Memory - Observation tool: Trigger Questions

Oxford dictionary defines observation "Notice or perceive (something) and register it as being significant". So, there are two parts in observation:
- Perceiving 

- Registering it as being significant

One of the tool which has been very useful to me during the process of observation is "Trigger questions technique". Tool is very simple and hence it has been often ignored by many memory books. Tool involves asking a inventory of questions during the process of observation and making a mental note of the answers. 

•   What is the need to observe this thing? Is it really worth spending few minutes observing this thing? Answer has to be a "BOLD YES" and mind has to spell out the need clearly. Without need and motivation there is no perception and hence mind is not attentive

•   Go through the inventory of questions (example below) and answer each of question as honestly as i can. (Framing questions should cover question about "all 5 senses", "emotional moods", logic) 

•   Did i spend at sufficient time (which is relative) observing? Is it worth spending more time observing and registering more information

•   Finally, Summarize the significant information collected in the process of observation and give a command to mind to remember the information

There are many reasons why this tool works for me:

- First of all it force me to slow down. Most of time i will be in auto steering mode, where i walk around like a zombie rather than conscious intelligent being

- Secondly, inventory of questions force my attention on specific things. Some people also call this convergent observation where you perceive each and every detail of all possible information in the process of observation

- Thirdly, summarizing helps me to evaluate quality of observation and correct things if needed

When i started practicing this it was very tiresome and i felt dizzy sometimes. Sometimes i felt there is no sufficient time to do go through all questions, but believe me with practice mind can do this in a matter of a glance.

Example:

Danielle.C.Lapp in her book "Don't Forget" writes about observing a picture:

•   First concentrate on the most striking feature of the picture, this would be different for different person. But this provides motivation for you to continue. Ask questions:

       What is the most striking feature in this picture? 

       Why does it impress me? Is it the color, shape, size, smell, sound, background, foreground..etc 

       Does it reminds me of any other pic/place/person..?

•    Secondly, concentrate on the emotions stirred in you by the picture.

       Is it pleasant/unpleasent, stimulating/boring, happy/sad...etc

       Why does particular emotion is stirred? possible reason for this association 

Many research has proved that emotions/moods and memory is closely interlinked. If you want to recall some information give it a try to go into the mood when you stored the information in memory

•   Thirdly Rational Awareness of the picture 

       What is the subject of the picture? What is the central idea that the painter is trying to portray?

       What is the structure of the picture? Like what is color, shades, pattern?

       What are other significant items in picture? Why particular items are important in the context of the picture 

       What is the painter's emotion when he is trying to portray the picture..etc

Memory Observation tool: Thinking like a traveler

Thinking that you are in a totally different world and you need to observe each and every clue for survival will keep some part of brain highly active and this would aid very much in observation. Whenever i need to observe things in detail, i consciously try to force my mind that i am completely new to this(a foreigner). It works for me, do try it out. It also helps innovation tells "Tom Kelly".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc984HXIM44

Memory: Recalling information will not just happen!!

During my early career days i was of the opinion that there is no need to memorize information as most of the it is just a click away.  With experiences in life and associated learning, i now believe memorizing information is absolutely required for solving small day to-day problems to most complicated problems.

There are multiple reasons why we might have to memorize information:
1. Amount and speed of remembering new information is dependent on how much information is already stored in memory that can be easily associated with the new information. So, the more we use memory the more easier and faster it would be remember new information
2. Many of us have experienced sub-concious problem solving (insight??).  Go to bed with a problem in mind and solution would pop up by the time you wake up. Human brain would have been busy in the background processing lots and lots of information in the brain to arrive at a optimal solution. Call it "insight" "aha!"..etc. For this to happen, lots of information should be there in the memory at the first place.
3. Most of the conscious problem solving approaches requires combining different ideas, concepts and information. For this the information has to be stored in long term memory which would be retrieved to working memory to combine/subtract/modify to arrive at a solution. If there are not much ideas in long term memory then it significantly hampers creative problem solving
...

After reading of couple books and doing some research on google,  i was pretty convinced about the necessity for memorizing information. Of late "Memory" has been favorite topic for discussions/experimentations.. etc and i do spend lot of times knowing more about it. I have started applying some memory techniques in day to day life which has helped me a lot.

With this series of blog, idea is to explore tools and techniques to aid memorizing information.
For me process of memorizing happens in 3 stages:

1. Perception Stage - Gathering information using all the senses
• Concentration - Discipline of mind to focus attention on required information
• Interest - Closely associated with concentration is the interest of the mind to learn the new information.  
2. Organizing Stage
• Imagination - Ability of the mind to form concrete images/thoughts/sensations out of the gathered information, also ability to modify or change these images
• Association - Associate newly formed images/thoughts/sensations with the information already in memory. Installing cues for recall
3. Recall Stage
• Association for recall - Using Cues like location, images, people or context to recall information

In the memory series of the blog, i would try out tools and techniques to memorize information and put out my experiences (what worked, what did not..etc) here. Hope it will be useful to you, please comment incase if you have interesting thoughts on these tools and techniques.

Memorizing information will not just happen like a magic, conscious effort needs to be put to perceive information using all the senses, code it in a language which individual mind likes and then use cues/contextual cues to recall the information. Like any other skill - practice, measurement and conscious effort to improve will improve memory tremendously.