A simple indication of the potential of mnemonic systems can be seen in what are often considered "Kids' Systems," or gimmicks and party tricks. In some ways, the "Peg Systems" are just that! Even so, the Peg Systems are ideal for demonstrating the amazing abilities within the brain we can easily tap into.
The “Rhyming Peg System”, as the
name indicates, uses a rhyming image which represents each number
such as 1 sun, 2 shoe, 3 tree and so on to 10. Therefore sun,
shoe etc. not only form a solid image for each number, but through
the use of rhyming, act as an information trigger and backup to
the peg itself..
The “Picture Peg System” is the same
as the Rhyme Peg System except that instead of rhyming the numbers,
an image is created from the appearance of the numbers up to ten.
So number one looks like a power pole, number two a swan, and
so on.
| Picture Peg System | Rhyming Peg System | |
| 0= hula hoop | 0= hero | |
| 1= power pole | 1= sun | |
| 2= Swan | 2= shoe | |
| 3= handcuffs | 3= tree | |
| 4= sail | 4= war | |
| 5= butcher’s hook | 5= hive | |
| 6= golf club | 6= sticks | |
| 7= boomerang | 7= heaven | |
| 8= egg timer | 8= gate | |
| 9= balloon | 9= vine | |
| 10= fatty & skinny | 10= hen |
The Link System, if you can call
it a system, is simply the technique of linking information together
or tying it to a peg. This is accomplished by creating visual
stories, so that information and related objects interact via
pegs or other mnemonic devices, as described later. The sun in
the Rhyming Peg System represents “1” which in turn
can be linked to the first item in a grocery list, a key item
from a study, or to any other information.
Take a shopping list with bread as the first item
on the list. Using the Rhyming Peg System, bread could be pictured
being burnt to toast by a huge, hot sun, sun representing “1,”
or the first item on the list. We do the same for each item in
the list, linking them to the matching number/peg. The stories
need not be extensive, but are often best if kept simple. Make
the images weird, exaggerate the situation, and the link becomes
more memorable. It is also important to have the objects interact
together. To recall, you can pick any number, in any order with
its associated imagine. (1 = sun) to trigger back the linked image
(bread).
