relatablerelatable relatable.

The most famous mnemonic device used is probably the ABC song which helps us memorise the alphabet. Singing the letters of the alphabet allows our brain to make the connection betweenmake the connection betweenmake the connection between the letters, and helps us remember the next letter. It is much like knowing the words to our favourite songs. We learn the song as opposed toas opposed to as opposed to learning a list of 26 different letters.

„Never Ever Support Wednesdays.” „Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vainin vainIn Vain.” „My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos.” Sentences like those don't really make much sense on their own, but each is a mnemonic device. The purpose ofpurpose ofpurpose of each of them is to aid the memory of a certain topic and help people remember the correct order of something. „Never Ever Support Wednesdays” was created as a mnemonic to help remember the directions of a compass in clockwise orderin clockwise order in clockwise order:  „Never” stands forstand forstands for North, „Ever” stands for East, „Support” stands for South, and „Wednesdays” stands for West. These mnemonic phrases are coined to be memorablememorablememorable to people, and “Never Ever Support Wednesdays” in particularin particularin particular is commonly usedcommonly used commonly used in Yorkshire, as Sheffield Wednesday is a famous football club of the region, which makes it easy to remember the directions for both the supporters and the rivals of the Yorkkshire team.

„Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain” is used to help people remember the colours of the rainbow and the order in which they appear. The first letter of each word corresponds to the first letter in the name of a colour: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. A phrase or sentence is often much easier to remember than a list of items. „My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos” is another example of a list of something that is important to know in the correct order. This mnemonic device refers to the planets within our Solar System, starting with Mercury which is the closest to the Sun and ending with Neptune which is the furthest. However, before 2006, the Solar System was thought to comprise nine planets, including Pluto as the furthest one. So, a different version of the mnemonic was used back then: „My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Potatoes.” These acrostic devicesacrostic deviceacrostic devices, or acrostics, are very commonly used with many different subjects, and people often have their own personal versions.

There are also other types of mnemonic devices, which do not use words at all. How to remember which months have 30, and which 31 days in them? Using the knuckles of your handknuckles of your hand [knuckle of one’s hand]knuckles of your hand to count the months is a very common technique. Make a fistfist fist with each hand and then place the fists together. Each knuckle represents a 31‑day long month, and the depressionsdepressions [depression]depressions between knuckles stand for months with either 30 days or for the 28/29 for February. Counting from the outermostoutermost outermost knuckle, you start with January, as it has 31 days. Then, you count the depression as February, then March as the next knuckle has 31 days, and so the pattern continues. After July and the final knuckle on your first hand, you start counting on the next hand, which begins with a knuckle, indicatingindicating [indicate]indicating that August also has 31 days. Another popular physical mnemonic device involving our hands is about telling the difference between left and right. Some people may find it difficult to remember which is which, so a very simple tricktrick trick can assistassist assist them: hold your hands out in front of you and, again, make a fist with them both, but this time extend your thumbthumb thumb and index fingerindex finger index finger (the first finger next to the thumb) so it points upwardspoint upwardspoints upwards. Your left hand will form the shape of an L, and this indicates it is your left hand. A quick and easy reminder to someone who may forget this, it could be very useful when getting or giving directions, as telling your left from right is of vital importancebe of vital importanceis of vital importance. These forms of mnemonic devices account foraccount for account for visual aidsvisual aids [visual aid]visual aids to memory.

Another common mnemonic device, used to help people spell certain words correctly, is this little rhyme:

‘I before e, except after c,

And when sounding like a

As in neighbour and weigh.’

This is a way to help remember things by forming rhymes. Rhymes are much easier to remember than non‑rhyming sentences. Making a sentence or phrase fit a melody can also help, like with the alphabet song. 

Another commonly used mnemonic is called chunkingchunkingchunking. This is where a large list is broken down into smaller chunks. Remembering phone numbers can be very tricky as they can contain 9 to 12 digitsdigits [digit]digits. This is a large amount of numbers to remember in a specific order, so breaking down the number into smaller, more manageablemanageable manageable pieces can help.

You may already be using some mnemonic devices yourself, whether it be to remember a word you find tricky to spell or a phone number, or to tell some things apart from one another. Mnemonics are very common throughout the world as they do make it easier to remember certain things. Their use helps our brain accessaccess access information that we store awaystore away in our subconscious long term memorylong term memory long term memory storagestorage storage, which can speed upspeed up speed up how long it takes our brains to retrieveretrieve retrieve that info.

1 Źródło: Aneta Wilemska‑Rudnik, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.