# How to Improve the Memory/Lesson 1

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LESSON I MEMORY
WHAT is memory?
Memory is the mental power of recognizing past knowledge. It is a recalling of facts, words, faces, or pictures that had been put aside. A business act has been performed and the facts are then stowed away in the recesses of the mind, but some time later a dispute arises concerning these facts and it is necessary that all the details of the transaction should be recalled; an acquaintanceship springs up between two travelers, they part, ​and do not meet again for many years, but finally they come face to face; a gorgeous sunset is witnessed by one as he is journeying near the tropics, the sun sinks to rest and the picture is gone. Recalling the facts pertaining to the business act, remembering the face of the acquaintance, reproducing the picturesque sunset, are acts of the memory.
How does memory act?
It acts through several processes of the mind known as perception, retention, reproduction, representation, and recognition.
What is meant by perception?
By perception is meant the power of gaining immediate knowledge by means of one or more of the senses. We may perceive by the eye, ear, nose, tongue, or skin. These all act as means for conducting emotions to the brain, the brain communicates ​with the organs of expression, and they show how what is perceived acts upon the perceiver.
What is meant by retention?
In its application to memory, retention means the power by which knowledge is kept in the mind, subconsciously, to be reproduced at will.
What is meant by reproduction?
Reproduction means the process of the mind whereby any object, be it a fact, word, face, or picture, once known but not perceived for some period of time, is brought back into conscious use.
What is representation?
It is the process by which the mind presents to itself objects which it has previously known.
What is recognition?
By recognition is meant a second knowing; a re-knowing of what has been known before.
PERCEPTION
The arrangement of letters or words often aids one in memorizing matter; as,
And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.
—Shakespeare.
RETENTION
REPRODUCTION
RECOGNITION
When Duncan is asleep (Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey Soundly invite him), his two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassel so convince, That memory, the warder of the brain, Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A limbeck only.
—Macbeth, Act 1, Scene VII.
By this it is not meant that men must neither drink nor smoke if they desire to possess good memories, because both these things may be indulged in with moderation without doing any serious harm to the mind, but it is the author's opinion that overindulgence of any kind (drinking, eating, or smoking) tends to weaken the mind and thus injure the memory.
The means employed for strength​ening, developing, and controlling the memory are:
1. Attention. (1) Note the location of figures, letters, words, phrases, or objects. (2) Lay hold of the thought.
2. Apposition. Similarity of figures, words, thoughts, or objects.
3. Opposition. Difference between figures, words, thoughts, or objects.
4. Combination. Arrangement of figures, words, thoughts, or objects.
5. Sequence. An orderly following in space, time, or arrangement of figures, words, objects, or thoughts.
The student should study carefully the definitions and explanations given in this lesson as they will prepare him ​for grasping readily the instructions on Attention, which will be the subject of the next lesson.
* ↑ As You Like It, Act II, Scene I.
* ↑ One who wards or keeps guard.
* ↑ Any state of mind that confuses or stupefies.
* ↑ A still: a vessel through which distilled liquors pass.