The second day he will repeat the line already learned, before he attempts the second line, and then, after learning the second line thoroughly in the way above stated, he should join the two together. On succeeding days he will add a line each day—one new line each day, remembering that the review is the thing that is the most important for him. He must think of the meaning of the words, as well as the mere words themselves, endeavoring to form a mental picture of what is being described. Do not attempt too much at the start. The one line a day will soon give you as much as you can well review without too much effort. Do not let the apparent simplicity and “easiness” of the task give you a poor idea of the plan. This is the same plan whereby the Hindu student or chela learns to commit to memory books equaling in size our Bible. Little by little, with constant reviewing, does he acquire this art.
We will take up this Hindu method at length in our chapter entitled the “Cumulative System,” as before stated, in connection with the memorizing of printed words, but in this chapter on exercises in Ear Perception, we think it proper to call the attention of the student to the fact that if one wishes to remember what has been spoken in his presence, this is the one great way to do it. It is not merely the lines of the poem that you are learning, but you are also training and developing the ear and the mind to receive impressions, store them away, and then to recall them. You will find your aural memory increasing daily under this practice. It is worth all the trouble you bestow upon it.
In this exercise, if you find your interest fading, take up some new poem or subject, for a change, not forgetting to review the old lines from time to time. This change will give new zest to the exercise, and will enable you to go back to the old lines with renewed interest.
Chapter VIII.
Association.
Treating of that great law of the mind, upon which depends very much of the faculty of recalling, known as Association—The sequence of our thoughts is as much the result of a law as is the rising and falling of the tides. Our thoughts and recorded impressions are always associated in some way, although sometimes it is difficult to trace the connection—This chapter discusses the subject of Association, showing the several forms and the rules governing each. Next to Attention, this subject is the most important feature of Memory Culture, and the subject itself is full of interest and opens up a great field of thought.
MANY OF us fancy that our thoughts, when not impelled in a certain direction by the Will, come floating through our minds at random and in obedience to no law. When we see the apparent lack of connection between succeeding trains of thought we may be excused for holding such an opinion. But this idea is far removed from the real state of affairs, for although not clearly apparent, there is always a connecting link between one line of thought and the one succeeding it. The law of association governs here, and is just as inflexible as is the law of cause and effect in other fields— just as unvarying as is the law of gravitation. The sequence of our thoughts is as much the result of law as is the fall of the apple from the tree—the rise and fall of the tides. Our ideas are always associated in some way, although in many cases we cannot clearly trace the connection. They come in groups, and each group, in turn, is associated with some other group.
In a previous chapter we spoke of the important part in the subject of Memory Culture played by Attention. Next to Attention we find Association the most important feature of the subject. The recording faculty of the memory depends largely upon the degree of attention bestowed upon the object or subject to be remembered, while the reproducing function depends very materially upon the closeness of the association by which the impression is linked to other impressions which have been previously recorded. Authorities on psychology go so far as to claim that the law of association is to psychology what the law of gravitation is to physics. The habit of correct association is one of the most important requisites in the cultivation of the power of recollection.
In recording or storing away impressions, the best results are obtained when we concentrate our attention upon the thing under consideration. In recollecting these impressions, however, the best results are obtained by being able to associate the desired impression with one or more other impressions, the greater the number of associated impressions the greater the ease of recollection. Unless we have obtained a clear impression, the recalled impression will be imperfect, and, unless the impression be associated in some way with other impressions, we cannot recall it at all.
The principle of association is based upon that remarkable tendency of an impression to become so connected with one or more other impressions, that the recalling of one impression will bring into the field of consciousness the associated impressions. Bain says: “Associations that are individually too weak to operate a revival may succeed in so doing by acting together.”
Ribot states that “the two principal facts which serve as a basis of association are resemblance and contiguity.”
Association by resemblance depends upon the fact that an impression, either new or recalled, has a tendency to revive a previously recorded impression which resembles it in some particular, and the two thus become associated in the memory. The first impression may not have been previously associated with the second, and the latter may have been recalled only through a long chain of associations, but when the two have once been closely considered together, they are therefore associated closely and one may recall the other without making use of the heretofore necessary chain of association. The two impressions may have been originally recorded at times far apart from each other, and at different places, but when the resemblance is close, or is afterward made close by attention, they become as closely associated as if they were contiguous in time or place. The trained mind readily sees points of resemblance between apparently widely separated things, and this perceived resemblance records itself in the memory. Such a mind needs but to be given a start and it will bring into the field of consciousness an amazing chain of associated ideas, facts, incidents, illustrations, etc. On the other hand, the careless mind, having paid no attention to the relation between things, is unable to recall separated impressions by means of this principle of association by resemblance, and is able to recall only those things which are associated by contiguity.
Association by contiguity is like counting a string of beads of all kinds, one after the other, in the order in which they were strung, while association by resemblance is like pulling out a drawer in which has been placed everything we know concerning the matter under consideration, and taking therefrom article after article as it presents itself, choosing and selecting the best for the occasion, irrespective of the time in which they have been filed away. Impressions so associated are readily recalled when an occasion presents itself which calls for the aid of our past experiences and impressions, the occasion being the primary cause of the recall of all the information and accumulated experiences upon the subject that have been impressed upon our memory.
Association by contiguity depends upon the fact that an impression, either new or received, has a tendency to recall other impressions recorded at the same time, or in immediate succession. Impressions that are recorded in close succession have a tendency to so associate themselves and join themselves together, that the recollection of the one will usually recall the others. There is a strong affinity between an impression and the one which immediately precedes or follows it. It may be said that, generally speaking, there is no such thing as an isolated impression. Each impression is practically a continuation of a preceding one, and the beginning of a succeeding one. As Ribot says: “When we read or hear a sentence, for example, at the commencement of the fifth word something of the fourth word still remains. The end of the fourth word impinges on the beginning of the fifth.”
In association by contiguity several impressions are recorded directly after the other, and when one is recalled it will bring the other in its train, and so on, from impression to impression. Thus it is easy to repeat