Mnemonics using Images

Mnemonics that rely on images work by requiring a person to build vivid, interacting mental pictures of and around the material they want to remember. Two well-known techniques of this kind are the keyword method and the method of loci.

In the keyword method, useful mainly for learning vocabulary in a foreign language, a person first identifies an English word that sounds similar to the foreign word to be learned — this English word becomes the 'keyword'. The learner then creates a vivid mental image that connects the keyword with the meaning of the target foreign word, imagining the two interacting in some way. For example, to remember that the Spanish word for 'duck' is 'pato', a learner might choose the English word 'pot' as the keyword, and then imagine a duck sitting in a pot full of water. Learning vocabulary through interacting images of this kind has been shown to work considerably better than simple rote memorisation. …