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CHAPTER VII.
ASSOCIATION.
In the preceding chapters we have seen that in order that a thing may be
remembered, it must be impressed clearly upon the mind in the first place; and
that in order to obtain a clear impression there must be a manifestation of
attention. So much for the recording of the impressions. But when we come to
recalling, recollecting or remembering the impressions we are brought face to
face with another important law of memorythe law of Association. Association
plays a part analogous to the indexing and cross-indexing of a book; a library;
or another system in which the aim is to readily find something that has been
filed away, or contained in some way in a collection of similar things. As Kay
says: "In order that what is in the memory may be recalled or brought again
before consciousness, it is necessary that it be regarded in connection, or in
association with one or more other things or ideas, and as a rule the greater
the number of other things with which it is associated the greater the
likelihood of its recall. The two processes are involved in every act of memory.
We must first impress, and then we must associate. Without a clear impression
being formed, that which is recalled will be indistinct and inaccurate; and
unless it is associated with something else in the mind, it cannot be recalled.
If we may suppose an idea existing in the mind by itself, unconnected with any
other idea, its recall would be impossible."
All the best authorities recognize and teach the importance of this law of
association, in connection with the memory. Abercombie says: "Next to the effect
of attention is the remarkable influence produced upon memory by association."
Carpenter says: "The recording power of memory mainly depends upon the degree of
attention we give to the idea to be remembered. The reproducing power again
altogether depends upon the nature of the associations by which the new idea has
been linked on to other ideas which have been previously recorded.'' Ribot
says: "The most fundamental law which regulates psychological phenomena is the
law of association. In its comprehensive character it is comparable to the law
of attraction in the physical world." Mill says: "That which the law of
gravitation is to astronomy; that which the elementary properties of the tissues
are to physiology; the law of association of ideas is to psychology." Stewart
says: ''The connection between memory and the association of ideas is so
striking that it has been supposed by some that the whole of the phenomena might
be resolved into this principle. The association of ideas connects our various
thoughts with each other, so as to present them to the mind in a certain order;
but it presupposes the existence of those thoughts in the mind,in other words it
presupposes a faculty of retaining the knowledge which we acquire. On the other
hand, it is evident that without the associating principle, the power of
retaining our thoughts, and of recognizing them when they occur to us, would
have been of little use; for the most important articles of our knowledge might
have remained latent in the mind, even when those occasions presented themselves
to which they were immediately applicable."
Association of ideas depends upon two principles known, respectively, as (1) the
law of contiguity; and (2) the law of similarity. Association by contiguity is
that form of association by which an idea is linked, connected, or associated
with the sensation, thought, or idea immediately preceding it, and that which
directly follows it. Each idea, or thought, is a link in a great chain of
thought being connected with the preceding link and the succeeding link.
Association by similarity is that form of association by which an idea, thought,
or sensation is linked, connected, or associated with ideas, thoughts, or
sensations of a similar kind, which have occurred previously or subsequently.
The first form of association is the relation of sequencethe second the relation
of kind.
