Spy School Read online

  An intelligence officer who can memorize lists of words can also remember passwords, legends, scripts and contact information. Words are associated with facts, and links can be found between seemingly independent events.

  There are two basic techniques for memorizing a list of words: the story method and the method of loci (places). You will learn both techniques and be able to use them for different situations. However, you may prefer to stick to one method, while minimally trying the other. Decide for yourself.

  The story method

  This method consists of developing a story that ties together the words you need to remember by visualizing it and saturating it with emotions. The story can be absurd, and the more absurd it is, the stronger the list will stick in your memory. Here is another secret: put yourself into the story to give it significance and make it more memorable.

  For example, here is a list of words:

  oil;

  table;

  taxi driver;

  coffee;

  code;

  tree;

  balcony.

  Here is a story you might construct.

  You are in a dark tavern in a port town. The sea rumbles outside, you can hear ship horns and the shouts of dockside workers. There is a barrel of oil near the window, it is made of rusted iron and emits the sharp odour of heating oil. The barrel is covered with a round wooden shield. At it, as if at a table, sits a taxi driver wearing a velvet jacket and drinking black coffee. He will be driving, so rum, the standard drink of the tavern, is not available for him. The bitter smell of coffee is mixed with the smell of heating oil. The taxi driver has to pick up a passenger at the port, but he cannot, because the passenger’s name is encrypted, and the driver does not know the code. The taxi driver is looking sullenly at the sheet of yellowed paper with gibberish printed on it. But then you receive a text message saying that the cipher key is in the tree outside the tavern. Surprised, you show the message to the taxi driver and run outside with him. The taxi driver is trying to climb the tree, but he keeps failing, because the trunk is smooth and slippery. So he goes up to the second floor of the tavern, steps out onto the balcony, and from there climbs a tree and finds an envelope with the code.

  Did you visualize the story? Now repeat the list of words. Try to do it in reverse order. Did it work?

  Note that we used all three principles of mnemonics. The story itself is a series of associations. Words are encoded with vivid images: the rusty stinking barrel, soft velvet, bitter black coffee, yellowed paper, etc. The participants of this story are experiencing emotions: the taxi driver is sullen, you’re surprised at the unexpected message, and the story ends with a ‘happy ending’.

  Exercise

  Remember the geography of the place where you live. If there is a subway in the city, remember the metro map. Each branch is a list of stations. Make sure you can repeat the names of the stations in any order. Memorize all of the branches. Over time, you will be able to navigate the metro just from memory. Similarly, you can remember the sequence of streets, bus stops, etc. It can be useful when you want to break away from a surveillance or use a cover story.

  ★ Train your brain – Word list. Story method. Level 1

  You will be shown a list of words. Remember it and reproduce it in its original order.

  Remember this list using the story method. Being able to make associations, a skill acquired while memorizing pairs of words, will help you in this exercise. Master the story method using short lists before moving on.

  pirate ship

  dog

  safety goggles

  wedding ring

  letter opener

  acorn

  22 March 1955

  Met with Luria yesterday. Tried to get his opinion on the missing documents. This meeting definitely shows how far my new work can take me. Though he didn’t tell me anything particularly important, it’s always pleasant to spend nearly an hour in conversation with a very intelligent person. He’s lectured us before, but that’s completely different from a personal conversation. Now, looking back, I realize I was truly impressed, which is a rare feeling for me. He’s tall, with a broad forehead. With a spark of grey in his black hair. A thoughtful, sharp gaze. Clear, precise speech. This calm awareness of his own importance. His work with the wounded during the war, his research on the brain . . . all of this deserves my respect.

  Now that my fire has cooled a bit, I wonder, (1) Did he use any sort of suggestive techniques in conversation with me? (2) Maybe he’s working for the office, too?

  ★ Train your brain – Word list. Story method. Level 2

  Keep on training with the story method to memorize lists. This one is longer and you should time how long it takes you repeat the information back after memorizing.

  Construct vivid emotional stories, imagine them. Use images, sounds, smells, sensations from touching the item. Include yourself in the story.

  postage stamp

  bottle of oil

  marble

  octopus

  spool of wire

  chalk

  book

  rubber gloves

  toy soldier

  jigsaw

  Images of abstract concepts

  It is usually easy to picture images of things and objects. When you say ‘cup’, you imagine your favourite cup, which has shape, colour and weight. ‘Road’ will evoke a familiar section of road in your imagination. But what do you do with abstract concepts that have no tangible expression, such as ‘salary’, ‘happiness’ or ‘suggestion’?

  There are two ways of re-coding such concepts into images. The first is based on what the word sounds like. You pick a word or words that sound similar to the one that you want to remember. Then you encode this similar word or words into the image. For example, you can use ‘celery’ for ‘salary’, ‘happy nest’ for ‘happiness.’

