We have now discussed memory in its four phases and have seen clearly that it operates not in a blind, chaotic manner, but according to law.  Certain conditions are required and when they are met memory is good.  After providing proper conditions for memory, then, trust your memory.  An attitude of confidence is very necessary.  If, when you are memorizing, you continually tremble for fear that you will not recall at the desired moment, the fixedness of the impression will be greatly hindered.  Therefore, after utilizing all your knowledge about the conditions of memorizing, rest content and trust to the laws of Nature.  They will not fail you.

By this time you have seen that memory is not a mysterious mental faculty with which some people are generously endowed, and of which others are deprived.  All people of normal intelligence can remember and can improve their ability if they desire.  The improvement does not take the form that some people expect, however.  No magic wand can transform you into a good memorizes You must work the transformation yourself.  Furthermore, it is not an instantaneous process to be accomplished overnight.  It will come about only after you have built up a set of habits, according to our conception of study as a process of habit formation.

A final word of caution should be added.  Some people think of memory as a separate division or compartment of the mind which can be controlled and improved by exercising it alone.  Such a conception is fallacious.  Improvement in memory will involve improvement in other mental abilities, and you will find that as you improve your ability to remember, you will develop at the same time better powers to concentrate attention, to image, to associate facts and to reason.

READING AND EXERCISE

Reading:  See readings for Chapter VI.

Exercise I. Compare the mental conditions of impression with those of recall.

CHAPTER VIII

CONCENTRATION OF ATTENTION

Nearly everyone has difficulty in the concentration of attention.  Brain workers in business and industry, students in high school and college, and even professors in universities, complain of the same difficulty.  Attention seems in some way to be at the very core of mental activity, for no matter from what aspect we view the mind, its excellence seems to depend upon the power to concentrate attention.  When we examine a growing infant, one of the first signs by which we judge the awakening of intelligence is the power to pay attention or to “notice things.”  When we examine the intellectual ability of normal adults we do so by means of tests that require close concentration of attention.  In judging the intelligence of people with whom we associate every day, we regard one who is able to maintain close attention for long periods of time as a person of strong mind.  We