Memorization technique through ADA. Participation requested!

Hi guys! I'll just get straight to the point. I've always been able te memorize things quikly, which helps me greatly with my studies (no bragging intended here). When the thread about ADA came out, I tried it (I still use it btw). I noticed that doing ADA costs the same kind of 'energy' I use when memorizing. If we turn this around, it might mean that by learning to be aware (not necessarily all day long, don't worry :P) we can also learn to easily memorize things. I will do my best to describe the technique below, I shall leave the rest of the experiment to your creativity. You could try to learn words and then do a test about it: one time with and one time without the technique. You can also just test it out a few times IRL and see if you think it works. After all, we are not looking for proof and numbers, we just want to know whether it is effective. Even if it only feels effective, it can give confidence, and that might help as well. If you want to participate, please leave a message below, so I know how much interest there is amongst the forum. When posting results, please post both the experiment and the results. Naturally, any side effects noticed can also be posted (now that I mention it, please do so if you notice any).
Here is how to actually do it:

-First, read the tutorial on ADA by KingYoshi.
-Second, try this out. Doing it all day takes a lot of practice and helps LDing for sure, but you only need a short while for this experiment. Now that you are doing it, you are probably able to imagine that it costs a lot of 'mental energy' to keep this up all day long. That is the energy we are going to use.
-Next, focus your awareness on reading (or seeing, if it isn't a text) and memorizing. By doing so, you focus all the energy you would be using on your five senses on just your eyes and your brain.

That's all I think. This may not even work for you, I haven't even been able to confirm whether it is effective for anyone other than me so far. If this is the case, don't worry and please post that below.

All that remains is a warning from me. Using this technique too extensive or for a long period of time can cause a headache. I haven't confirmed any other side-effects, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. If you are taking part in this, please post everything you experienced while doing it. Results, side-effects, the technique not working at all,... anything. Good luck, and please be carefull not to overdo it!

I'm in, I need something to try other than just "doing reality checks twice a day". So it's focusing my awareness into one sense when I think of it, instead of just trying to be aware throughout the entire day is it?

I think we are on to something here:)

I'll give it a go ^_^

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Originally Posted by Avalanche

I'm in, I need something to try other than just "doing reality checks twice a day". So it's focusing my awareness into one sense when I think of it, instead of just trying to be aware throughout the entire day is it?

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I may have explained it wrong. It's a modification of ADA focussing on the eyes and memorization, it is not a technique to induce lucids. For inducing lucids, full ADA works great. This is purely for memorizing (perhaps it has other uses, feel free to experiment further). Good luck!

Good luck and thanks to all the others too ofcourse :)

There is one other thing which i forgot to mention. I have an hypothesis as to why this technique works. Let's see you memorize 20% of the things you see/read (not an accurate number, but it will do for this explanation). If you look around in a 'normal' way, let's say you see 5 objects per minute (again not accurate, but good enough for this explanation). With the 20% memorization, it means you memorize 1 object per minute. Now, while using this technique, you kind of see more (it is a variation of ADA after all), let's say 20 objects per minute. Even if the technique doesn't actually improve the memorization of 20%, it does mean you memorize 0,2 x 20 = 4 objects per minute, opposed to the 1 object per minute when not using it. Keep in mind that it doesn't have to be an actual object, 'object' can also refer to formula's, pieces of a text, or whatever you like.

In other words: I suspect that the biggest power of this technique is not boosting your memory (which it may do, I'm not sure), but boosting the amount of things you see and the amount of attention you pay to them, thus leading to memorizing more/better.

So it's not an induction method?
And isn't this just looking at things and committing them to memory, i.e. memorizing things?

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Originally Posted by Avalanche

So it's not an induction method?
And isn't this just looking at things and committing them to memory, i.e. memorizing things?

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It is quite possible that you, like me, always have done this when memorizing things. If that is the case, then yes, it's just looking and interpreting things. I think most people don't do this automatically when memorizing, but perhaps they do. That's one of the main things I want to find out. But yes, to put it really simply, it is focussing on interpreting something you read/see.

Yeah, that's kind of what I do to remember things. Everyone knows it's much easier to memorize something you understand.

IT MAKES SENSE! Your right about looking in a "focused" manner than looking in a "normal" way. I looked at 2 pictures. 1 in a "focused" way and 1 in a "normal" way. More than likely you would be able to trace the "focused" image more than the "normal" picture:cheeky:. This is scientifically proved by me:banana:.

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Originally Posted by Avalanche

Yeah, that's kind of what I do to remember things. Everyone knows it's much easier to memorize something you understand.

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True. Memorizing and understanding are linked beyond question. But focussing in an ADA-way feels different from just focussing for me. Perhaps that is just me though :P I want to find out whether normal focus or ADA-focus work best for memorizing (and whether there is an actual difference between the two :P).

