Names
1. Actually understand the name – pronunciation, etc.
2. Associate it with existing ideas – ie baker to baker, shachter to shhh + actor (actor putting giant finger to lips)
3. Use the name often (hurr)…etc.
Not Losing Things
Losing things is caused by the mind not paying attention to where the item was put in the first place (ie getting distracted while placing away an item)
1. Place everything in the same place.
2. Consciously put items in place (wow that’s a pain)
3. To transition into putting stuff in the same place, use a motion-detector to warn you each time you pass that area. Theoretically you should be fine after a few days.
Expanding general knowledge
1. Calling out the wrong name. Ie pointing at an orange and saying apple. The idea is that your first reaction is to conjure up the correct name, before intentionally replacing it. According to Birkenbiehl, it works by:
Why does it work? When you look at a water galss, you do not see a water glass. Instead you see something labeled “water glass” which contains all the experiences you ever had with water glasses. You are looking at your own generic memory regarding all water glasses you have ever used or seen…the simple act of looking at a glass and labeling it paperweight creates a bissocation between the label used and the item it does not fit….bissociations make us sit up and take notice.
Learning
1. This is mostly NLP – wear the same clothes, work in the same position, etc. in practice as you would in the real test.
Also, try “freenoting”, where you just pretty much spill everything you remotely think on the subject onto paper.See my forthcoming post on this experiment.
2. Devise questions about the study material. I think the theory is that your mind automatically tries to answer.
3. Go into virtual reality. This seems like visualization to me. Check out my forthcoming post on this too.
THE LEARNING CURVE: According to Birkenbiehl, it sort of looks like this:
Going up, peaking, dropping a little, settling into a plateau, and then going up again.