Association by contiguity is the great law of thought, as well as of memory. As
Kay says: "The great law of mental association is that of contiguity, by means
of which sensations and ideas that have been in the mind together or in close
succession, tend to unite together, or cohere in such a way that the one can
afterward recall the other. The connection that naturally subsists between a
sensation or idea in the mind, and that which immediately preceded or followed
it, is of the strongest and most intimate nature. The two, strictly speaking,
are but one, forming one complete thought.'' As Taine says: "To speak correctly,
there is no isolated or separate sensation. A sensation is a state which begins
as a continuation of preceding ones, and ends by losing itself in those
following it; it is by an arbitrary severing, and for the convenience of
language, that we set it apart as we do; its beginning is the end of another,
and its ending the beginning of another." As Eibot says: "When we read or hear a
sentence, for example, at the commencement of the fifth word something of the
fourth word still remains. Association by contiguity may be separated into two
sub-classescontiguity in time; and contiguity in space. In contiguity in time
there is manifested the tendency of the memory to recall the impressions in the
same order in which they were receivedthe first impression suggesting the
second, and that the third, and so on. In this way the child learns to repeat
the alphabet, and the adult the succeeding lines of a poem. As Priestly says:
"In a poem, the end of each preceding word being connected with the beginning
of the succeeding one, we can easily repeat them in that order, but we are not
able to repeat them backwards till they have been frequently named in that
order. Memory of words, or groups of words, depends upon this form of contigious
association. Some persons are able to repeat long poems from beginning to
end, with perfect ease, but are unable to repeat any particular sentence, or
verse, without working down to it from the beginning. Contiguity in space is
manifested in forms of recollection or remembrance by "position." Thus by
remembering the things connected with the position of a particular thing, we are
enabled to recall the thing itself. As we have seen in a preceding chapter,
some forms of memory systems have been based on this law. If you will recall
some house or room in which you have been, you will find that you will remember
one object after another, in the order of the relative positions, or contiguity
in space, or position. Beginning with the front hall, you may travel in memory
from one room to another, recalling each with the objects it contains, according
to the degree of attention you bestowed upon them originally. Kay says of
association by contiguity: "It is on this principle of contiguity that
mnemonical systems are constructed, as when what we wish to remember is
associated in the mind with a certain object or locality, the ideas associated
will at once come up; or when each word or idea is associated with the one
immediately preceding it, so that when the one is recalled the other comes up
along with it, and thus long lists of names or long passages of books can be
readily learnt by heart."
From the foregoing, it will be seen that it is of great importance that we
correlate our impressions with those preceding and following. The more closely
knitted together our impressions are, the more closely will they cohere, and the
greater will be the facility of remembering or recollecting them. We should
endeavor to form our impressions of things so that they will be associated with
other impressions, in time and space. Every other thing that is associated in
the mind with a given thing, serves as a "loose end" of memory, which if once
grasped and followed up will lead us to the thing we desire to recall to mind.
Association by similarity is the linking together of impressions of a similar
kind, ir-respectve of time and place. Carpenter expresses it as follows: '' The
law of similarity expresses the general fact that any present state of
consciousness tends to revive previous states which are similar to it. ...
Rational or philosophical association is when a fact or statement on which the
attention is fixed is associated with some fact previously known, to which it
has a relation, or with some subject which it is calculated to illustrate." And
as Kay says: "The similars may be widely apart in space or in time, but they are
brought together and associated through their resemblance to each other. Thus,
a circumstance of to-day may recall circumstances of a similar nature that
occurred perhaps at very different times, and they will become associated
together in the mind, so that afterwards the presence of one will tend to recall
the others." Abercrombie says of this phase of association: '' The habit of
correct associationthat is, connecting facts in the mind according to their true
relations, and to the manner in which they tend to illustrate each other, is
one of the principle means of improving the memory, particularly that kind of
memory which is an essential quality of a cultivated mindnamely, that which is
founded not upon incidental connections, but on true and important relations."
As Beattie says: "The more relations or likenesses that we find or can establish
between objects, the more easily will the view of one lead us to recollect the
rest." And as Kay says: "In order to fix a thing in the memory, we must
associate it with something in the mind already, and the more closely that which
we wish to remember resembles that with which it is associated, the better is
it fixed in the memory, and the more readily is it recalled. If the two strongly
resemble each other, or are not to be distinguished from each other, then the
association is of the strongest kind. . . . The memory is able to retain and
replace a vastly greater number of ideas, if they are associated or arranged on
some principle of similarity, than if they are presented merely as isolated
facts. It is not by the multitude of ideas, but the want of arrangement among
them, that the memory is burdened and its powers weakened." As Arnott says: "The
ignorant man may be said to have charged his hundred hooks of knowledge (to use
a rude simile), with single objects, while the informed man makes each hook
support a long chain to which thousands of kindred and useful things are
attached." We ask each student of this book to acquaint himself with the general
idea of the working features of the law of association as given in this chapter
for the reason that much of the instruction to be given under the head of the
several phases and classes of memory is based upon an application of the Law of
Association, in connection with the law of Attention. These fundamental
principles should be clearly grasped before one proceeds to the details of
practice and exercise. One should know not only "how" to use the mind and memory
in certain ways, but also "why" it is to be used in that particular way. By
understanding the "reason of it," one is better able to follow out the
directions.
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