of ideas_ in the
mind. They all make use of the same basis for memory that any of us use
every time we remember anything, from the commonest event which occurred
last hour to the most abstruse bit of philosophy which we may have in
our minds. They all tie the fact to be remembered to some other fact
which is sure of recall, and then trust the old fact to bring the new
along with it when it again comes into the mind.

Artificial devices may be permissible in remembering the class of facts
which have no logical associates in which we can relate them; but even
then I cannot help feeling that if we should use the same care and
ingenuity in carefully recording the seemingly unrelated facts that we
do in working out the device and making the association in it, we should
discover hidden relations for most of the facts we wish to remember, and
we should be able to insure their recall as certainly and in a better
way than through the device. Then, also, we should not be in danger of
handing over to the device various facts for which we should discover
relations, thus placing them in the logical body of our usable
knowledge where they belong.

8. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

1. Carefully consider your own powers of memory and see whether you can
decide which of the four types of brain you have. Apply similar tests to
your classmates or a group of school children whom you have a chance to
observe. Be sure to take into account the effects of past training or
habits of memory.

2. Watch in your own memorizing and also that of school children for
failures in recall caused by lack of proper associations. Why is it
particularly hard to commit what one does not understand?

3. Observe a class in a recitation or an examination and seek to
discover whether any defects of memory revealed are to be explained by
lack of (1) repetition, (2) recency, (3) vividness in learning.

4. Make a study of your own class and also of a group of children in
school to discover their methods of memorizing. Have in mind the rules
for memorizing given in section 5 of this chapter.

5. Observe by introspection your method of recall of historical events
you have studied, and note whether _images_ form an important part of
your memory material; or does your recall consist chiefly of bare
_facts_? In how far does this depend on your method of _learning_ the
facts in the first place?

6. Carefully consider your experience from cramming yo