  The second method uses symbolic imagination: you intuitively pick a specific image or symbol to express the abstract concept. This word can be generally accepted or unique to you. So for liberty, you might picture the Liberty Bell; for happiness, a smiley face.

  If you want to use symbols, ‘agreement’ can be imagined as a firm handshake or as the Egyptian obelisk in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. ‘Duty’ may be represented as an official document with a seal.

  Association and symbols are very individual. For a student of the Middle Ages, the word ‘suggestion’ is associated with the name of Abbot Suger, who lived in the eleventh to twelfth century and devoted himself to the reorganization and reform of Saint-Denis near Paris. The broader a person’s scope of knowledge, the easier it is to pick up new associations and remember new information.

  Exercise

  Take a glossary of terms from a field you are unfamiliar with: engineering, philosophy or psychology. Open it at random and try to create images for the words you find, using phonetic and symbolic associations.

  ★ Train your brain – Word pairs. Level 3

  Open a book at any page and remember the first word on each line. If you encounter a preposition or part of a word carried over from the previous page, take the next word. Remember the words, using the word pair method, close the book, marking your page. Repeat the list and check yourself. You can test yourself by doing the same with newspaper articles.

  Test yourself

  Why did S. Y. Bernstein, who avoided close relationships, get to be close friends with graduate student V. M. Kovalev?

  A) Kovalev was a friend of Bernstein’s dead son

  B) Kovalev reminded Bernstein of his son

  C) Kovalev helped Bernstein to obtain a dormitory room

  D) Bernstein was interested in the psychology of large groups, and Kovalev was an expert in it

  Memorizing phrases

  The ability to memorize lists of words quickly and invent visual stories opens up the possibility of remembering greater quantities of information, specifically phrases and pieces of text.

  For e
xample, you are being briefed for a new job and are told to memorize the password: ‘Bill Brown said that the cranes will be delivered next week.’ One way to remember this story is to picture Bill Clinton (Bill) in a very dirty uniform, making it seem brown (Brown), standing at a construction site. He is very gloomy and sad (said). Bill is looking up at two big yellow cranes (cranes). One of them has a pegboard on its door with a bunch of different delivery menus attached (delivery) and a calendar on with the next week blocked off in highlighter (next week).

  Try to forget this phrase now.

  Exercise

  Make up visual stories for proverbs, sayings and phrases you know.

  ★ Train your brain – Items on a table. Level 2

  Gather more objects from around your house, perhaps focusing on ones you are less familiar with. Put them out on the table or get someone to do it for you. Once again, mentally take a photograph of the table, then cover the items over with a tablecloth and imagine this picture when mentally placing the items back on the table.

  Notes

  10 April 1955

  I recruited my first informants today. All that training is paying off. Managed to win their trust. Managed to get people interested in working with us.

  Kravchuk didn’t go along with it, though. But I hope I at least managed to convince him not to talk about our conversation.

  Memorizing foreign language vocabulary

  Foreign language education is routine for intelligence training. Intelligence officers are chosen for their mental abilities, and to teach them to speak any language fluently and without an accent is a matter of technique.

  At the initial stage of studying a language, a student must memorize pairs of words, one of which is known (in the native language), and the other of which is not (in the foreign language). The following algorithm is used.

  1. The known word in the native language is encoded with an image. You know this technique from the story method.

  2. The second (unknown) word is easier to code by phonetic similarity: pick one or more words in the native language so that they are phonetically similar to the foreign word.

  3. Tie the image of the word in the native language to the images of words which resemble the foreign word in one story.

  For example, you need to remember the French word grognon (which means ‘grumpy’). It is consonant with the word ‘groan’, so to memorize the pair ‘grognon–grumpy’ you can imagine a grumpy man groaning in irritation.

  With practice, you will learn to create these stories quickly and remember at least fifty to seventy foreign words in one session.

  Exercise

  Buy a small dictionary with 500–1000 of the most common words in a language that you’ve always wanted to learn. Using the method described above, you will be able to remember them pretty quickly, and it will be a good way to start realizing your dream.

  16 April 1955

  I’m collecting information on Kovalev. I think Arkhipov, Rychko and Mihin, whom I’ve recruited, are doing the same thing, but I haven’t spoken to them since. They’re avoiding running into me, and Rychko actually turns away and pretends to be reading the newspaper when I walk by him.

  Kovalev is a curious character. He’s good at school, doesn’t over exert himself. None of his classmates have ever seen him poring over books, but he’s got Bs and As in all of his exams. Got into grad school on a recommendation. Doesn’t add particular effort to his natural skills – he’s at the cafe a lot, with records or books of art prints.

