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Anchoring information
You can 'anchor' in the sense of connecting and holding information, like a boat anchor helps keep a boat in position and stabilise it. Anchoring helps you code information from short term memory 
into long term memory based on using as many senses as you can.
Connect the information to something that is relevant to you and your processing preferences - visual, auditory or kinaesthetic - by using a memory anchor to help you link and shape information. The examples below will help you develop a range of memory 'anchors' or place holders.
When you create your memory anchor, try to use your different senses according to your learning style preferences. Visual, auditory, kinaesthetic or multiple sensory anchors can help you remember better.
I find that I have such fun devising memory techniques for important study information, you know it's worth spending time on something that works for you, because it's so useful to have these tools come exam time.
Click the highlighted headings to find out more about how to use memory anchoring techniques.
- Images
- Colour-filled scenarios
- Sound
- Familiar activities
- Smell
- Familiar pathways
- You open the door and you find a big squashed tomato at the door.
- You get in your car and you see a huge donut in place of the tyres.
- You get to the shopping centre and step into mud, and imagine melted chocolate.
- Imagine as you enter you see someone slip on a banana.
- And as this happens it's pouring with rain, so you remember the umbrella.
- Chunking
- Association and analogies
'Anchoring' ideas visually using bright colours can be a great way to remember information. For example, you can use a football field to position arguments on both sides. Then you can imagine political figures on opposite sides. Or you could picture important years printed on the team jumpers to remember important dates. You could even remember a particular year by having the referee waving a bright orange flag on it with the year in black. The more bizarre the association or image, the easier it can be to remember.
You can 'anchor' ideas using an auditory preference, for example, through songs, melodies, intonation, fun rhythms and funny phrases. For example, choose your favourite song and change the words to fit the information you need to remember. Hum the tune to help you remember.
It is interesting to try 'anchoring' ideas using physical actions. To help you remember something better, you might link an idea to an activity that you do regularly. So for example, every time you open your front door, or turn on your computer, you can remember a list of words or steps in a process.
One of the strongest memory senses is smell. You can use aromatherapy to increase concentration and help you remember the details of a topic through scents. You can also use aromatherapy to shift your moods when you're working on different subjects.
Some people use familiar routes to help 'anchor' information. So every time you get on the Monash bus, for example, you can remember x, y, z. You can arrange the structure of an essay to a series of buildings when you're on a bus as you follow the route.
You can build connections or imagine a story based on your regular pathways. For example, if you have a shopping list of tomatoes, donuts, chocolate, bananas and an umbrella, then you can imagine your usual journey to the local shops.
The key to making it easier to remember large amounts of information is to break it into manageable bits. For example, a number such as 198621747 can be chunked into:1986 21 747. You might think of the year 1986 and anything significant that happened, you can easily remember 21 as a significant birthday and then 747 as a jumbo jet.
Use the chunking technique to chunk information into smaller bits. Write essential information summaries and draw diagrams onto a series of cards. Carry these with you to revise for memory.
Try breaking up large amounts of information into three or five bits and spend 10 minutes going back over it every 15 or 20 minutes.
Use analogies to make connections between content and form whenever and wherever possible. You could make a connection between a biological cell function and a factory, for example, and then you can think about how the tasks in a factory can be linked to the functions of cell components to help you remember them all.
If you have a legal case to remember, to bring the case to life, draw stick figures of the people and entities involved as you're reading the case, and then relate the issues using arrows and colours and key words. This will help with remembering. Again the more bizarre, the better the recollection may be.
Don't be too surprised if you find that the more bizarre the associations, the better you remember!
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You can 'anchor' ideas visually using colour; for example, an image of a bright red strawberry with toothpicks of flying flags that have the images of the five most recent Australian prime ministers in order on it. The more bizarre the idea, the better your memory of it can be.