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Visualization: Daydreaming With a Purpose

Visualization. Athletes use this technique to gain their best performance. Musicalartists take full advantage of it too. The good news is, it can work for something assimple as studying for your next test, or even in everyday life.

What exactly is visualization? Briefly, it is making a mental image of something,whether it be an activity or a group of facts. You may have seen an athlete sittingwith his or her eyes closed prior to competing. Chances are, they aren't catching aquick siesta, they're visualizing. They are going through a winning race or game,seeing in their mind every stride, every motion, that it takes to perform to the bestof their abilities. Similarly, a musician will visualize every note played or sung toperfection. Some might call it daydreaming with a purpose.

You might be wondering how this could possibly help you study for your next test.Well, the same principles of visualization can be used to memorize facts, orunderstand a process. Take, for example, a history test, where you need tomemorize important information about the voyage of The Mayflower. You may needto remember that it landed at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620. We nowcommemorate Remembrance Day or Veterans Day on that date. Picture the pilgrimsdisembarking wearing poppies to remember that date. See in your mind the yearbeing written in a diary. Try to really visualize these events instead of justmemorizing them.

Or how about a biological process, such as thehuman respiratory system. If youwant to remember how oxygen travels into your body, see in your mind as theoxygen travels in through the mouth and nose, then carries on through the larynx,trachea, bronchi, bronchial tubes, lungs, and so on. Find each of these on a pictureof the human body so you can truly see the oxygen passing through them in yourmind.

Visualization can be used in these and many other ways. The next time you areintroduced to someone new, take a minute to silently picture their face alongside aplaque with their name written on it, or shaking hands with other people you know of the same name. This should help you to remember those important, or not soimportant things.

Memory Tips

1.To grasp new information: sit as close to the speaker as you can; take notes;read assignments before class so you will know what to listen for; repeatinformation both orally and in your notes to remember it better!2.Organize your information: use codes or rhymes to help trigger information;create a mental picture of what you are studying; learn by "rote," which is just repeating the material over and over.3.To remember new material: say the answers out loud when studying; learn alittle each day (don't cram); paraphrase the material to understand it better.

Concentration Tips

1.Set aside a place where you will study that has minimum distractions.Eliminate any distractions that you can, and make the environmentcomfortable.2.Make sure you have all your materials when you sit down to study: this mayinclude pencils, pens, calculator, textbooks, paper, research materials, etc.3."Pencil technique" - always study with a pencil in your hand. Rewrite whatyou have read, your notes, key points, and questions.4.Set time limits and stop studying before you are too tired to achieve the bestconcentration and retention.5.Vary the activity - read for awhile, then take some notes. Do a worksheet,then outline a paper.6.Build in breaks! Give yourself incentives - if you finish a big research paper,give yourself a break and go visit friends, or at least do some homework thatis more interesting.

TIPS ON MEMORY ENHANCEMENTTips on memory enhancement will inlcude some of the tried and truemethods used for improving recall. Almost anyone, young or old, can benefit from memory methods for recalling faces, names, numbers,place, languages, and information.The most frequently used mnemonics or memory methods makeefficient use of our brains diverse regions. Many are familiar with thecommon memory device: KISS witch stands for "Keep It SimpleStupid". Or how about the mnemonic method for recalling when toset your clock forward or back: "Spring forward, Fall back."Often what challenges our memory is the basic fact that much of theinformation we're called on to remember comes to us as words on aprinted page. This often doesn't give us much of a toehold for ourmemories. Luckily memory tricks exist which can associate thedullest and flatest material to our different sense modes.Here's several common ways to associate new information so it can bestored and retrieved:*When you associate information to images, you will have an easiertime recalling the information if you use images which are:-Highly sensual. Use all your five senses. Tactile. Auditory. Taste. Visual. Smell.-Attractive and positive. It's more difficult to recall negative images.-Bright and colorful.-Dimensional.-Intensified and exaggerated making them funny and easier to recall.-Humorously rhyming.-Odd and unique.-Use symbols, signs, and pictures as associative devices.*Memory is enhanced by proper sleep, healthy eating habits, andexercise.*Imagination and visualization are potent methods for informationretention. The more defined, sensual, and vivid an imagined or visualized image, the easier it is to recall later.*Association/linking. This approach helps someone associatematerial to objects or things to be recalled. Examples:-Linking objects together.-Fusing objects.