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Memory Mnemonics Research Paper

Mattingly 1 Marissa Mattingly Mr. Paczynski Science LA-1 November 30, 2016 Abstract Whenever there is a test on a long list of words, it can be pretty hard to remember it. This project was all about what will help someone remember that list, and which one seems to help that person the best. Mnemonics are a way to help someone remember something, so in order to test this, the experiment consisted of volunteers who had to remember a list of twenty cities in California. The results showed that mnemonics do indeed help a person remember a list of anything. The next experiment tested which mnemonic device: word, song, rhyme, or connection helped the volunteer remember the list of groceries best. The results for this experiment showed that all mnemonics tested were very effective in helping the person to remember the list. The conclusion that this experiment comes up with is that anyone who uses mnemonics and puts their creativity to the test while using them, will be able to remember a list with this very helpful tool.

Marissa Mattingly 2 Acknowledgements I give credit to Allyson Dela Cruz, Lilly Maher, Bella Delgado, Natalia Delgado, and Mia Cora Saavedra for being the volunteers for my experiments.

Marissa Mattingly 3 Question and Hypothesis How do mnemonics help? Are some types of mnemonics more effective than others? I think that mnemonics will help you remember a list of something better than without. I think that all mnemonics, whichever one you choose to help you with whatever you might need, are very effective.
 * Questions: **
 * Hypothesis: **

Marissa Mattingly 4 Background Research on All Different Types of Mnemonics Mnemonics are tools that can help you remember a list of something in any way that you want. I use them all the time to help me memorize a long list of things. Mnemonics are great memory techniques because you can use them in any way to help you remember something. There are really no limits to the type of mnemonic you can create as long as it helps you remember what you need. Based on all the research on this topic, I know that there are many different types of mnemonics that you can use to remember a list of things. For example, you have music mnemonic, which is when you create a song with all the words from the list to help you remember it. An example of this would be the Fifty Nifty United States song. There is also rhyme mnemonic, which is when you use all the words in a rhyme to help you remember the list. You may use Expression/ Word mnemonic which is when you create a funny sentence using the beginning letter of each word to come up with it. As an example, you may want to remember the six kingdoms of life on Earth by thinking,“Bob Asked Patrick For Pants Again,” to stand for bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, plants, and animals. Another one would be connection mnemonic. Connection mnemonic is when you make connections with the list to remember it. The volunteers in my experiment made connections by using names, adjectives, stories, and other random connections to help them memorize the list. Other mnemonics include making models, taking notes, making organizers, and creating an image in your mind or on paper to help you remember what you need to. As you can see, there are many different types of mnemonics that to choose from if you ever need help remembering something. Marissa Mattingly 5 Procedure and Materials

For the first experiment, I created two groups, one control and one experimental. I had the control group memorize a list of something without using mnemonics to help them. I waited about an hour and then asked them to come back and tell me what they remembered. Then, I had the experimental group remember the same list while using mnemonics. After about an hour, I asked them to tell me what they remembered. Finally, I compared the results. For the second, I created two different groups with different mnemonics to help them remember a list of something. One was word and the other was music. Then, I did the same thing as before to see which one was more effective. The next time I had volunteers come over for experiments, they were each on their own and had to remember their mnemonic and list of groceries. One had the rhyme mnemonic, the other, music, and the other word. After about an hour, they were tested on what they remembered. Then, they were each given another list of groceries to remember using connection mnemonic. After about another hour, they were tested and the results were compared. My materials include the lists for the volunteers to remember.

Marissa Mattingly 6 Results This shows how mnemonics helped the volunteers remember more of the cities in California with mnemonics. We can clearly see that using mnemonics does help people remember things better. This shows how word mnemonic helps compared to music mnemonic. I had them separate into the same groups, and use different mnemonics. This time they had to remember a list of 15 countries in Africa. Marissa Mattingly 7 Next, I had them each remember a list of groceries using different mnemonics. I created the mnemonic for them and all they had to do was remember the mnemonic and the words. Then, after about an hour, they were each tested to see what they remembered. After that experiment, I gave them a list of fifteen grocery items to remember using connection mnemonic. They each used their connections differently because it was a connection to what they specifically chose it to be related to. ** Note: ** Everyone said that when they are being tested, they visualize the paper with the words on it to help them remember. Marissa Mattingly 8 Conclusion
 * Volunteer || Experimental or Control || How Many Cities They Remembered ||
 * Mia || Control || 7/20 without mnemonics ||
 * Lilly || Experimental || 16/20 with mnemonics ||
 * Bella || Control || 5/20 without mnemonics ||
 * Natalia || Experimental || 15/20 with mnemonics ||
 * Group and Mnemonic ||  How Many Countries Were Remembered  ||
 * Natalia: Group 1 and music || 13/15 ||
 * Bella: Group 2 and word || 11/15 ||
 * Lilly: Group 1 and music || 13/15 ||
 * Mia: Group 2 and word || 14/15 ||
 * Notes: ** Natalia and Lilly were supposed to use rhyme mnemonic, but found that it was too hard to do in only fifteen minutes, so if you’re looking for something to do quickly, this one isn’t the one. Bella ended up leaving so she worked by herself and Mia worked with me.
 * Volunteer ||  Which Mnemonic  ||  What They Remembered  ||
 * Lilly || Rhyme || Remembered rhyme and all words ||
 * Natalia || Music || Remembered song and 7/8 words ||
 * Allyson || Word || Remembered sentence and all words ||
 * Volunteer ||  How They Used Connection  ||  How Many Grocery Items They Remembered  ||
 * Allyson || By using names || Remembered 14/15 but remembered connection for the one she didn’t remember ||
 * Lilly || Used a story for one column, and other random connections for the other || Remembered all but forgot connection for one ||
 * Natalia || Used adjectives, and a little story || Remembered 14/15 ||

With the results, we can most definitely see that mnemonics do indeed help a person remember a list of something. Every mnemonic that I tested seemed to each be pretty effective. My hypothesis states that I do think that each mnemonic is very effective. The results prove that this is true. I believe that if you put your mind to it, and come up with whichever mnemonic you mind allows, you will be able to use this awesome technique. I think that some mnemonics are more useful for some activities than others, so whichever one seems to be more useful in that specific activity is the one you should use. I also think that the more creative you are, the more the mnemonic will stay in your mind and help you to remember it.

Marissa Mattingly 9 Works Cited Congos, Dennis. “9 Types of Mnemonics for Better Memory” //The Learning Center Exchange.// 24 Jan. 2005. []

Science Buddies Staff. "Memory Mnemonics" //Science Buddies//. Science Buddies, 15 Oct. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2016 []