Читать книгу THE POWER OF MIND - William Walker Atkinson - Страница 39

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Treating of that great law of the mind, upon which depends very much of the faculty of recalling, known as Association—The sequence of our thoughts is as much the result of a law as is the rising and falling of the tides. Our thoughts and recorded impressions are always associated in some way, although sometimes it is difficult to trace the connection—This chapter discusses the subject of Association, showing the several forms and the rules governing each. Next to Attention, this subject is the most important feature of Memory Culture, and the subject itself is full of interest and opens up a great field of thought.

MANY OF us fancy that our thoughts, when not impelled in a certain direction by the Will, come floating through our minds at random and in obedience to no law. When we see the apparent lack of connection between succeeding trains of thought we may be excused for holding such an opinion. But this idea is far removed from the real state of affairs, for although not clearly apparent, there is always a connecting link between one line of thought and the one succeeding it. The law of association governs here, and is just as inflexible as is the law of cause and effect in other fields— just as unvarying as is the law of gravitation. The sequence of our thoughts is as much the result of law as is the fall of the apple from the tree—the rise and fall of the tides. Our ideas are always associated in some way, although in many cases we cannot clearly trace the connection. They come in groups, and each group, in turn, is associated with some other group.

In a previous chapter we spoke of the important part in the subject of Memory Culture played by Attention. Next to Attention we find Association the most important feature of the subject. The recording faculty of the memory depends largely upon the degree of attention bestowed upon the object or subject to be remembered, while the reproducing function depends very materially upon the closeness of the association by which the impression is linked to other impressions which have been previously recorded. Authorities on psychology go so far as to claim that the law of association is to psychology what the law of gravitation is to physics. The habit of correct association is one of the most important requisites in the cultivation of the power of recollection.

In recording or storing away impressions, the best results are obtained when we concentrate our attention upon the thing under consideration. In recollecting these impressions, however, the best results are obtained by being able to associate the desired impression with one or more other impressions, the greater the number of associated impressions the greater the ease of recollection. Unless we have obtained a clear impression, the recalled impression will be imperfect, and, unless the impression be associated in some way with other impressions, we cannot recall it at all.

The principle of association is based upon that remarkable tendency of an impression to become so connected with one or more other impressions, that the recalling of one impression will bring into the field of consciousness the associated impressions. Bain says: “Associations that are individually too weak to operate a revival may succeed in so doing by acting together.”

Ribot states that “the two principal facts which serve as a basis of association are resemblance and contiguity.”

Association by resemblance depends upon the fact that an impression, either new or recalled, has a tendency to revive a previously recorded impression which resembles it in some particular, and the two thus become associated in the memory. The first impression may not have been previously associated with the second, and the latter may have been recalled only through a long chain of associations, but when the two have once been closely considered together, they are therefore associated closely and one may recall the other without making use of the heretofore necessary chain of association. The two impressions may have been originally recorded at times far apart from each other, and at different places, but when the resemblance is close, or is afterward made close by attention, they become as closely associated as if they were contiguous in time or place. The trained mind readily sees points of resemblance between apparently widely separated things, and this perceived resemblance records itself in the memory. Such a mind needs but to be given a start and it will bring into the field of consciousness an amazing chain of associated ideas, facts, incidents, illustrations, etc. On the other hand, the careless mind, having paid no attention to the relation between things, is unable to recall separated impressions by means of this principle of association by resemblance, and is able to recall only those things which are associated by contiguity.

Association by contiguity is like counting a string of beads of all kinds, one after the other, in the order in which they were strung, while association by resemblance is like pulling out a drawer in which has been placed everything we know concerning the matter under consideration, and taking therefrom article after article as it presents itself, choosing and selecting the best for the occasion, irrespective of the time in which they have been filed away. Impressions so associated are readily recalled when an occasion presents itself which calls for the aid of our past experiences and impressions, the occasion being the primary cause of the recall of all the information and accumulated experiences upon the subject that have been impressed upon our memory.

Association by contiguity depends upon the fact that an impression, either new or received, has a tendency to recall other impressions recorded at the same time, or in immediate succession. Impressions that are recorded in close succession have a tendency to so associate themselves and join themselves together, that the recollection of the one will usually recall the others. There is a strong affinity between an impression and the one which immediately precedes or follows it. It may be said that, generally speaking, there is no such thing as an isolated impression. Each impression is practically a continuation of a preceding one, and the beginning of a succeeding one. As Ribot says: “When we read or hear a sentence, for example, at the commencement of the fifth word something of the fourth word still remains. The end of the fourth word impinges on the beginning of the fifth.”

In association by contiguity several impressions are recorded directly after the other, and when one is recalled it will bring the other in its train, and so on, from impression to impression. Thus it is easy to repeat a familiar sentence, word for word, as they occurred in the text, but we would find it quite difficult to repeat it backwards or to name haphazard the several words composing it. In a poem, the end of each word being associated with the beginning of the succeeding word, we find it easy to repeat them in that order, each word suggesting the next. The child repeats the alphabet, from a to z, readily, but ask him to recite them from z backwards to a and he will be unable to do it unless he has practiced it in that order. Some persons who have acquired considerable proficiency in feats of memory are able to repeat hundreds of words by the aid of this form of association, but find themselves unable to commence at any particular part of their task if they are compelled to omit the part preceding it. We have heard the story of Leyden, who could repeat an entire Act of Parliament from beginning to end, without missing a word, but who was unable to take up any named portion of it without going over the preceding sections.

Many elaborate systems of mnemonics have been based upon this law of contiguous association, but while these systems, and many based upon the law of association by resemblance, have been found useful as an aid to memorizing, and are quite ingenious, they soon prove cumbersome and intricate and serve to confuse the memory rather than to develop it. Without attempting to follow these systems, however, the student will find it useful to cultivate this faculty of associating impressions, as it is much easier to recall impressions when they are closely associated with other impressions along the lines of contiguity. This faculty may be developed by exercises designed to concentrate the attention upon an impression and the one immediately succeeding it, or preceding it, so that the two may become practically welded together. Others may then be added until they are connected in such a way that to remember one is to recall all. The closer the contact the easier the recall— the sooner they are connected the more complete the welding. If the two impressions are not quickly and closely connected, there is always the chance that an irrelevant thought may come in between them and interfere with the contiguous association.

An understanding of this great law of association of impressions shows us that when we wish to store away an isolated fact in such a way that we may readily recall it, we must associate it with some other impression already stored away. The more we can associate a fact with other known facts, the more readily will we recall it, and the more associations we can give an impression the better it is for the purpose. Things which were originally contiguously associated, but which were associated by resemblance, may be made contiguously associated by their recall by resemblance several times in the same order, as they thus fall under the law of contiguity as well as the law of resemblance. The greater and more numerous the resemblances, the easier and surer the recall. The apparently wonderful powers of memory of miscellaneous facts possessed by some well­read and close­observing men, is due to the fact that they are able to find points of resemblance between widely separated facts, and are able to run from one set of facts to another in a way impossible to a man who has not cultivated the power of association by resemblance. Such men will practically take hold of a loose end of thought, and then simply unwind the ball.