How I aced my neuropsychological exams
Last year I mentioned a memory technique which I’d learned to help me remember lists, such as shoppings lists or phone numbers. This year I mentioned my memory again. Both mentions linked to a couple of popular books on the topic of improving your memory, the better of which was Your Memory
Not long after I’d finished reading Your Memory a friend of mine asked me if I could help her with her post-grad requirements by letting her practice her neuropsychological examination skills on me. I readily agreed because I like anything that challenges my brain. At the time it didn’t occur to me that it would be a good chance to practice what I’d learnt because I didn’t know what kind of tests I’d have to perform.
I did better than I expected I would, which isn’t hard when one doesn’t know what to expect, but my overall performance was nothing compared to my performance on one particular task. The task was paired word association, wherein my friend would read out a series of pairs of words, then she would say a single word from each pair and I would have to recall the other. In the past this would have caused me some trouble, especially if the words were abstract, unfamiliar, and unrelated. Which some of them were.
More recently I underwent another few tests as research volunteer. The memory tests I had to perform involved the same basic process of memorising pairs of words then recalling one when prompted with the other.
On the first occasion I aced the test and on the second occasion I only got a couple wrong. Prior to the second test I was told to not expect to do well because they were designed to be very difficult.
The way I did it was to use the link system. The system basically involves creating a mental image out of the first word and another out of the second word, then link the two images together. The more unusual, emotive, or absurd the link the more likely you are to remember it. Likewise for involving all your senses in the ‘image’. So for example, if the two words were ’sorrow’ and ‘anchor’ you could imagine an animated anchor bawling its eyes out as it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. You’d also imagine an intense feeling of sorrow, the wetness and cold of the ocean, the muffled sound of the anchor’s last breaths bubbling to the surface and the smell of sea water filling its nasal cavities. Sure, not a pleasant image, but not one you’re likely to forget, right?
Of course there is a downside to this technique. While it’s easy to use it for pairs of words, and for lists by linking each new word to the one directly before it (forming a chain), if you want to recall a word far down the list and don’t know the word it’s directly linked to, you have to go through each item individually. This can take some, though you get faster with practice.
None the less, apply this or other similar memory techniques and you’ll be sure to realise, like me, that your memory is a lot better than you think.
And now I’d better get back to my studies…
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August 16th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Sounds like an interesting technique, but it’s difficult for me to use things like that because my visual memory is very limited. I don’t remember visuals well at all, my memory is more verbal. I’ve noticed, for example, that I remember words that someone said to me much better than most, but I can’t remember what my wife wore yesterday, even if I really liked it. On the other hand, if she describes it to me in words, or if I describe it to someone else in words, there is a far greater chance I will remember it.
Do you happen to know much about this type of thing? Verbal memory vs visual memory? It seems that most people I meet are more visual when it comes to memory than I am… but that really doesn’t take very much.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Would you believe I’m similar? Buggered if I can remember what people’s hair colour is, or eye colour, or what they’re wearing. And if someone describes something to me that I haven’t seen specifically, even if I have a good idea of what the words mean I won’t be able to picture it. For example if a friend describes an outfit made out of a particular combination of items, even if I could identify those items when shown them, I wouldn’t be able to imagine them except very vaguely.
But that’s an issue of detail and familiarity, not necessarily poor visual skills. To take the above example further, while I couldn’t accurately picture that outfit, I *could* name each item and tell you where they were located. I could also tell you the colours (if the friend had told me the colours). So perhaps like me your visual memory simply isn’t a *vivid* visual memory, but is still operationally capable.
Or perhaps that’s just a bad example. So lets try another.
Part of the tests were visuo-constructional tasks which included reproducing simple to complex geometric patterns. At the simpler end it included things like arranging blocks to match images, or being presented with a series of 3 patterns and having to pick the final image to complete the series from 4 similar options. The kind of thing you see on IQ tests. On the more complex end it involved reproducing a complex line drawing, immediately, after 3 minutes, and after 30 minutes.
