MEMORY DEVELOPMENT: CICERO'S METHOD.. Discussion on LiveInternet

How to use the Cicero method

This technique includes three stages:

Creating a Matrix
Matrix fixation
Binding

At the first stage, it is necessary to create reference images - well-known objects to which information for memorization will be attached. You can choose just one room, or you can choose an entire apartment or office, as well as the way to the store or the way to work. Another option is to create an imaginary room and choose the furnishings in accordance with your own taste and wishes. Since it exists only in thoughts and imagination, you should not limit yourself.

It is recommended to remember and subsequently follow the sequence of images, for example, move only in a clockwise direction or take a route along the left side of the street

This is required in order not to get confused about what is already in the system of images and what is not yet, and also in order not to miss anything important in the room.. The consolidation stage involves the rooting of reference images in memory

It is recommended to walk around the room or chosen path several times and record the sequence of images. You can do this only in your thoughts. These actions establish an imaginary foundation on which new information will be strung.

The consolidation stage involves the rooting of reference images in memory. It is recommended to walk around the room or chosen path several times and record the sequence of images. You can do this only in your thoughts. These actions establish an imaginary foundation on which new information will be strung.

At the linking stage, it is necessary to correlate the words necessary for memorization with objects in the room. For example, you need to memorize the following words: cat, sun, heart, cucumber, candle. When using the room decor, everything will look something like this: I go to the window and see a fluffy cat on the windowsill, the sun is shining brightly through the window, I look at the wall and see a big red heart, there is a fresh green cucumber on the closet shelf, and a candle light is burning near the mirror. .

This link will help you remember even large layers of text without problems. You need to train yourself to use a system of images: mentally rearrange them in the room from first to last, then vice versa - from last to first. This technique helps accelerate the emergence of mental images that make up the entire system.

Advantages of the method

The examples described above help to understand how the method works, but it can and even should be used for more complex tasks. For example, to remember text for speeches, training materials, a plan for the day, the order of phone calls that need to be made, and so on.

The advantage of Cicero’s method is that in the case when the material to be memorized is a logically connected text, and not an ordinary set of random words, it is possible to use the same room repeatedly. In this case, the series of main points will not mix with each other, and it will be quite easy to recall information on a certain topic in memory.

Another advantage of the method founded by Cicero is that only a few training sessions are enough to master it, and it is quite possible to use it anywhere. There is no need to come up with associations and spend a long time restoring the chain; you just need to remember a familiar room or take into account the room in which you are at the moment.

To remember information, you should look around the room and place the main words and points in order. If it is necessary to reproduce the material, it is enough to recall the furnishings of the room in memory, and the required information will mentally emerge as if by itself. This is much easier than remembering the contents of a lecture and report from memory.

Initial stage of work

Cicero's method of memorization is to use mnemonics. In order to reproduce his speech in strict sequence, the speaker divided the text of the speech into parts, preparing each of them in one of his chambers. Before going out into public, Cicero took a mental walk through the rooms, following a certain route. All this helped him remember exactly that part of the speech that he was preparing in a particular room.

Before you start working with the text, you will need to read it and find out what it is about. Next, all information should be divided into several parts that carry their own semantic meaning.

Walk through the Roman Room, or Cicero's Method

Cicero's fame spread throughout ancient Rome and the world at the speed of light. His talent for oratory is still used as an example to his contemporaries. He had a unique talent - he spoke in front of a huge audience without using half a story, recordings or other materials. However, was it a gift or painstaking work to develop memory skills?

It is his technique that we will consider in the following sections, because it is the most ancient method of remembering any information. Once you master it, you will be able to easily retain dates, numbers, words, phrases and other information. However, it is worth remembering that the main condition for achieving results is systematic work, i.e. you need to do it every day.

The meaning of the technique

Cicero's methods of memorization have a specific meaning, which is to create a matrix of images that help memorize large amounts of data, and not just one fragment. The first thing to do is to create a system in which images will be built.

Presentation on the topic: “Basics of the association method”

This system can be anything:

premises;
plot;
path;
familiar surroundings, etc.

