I noticed this very thing when I started learning ASL again recently. I could fly right through sign after sign, but isn't it just recall? I mean did I really forget? Well, maybe . . . I guess . . . Hmmm.
Well, mother, there are two types of memory retrieval: recognition and recall. Recognition is remembering something when given a cue to remember it by. Recall is remembering something with no cues. For instance, say someone asks you to give them the name of our state representative; this is recall. You are trying to directly remember something without aids. Now say you can't remember, so you ask your friend to throw out random first names. This is recognition. Eventually, one of those names will be the correct first name, and you will recognize that, thus you remember the full name. Recognition is much easier than recall.

If you really want to learn ASL, you should learn it by recall. Try not to use the book as much as you can. Here are some steps on how to do this:

What I mean by forgetting and relearning is that you at first learn something so you can repeat it by very short-term memory, then you ignore it and go on to something else. Now the next day, you will try to recall what you memorized yesterday. Chances are, you will have forgotten it. What you do now is go through the same steps you used to memorize it and relearn it. You will find that this time around, you memorized it much more quickly. Repeat this day after day until you can't forget it, no matter how hard you try. It shouldn't take very long at all, and it's very effective.

Here's a nice example. Take this grid of numbers:

17 89 21 45 65
32 45 87 34 61
96 49 47 12 70
44 81 30 10 17
21 94 96 75 25

The easiest way to begin memorizing this grid is to split it up into easier-to-manage parts, for instance, into five rows of five numbers each. Now, you just memorize each row individually. However, you must also have some way to link each row together into a grid. It's quite difficult to remember the whole grid if it's split into five isolated chunks with no associations between them. So to solve that, also memorize the first column of numbers. Now when you go to recall the grid, you can start by recalling this column, and then every number in that column serves as a retrieval cue for the row it represents. Another way you could go about this is to memorize each row individually, plus the beginning number of the next row. This is the continuous way of memorizing, and it is also linear instead of two-dimensional like the first way.

Don't waste anytime in memorizing this. Go through it as fast as possible. If you can repeat it once, then that's all you need to do. Then tomorrow, see if you can recall it. Chances are, you probably won't even know where to start! But this is good. Now, go through the same memorization process as you did the day before, and do not take any short cuts. It will be tempting to pass over some steps, as you may have memorized them, but you must go through the same steps for this to work effectively. Parts that were passed over in relearning it will be more susceptible to forgetting than parts that were memorized thoroughly. Even without short cuts, you will find that you memorized it much more quickly than before. Then the next day, you may be able to recall it easily; maybe not. Keep repeating these steps until you are confident of your learning.

Hope that was helpful.


Your INTp friend,

Cone