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Mnemonic peg system

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The mnemonic peg system, invented by Henry Herdson is a memory aid that works by creating mental associations between two concrete objects in a one-to-one fashion that will later be applied to to-be-remembered information. Typically this involves linking nouns to numbers and it is common practice to choose a noun that rhymes with the number it is associated with. These will be the pegs of the system. These associations have to be memorized one time and can be applied repeatedly to new information that needs to be memorized.

Contents

Rhyming Peg-word System

The Rhyming peg-word system is very simple, as stated above and could look something like this:

  • 1-gun Visualize the first item being fired from a gun
  • 2-shoe Visualize an association between the second thing and a shoe
  • 3-tree Visualize the third item growing from a tree
  • 4-door Visualize the fourth item associated with a door
  • 5-hive Visualize the fifth item associated with a hive or with bees
  • 6-bricks Visualize the sixth item associated with bricks
  • 7-heaven Visualize the seventh item associated with heaven
  • 8-weight (or height) Visualize the eighth item on a weight (or height) as if you are heavy (or high)
  • 9-wine Visualize a glass containing the ninth item
  • 10-hen Visualize the tenth item associated with a chicken.

    • For example, to remember the following grocery list of 10 items:

  • Apple: Picture an apple being fired from a gun
  • Butter: Picture yourself stomping up and down on a stick of butter
  • Razor Blades: Picture a tree with razor blades for leaves
  • Soap: Picture a door made from soap
  • Bread: Picture bees flying from a loaf of bread as if it is a hive
  • Milk: Picture a brick house with milk jugs where the bricks should be
  • Cat food: Picture an open can of cat food with angel wings and a halo
  • Bacon: Picture bacon on a plate
  • Batteries: Picture a wine glass filled with batteries
  • Orange juice: Picture a hen being squeezed, and orange juice coming out

    • The Major System

    While it is common to link rhyming nouns with numbers, that is by no means the only system. There is also the Major system, which connects sounds to numbers. The Major System it is more complicated to learn than simple rhymes or alphabetic pegs, because it associates numbers 0-9 with a specific letter or sound, then larger numbers can combine to create words out of the sounds. It is limitless in the number of pegs it can produce. Furthermore, a recent modification to the Major System introduces the concept of dimensions. The most common association between numbers and letters is the following:

  • 0 = s, x, z
  • 1 = t,d
  • 2 = n
  • 3 = m
  • 4 = r
  • 5 = l
  • 6 = sh, ch, j, soft g
  • 7 = c, k, hard g, q
  • 8 = f, v
  • 9 = p, b

    • This would make the number 33 "MM" which could be made into the word "mom" to better aid in memorization or 92 is "PN" and could become "pen."

    The PAO System

    The Person-Action-Object (PAO) system is the most complex. It associates all numbers 00-99 with a distinctive person, action and object. Any six-digit number can be memorized by using the person assigned the first two digits, the action of the next two digits and the object of the third. Memory grand master, Ed Cooke, reportedly has been working on the Millennium PAO system, which would create an association for all numbers 000-999. For example:

  • The number 34 could be Frank Sinatra crooning into a microphone.
  • 13 could be David Beckham kicking a soccer ball.
  • 79 could then be Superman flying with a cape.

    • This would make the number 341379, Frank Sinatra kicking a cape.

    Application

    The peg system is commonly used by Mental Athletes for memory competitions for events like card memorization as well as digit memorization. The peg system has also been applied in a classroom with learning disabled students. The students that used the peg system performed significantly better than the control in both immediate and delayed tests.

    One complaint concerning the peg system is that it is often only applicable in mundane situations outside of the examples listed above. For example, the peg system can be used to remember grocery lists, key points in speeches, etc. However, this system can be used to remember a wide variety of objects or information. The peg system is a technique that can be applied in many different situations so as long as the information trying to be remembered is specific and tied to a unique retrieval cue, remembering can become more efficient.

    References

    Mnemonic peg system Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA