You may have heard the old song about “dem bones”—the leg bone’s connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone’s connected to the hip bone, the hip bone’s connected to the . . . and so on, until you end up with the head bone. Well, the body system for remembering short lists is something like that. You start with your foot and go up your body until you come to the hair on your head (or your bald pate if you don’t have any hair). Or you could go in the opposite direction, starting with your head. It’s essentially a number system, except you use your body—preferably for up to 10 items, though you could add more to your list by adding more body parts.
As in other association systems, you simply associate strong visual images for what you want to remember with that body part.
You can pick any body parts you prefer, but here’s how it would work if you have a shopping list with these items: glue, cat food, broccoli, chicken, grapes, sour cream, toothpaste, vitamins, orange juice, and CD disks. Starting at your foot, you might create the following image associations:
Your foot is stuck in a pot of glue.
A hungry cat is jumping on your knee looking for cat food.
A stalk of broccoli is sticking out of your pants pocket on your thigh.
A chicken is pecking at your belly button.
A bunch of grapes are hanging from your chest.
Your sore shoulders are being rubbed by sour cream.
You have a toothbrush with toothpaste on it sticking out of your mouth.
You have vitamin pills pasted onto your nose.
Your hair is covered with shiny orange juice.
You are holding several CD disks in your hand.
That’s how it works. Now here’s a list of items for you to try associating with different parts of your body. After you come up with a series of images, go over them in your mind. Then, close the book, and see how many you can remember on your own body. Afterwards, try creating your own shopping lists. Or play the Body Parts Game with some friends and have fun sharpening your memory—you could even call it an out-of-body experience!
Here’s your list to remember. You can connect the items with any body part.
Body Parts and List to Remember | |
|---|---|
Camera |  |
Milk | |
Eggs | |
Shampoo | |
Candy | |
Lettuce | |
Tomatoes | |
Coffee | |
Honey | |
Soap | |
Now create your own list here:
Body Parts and List to Remember | |
|---|---|
| |
Play with at least three people. In turn, each person creates a list of any type—from a shopping list to objects in the office—and describes his or her body associations with those items. Then, the other players try to list as many of the items in that list as possible and announce when their list is completed by calling out, “Got it.” The person with the longest list wins—or if there is a tie, the first person to call “Got it” wins.
As you play this game, your ability to imagine connections and remember lists should improve, too.