Some people consider the value of emojis to be limited to 💬 text messages. Admittedly, I'm not an avid user myself but was recently forced to give these cartoonish faces a second look after spending some time studying sentiment analysis. Afterwards, I had an curious idea, "Could emojis help in studying for the bar exam?" Certainly something as serious as the bar exam couldn't be aided by silly phone images, right?

🧪 The White Paper.

On July 1, 2020, a white paper titled "Emojis influence autobiographical memory retrieval from reading words: An fMRI-based study" was published showing an incredible amount of research into how the brain associates emojis with memory retrieval. Most notable was the conclusion of, "The study of fMRI data have shown that, in contrast to pseudowords, word+emoji combinations activated the left Broca’s area (BA44 and BA45), the amygdala, the right pole (BA48), and several frontal regions such as the SMA and the IPC, which are associated with several functional brain networks such as word-processing, emotion recognition and memory retrieval."

📚 Lets Use This for the Bar Exam

As I study for the bar and develop the site, I find myself trying to recall the rules by memory using traditional methods such as mnemonics, repetition, and strict scheduling. Incorporating the use of emojis is a new way of learning. After reading the Whitepaper and associating rules with hand picked emojis, I can honestly say I have a greater ability to retrieve information. Sometimes I see an emoji that reminds me of the rule, or of the mnemonic, but I associate the rule with the emoji. For example, in the subject of Wills I had a mental block with DRR (Dependant Relative Revocation), but DRR 🥩 immediately reminds of "Mistake" because of the "steak emoji."

🙋 Benefit for visual learners?

I think most traditional bar prep courses will be quick to dismiss emojis. But if the goal is to retrieve information, then this Whitepaper offers some insights on how that can be improved. To that extent, I hope it works for you. And if not, good luck no matter what method you choose.