All mental processes should take form in pictures. The adding of 4
and 7 should be seen in the mind's eye, if the problem is not written
down. A parent tells the story of his difficulty with his son and this
simple problem. The child got the idea fixed in his mind that 4 and
7 were 12. The father had told the boy that the answer was 11, and
had the child repeat, 4 and 7 are 11, several times. But the original
impression was still the stronger, and the next day, when asked by the
father, "How many are 4 and 7?" the child's answer was 12. In some way
this impression had become a very strong one and was recalled before
the weaker one of the correct answer, 11. The idea of visualization
was brought to the father's attention during the day by his having
attended a lesson in Memory Training given by the author. That evening
he called the boy to him and said, "Son, how many are 4 and 7 tonight?"
He received the same incorrect answer, 12. Then he took a piece of
paper and wrote upon it the figures in exaggerated size, as illustrated
on the right. He had the boy look at the problem for a moment and then
look away and see it in his mind's eye, then look at the problem again.
Thus he placed a visual impression of the correct answer in the child's
mind and this became the stronger of the two impressions and was never
forgotten. The next morning the father asked the boy the same question,
"How many are 4 and 7?" and the answer was promptly given, "Eleven."
"Why, I can just see those figures in my mind and I never will forget
that."
4
7
--
11
This experience is the natural result of using the stronger sense of
sight in preference to the weaker one of hearing. The conscious use of
the mind's eye faculty in his arithmetic lessons brought this boy from
the bottom of his class up to a reasonable grade in a very short time.
Do not overlook the value of visualization. It can be applied with
helpful results in any lesson or problem.