If the work takes place in a room, then you should mentally remember all the objects that are in it. Preferably in an orderly manner. For example, in a clockwise direction or from one wall to another. Do not complicate the task when creating a system for associations; choose a room that you have studied well, then the next levels will not cause difficulties.

Some authors propose the creation of a radically new room, i.e. a person mentally creates a new home, makes a layout and arranges furniture. This will be the fruit of your imagination, which means it will be easier for you to cope with the task.

Working with the “path” image system, you can form many images, because this path has no end. In this case, as you move through the system, you need to sort through the objects that you will encounter: huts, stones, people, flowers, benches, animals, etc.

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You can choose absolutely any convenient place as a system; the important condition is to correctly break it down into separate images. Before starting practice, you need to clearly define the scheme by which you will bypass the selected system

Movements should not be chaotic - you should organize your walk through the rooms so as not to spoil everything that took so long to “get together”

Before starting practice, you need to clearly define the scheme by which you will bypass the selected system. Movements should not be chaotic - you should organize your walk through the rooms so as not to spoil everything that has been “put together” for so long.

An important point: select a specific sequence of movement and assign to those objects that are in the system the key fragments of the speech of the speech or presentation.

After you have created the system, filled it with objects and set the keys, you should go around the system (room, road...) several times and reproduce the specified criteria. This must be done immediately before the presentation. Before each performance, Cicero also walked around the rooms and reproduced images.

After a certain time, everyone who has used this technique will be able to activate their memory at the right moment, resorting to a convenient matrix of images.

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Tips for remembering information

Regardless of the technique you choose, it is important to understand the method and practice it as often as possible. Professionals in the field of mnemonics shared the secrets of working using the Cicero method:

You need to use only interesting connections, rich in emotions. Remember that the ordinary and uninteresting are quickly forgotten. Use paradox, satire and humor to create your own matrix.
Use erotic imagery. It is no secret that it is precisely such images that enter our brain especially clearly in the form of signals. By the way, marketers claim that advertising posters with a beautiful sexy girl are perceived and remembered better.
Change the characteristics of objects on the path/room/terrain. For example, let the window be airy and the chair be prickly.
Paradoxize the characteristics of objects. Don't put your pajamas in the closet, but put your pajamas in the closet.
All guidelines are for yourself: carry a notebook in your pocket, tie the TV to your hand.
Change the shape and size of objects. As in the example with the closet and pajamas.

As a result, you should end up with the following mental path (story), as an example:

Having opened the window, I noticed a CURTAIN stuck in the window sash. Next, I noticed scattered CARDS on the sofa, they were wet

There was apricot sour cream on the cabinet, with a BIRD sitting in it. There was a PACKAGING on the TV, and in it sat a puppy with his MOUTH open. A HAIRDRYER standing on a TAMBO was tied to his paw. On the pouf stood a small BOOK with a picture of a half-naked erotic brunette, at whose feet stood a SPEAKER.

To successfully reproduce using Cicero’s method, you should once again bypass the selected system and remove the above-mentioned objects. Just? Certainly. However, this requires thoughtful study of those words that you have already memorized. Then, do it yourself without using any hints. We believe that you will succeed!

Walking around the premises

Next, according to Cicero’s method, you need to remember each of the highlighted sections of information. Moreover, this must be done in different rooms of your house or apartment. The order in which they are followed must be strictly defined. For example, from the hallway you need to go to the bathroom, from there you need to go to the toilet, then go to the kitchen, go through the living room, visit the nursery and finish your route in the bedroom. In this case, the text must be reproduced taking into account the sequential presentation of all its parts. And to better remember specific information, you will need to mentally walk around each of the rooms. At the same time, specific data should be placed in its certain places, which can later be easily reproduced. To begin with, just as the author of the technique himself did, it is recommended to walk around the room and mentally arrange all the necessary elements in it. Only a few such trainings will be needed. After this, a person easily begins to reproduce the image of the room in his memory, mentally remembering all the objects that are in it.

