How to Memorize Verbatim Text
August 9, 2007 · Print This Article
Memorizing does not have to be as hard as most people make it. The problem is that most people only know how to memorize by reading the same thing over and over again. In this post we are going to look at how the brain remembers and then show how to use that knowledge to come up with a method for memorizing verbatim text. Any tip or trick that will improve your memory even slightly is well worth the effort.
At the end of this article is a Javascript tool that makes it easy to implement this method. If you are reading the RSS or Email version, the tool may not show up.
Synapses and Neurons
In the simplified model of the brain in this discussion, we’ll be looking at neurons and synapses. Neurons are parts of the brain that can send and receive electrical signals. Synapses are the paths between neurons.
When you remember something neurons fire signals down particular synapse pathways to other neurons which in turn fire signals to other neurons. The particular sequence represents a memory. In fact, scientists have been able to make people “re live” experiences from the past by poking around in their brain with an electric probe and starting this interaction.
Strong Pathways
Synapses appear to exhibit plasticity. The strength of the signal they convey is determined by use. The more a particular synapse is used, the stronger the signal it conveys.
For example, consider remembering your home telephone number. Since this is a number you use on a regular basis it probably comes very easily to mind. When you try to recall the number some neurons fire of a signal down some synapses that carry a very strong signal to other neurons which do the same thing. The number comes with very little effort.
Now consider a number that you will have trouble remembering. Lets say your drivers license number. For most people an attempt to recall this number will cause neurons to fire down very weak synapses. If you are like me, the signal is so week that it will probably not create the necessary chain reaction to recall the number. In fact all I get is a vague impression that the first letter is an S or E. To improve your memory of this number it is necessary to fire a signal down the synapses that will trigger this memory.
Reading vs. Recalling
This is the crucial concept of any type of memorization. The act of reading something you want to memorize fires different connections than the act of recalling. This means that simply reading a particular piece of text over and over again is going to be the long road to memorization. You need to let your brain practice recalling the data so it can strengthen the same pathways that will fire when you need to remember the information later on.
Now lets look at coming up with a method for memorizing text using our understanding of how the brain works. So lets say we are trying to memorize the Gettysburg Address by Lincoln.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
The 278 word speech is not a particularly long oration, but it will work for our demonstration purposes. Our goal is to create a method that will force our brain to practice recalling the speech–even before we have it fully memorized. So first of all we need to get it into our mind so our brain has it–even if we can’t recall it. Here are a few methods that will work:
- Read through it aloud.
- Copy the text by hand.
- Read through the text and create a short outline.
- Have someone else read it to you.
There are other methods as well, just do something to get a general familiarity with the piece. Now we need to come up with a method to give our brain, just enough information to recall the original text without simply reading the original.
F s a s y a o f b f o t c, a n n, c i L, a d t t p t a m a c e.
N w a e i a g c w, t w t n, o a n s c a s d, c l e. W a m o a g b-f o t w. W h c t d a p o t f, a a f r p f t w h g t l t t n m l. I i a f a p t w s d t.
B, i a l s, w c n d — w c n c — w c n h — t g. T b m, l a d, w s h, h c i, f a o p p t a o d. T w w l n, n l r w w s h, b i c n f w t d h. I i f u t l, r, t b d h t t u w w t w f h h t f s n a. I i r f u t b h d t t g t r b u — t f t h d w t i d t t c f w t g t l f m o d — t w h h r t t d s n h d i v — t t n, u G, s h a n b o f — a t g o t p, b t p, f t p, s n p f t e.
What we’ve done is taken the first letter of each word. Now try to recite the speech while looking at the text above. You’ll probably get part way into it and get confused. Backup a few letters and look beyond the letter you are struggling with to see if you can figure it out. Remember you are trying to help your brain find the right connections. If you have to consult the original, make note of what confused you and start over.
I have found this method to be much more productive for memorizing verbatim text than just about anything else. It will help improve your memory by giving you a way to practice. However, keep in mind that it is simply one method. When you need to memorize something, think about how to help your brain practice recalling the information–not merely reading it over and over again.
Below is a tool to help you produce first letter text as shown above. Simply paste the original text in the top box and hit the button. All the letters other than the first one of each word will be stripped out and placed in the bottom box. You can then copy this into a document for printing.
