Another powerful way to remember what you observe or experience is to imagine yourself as a camera or audio recorder. The purpose of these techniques is to remind you to pay extra attention to details, so you pick up and record even more. Then, you have more complete and firmly encoded material for better recall later.
The basic way these techniques work is that you use a trigger you have created, such as snapping your fingers a certain way or telling yourself that “Now I am a camera . . . Now I am a tape recorder.” Then, you go into record mode, where you pay extra careful attention to whatever you are observing, hearing, or otherwise experiencing. By reminding yourself to use either of these techniques, you are more alert and attentive, so you take in more detailed information. Chapter 5 introduced some exercises to help you enhance your powers of observation.
Pick out the times when you want to use one of these techniques, since it might be too tiring to stay continually at this heightened state of alert. You might find you are overwhelmed by information overload. But used selectively, being a camera or audio recorder can truly enhance how much you can remember. For example, I used these techniques when I was doing participant observation research for sociology and anthropology. I couldn’t take notes or use a tape recorder, since this would unnerve the people who were in the study, so I had to remember as much as I could as accurately and in as much detail as possible. Typically, these periods of intense observation and listening went on for about one to three hours, though sometimes they lasted all day. As soon as I got home, I would go to my typewriter or computer (yes, I did once use a typewriter when I first started doing this research in the mid-1970s), and write up my notes—what sociologists and anthropologists call “field notes.” Thinking of myself as a video camera or tape recorder helped me to experience what was happening more intensely in the first place, so I was able to recall more later.
When you use these techniques, it’s best to recall what you can soon after the experience you recorded. Otherwise, as you start to do other things, the memory will fade and you won’t be able to get as much detail.
Now here’s a more detailed description of each technique. Try putting them into practice in different situations. Then, within an hour or two, see how much detail you can remember as you write down your notes on what you experienced. As you continue to practice these techniques, your ability to both encode and retrieve more detail will improve. At the end of this chapter are tips to help you keep track of your progress in using these techniques.
In the “I am a camera” technique, imagine that you are either a still camera or video camera. As you look, imagine there are frames around whatever you are looking at, and observe closely.
With a still camera, you can really zero in on the scene, so this is an especially good technique for something that has little motion, such as looking at scenery, a room in a house, or a picture in an art gallery or museum. Imagine you are taking a photograph of the scene and carefully observe everything in the picture. Notice the colors, shapes, lines, objects, people, and the relationship of one object or person to another. You can look at the overall scene or zoom in to focus on an area of the photo you find especially interesting.
In practicing with this technique, take a minute or two to care fully observe. A minute is fine if this is a relatively simple shot, but if there’s lots of detail, take two minutes. Test yourself by either writing down everything you observed in the photo or drawing what you observed. Afterwards, look back at the scene and score 1 point for everything you recognized and subtract 1 point for everything you incorrectly put in the picture, to get your score. Last, count up the number of different objects or people in the scene and divide your score by the total to get your rating as a percentage. You should find as you continue to use this technique that your score will increase over time.
Instead of seeing what you are observing as a still camera, you see everything in motion. To start the process, imagine a frame around what you are looking at, and imagine that you are filming with a video camera. Imagine that you are either the camera or the person looking through the lens.
Then, pay careful attention to what you see on the screen. As with the still camera technique, notice the colors, shapes, lines, objects, people, and relationship of one object or person to another. You can look at the overall scene or zoom in to focus on an area of the screen you find especially interesting. In addition, notice any movement or interaction between the people in the scene. If you are close enough, include audio, and listen closely to what people are saying; otherwise, just focus on what you observe.
The technique is best suited to anything that involves movement, from making observations from your own moving vehicle to observing a meeting or interaction between two people or going to a sporting event. Later, imagine that you hit the replay button and replay the scene in your mind. As you replay the scene, carefully look at what you see. To focus in on specific details, hit your mental pause button, and look more closely. Release it to continue the scene.
You can’t test yourself as precisely with the video camera technique as with the still camera technique, since everything is moving, so you can’t look back at the scene to figure out how well you noted what was there. However, you can give yourself a subjective rating about how well you were able to recall what you observed. How much detail were you able to see in the playback? Then, notice how well you are doing each time you do this. Generally, you will find you feel increasingly comfortable about doing this and recall more as you get used to the technique.
In this technique, you imagine that you are a tape recorder or a cassette recorder and try to encode and recall in as much detail as you can. It’s a technique that works well when you are mainly listening to something rather than viewing it, such as when you are listening to a radio talk show, lecture, or phone conversation.
In this case, imagine that you have turned yourself on as the recorder and are recording whatever you are listening to. If there is a visual image, such as a professor giving a class or speaker doing a presentation, only look at that if it enhances the audio recording you are making of what the person is saying. For example, there may be gestures and facial expressions that relate to the message. But your focus should be on the audio message.
Keep the recording going for as long as you can pay careful attention. If you find your attention wandering, put the recorder on pause; rest your mind for 5 to 10 minutes; then resume listening carefully. When you feel you have recorded enough—or feel you can’t concentrate well anymore—stop the process.
Again, you can’t test yourself precisely, since you are listening to words that are continually changing; there is no way to actually capture those words. But as with the video camera technique, you can give yourself a subjective rating—in this case, rate how well you were able to recall what you heard. Ask yourself, “How much detail was I able to recall the playback?”
Again, notice how you are doing each time you do this. Generally, you will feel increasingly comfortable doing this and you will recall more—and recall it more accurately, too.
Practice working with these different techniques and see which ones work best for you. Initially, remind yourself to start the recorder going—either by consciously reminding yourself or by using the trigger that we mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. In time, you will find the reaction becomes automatic. Whenever you see or hear something that you want to pay closer attention to, the camera or recorder in your mind will immediately kick in and start recording.
A good way to chart your progress is to notice how much more you are able to remember about something you have observed or heard when you have the recorder on versus when it is off. In addition, notice how much more you are able to record as you continue to use this technique. To chart the difference, rate your experience of your ability to remember from 1 (not so good) to 5 (doing great).