Another test involved an image which was logically divided into quadrants. I.e, the image was divided into 4 distinct components which together formed one complete image. E.g., The entire scene was at a picnic. In the bottom left corner was a woman sitting at a table. In the bottom right was a man on a chair talking to the woman. In the top left was a boy throwing a frisbee, towards a dog in the top right corner. The image would be shown, I’d have a minute to memorise it, then the interviewer would ask questions about it. E.g., who was in the bottom right corner, what are they doing.
Do you know how you’d perform at those? I thought that I’d do poorly because my visual memory (and memory in general) isn’t all that good. Turns out I was wrong, I was just average at remembering the details of images, but extremely good at reproducing geometric patterns.
Though it makes me think. Maybe it’s not that my visual memory is good or bad, but that my pattern matching skills bolster my memory, and my attention to detail which doesn’t form geometric patterns could be improved. Since then I’ve been actively trying to improve my ability to visualise and it’s gradually getting easier. It really helps with studying too, mind-mapping, that sort of thing.
If you ever get the opportunity I highly recommend sitting a test like that so you can get an objective opinion.
Unfortunately I don’t know very much about the details of how memory works in terms of visual vs. verbal. Though I do know that our memories can be imbued with varying degrees of sensory input, and that we can improve our memory (both recording and recalling) through practice, through the involvement of as many senses as possible, and by including emotional content.
Higbee says that research shows that visual and verbal memory are processed by different parts of the brain, and that where words are concerned, visual memory is more commonly used for concrete concepts, and verbal for more abstract concepts. Mind you the book was first published in ‘77, so though it has been revised, there is no doubt more accurate, recent research.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
…as an interesting aside, my comment was around 70 words longer than the post itself… *sigh* Sorry about that :p
August 17th, 2007 at 9:23 am
The whole memory thing comes easy to me. I remember crazy levels of details about things, people, and events everything except numbers.
Reading the anchor example made me smile because that’s what I’ve always done just slightly differently. All my info about people for instance is linked in a zillion ways such as the face Bruce made while Patty was talking in a meeting and Patty is friends with John who’s wife spoke about the differences between generations at that conference last year which inspired me to buy the book about XYZ which I later lent to Erin and so on… Sometimes makes me a bit crazy but usually it just happens really, really fast so I tend not to notice the whole path I go through to pull up info.
Sometimes makes people around me a little unsettled because I don’t forget much except birthdays, to fill gas, pay the electric bill, to bring my shoes walking…you know those small things that don’t have much impact on one’s day to day life.
August 17th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Heh, I think that’s just called being blonde, Jenni
*flees*
Yeah, it’s a good way to learn and study too.
August 17th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Okay that is just wrong!
FYI Smarty you can’t flee your own site…where you gonna go?
August 17th, 2007 at 10:19 am
I just have to log out, then I become anonymous. Mwhahaha!
August 17th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Whatever…it’s not that I don’t have an incredible come-back. I do. It’s just that I’m emotionally “fragile” (very, very fragile) as us blondes are and am therefore so upset that I need to go have a good cry.
Yeah right. I’ll bide my time but mark my words you’ll pay for your careless remarks! Who knows when I’ll strike? Well besides some day when you’re busy not being anonymous and I can find you to strike…yep that’s it. That’s likely when it’s going to happen. Unless one of my minions strike first, because I have minions you know. Lots and lots of them…
If I were you I’d spend my time being scared - very scared. Or not.
August 17th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
It’s funny, I have easier, clearer memories of ten years ago, than I do of last week.
If it makes you feel better, Jenny, I recently left the house to go to the grocery store, got into a tangential conversation on the light rail and to my five year old’s delight, ended up downtown at the bookstore instead. Wasn’t until we got home with a pile of books, to a pissed off momma, that I remembered we were supposed to get groceries. On the upside, I remembered the groceries as soon as my partner scowled at me, she didn’t have to say a word. On the downside, while I’m not very blond (kind of dirty blond/light brown) I do have severe ADHD as well as other delightful neurodiversity in my brain chemistry.
So you can take solace in having better day to day memory than someone with multiple neurological disorders, who recently suffered an inner ear trauma that seems to have made it all worse. On second thought, maybe the blond jokes are better. . .So I was talking to a friends blond wife yesterday. . . .
