Since I've been doing RTK for about three weeks now, it has changed my perception of how (my) memory works. I used to think I was just bad at remembering things, but now that I'm remembering over 1000 random seeming symbols in this short amount of time, I'm starting to be less and less sure about that. But how is it that I can remember these things so well when I'm such a giant scatterbrain?

First I thought it was because of the stories. Because I can make them interesting, they become memorable, because things you are interested in get more of your focus, right? Your brain knows they're important and so it starts making connections. So the more outrageous a story, the easier it is to remember, right?

Well, thinking about it, it doesn't seem to work that way. I mean, it mostly does, but I think this is a case of correlation, rather than causation. I've thought up intricate stories for many Kanji, and most of them work well, but for some reason I couldn't quite fathom, some of the more seemingly memorable ones didn't stick at all. On the other hand, there have been Kanji I rushed past in ten seconds with insanely stupid and nonsensical mnemonics that didn't seem memorable at all - and didn't appear to have anything to do with my way of thinking.

The example here would be "rather", with my sentence of "I'd rather have a nail in my eye than live in a house without a heart" - now not only is this not a concrete image in my mind where I usually have some sort of story going, the elements are in a completely jumbled mess that doesn't correlate with their place in the Kanji at all - yet I remember it completely fine.

I've come to the conclusion that memory works better the more "connections" you make, no matter what kind of connections this may be. The way language works is that no single sign, symbol, sound, or utterance means anything in isolation, and I'm starting to think of memory in the same way. Meaning is not something that's inherent in a single thought, feeling, memory, or word, but instead something that comes from the connections with other things, which in turn derive their meaning from those connections.

This at least explains why (at least for me) "bigger" Kanji with more elements are easier to remember (I don't think I can ever forget "dilute" or "ring"), because it's got more elements that are being connected to each other. The ones Heisig gives only pictographs for, meanwhile, are the ones I have the toughest time with.

How does that help? Well, in the short term, I don't think I can do much with this knowledge, but I've been thinking of how to apply it to other places in my life. I want to remember to do the things i want to do and be able to recall them, and in general to have a better memory.

To this end, I started building a "memory palace" in Minecraft (sort of a Lego video game where you can build a building as big as you want). It's a technique I've known about for a long time, but never really considered. Now that I understand Heisig's method, however, I see how something that seemingly requires a lot of effort can make things a lot easier.

I've already filled 6 boxes in my first room with Kanji (both a visual image and my muscle memory of its stroke order, so that's another connection being made). The second box, for example, has the "dish" Kanji in it, telling me to remember to do the dishes. The sixth box has the "water" Kanji (for Wednesday), the "study" Kanji (for homework) and the "martyr" Kanji (for martyr) in it - with that I can easily remember I need to study my homework for the lecture I'm having about martyrs for next Wednesday. In the mailbox I have the "prison" Kanji. The mailbox is meant to contain the things that I want to remember just before I leave home, so before leaving home I'll always "check" my mailbox. The "prison" Kanji reminds me to take along my "cell" phone, which I often forget.

It's in the early stages, but I found that this has helped me remember these particular Kanji extremely well, as they're making more and more connections with things in my life. (especially the "occupation" Kanji, which has stumped me in reviews for like 20 times in a row, is now easy since I know it's in the fourth box in the corner of the room and is meant to remind me that I really need to get a job)

Since I'm already this far into RTK, it won't be replacing the mnemonics, it won't even help all that much with most of what I'm doing, though I could see this helping a great deal if I was just starting out. In a way, it's more of an addition to the mnemonics that makes an already surprisingly easy task even easier. In a way, I find that the Kanji and the memory palace complement each other, strenghtening each other's "connections" the more they're being used.

Maybe people who want to build a memory place should actually go through RTK first so they have a Kanji base to work from and make their lives easier, who knows? At least for myself I now see RTK as something useful even if I never learn Japanese at all, which is kind of a silly thought

"I've come to the conclusion that memory works better the more "connections" you make"

This, a thousand times this.

From my very basic understanding, the brain is constantly shuffling and reshuffling, prioritizing information in order to filter what is more important in order to maintain balance and survive. How it is prioritized is something your brain doesn't "know", it's something learned, primarily through habitual re-enforcement and limbic response.

Those memories which involve trauma, ecstacy, high level stress, pain, pleasure, etc. are due to information from the world which light a fire through the limbic system- the emotional connection to our perception of the world. Such incidents can in effect cause a massively increased rise in chemical response, causing the creating of neural pathways, dendrite connections, synapse activity, etc. All of this in effect alters the brain state in a physical manner in which these pathways become easier or common "shortcuts" in how stimuli is responded to and the "learned" chemical response in order to keep the "learned" standard in check- regardless of whether or not this is "positive behaviour" or "negative behaviour". The brain isn't picky enough.

This memory recall is unfortunately hard to control, due to the stimuli involved, and not based in the rational processing centers of the neomammalian brain (cerebral neocortex), giving rise to uncontrolled emotional responses as opposed to controlled and practical logical output.

Though what is possible, and highly evident due to the large amount of non-emotionally driven factoids, numbers and arbitrary information within our memory, is that it is well established that neural pathways with many strong connections can be established within the cerebral regions and with habit, can become "shortcuts" in favour of emotional reactions. Essentially, like habitual things, repetition is a vital factor which, given enough sustained habitual repetition and recollection over time, these pathways are not only forced have higher chemical activity, but can be achieved through even seemingly passive means.


RtK combined with an SRS program utilizes this phenomenon, taking advantage over the notion that the brain does not recognize the passing of time simply by hours passing, but as a measure of the targeted activity repeated over short phases between immediate response and reshuffling/filtering brain activity. Like a surfer paddling through the sets, even if his progress is slow, the short bursts of activity between the waves, provided he or she does not drop paddling altogether, will eventually make it beyond the breakers.


From my basic understanding, that is.


EDIT:
To add, in respect to the method I am currently using to "Remember the Kanji", relates to this memory mapping. It is what I call "memory stitching" (Thanks to RtK, "a stitch in time saves nine" instantly came to my head... I now remember corny proverbs... Heisig, you bastard). The basic routine is as follows:

1. Read through, write down and take into account the primitives and stories/make up short phrases for a block of 200 kanji. Knowing the stories isn't as important.
2. Go back to the first 50 of the block, this time more carefully (and since it's still in fresh memory, a new perspective generally comes to light).
3. Open Anki and click to "learn" the next 50.
4. Review all failed cards (there are generally a few to redo) until I feel confident enough for the moment.
5. Repeat steps 2.-4. for the next set of 50 out of the 200 block.
6. Once set of 200 block is complete, I review the last 400 cards currently in the deck, with Anki (temporarily suspending all cards prior to the current 400, then removing from suspension afterwards, for the normal automatic daily review schedule).

This method takes a lot of time and hours, with a vast amount of writing and reviewing, and it really only suited to those both with the time and mental planning to schedule the time-frame without losing motivation. As someone with a memory like a goldfish, this method, while probably painfully intense for most, it showing at least a progressing increase in short term memory recall for myself. At 900 cards on my fifth day, I can't complain. As long as I put in the time, Anki and Heisig does the work for me.