The Cicero method is based on the principle of spatial imagination, and to use it most effectively it is important to maintain a sequence of movements around the room. The route, for example, can be laid clockwise or in the direction from one wall to another

There is no need to complicate your task when using Cicero’s method. To remember information, you need to choose a room that has already been studied quite well.

Instead of a house or apartment, for example, an office can be chosen. You can also use the road to the nearest store or to work. A system of images can also be created on an imaginary path. This will allow you to remember any amount of information, since such a path simply has no end. Another option is to create an imaginary room. Its interior can be chosen in accordance with your own wishes and taste. There is no need to limit your imagination. After all, the room exists only in the imagination and in thoughts.

A few recommendations

It is not difficult to master memorization using the Cicero method. To speed up the process, use these simple tips:

Practice regularly, otherwise you will lose your skills. Training on a regular basis will increase your performance.
Be absurd. It sounds strange, but it really works. Let's give an example. Imagine that you are giving a presentation on a large project. So, at the bus stop you saw the president holding a newspaper in his hands. Part of your report is printed on the front page of the newspaper. You get on the bus, and there is still part of the text. Only this time it was scratched on the back of the seat in front of you. And so on.
Vary the size of the images in the room. For example, you need to associate a closet and a cat. Let the animal grow to the size of this piece of furniture.
Concentrate on the color and dynamics of objects. If you paint the same closet bright pink and make it swing like a pendulum, it will be much easier to remember.
When using the Cicero method, use feelings and sensations. Pay attention to the smells.

The effectiveness of quick memorization techniques

When information is difficult to comprehend and time is limited, rational memorization techniques come to the rescue. Having mastered them, a person can work with any material in a short time.

As the most effective, we can offer techniques that have proven themselves in mnemonics.

For example, a technique such as text rhyming is widely used when creating advertising. Everyone knows that rhyming phrases of advertising, regardless of a person’s desire, are etched into the memory and remain there for a long time. The same can be done with any material.

Therefore, when a person is faced with important, but illogical, difficult-to-remember information, you can rhyme it

A classic example is the rhyme when learning eleven verbs of exclusion (drive, breathe, hold, offend, hear, see, hate, and also twirl, look, and depend, and endure).

Similarly, an invented rhyming phrase is used to help in the study of cases: “Ivan chopped the wood, Varvara lit the stove.” Similarly, you can rhyme the rules of the Russian language: “I can’t bear to get married.”

Other methods of memorization are just as relevant. For example, the abbreviation technique is often used to better remember various unrelated objects. Everyone knows the popular phrase when studying the colors of the rainbow.

The technique of memorizing using abbreviations is useful in that it allows not only to shorten long phrases, but also to fix them for a long time in the mind, for example, when naming government, educational institutions or scientific concepts: university, sopromat, traffic police, hydroelectric power station, Unified State Examination.

To create your own abbreviation, you can come up with a simple, meaningful sentence, all the words of which will begin with the first letters of the words you remember.

In psychology, it is believed that classical techniques for memorizing information are optimal - pictograms, associations, active repetition.

The technology of the pictogram method is built on the principle of highlighting keywords, for which an image is then invented. When sketching it, a visual association arises. No artistic skills are required here, just the pictogram should remind you of a key expression or word.

Associations are a time-tested memory technology where a connection is established between objects. It is actively used for people of any age. The essence of this method of memorization is that when one object appears in the mind, another is remembered.

Associations can be of different types, for example, chains, associative links, “matryoshka”. Their selection depends on the content of the material being memorized.

This memorization technique can be used when working on a sequence of words, when recording numbers, phone numbers, dates.

Sometimes there are difficulties in making connections between objects. Then experts recommend creating the most unusual, even absurd connections, which are even better remembered.

The technique of active repetition involves repeated reproduction of already memorized material. The acquired knowledge is reproduced mentally or orally only from memory in order to preserve it for a long time, perhaps forever. An example would be poetic lines, rules, theorems, anecdotes, retrieved from memory at every opportunity. In the same way, you can use active repetition for any material.

By nature, man is given memory, which cannot be considered perfect. But in order to actively use acquired knowledge, retain it in memory, and ensure that it becomes systematic and deeper, special work is needed to develop memorization skills. Having acquired knowledge, calling on imagination and thinking, everyone can come up with techniques that make it easier to memorize information.

