Dr McPherson's original memory book is out of print but is still available as a downloadable e-book, in PDF format. Note that an updated edition of The Memory Key, published by Random House UK as Perfect Memory Training, is available in both digital and print form from booksellers.
Most memory improvement courses do not result in long-lasting change. A major reason for this is that, although the courses usually teach effective strategies, they fail to adequately instruct the participants when and when not to use them. The memory situations that you experience in your daily life cannot be precisely defined. You cannot make a list of the situations in which a particular strategy is effective. The effectiveness of a memory strategy depends on a number of different factors — not simply the task itself, but also many factors relating to the context of the task, and your own individual circumstances (personality, mood, physical state, etc.). To know when and when not to apply a particular strategy, you need to understand why and how it works. You cannot do this without having a basic understanding of how memory works.
An effective rememberer
- knows how memory works
- has many memory skills and can apply them appropriately
- accurately judges how well they have learned, and how likely they are to remember easily and accurately
The first part of this book sets out to describe the basic principles of memory. A great deal is now known about memory — I have tried to select only those bits that the reader needs to know, to understand why and how and when memory strategies work. I have tried to integrate the useful information so that the reader can see how it all fits together. I believe strongly that if it is not clearly evident how the various principles (general) and rules (specific) relate to each other, then the information will not be understood. And if it is not understood, it will not be remembered.
An important part of improving your memory involves understanding that there are different memory domains — different “memories”, if you like, that are concerned with different types of information. Thus there is a memory domain that deals with remembering people’s faces, and one that remembers how to drive a car, and one that remembers that you need to stop at the shop on the way home. To appropriately apply memory strategies, you need to know which memory domain is involved and understand the differences between these different domains. A chapter is devoted to discussing the different memory domains.
In the last section of the book I look at various effective memory strategies and explain how they work in terms of the basic principles. After reading this, the reader should not only understand when particular strategies are appropriate, but should also be in a much better position to judge the value of the various bits of advice given on how to improve your memory.
As always with the Mempowered books, this fully referenced book is based on the work of cognitive researchers.
This book is available in pdf format only, and only from this store.
Publication date: September, 2007 (Wayz Press)
First published in New Zealand by Tandem Press in 1999
Published in the United States by Career Press in 2000
Published in hardback by Barnes & Noble in 2004
File size: 190 pages (print); 1.8 MB (pdf)
Chapter 1: How to permanently improve your memory
Most memory-improvement programs do not result in long-lasting change
Memory is plural!
Memory skills can cost too much
What you need to know to improve your memory skills
Knowing what can be done
Becoming confident in your memory skills
Chapter 2: What comes out is what went in
The building blocks of memory
How memory works
Information is infinite and we cannot store it all
Is your memory a junk-heap or a storage system?
Association is the foundation stone of thought
Memory is held in a pattern not in a place
The implications of memory being a network
The key to remembering is making codes that are easily found
What comes out must have gone in
Chapter 3: Finding is tricky when you don’t know where to look
To find a code you follow a trail
A good trail needs a good starting point
Retrieval cues trigger memory search
Your ability to generate recall cues may be critical to your successful remembering
Selecting the right trail
Knowing you're going in the right direction
Principles of Retrieving
Successful retrieval requires effective encoding
Chapter 4: CONNECTION = UNDERSTANDING
Making memory codes accessible
The principles of accessibility
Making links stronger
Connecting and clustering: giving meaning to information
Effective principles of clustering
Chapter 5: Selecting the right information
Selection governs connection
Similarity joins and distinctiveness separates
Principles of Encoding
Rote-learning of unrelated material
Memorizing versus learning
Principles of effective selection
Choosing good recall cues for meaningless information
Attention matters
Chapter 6: Working with memory codes
Working memory holds the information you're working on
How working memory and the database interact
How we use working memory
Differences between working memory and database codes
Holding information in working memory
Individual differences in working memory capacity
Chapter 7: Review
Memory situations
The principles
Chapter 8: Identifying different memory domains
Different types of information need to be dealt with in different ways
Specific memory domains
Knowledge memory vs personal memory
Personal memory contains several different memory domains
Chapter 9: General information skills
A classification of memory strategies
Manipulating information for understanding and recall
Taking notes
Active reading
Elaboration strategies
Applying the right study strategy
Your personal learning style
The deep versus the surface approach to learning
Transcending your personal style
Chapter 10: An analysis of memory ‘tricks’
Mnemonic strategies: what are they and do they work
Mnemonic strategies are a special type of memory strategy
Imagery mnemonics
Verbal mnemonics
Mnemonic strategies: What are they good for?
Chapter 11: General support strategies
Information manipulation strategies are task specific
General support strategies support attention
Paying attention
Planning skills
Monitoring skills
Strategies to improve the quality of attention
Manipulating your environment
Manipulating your self
Chapter 12: Becoming a successful strategy user
Your master strategy
Matching memory tasks with appropriate strategies
Being a strategic thinker
Appraising the memory situation
Thinking through a situation
Taking your personal style into account
Chapter 13: Putting it into practice
The cost of memory strategies
How to achieve permanent memory improvement