  Bernstein was helping Kovalev, and Kovalev has something to do with the case of the missing documents. And he knows something about Bernstein, too, but he refuses to say anything.

  It turns out the documents that disappeared fro the archive are actually really important. They contain protocols and experimental results on mind control. It’s not quite control, to be honest. The fascists sprayed this gas into concentration camp barracks and this gets rid of a person’s free will, so they turn into an obedient animal. There were monographs on mass hypnosis in there, too, something about autogenic training and a lot of other stuff. None of it, except the book on autogenic training, has ever been published and exists in only the one copy. It looks like the Germans were going to use these ideas for military purposes, but didn’t have time to finalize it. I can’t imagine what would happen if these documents fall into the hands of today’s war hawks.

  Test yourself

  What is the case number of the investigation of the missing classified documents?

  A) 286

  B) 283

  C) 1955

  D) 9

  E) 236

  ★ Train your brain – Word dictation. Story method. Level 1

  It is now time to increase the pace. As you flick through a book, look at the word in the bottom line of each right-hand page and find the first noun. Allow yourself only five seconds on each word before turning to the next one. At first, it may be difficult for you to get into the pace of changing words. However, gradually you will be able to invent stories faster, and the use of mnemonics will become unconscious, like reading or writing.

  Motivation to remember

  A person’s motives and needs have a great impact on memory. For example, you will probably find trying to remember all the stops on your railway line difficult. This is because you don’t need this information, unless, of course, you are a conductor who gives out information about these destinations every day. In that case, you would be likely to remember them without putting any intentional effort into memorizing them.

  It’s easier to remember information you need day-to-day. The brain prefers to conserve its energy by separating what is important from the rest of the information it receives. This leads to the following practical recommendation: before you try to memorize anything, define for yourself why you want to remember it and what you will get from knowing it. Similarly, if you want someone to remember something you ask him/her, create a trigger for him/her to remember. Get him/her interested. Specify when and under what conditions they should recall the request. For example, if you want your neighbour to drop a letter in a postbox, tell him: ‘Bob, when you pass by the pillar box remember my request, drop the letter in. I would really appreciate it.’ The words ‘when you . . .’ will help a person to remember about the request at the right time. Your appreciation will be an additional emotional stimulus for Bob.

  Needs and motivations often play a cruel joke with memory. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, describes its mechanisms. The human desire for emotional comfort often makes us forget information that may be unpleasant. Freud called this phenomenon ‘repression’.

  If you always forget about meetings with a specific person, although this rarely happens for meetings with other people, look at the situation more closely. Perhaps communicating with that person causes emotional discomfort. It is hard to imagine that someone would forget to call a generous friend to ask for money. But a debtor often forgets to call a creditor to ask for an extension.

  ★ Train your brain – Matches. Level 2

  It’s time to complicate the match exercise. Increase the number of matches, and get someone else to throw them down on the table for you.

  Change the exercise up a bit by using a mixture of matches and pencils. Try and recreate the pattern on paper. Here is one to get you started.

  2 April 1955

  They gathered us up last night and told us that Kovalev is dead. He was probably murdered. We had wanted to use him to get on the trail of Bernstein or the archive documents. Alas – we’ll have to start over.

  Forgetting curve

  At the end of the nineteenth century, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus constructed the forgetting curve, showing how people tend to forget information they had learned. Ebbinghaus asked subjects to remember meaningless three-letter syllables. Using rote learning, without imagination, an hour later we can recall only 44% of the learned information, and in a week – less than 25%. Fortunately, wi
th conscious memorization, information is forgotten more slowly.

  The majority of information is forgotten within the first hours after learning. What can be done? Further experiments showed that repetition reduces the rate of forgetting. The more you repeat the information, the better you will remember it.

  Experiments determining the rate of forgetting have formed practical conclusions. The first is that attempting to memorize anything in one sitting is not effective. It’s better to memorize information in stages, leaving time for repetition.

  If you have one day for memorization, the optimal rate of repetition is as follows:

  • the first time, 15 to 20 minutes after learning;

  • the second time, after 6 to 8 hours;

  • the third time after 24 hours.

  It’s better to repeat information actively: rather than listening or reading a second time, try to draw or write it from memory and check against the source if necessary.

  If you have more time for memorization, repeat the information as follows:

  • the first time the day of first learning;

  • the second on the fourth day afterwards;

  • the third on the seventh day afterwards.

  If there is a lot of information, it is better to repeat it with different amounts of detail: the first time in full, the second time just the key points, and the third time all the information, but in a different group or in a different order. The deeper the level of processing, the easier the information is to recall.

  Threefold repetition is the required minimum. When an intelligence officer learns his/her cover story, s/he repeats it a hundred times, and then returns to it regularly, refreshing his/her memory. After all, it’s a matter of life or death.