Suppose, that we meet Prof. Prlwitzkowski's at a party and that we want to remember his e-mail address, so that we can mail him later. It is: prlwitzkowski@global.org. We had already elaborated his name to 'pearl with cow ski', visualized by a cow with pearls skiing down-hill. To remember 'global', we have him skiing down a gigantic globe, and to remember 'org' we imaging that all of this happens in a church to the sound of a massive church organ. Imagine how the low pipes will make those pearls tremble!

Crucial for the success of a good association is to have the two words (concepts) interact as much as possible. It is not sufficient to have them merely stand side by side. The more they form a unique relationship, the better. This is best achieved by singling out aspects they have in common or that could interact in a certain context. Selecting a good context often is the key to a strong association. In the example, the context 'church' ties together 'organ' and 'globe', while the context 'skiing' interacts with globe (as a down-hill surface) and the 'cow'.

In short
Association ties words or concepts together. This process is stimulated by:

• Imagining how concepts interact
• Singling out aspects they have in common
• Finding contexts in which common aspects can logically interact
• Placing the concepts in that context
• Further reinforcing their interaction

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