Usage example

Let's look at a clear example of how to use Cicero's technique for memorizing information.

Let's take ten words necessary for memorization (numbers, events, speech points, foreign words). For example, these will be the following words: curtain, postcard, bird, sour cream, packaging, mouth, hair dryer, tambourine, book, speaker. You need to set them for specific objects of the selected system (for example, a room). Next, let's move on to the next level of the task. Take a sheet of paper, a pencil and write down all the objects in the room

It doesn't matter how many there are. The main thing is that they create “niches” for our matrix

In addition, you should remember their location and in what order they are located. An approximate list of items in the room: window, sofa, wardrobe, TV, pouf, floor lamp, armchair, bookcase, shelf, piano, stove, rug and more. The third thing is to connect the words from paragraph 2 with places with a list of points to remember.

The main advantages of the Cicero method

One of the main advantages of the method is its speed and ease of learning. Usually, in order to learn it and remember the desired lecture, report or speech, you just need to practice several times. This method is universal and can be applied anywhere, be it a conference hall or a lecture hall. There is no need to memorize the entire text or its separate block. It is enough to mentally imagine your room, office or usual route.

Due to the fact that the stored information is presented in the form of logically and sequentially related data, the same room can be used repeatedly. Moreover, the associative series will not be mixed, which will make it easy to reproduce the necessary information in memory.

Compared to the association method, this method of memorization is more effective when it is necessary to remember a complex and large amount of information.

When you need to prepare for an important report or presentation, the Cicero method will be an excellent tool to achieve your goal. And you don’t need to have phenomenal abilities or excellent memory

It only requires persistence, imagination and a few trainings.

Causes of poor memory

Why are not all people able to quickly remember a large amount of information? The fact is that each person’s memory has individual characteristics. So, someone can easily, after reading only once, be able to memorize the multiplication table, but at the same time almost immediately forget the name of the person they just met. Other people, on the contrary, are naturally gifted with a good visual memory, but they struggle to learn the most basic rules of the Russian language. What are the causes of memory impairment? There are only five of them. Let's take a closer look at them.

A little history

The Cicero method, this memorization technique was not named after the author, as many people think. Although the famous speaker actively used it. It is enough to remember how he delivered long speeches without using notes.

According to many scientists, the technique goes much deeper. A legend from the times of Ancient Greece is cited as proof. During one of the feasts, the roof of the building collapsed, burying a large number of people. The poet Simonides was able to escape. The inconsolable relatives of the victims asked him to tell him where their loved ones were at the time of the collapse. This information would help them find the bodies.

To his surprise, Simonides named the location of everyone present. He knew the room well. Therefore, he only needed to remember what the person was doing in the last minutes of his life. This helped him give accurate coordinates.

What happened made the poet think about the discovered method of remembering important information. It impressed him so much that he set out to improve it

Nowadays, technology has several names. One of them is the Roman room method. It is suitable for studying a group of words, large texts, a daily or work routine, a list of meetings or phone calls, etc.

Other reasons

It is worth noting that nature does not give us a good memory. It is a skill that requires development. Its level is affected by poor nutrition, vitamin deficiency and oxygen starvation of the body. The real scourge of modern man – depression – also negatively affects memory. With such a state of health, it is hardly possible not only to remember newly received information, but also to reproduce already familiar information.

That is why each of us should include healthy food in our diet, constantly take walks in the fresh air, exercise, take an active lifestyle and not give in to depression.

How to pave the Cicero road and build a Roman room

Step one - choose a room/path

a path you know well
Unlike Cicero's method, a Roman room is a room you know well

(again, real or imagined), as in the memory palace.
The main difference between a Roman room and a memory palace is that here you must not just be in some room/building, but walk along it along a clearly laid out route
. For example, imagine your own room and move around it clockwise (or counterclockwise), take the “route” that you take when returning home from work: putting your keys on the shelf, hanging up your jacket, taking off your boots...

