Paint By Numbers - A memory technique

Ever noticed that sometimes you struggle with remembering numbers or sequences of numbers even though there is nothing wrong with your memory - is it Dyscalculia?  or simply an inefficient method of recording and retrieving number nodes for long enough to be able to manipulate them in your mind. I do find that I can remember anything visual - I see the colour, the shape and the environment it is in - as the starting point of the recalled memory's details. But somehow numbers seem to slip out very easily like ineffective glue. Thanks to Derren Brown' s book - tricks of the mind - which I read recently, I realized there are other ways you can improve on your memory. In his book he uses a letter based system and converts numbers to words and then to visual objects, however I found that colour does well enough for me, as a visual artist it is very easy to visualize a colour pattern and colour mixing system - or even thereafter convert it to an image made up of the colours.

Here are my colour codes
0 = Transparent (like a gap in the design)
1 = Cream / White
2 = Yellow
3 = Green
4 = Blue
5 = Orange
6 = Red
7 = Pink
8 = Brown / Black
9 = Violet / Purple 

A colour sequence can easily be remembered by imagining the pattern as a design.
  = 2 864 632

For example "12" - is white and yellow - and will bring up an image in your mind of a fried Egg! while the 112 might be a paler yellow (imagining 2 parts whites and one part yellow mixed in paint)


This is just a starting point and various techniques can be added, to cater for more complex patterns, but I have found this has helped me emensly - maybe will help you too.

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