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Originally Posted by Aeroproxy

IT MAKES SENSE! Your right about looking in a "focused" manner than looking in a "normal" way. I looked at 2 pictures. 1 in a "focused" way and 1 in a "normal" way. More than likely you would be able to trace the "focused" image more than the "normal" picture:cheeky:. This is scientifically proved by me:banana:.

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Nice, and thanks :D I do have a question. If you had just been trying to memorize the picture, would it have been in the same way as in the 'focussed' way? Or would it have been in a 'normal' way? (Or something other than both ofcourse :P) As I said in the quote above (I think I didn't really make that clear in the first post, srry), I really want to find out whether there are actual differences between the ADA-focus and the normal focus, or if it just feels different. Perhaps it doesn't feel different for people other than me at all :P

I'm going to give that a shot, I've always had a problem with memorising things at school, like vocabulary lists. I'm doing SAT (Sporadic Awareness Technique), a derivation of ADA to induce lucids, but if it helps me study Japanese as well, I'm game!

I'll let you know how it works out for me!

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Originally Posted by MissLucy

I'm going to give that a shot, I've always had a problem with memorising things at school, like vocabulary lists. I'm doing SAT (Sporadic Awareness Technique), a derivation of ADA to induce lucids, but if it helps me study Japanese as well, I'm game!

I'll let you know how it works out for me!

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Good luck and thanks for joining in :D

I'll give it a go ;D

C:

SleepyLisanne and I know eachother IRL, she tried the technique yesterday. After talking stuff through we now know this much:

- The ADA-focus feels different from the normal type of focus for both of us
- It does, as suspected, work better for memorizing things than normal focus (again for the both of us, perhaps not for some others)
- She said that it helped UNDERSTAND the material to study. I've never really thought about it, but now that I do, it is quite logical. I've always been fast to understand things and I use this technique a lot during my studies, so the technique certainly could be the cause of that.
- Thanks to the conversation with Avalanche, I now know that I am not the only one doing it naturally for studies and such. There are others, most likely quite a lot, who do it without realizing it is something special.
- Most people know that normal focus is better than no focus for studying. To make sure, that has been reconfirmed, so there can be no mistake about it (thanks to Aeroproxy for that :))

So... how come this ADA-focus is better than normal focus? And how exactly come that ADA focus helps to understand as well, rather than just help you memorize things? I think those are the new questions we could focus on. If you have a question to add, or want to reconfirm one of these earlier points yourself (more confirmations = more trustworthyness. It probably isn't a good idea to let every point be deduced from the statements of 1 or 2 people) then please let us know :D

Another forum member - Unda, brought my attention to a technique for memorizing things, called 'the method of loci' It is all about using visualization to commit an 'object' to memory. It is extremely interesting and worth a look. Essentially, if you make a point of remembering something, you probably will.

It seems the thread has kind of died now. Although the findings may not be enough to conclude it without doubt, it is all the proof I really needed. Thanks to all those who participated! (If you want to join, please don't be stopped by this post, you are still free to do it ofcourse. I will read and respond to anything posted here)

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Originally Posted by Spyguy

So... how come this ADA-focus is better than normal focus? And how exactly come that ADA focus helps to understand as well, rather than just help you memorize things? I think those are the new questions we could focus on. If you have a question to add, or want to reconfirm one of these earlier points yourself (more confirmations = more trustworthyness. It probably isn't a good idea to let every point be deduced from the statements of 1 or 2 people) then please let us know :D

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Probably because if we use ADA focus, we learn to block everything else out and only focus on what matters in that moment, which is our awareness of ourselves. Perhaps if we take a second to pull back and look at the content we are trying to study in a more aware fashion, we block everything else out, ex: stress from a deadline, [motivation of our studying], hunger, sounds, our own ADHD, the book we are studying.

Like SpyGuy said this awareness lets us take in more information per minute because it is our only focus. ADHD'ers call it Hyperfocus, I would call ADA Hyperawareness.

not sure if I worded this to make much sense, makes sense to me, lol.

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Originally Posted by kel

Probably because if we use ADA focus, we learn to block everything else out and only focus on what matters in that moment, which is our awareness of ourselves. Perhaps if we take a second to pull back and look at the content we are trying to study in a more aware fashion, we block everything else out, ex: stress from a deadline, [motivation of our studying], hunger, sounds, our own ADHD, the book we are studying.

Like SpyGuy said this awareness lets us take in more information per minute because it is our only focus. ADHD'ers call it Hyperfocus, I would call ADA Hyperawareness.

not sure if I worded this to make much sense, makes sense to me, lol.

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It does! Thanks for replying :D

I've actually thought about doing something like this too! Great minds think alike I guess! :P
But yea I think I'll definitely be doing this once I get back to school. I'll try remember to come back here and tell you about my progress. :D

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Originally Posted by NightSpy2

I've actually thought about doing something like this too! Great minds think alike I guess! :P
But yea I think I'll definitely be doing this once I get back to school. I'll try remember to come back here and tell you about my progress. :D

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Thank you, good luck :)