How to remember street names
Are you a bit hazy with street names?
Perhaps you’re better with land marks?
If you can relate to either or both of the above like I can, this one is for you!
I’ve recently started taking more notice of street names.
Sure, we can get by without really caring about them -
We can use google maps;
We can get someone to explain detailed directions;
We can refer to landmarks instead.
But how great, how much easier, how impressive would it be if -
We knew street names.
More importantly, how good would it be for our brain!
There’s actually a very famous study based on London taxi drivers.
Stringent testing known as ‘the knowledge’ was introduced for black cab drivers in the mid 19th century, requiring the memorisation of 25, 000 street names and 100 000 landmarks within a certain area.
The famous study showed the hippocampus, an area of the brain known important for memory, was shown to be larger for London taxi drivers than ‘regular people’.
We have the opportunity to get the benefit of this too!
Here are my tips on HOW to easily remember street names:
- THINK IN PICTURES THINK IN PICTURES THINK IN PICTURES
I’ve said it before and I will keep saying it.
Our brain has a natural affinity for remembering pictures - much more so than words - words are abstract in comparison!
This is known to be based on biological reasons - you can imagine back in hunter gatherer days, there was no need to recall words but, was there a survival need to recall what a dangerous food looked like? ABSOLUTELY.
- THE MORE BIZARRE THE BETTER
The more bizarre the pictures are that you see in your mind, the better - the more they will stick!
If this overwhelms you, don’t worry. Start small and simple if you need and go from there.
It can take time to build up creativity (as it’s often been stamped out of us as we get older) but trust me, you can bring it back into your life (there are simple activities to help the process) and you’ll find fun in doing it!
- SOME EXAMPLES
Note: you may not connect with these examples which is a good thing.
It’s more important for you to come up with your own, making your own connections with existing knowledge you have.
The pictures we come up with should all be very individual!
Example 1 - ‘Chilman street’
I can imagine a ‘cool’ snowman standing next to the street sign, smoking a cigarette (because he’s ‘cool’…even though it’s really the opposite these days) and he’s saying ‘just chill man…’
I can clearly picture the image and it’s location.
You can imagine how easy it is to remember the street name now!
Example 2 - ‘Bolt Street’
I can imagine a GIANT bolt, the same size as the street sign and standing next to it.
It’s moving, repeatedly knocking it’s head against the sign pole - because it’s just been struck by a bolt of lightening!
We might also laugh or be genuinely concerned thinking of this imagine - any emotion we feel means it will be even more sticky!
Example 3 - ‘Brougham street’
I can imagine a ‘bro’ type character (to represent the brough part of the word), wearing a baggy hooded sweatshirt, their back leaning against the pole. They are holding the leg of a ham half their size, swinging it around above them in circles and then using it to hit any passers by.
If you don’t like this image, that’s ok! You get to create the images you want - they can be ‘nice’ images or ‘scary’ images for example, it’s whatever you connect with most.
The more crisp and clear this image is in your mind though, the sticker it will be!
There you have my run down of tips and examples.
Happy street name remembering to you!
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