Part 15 (1/2)

Impressions are not stored away in the brain, and afterward recalled, in an isolated state, or independently of one another On the contrary, they are more or less intimately related as they are learned, and recall always takes place through association of some sort ”Whatever appears in the mind must be _introduced;_ and, when introduced, it is as the associate of so already there”

[Footnote: James's _Talks to Teachers,_ p 118]

The breakfast I ate thisrecalls the persons who sat around the table; memory of one of those persons reminds ests the fact that I et some money, etc Thus every fact that is recalled is marshaled forth by the aid of some other that is connected with it, and which acts as the cue to it This is so fully true that there is even the possibility of tracing our sequence of ideas backward step by step as far as ish ”The laws of association govern, in fact, all the trains of our thinking which are not interrupted by sensations breaking on us from without,” says Ja h its connection with other ideas, the greater the number and the closeness of such relations, the better chance it stands to be reproduced I, in other words,the nu facts A list of unrelated words is extremely difficult to remember; every additional relation furnishes a new approach to any fact; and, the closer this relation, the more likely it is to cause the reproduction

_1 By more of less mechanical association_

Even the siely mechanical, may be important aids to memory For example, it is much easier to learn the telephone nu that the sum of the first three nuure separately _Teacher_ is a hose spelling often causes trouble; but when _teach_ is associated with _each_, which is seldom misspelled, the difficulty is re is a source of much confusion; but it is overcome when _there_ is associated with _where_ and _here,_ and _their_ with _her, your, our,_ etc _Sight, site,_ and _cite_ are still worse stuely overcoht, site_ with _situation,_ and _cite_ with _recite_ The association of the sound of a ith its s of so,_ for exaot his u _umbrella_ with _doorway_ until the two ideas were alh a doorway on his way out of doors, he was reht be soes in this particular association, it forcibly suggests the value of association in general

The various mnemonic systems that have been so widely advertised have usually been nothing more than plans for the mechanical association of facts Sometimes, to be sure, it has been more difficult to remember the systeive witness to the value of association

I once asked a thirteen-year-old girl, in a history class, when Eli Whitney lived She gave the exact month and day, but failed to recall either the year or the part of the century, or even the century Her answer showed plainly that her ainst relative values in learning thethe century, but she revealed no tendency to associate Whitney's invention with any particular period of history

Even cross-questioning brought no such tendency to light She was depending on mere retentiveness to hold dates infacts in this disconnected way is coainst it the student should for hi this fact or idea?”

In contrast with associations that are more or less mechanical, there are vital associations that are possible in all studies containing rich subject-ht association

(1) Through attention to the outline_

Early association of the principal ideas, or early recognition of the outline of thought, is perhaps the most important of these One can proceed sentence by sentence, or ”bit by bit,” in ment after another until the whole is learned But the early recognition of the main ideas in their proper sequence is far superior These essentials give peculiar control over the details by grouping the their cue so that the whole is more easily , as is evidenced by a certain minister quoted by Professor James ”As for memory, mine has iymnast's muscle Before twenty it took three or four days to co sermon; after twenty, two days, one day, one-half day, and now one slow analytic, very attentive or adhesive reading does it But memory seems to me the most physical of intellectual powers Bodily ease and freshness have reat difference <of facility=”” in=”” method=”” i=”” used=”” to=”” commit=”” _sentence_=”” by=”” _sentence_=”” now=”” i=”” take=”” the=”” idea=”” of=”” the=”” whole,=”” then=”” its=”” leading=”” divisions,=”” then=”” its=”” subdivisions,=”” then=”” its=”” sentences”=”” [footnote:=”” jay,_=”” vol=”” i,=”” p=””></of>

Thus early attention to organization is a large factor in , as in study that aiht

Where good organization is wanting,--as in tracing lessons in geography, and other , and one must depend more upon brute memory power On the other hand, where the portions of one's knowledge have becoanized that they forht, one's ability to re

Spencer and Darere exaanized Neither of them possessed phenoenerally found a group of close relations to sustain theroups were associated with one another in such a close and orderly way, that the outline of the whole could be easily surveyed, and any fact could be quickly reproduced, just as any book can be speedily found in a well-organized library

Thus, as we grow older, if the organization of our knowledge is i it will likewise be increasing

_(2) Through comparisons_

Coht connections Study by topics, also, furnishes special opportunity for coenerally better,” says Jaht and said concerning thata special study Not h” [Footnote: James Baldwin, _The Book Lover,_ p 43]

Koople trial will prove to any student the superiority, in interest, of the topical and coical and consecutivehistory” [Footnote: Koopain, ”The student who has not known the pleasure of reading _all_ the works of an author, as a study in personality, has a great source of enjoyment still before him”

[Footnote: _Ibid,_ p 44]

Many persons have the feeling that it is a h Here is the recoe to one point”; that we find, for exaies have to say on one topic, such as y frohness has already been ereat, not only because it insuresiested, but also because each new co, also establishes new and closer associations a's ”Seal Lullaby”_

According to the above, we can bestwhatever associations see's Seal Lullaby:--

Oh! Hush thee, ht is behind us, And black are the waters that sparkled so green

The moon, o'er the combers, looks doard to find us At rest in the hollows that rustle between