Mnemonist

Abstract: Foreword to the 1987 Edition Foreword to the First Edition Preface 1. Introduction 2. The Beginning of the Research 3. His Memory The Initial Facts Synesthesia Words and Images Difficulties Eidotechnique The Art Of Forgetting 4. His World People and Things Words 5. His Mind His Strong Points His Weak Points 6. His Control of Behavior The Objective Data A Pew Words About Magic 7. His Personality

Abstract: The memory organization of six autistic mnemonists was investigated in two experiments. The first of these provided some evidence that the material of special interest to the subjects, in the present instance bus numbers, was stored in memory in a categorized form. The second study showed that though the idiot-savant mnemonists did not differ from controls in the level of their general memory performance, the factor structure of a number of memory tests differed between the groups. In contrast to the controls, a verbal memory factor which seemed independent of measured verbal IQ was operative in the mnemonist subjects.

Abstract: The keyword method is a study technique devised to help people remember unfamiliar vocabulary items. The basic principle underlying this technique consists of associating the unfamiliar word with a familiar word that is physically similar to it. In this first section, we briefly examine the historical origin of the mnemonic keyword method. We have some reasons to expect this study technique to have been invented some time between the epoch of the first celebrated modern mnemonist, Raimond Lulle (1236–1315), and the end of the 19th century. Lulle and later famous mnemonists, such as Lambert Schenkel (1547–1630), were excellent public performers who strongly believed that mnemonic systems could be of practical value in the study of academic subjects. The modern history of mnemotechnics has also been guided by a concern for educational relevance, leading to successive improvements of many techniques. Indeed, many variants of the classical method of loci (see Lieury, 1980; Yates, 1966) were developed to facilitate the study of arithmetic, astronomy, anatomy, botany, geography, history, music, and physics.