SMALL MEMORY SYSTEM REVIEW AND EXTENSION

You have now completed the five smaller memory systems:the Link, the Number-Shape, the Number-Sound, theClassical Room and the Alphabet.Each ofthese systems can be used either independently or inconjunction with another system. Furthermore, one or two ofthe systems can be set aside, if you wish, as 'constant memorybanks'. That is, ifyou have certain lists or orders ofitems thatyou will need to be able to recall over a period ofa year or more,you can set aside the system of your choice for this purpose.Before moving on to the broader systems, however, I wantto introduce you to a simple and intriguing method forinstantly doubling any ofthe systems you have so far learned!When you have reached the end of a system but still wishto add further associations, all you have to do is to go back tothe beginning of your system and imagine your associationword exactly as you usually imagine it, with the exception thatit is contained in a huge block of ice ! This simple device willdrastically change the association pictures you have formed,and will double the effectiveness of your system by giving youthe original list plus the original list in its new context.For example, if your first key in the Number-Shape systemwas 'telephone pole', you would imagine that same telephonepole either buried in the heart ofyour giant block, or protrud-ing from the corners or sides; ifyour first word in the Number-Sound system was 'sun', then you could imagine its fierce raysmelting the edges of the ice block in which it was contained;if your first word in the Alphabet system was ace then youcould imagine a giant playing card either frozen in the centreor forming one of the six sides of the ice cube.Practise this technique. You will find it extraordinarilyhelpful.