This was an extremely helpful and insightful post! Thanks! And the tool at the end is great!
This is a brilliant article and too. I am a “memory expert” (have taught it on and off for years, use mnemonics constantly) and really appreciate what you have written. I have not used this particular tool in the past, and “verbatim memory” has been one of my weaker skills. I’ll certainly be using this method more, now that I’ve learned it here.
Have you done any research into “mnemonizing” the string of letters into word, and linking them?
I think I’d like to explore that.
In the meantime I’ll be “digg”-ing and “del.ic.ious”-ing this great article! Thanks!
@Brian - So can you give me an example of what you mean by “mnemonizing”? If I assign a new word to each letter, it seems like that would be more confusing. Maybe I’m not understanding what you mean.
One way of mnemonizing could be to associate something with something so ridiculous that it is unforgettable. You then cannot forget the mnemonic and just need to make sure that you can get back from there to the original items. If you can associate the words with concepts that you can easily picture in your head - then words can flow into the next word with a kind of imagined animation of very silly stuff…
Great article. Is there anyway you could help me get that Java tool extracted and self-contained? I have vast amounts of stuff to learn verbatim and having the tool on my desktop would really useful and save me having to come back to this website. Cheers
@Nathan - Ah but you see the whole point of writing the tool was to get people like you to come back to the website.
If you want something for you desktop, you can make word do the same thing using search and replace with regular expressions. You’ll just want to tell it to find a word and replace the word with the first letter. You can probably find some examples on web pages that talk about regular expressions. Another thing to do would be to look for an expression that replaces the first letter with a capital. Something like that should be easy to modify to removing everything but the first letter.
Good luck with your memorization.
[...] verbatim memorization, checkout this method. It contains a simple tool for practicing [...]
[...] How to Memorize Verbatim Text has been our most popular post for the past month. If you missed it, be sure check it out–particularly the Javascript tool toward the bottom. You type in the text you want to memorize and it gives you a “cheat sheet” to help with the process. [...]
This is wonderful! I am familiar with quite a few memory techniques. They are good for getting the gist of something, but they are too cumbersome for learning something word for word.
Nathan, you ask, we deliver. I have written a .NET application for Windows desktops that does just that, please visit http://www.twomilessolutions.com/upurmemory to purchase ($10+sales tax) application which sits on your desktop and allows you to employ these techniques. Unfortunately for you Mac users, it is a windows application. You can run it using parallels or other virtual machine type applications, but I do not own a mac so I have not tested it on one. It has been tested and works on both Windows Vista and Windows XP and should work all the way back to Windows 98.
[...] How to Memorize Verbatim Text [...]
[...] a commercial memorization application based on the technique and tool I demonstrated in the How to Memorize [...]
This article didn’t make any sense. I can’t figure out what those letters in the box are suppose to represent. When I cut and pasted into the box and “hit the button” ( guess you meant “convert”) nothing happened other than it recopied itself in the new box - just as it had been.
Glad this silliness helped someone, but I have absolutely not idea what any of the example meant. Understood about the brain, but other than that, a waste of my time. Too bad too, I have many lyrics to learn in a short time and having a tool to use would have been helpful.
Sorry you feel it is a waste of your time. It is possible that you just didn’t understand how it worked. Let me try to explain with a shorter example.
The way it works is like this. Lets say you want to memorize the following:
My Dog Has Fleas. (This is what you’d put in the top box)
The tool would convert it to:
M D H F (This is what would appear in the bottom box.)
You can then use the letters to help make sure you are right as you practice repeating it. If you get off, you’ll realize it because the letters won’t match up with what you are reciting. So it gives you a way to check yourself without showing you the word you are trying to remember.
interesting article, but i’m still confused.
does this mean that your attempt to recall something at this moment will improve your ability to recall in the future simply because you are strengthening that pathway in your brain?
@Edwin - Giving your mind the chance to practice recalling something and giving yourself a way to check your accuracy without reverting to the original text will help strengthen the pathways for remembering that piece of text.
