The Ancient Greeks developed basic memory systems called Mnemonics, a name derived from there goddess of Memory, Mnemosyne. In the ancient world, a trained memory we s an immense asset, particularly in public life. There were no convenient devices for taking notes and early Greek orators delivered long speeches with great accuracy because they learned the speeches using Mnemonics system.
The Greeks discovered that human memory is largely an Associative process – wick works by linking things together. For example, think of a pineapple. The moment your brain registers the work ‘pineapple; it recalls the shape, color, taste, texture and smell of that fruit. All these things are associated in your memory. When you recall what you had for lunch yesterday, that may remind you of something someone said during lunch, which may recall the memory of some background music which was playing, which may evoke something which occurred ten years ago, and this can go on and on. This association does not have to be logical – they can be completely random or absurd. In fact, the more absurd the association, the better the recall.
