Sunday, July 09, 2017

Location system

In order to be able to make use of the tree of scenarios, it is absolutely necessary to learn the system by heart. Let's ponder a moment about why this is.

Let's remember how it all began. It all started with the observation of how I lost tons of time while I was searching in trial and error mode for clues in a position. I attack a target, and sometimes it takes 3 minutes to realize that the target is defended, and that I can harass the defender. It was shown time and again, that it took ages to be aware of even the most basic chess logic. It became clear that I could never become better or faster when I continue to spill minutes in almost any position.

The tree of scenarios is developed to help the mind to focus on basic chess logic in stead of dabbling around in mesmerization. The tree is of course rather personal, so it is a good idea to develop your own system, or to make at least some necessary adaptations for yourself. The 23 scenarios in the tree are very simple and basic. Nothing fancy or highbrowed.

It is of course not so difficult to memorize 23 scenarios that are bundled into a tree.  But if you try it, you will see that you must erect the tree every time you want to retrieve information from it. You will soon notice that you reconstruct the nodes and the branches with the mind. And construction is done with the slow conscious thinking part of the brain. If it takes an equal amount of time to reconstruct the tree of scenarios for retrieval or to look for clues in trial and error mode, it will be apparent that I will not become faster by using the tree. That's why the time that is consumed by the slow mind while using the tree of scenarios must be eradicated as much as possible. I have experimented a lot with thought processes in the past, but they never worked out because of this very reason.

ANKI isn't especially designed to learn to retrieve memories fast. The system of spatial learning isn't intense enough for that. What I do now, is to repeat the exercises every day until I remember them a tempo.

When a node has two branches, it is easy to remember them. If a node has three, it takes some time. But if a node has four or more branches, it takes a lot of time to reconstruct that part of the tree.

That is where the pictures come in. Take for instance the node lack of space.

All 7 scenarios that are connected as branches to this node work on the box that accompanies the target with lack of space. With the picture above, I not only retrieved the information in no time, I stored it in no time too. Here you see the unconscious work its magic. The 7 scenarios are combined to 1 chunk, which is treated as 1, by the Short Term Memory.

When  the branches of a node have less in common, it becomes equally more difficult to design a catchy picture. But it's worth the effort. Every node in ANKI has now its appropriate picture. Within a few days, I expect to master the tree of scenarios a tempo.

The next step is to hang some examples into the tree. Say, 3-4 examples per scenario. And then to learn those examples by heart too.

The pictures work as a location map for memories. In fact the tree of scenarios itself represents such map.

2 comments:

  1. A Thought. If you were motivated to do it, you could build a diagram of the tree with each branch being a hyperlink to a past post or example about it. A living Tree document. Note. I am not lobbying to have this done just a thought.... Cheers, Jim

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  2. I use Freemind for the tree of scenarios and the links. In Freemind I can toss around the nodes freely, in case I change my mind. Which happens daily, btw. Freemand can export an html that I can use in a post. It only will take some time to gather the hundred or so examples.

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