It isn’t just that the attempt to recall something will help you remember it. You need to actually remember it–even if that means using your cheat sheet of the first letters. If you revert to the actually text you may end up practicing NOT remembering it, which isn’t going to give you the desired results.
this is great i have to memorize some romeo and juliet for english this will help alot
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[...] have previously looked at how to memorize verbatim text. If you haven’t read that post, be sure to check it out. It gives a good overview of how your [...]
I need to learn drink recipes quick for bartending do you think this could help me?
@Knia - Using flashcards with the name of the drink on the front and the instructions on the back is probably a better way. You don’t really need to memorize drink recipes verbatim.
[...] plan to memorize the lyrics to one song per week. In looking for tips on memorization, I discovered an effective yet simple memorization tool on the Web last [...]
This is a very simple bit of Javascript code, based on a one-line regular expression, and nobody should be charging $10 for something like this.
Go here:
http://www.downes.ca/memorization.htm
and view the source. Better yet, save a copy to your desktop and open it there.
@Stephen - The desktop version the guy is selling does some additional things that you won’t get from a single line of javascript. Personally I applaud his resourcefulness to see something people were asking for and create a solution (even if it isn’t something you would use).
It is also worth pointing out that anyone could view the source of what I have published here if they want. However, there are some people who read this blog who don’t necessarily have as much web experience as you do and an installable version is much more in line with what they would prefer.
Hey, this is an interesting blog, well I’m a law student and so far as memorizing is concerned our school seems to driill us in understanding and in memorizing though we were not taught how to memorize. This is a wonderful, but i would like to recommend that you experiment with your method and the method used in wikihow on memorizing. :3.. so far I think it will work well in combination.
(We’re not allowed but to recite without holding anything every single day of our classes. Therefore the most embarassing moments of my life)
Ex. Article 13. Mitigating Circumstances. The following are mitigating circumstances:
Read Article 13 then close your eyes, say it out loud (article 13)
Read Mitigating Circumstances then close your eyes, say it out loud (Article 13. Mitigating Circumstances) Just keep adding words till you finish the provision you want to memorize. :3..
haha. it’s not fast but so far this has been the only method working for me in memorization. :3.. and your method is a good way to remind myself of the corrections. :3..
[...] tool to help anyone memorize verbatim text. The tool is based on research of the brain found at http://www.productivity501.com/how-to-memorize-verbatim-text/294/ I could see how this research could help many with learning barriers. Processing information and [...]
[...] in English class. I have learned many ways to memorize text and this memorization tool found here http://www.productivity501.com/how-to-memorize-verbatim-text/294/ is a new one for me. When I had to memorize poems or even The Preamble I would always start with [...]
[...] gets done. I view this as a type of learning..whether it be memorizing something (thanks to the tool post and reply I received) just as important as what I am earning a grade for each [...]
This is a great technique. I use it to memorize thousands of words each month and it’s very effective. There’s enough missing in the words to make your brain work to recall the information, and yet there is enough there to ensure that you will do so. I will always use this method for speeches and long passages of information.
[...] a site called Productivity 501, I found an article called How to Memorize Verbatim Text. It has a simple online tool you can use to help reinforce what you’re working on. The [...]
[...] the first-letter technique to strengthen the memory links in my brain. I used the nifty tool at Productivity501 to produce my first-letter reference cards. It’s a great way to talk through the verses that [...]
OMG!!! I have been having to pass up tons of acting roles that have been offered to me because I was TOTALLY UNABLE TO MEMORIZE ANYTHING LONGER THAN 10 WORDS (i share my brain with a demon called Dyslexia) With 55 years of practice, I have overcome a full 95-98% of this demon’s trickery - but until today - NOTHING worked when it came to verbatim memorization. I can’t thank you enough for this MIRACLE - in less than 30 minutes I was able to recite the entire writing - ALL 278 Words!!!!!
I cannot tell you how liberated I am feeling right now! Thank you! And May GOD Richly Bless you as you have Blessed Others!!!
Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!
This is excellent, as a Freemason I am required to learn several pages of text word for word. It took me nearly a whole month to learn a half a page of some text and after finding this page last night, I learnt the other half over night! and for someone like me with a very bad memory, its an amazing feat.
thank you for showing us this.
Great little article, and a very practical and super tool at the end. Thanks so much, man!!!