Working memory

[amadeus]

How’s yours?

Quoting my own post here from the LGBTQ thread:

I disagree [remembering LGBTQ rather than its alphabetical order BGLQT] it is any easier, taking the average length of things people can retain in short-term memory is seven.

I find generally for things like this, it comes as a second nature after repetition of seeing it, same as I think of R, S, T, L, N, E for the letters given to bonus round contestants on Wheel of Fortune.

Phone numbers, even using the mental process of chunking (123-456-7890 for example is three chunks) is tough for me unless I can associate something with it, like a TV commercial jingle, though I suppose those are filed away in long-term memory—especially given that I haven’t heard many of them in years, like 1-800-588-2300 (Empire Carpets)

 

[Snowygerry]

Repetition still works, repeat whatever it is you want to remember several times a day at first, increasing the interval over time to retain what you have memorized.

This memory model is attributed to German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus. In the 1880s, he conducted pioneering research by memorising nonsense syllables and testing his recall over time.

Spaced Repetition: The Ultimate Guide to Remembering What You Learn

What is spaced repetition and how can it help you to remember what you learn? Discover this powerful memory technique today.

www.growthengineering.co.uk

 

[Kyriakos]

How’s yours?

Quoting my own post here from the LGBTQ thread:



I find generally for things like this, it comes as a second nature after repetition of seeing it, same as I think of R, S, T, L, N, E for the letters given to bonus round contestants on Wheel of Fortune.

Phone numbers, even using the mental process of chunking (123-456-7890 for example is three chunks) is tough for me unless I can associate something with it, like a TV commercial jingle, though I suppose those are filed away in long-term memory—especially given that I haven’t heard many of them in years, like 1-800-588-2300 (Empire Carpets)

LGBTQ, one has to suppose, tends to be saved in most people's memory in two ways; both as single name and acronym with tied meaning - so both as "one thing" and many. One's phone number (or important social security numbers) on the other hand typically is saved as "one thing" despite being a group of often arbitrary symbols. Association with memories (of various types; from simple sensory such as phonetically recalling the spelling of words, to complex and even particular) is a secondary way of saving such information, as is tying it to a calculation (that itself in time becomes stored in various ways, as memory is recursive by nature).
As a child, I was finding the naming of the months June, July to be very arbitrary (due to their similarity they weren't originally stored as unique members of a group of twelve terms), so I used the calculation that they are in opposite order of the alphabetical one (here n comes before l) and then the memory of that was stored as a single thing. But there are endless multitudes of ways to store such, if it is picked up as a discrepancy for idiosyncratic reason (for example, if the fourth of July was prominent for the person due to nationality, they'd have ample sensory reason to place it in the center of Summer). More commonly, I am sure most people simply felt there was no discrepancy and therefore stored those two names the same way they did the rest of the months.
Memory is, of course, one of the main prerequisites of thought.

 

[amadeus]

acronym

Not an acronym!

Unless you say li-guh-buh-te-kyu. Liggabuttekew. Leegabatique.

More commonly, I am sure most people simply felt there was no discrepancy and therefore stored those two names the same way they did the rest of the months.

I still can’t remember which months have 31 days other than October and December.

 

[Snowygerry]

I still can’t remember which months have 31 days other than October and December.

There’s a neat trick using the knuckles of your fists.

 

[EnglishEdward]

And just to confuse old me, they sometimes add an extra I for Indetermined or Intersex or whatever.

 

[amadeus]

There’s a neat trick using the knuckles of your fists.

I remember being taught that, but I only have five fingers and thus unable to complete the year.

 

[Kyriakos]

Not an acronym!

Unless you say li-guh-buh-te-kyu. Liggabuttekew. Leegabatique.

How do you mean? An acronym certainly doesn't have to be pronounced as the individual letters, eg Nato isn't pronounced En-eh-ee-tee-oh. But it can be (as is the case with lgbtq, because it has all consonants).

I still can’t remember which months have 31 days other than October and December.

Apart from the four starting with the letters of the nested acronym, for 30 days the rest have no jans (ala 'no chance') - and j is for June while a for April.
Alternatively you can recall that if one month has 30 days (eg September), the next will not have 30 - it's counterproductive to remember the analogue with 31 as then there are two exceptions, July-August and December-January.

 

[amadeus]

How do you mean? An acronym certainly doesn't have to be pronounced as the individual letters.

This is exactly it—an acronym is pronounced as a word: NASA, scuba, DOS.

LGBTQ is not an acronym, just like CIA or WWE.

 

[Kyriakos]

This is exactly it—an acronym is pronounced as a word: NASA, scuba, DOS.

LGBTQ is not an acronym, just like CIA or WWE.

You must have typed it as the edit got in Both ways are acronyms; the term simply means a name (nym) formed by the edges (acra) of each constituent word nested in it.

@amadeus , googling it a bit, there is the term "initialism", which is specifically defined by the abbreviated name having the constituent letters pronounced as they sound, although wiki states that acronym can still be (formally too) used for that as well.

 

[danjuno]

1-800-588-2300 (Empire Carpets)

Aaand that's another memory unlocked for me.

 

[Evie]

Had it tested a few years back as part of broader assessment regarding some cognitive and learning differences I was experiencing.

It's quite satisfactory, though there are other cognitive areas that are more up my alley.