August 17th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Ahhh DuWayne,
Good for you on turning around and trudging back out to get them. Sorry about the neurological stuff…
The books sound better than groceries anyhow
August 18th, 2007 at 5:04 am
I know of techniques that allow me to remember visual things, by thinking of how to describe them to someone else, mostly, but as far as actually having a mental image of the thing, it just doesn’t stick long, for the most part. On the other hand, my ability to mentally manipulate images is excellent. I am extremely good at jigsaw puzzles, for instance, or other similar things, and also at “Memory” type games, where you have to find the images that match (with only being able to turn over two at the same time… hope you know what I’m talking about). The key to my ability at both, I think, is what you mentioned… patterns. I am excellent at pattern recognition, whether it’s visual patterns, patterns in music (ask if you want to know, too complex to explain in this comment), or others. I am, in fact, very good at problem solving and increasing efficiency in processes because I can see the pattern of the problem (or process), and see which pieces are missing (the solution) or not working very well (efficiency).
I have a feeling that it has something to do with my ability to write, as well, although I have never spent the time necessary to determine exactly how that relationship might work. Perhaps just that I’ve learned effective writing “patterns” from the various things I’ve read, which I can piece together and into which I can insert content.
Blah, I have to stop now or this comment is going to get really long as my thoughts pick up speed on the topic of pattern recognition.
August 18th, 2007 at 8:09 am
DuWayne, I bet you’re endlessly entertaining for your little one
Jason, it does seem as if we’re similar. Perhaps you could take advantage of your pattern recognition skills by creating patterns out of images you have to remember? Have you tried mind-mapping?
As for long comments, have a look at some of mine and Jenny’s discussions. Long comments are welcome here
August 18th, 2007 at 8:21 am
I think some of my comments, like the one on here today and some of the one’s I’ve left on Jenny’s blog would almost be better as articles on my site linked back to your post, they’re so long. Oh well… as long as they’re not driving you guys nuts, I suppose it doesn’t really matter.
Do you have a link for mind mapping? I’d be interested in looking into it. As far as creating patterns of images, I think I probably already do that, but it’s all subconscious… it seems to only be words that stick out into my consciousness, most of the time. Even the images that I DO remember, I generally have to use words in order to recall them… basically I describe the image to myself, and that’s enough for me to recall the specific images, but that’s generally only for moments that had major impact in my life, like my wife looking up into my eyes as we said “I do”, holding my baby for the first time, etc.
And then, of course, there are a few random images that I have no idea why I recall them, but I still do… like what a house I used to live long ago looks like (and its address… WHY do I remember that?). It would be fantastic if I could learn how to recall visual things as well and easily as I recall other things, without having to sacrifice my other abilities for it.
August 18th, 2007 at 10:04 am
Post away on your site and trackback here if you’d like, either that or comments is fine with me. Or both :p
I don’t have any links that I’d recommend for learning about mindmapping, but you can find plenty of information via wikipedia (mind mapping or concept mapping for something similar).
I should warn you there’s a fair amount of hype surrounding mind mapping so if you go looking, be prepared for the usual marketing misinformation that many productised concepts are swamped by (including the good ol’ “we only use 1% of our brain. Find out how to use the other 99%!”)
I often find myself using a more free form style of mapping which is simply creating mental links between concepts, embedding whatever I’m trying to remember (visual or otherwise) within a network of concepts, related in any way I can come up with (as Scott described).
August 21st, 2007 at 3:17 am
I do that type of thing naturally, but until recently (just having read that very same article), never really thought of it consciously. I may try to do it consciously and see how it works, especially in regards to images. I’ll let you know how it goes.
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:36 am
Its incredible how learning to sharpen one’s conscious memory can be applied as a wonderful transferable skill. Research also reveals how as you train yourself to recall you night dreams, you are also strengthening your conscious memory. I’ve rarely met people who believe they wouldn’t benefit from improving their memories. Thanks for sharing another strategy. Each people may learn differently or find that different approaches are effective (or not). Trial and error will lead you to discover what works for you.