Psychological research has focused on a number of basic principles that help memory: meaningfulness, organization, association, and visualization. It is useful to know how these principles work.

    Meaningfulness affects memory at all levels. Information that does not make any sense to you is difficult to remember. There are several ways in which we can make material more meaningful. Many people, for instance, learn a rhyme to help them remember. Do you know the rhyme "Thirty days has September, April, June, and November… "? It helps many people remember which months of the year have 30 days.

    Organization also makes a difference in our ability to remember. How useful would a library be if the books were kept in random order? Material that is organized is better remembered than jumbled information. One example of organization is chunking. Chunking consists of grouping separate bits of information. Fox example, the number 4671363 is more easily remembered if it is chunked as 467,13,63. Categorizing is another means of organization. Suppose you are asked to remember the following list of words: man, bench, dog, desk, woman, horse, child, cat, chair. Many people will group the words into similar categories and remember them as follows: man, woman, child; cat, dog, horse; bench, chair, desk. Needless to say, the second list can be remembered more easily than the first one.

    Association refers to taking the material we want to remember and relating it to something we remember accurately. In memorizing a number, you might try to associate it with familiar numbers or events. Fox example, the height of Mount Fuji in Japan - 12,389 feet - might be remembered using the following associations: 12 is the number of months in the year, and 389 is the number of days in a year (365) added to the number of months twice (24).

    The last principle is visualization. Research has shown striking improvements in many types of memory tasks when people are asked to visualize the items to be remembered. In one study, subjects in one group were asked to learn some words using imagery, while the second group used repetition to learn the words. Those using imagery remembered 80 to 90 percent of the words, compared with 30 to 40 percent of the words for those who memorized by repetition. Thus forming an integrated image with all the information placed in a single mental picture can help us to preserve a memory.

    心理學家的研究工作已把焦點對準了增強記憶的基本方法上了，這些基本方法就是：賦予意義、信息編組、建立聯想、直觀形象。知道支用這些方法是很有用的。

    "賦予意義"能(neng)影(ying)響(xiang)瞬(shun)時(shi)記(ji)憶(yi)也(ye)能(neng)影(ying)響(xiang)到(dao)長(chang)期(qi)記(ji)憶(yi)。沒(mei)有(you)任(ren)何(he)意(yi)義(yi)的(de)信(xin)息(xi)要(yao)記(ji)住(zhu)就(jiu)比(bi)較(jiao)困(kun)難(nan)。有(you)些(xie)方(fang)法(fa)可(ke)以(yi)使(shi)要(yao)記(ji)憶(yi)的(de)材(cai)料(liao)賦(fu)予(yu)意(yi)義(yi)。例(li)如(ru)，有(you)很(hen)多(duo)人(ren)利(li)用(yong)合(he)轍(zhe)押(ya)韻(yun)的(de)辦(ban)法(fa)來(lai)幫(bang)助(zhu)記(ji)憶(yi)。你(ni)知(zhi)道(dao)"一三五七八十臘，三十一天準不差，其餘月份三十天，隻有二月二十八"這首順口溜幫助很多人記住了哪些月份有三十天。

    "信息編組"duiwomendejiyiliyeqihendazuoyong。jiaruyizuotushuguanlidezangshuluanqibazao
，meiyoushunxu，nazhezuotushuguanhainengyouchuma
？anzheyidingbianmudecailiaoyaobizaluanwuzhangdehunluanxinxihaojideduo。xinxibianzudedianxinglizijiushifenkuaijiyi。meikuaijiyicailiaoshiyouyixielingsangulidexinxisuozuchengde。liru
，yaojizhu4671363這個數字，如果把它再分成三塊467
，13
，63，就更容易記住了。分類編組是另一種方法。假如要求你記住下列生詞：男人、凳子、狗
、課桌、女人、馬
、孩子、貓

、椅子。很多人會把這些按詞義相近編成下列三個小類：男人、女人、孩子
；貓、狗
、馬
；凳子
、椅子
、課桌。不用多說，第二種分三小類的辦法比第一種不分類的辦法更容易記住。

     "建立聯想"zhideshibawomenyaojidecailiaohewomenyijingjingquedejizhudecailiaozhijianlianxiangqilai。yaojizhuyigeshuzi，nikeyibazheyishuziyuniyijingshuxideshuzihuoshiqinglianxiqilai。liru：日本富士山的海拔高度是12

，389英尺，你可以把這一數字用下列聯想方法：一年有12個月
，389是一年365天再加上一年12個月乘上2（24）。

    "直觀形象"shizuihouyizhongfangfa。yanjiudejieguoyijingbiaoming
，ruguorangrenmenbayaojiyideshiwudouxiangxiangchushengdongdezhiguanxingxiang，zaiwanchenggezhongbutongleixingdejiyigongzuozhong，jiyidouhuichanshengjingrendexiaoguo。youyixiangtiaozhayanjiu：yaoqiuyizushoushizheshiyongzhiguanxingxiangfalaijizhuyixieshengci，zaicixiangduizhaodedierzushoushizhezhiyongzhongfufalaijizhuzhexieshengci。tiaozhajieguoshi
，fanshinengyongzhiguanxingxiangfajishengciderendounengjizhu80%-90%，在之成鮮明對比的是
，凡是用機械重複法記生詞的人隻能記住30%-40%。這種能形成一幅完整的形象，把所有的信息都存放到腦海裏的一幅畫麵中去的方法
，有助於我們儲存記憶材料。