Step two - tie the images to the reference points

Just like in the memory palace, mark certain key points along your path, the so-called reference images. For the Cicero method, this could be a bus stop, a tent, an interesting building or other remarkable object; for a Roman room, this could be furniture and interior items of the room. The next step is to attach a directly memorized sequence (facts or thoughts) to the reference points through vivid visual images. But before you start tying, walk along the route several times, marking all selected points along the way. Start placing objects only when you have a clear orientation along the route and can easily name all the control points.

associations along the Cicero road and the Roman room should be those that are closer to you

If you are not sure that you will be able to master this mnemonic technique or that the results may not be as good, check out Joshua Foer's talk “Feats of memory anyone can do.”

Rules for the game Cicero's Algorithm

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The game "Cicero's Algorithm" is one of the most ancient methods to develop memory. It has proven itself to be an intellectual and creative game.

The name of the game came to us from the famous ancient Roman orator Mark Cicero, who had an excellent memory and never wrote anything down, completely relying on his memory.

Even more games for those who like to train their intellect can be found on the “Intellectual Games for Adults” website page.

What is so interesting about a game built on the Cicero algorithm?

Children over 12 years old and adults can play this game. The game “Cicero’s Algorithm” develops a person in various directions:

You can learn many interesting facts and events from history.
Learn to remember a large amount of information.
Use your imagination.
Develop associative and creative thinking.

Cicero's method teaches analysis of the situation, develops thinking, thereby allowing a deeper assessment of any situation and task

What you need to play “Cicero’s Algorithm”

This is a conversational game - the simplest in terms of selecting equipment and the number of participants. Perfect for “warming up” before a more complex intellectual game. You can play it on the street, at home, in the office. In general, where you can sit on something and not disturb others. All you need is a couple of people and a desire to play this game.

For lovers of conversational games, the description of the game “Words - Inversions” or “Definitions” will also be interesting.

Rules of the game

The rules of the game "Cicero's Algorithm" are quite simple. All participants agree on what they will talk about. But they must adhere to some algorithm: fact - reason - reason - event - analogies - conclusions. Regardless of the chosen topic of the story, it must be based on a certain algorithm.

A prerequisite is to make a so-called “closed circle”, to sit in a circle that equalizes all participants and makes the game psychologically comfortable.

How to become an expert in the game

First of all, you need to create a certain matrix of images. Select images from an area familiar to you to make it easier to memorize the subsequent text.

The simplest thing is to use the environment of the room or place where you are playing and choose a memorization sequence. In this way, an association is made of objects and things, which are then easier to reproduce in memory.

If you want to reproduce a story, you just need to focus on the main, memorable events in that story.

You can turn any thing into some kind of awkward story that is well remembered. The game "Cicero's Algorithm" will allow you to quickly and effortlessly develop your intelligence.

Cicero's method is very simple and universal. Just a couple of training sessions are enough to easily learn this wonderful game. Play, develop and enjoy the game!

The list of entertainment presented on the “Games for Adults” page will help diversify family leisure time or parties with friends. You can also get acquainted with entertainment for people of different ages here “Live Games”.

Practical task

Let's look at an example of how, using the Roman room system, you can remember a list of words: plasticine, bicycle, backpack and bottle. We arrange the listed things around the house in such a way that they catch the eye, stand out, or are in the wrong position or place. We turn the bike over and put it under the hanger, we hang the backpack on the door, we put the bottle on the nightstand and put flowers in it, and we cover the mirror in the hallway with plasticine.

This arrangement creates non-standard associations in our heads and will be remembered for a long time.

In practice, Cicero's method is used for more complex and serious problems. Using it, you can also remember phone numbers strictly according to the list, numbers with many characters, a shopping list, and put away playing cards that come out of the game.

Inattention

Another reason for poor memory is low concentration on the data received. Today, modern people are bombarded with a huge flow of information every day. This simply does not give him the opportunity to delve into the data received. Sometimes people, without even understanding the essence, do not strive to put into practice the information they have received. And this, unfortunately, becomes a habit. Also, the productivity of a person is negatively affected by the simultaneous performance of several tasks.

How to remember the sequence. Cicero's Way and Roman Room