Abstract Material

Previously, we have discussed several different mnemonics (Link, Loci, Peg) that rely on your ability to visualize an association between two different items. These visualizations are easy to produce when the items to remember are concrete nouns such as frog, rose, or moon, but they become more difficult when you need to memorize abstract words such as wealthy, tired, or attention. Try one of these three techniques to make effective visualizations from abstract words.

Visualize something related to the word
If you need to memorize the word "wealthy," you might visualize a bag of money or a pile of gold coins. To memorize "Abraham Lincoln," you could visualize a stovetop hat.

Visualize a cause or effect of the word
To memorize the word "tired," you could imagine a bed with fluffy pillows. For the abstract word "strong," you could visualize some barbell weights.

Visualize something that sounds like the word
For the word "look," you could use the rhyming word "book" instead. For the word "attention," you could use "a tent + nun."

Once you have created a concrete image from an abstract word, you can then use the other methods to remember this image.