Studying Japanese With Mnemonic Devices
I learned in my psychology classes that memory is most deeply encoded when associated with concrete imagery. That is, memories are strongest when they appeal to all the senses and can readily recreate an imaginable scene or context. Rote memorization (e.g. reviewing flashcards over and over) is considered a weak encoding technique because it relies solely on repetition to encode memory. Herein lies the problem with remembering new vocabulary, especially new vocabulary in a second language. Is there some way to study it using "stronger" memory encoding techniques? Rote flashcards are boring and don't work very well. The memory of them is literally gone in a flash.