By Cathy StovellMy girlfriend Catherine has always said: “I have a good head for telephone numbers.” We’ve been friends since high school where the refrain was more frequent as socialising was an all too important aspect our lives. But even now, over 30 years later, Catherine, who lives in Panama, can land in Bermuda and ring up any of us that still live here, without consulting a telephone directory. And she can call our parents because that’s where we used to live, and she remembers those numbers too. I think that’s pretty amazing.Numbers are perhaps the absolute worst thing for me to remember and definitely I can only do it by breaking the number into bits — a set of three numbers or a maximum of four.I recently learned this is a mnemonic device. It’s called chunking. It’s where a long list is broken into smaller more manageable bits. Other mnemonic devices include — visual imaging — this is where you associate a word with a visual for example to remember the name of the Premier you might think of a cannon enabling you to recall “Cannonier”. Acronyms where all you have to do is remember one word to get clues to the others is also a mnemonic device. Acronyms like BTC, Belco, PALS and BIOS are common in Bermuda.In acrostic methods you create a sentence to remember the information. In music theory we learned “Every good boy does fine” in order to remember the notes in the treble clef — E G B D F.Another mnemonic device that helps build memory is called method of loci. In this technique you place the items you want to remember along a familiar route or building.Rhymes, alliteration, jokes and songs can also help memory. I know the process of a bill becoming law in the US system because I remember a song I learned when I was in primary school about it.“I’m just a bill, yes I’m only a bill and I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill and then I’ll go to the White House where I’ll sit in a line, with a lot of other bills...” Schoolhouse Rock.