Nine out of 10 used the “method of loci” or “mental walk” technique, first described by the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos in 477 BC. Instead, researchers discovered that all of the memorizers used mnemonics. Also, brain scans of top memorizers showed no anatomical differences when compared to those of regular people. Neuropsychological tests showed that superior memory was not associated with superior intelligence. To answer this question, researchers studied 10 competitors from the WMC and other memory contests 8. Past winner Ben Pridmore has performed incredible feats, such as memorizing the order of a randomly-shuffled deck of cards in 36 seconds, and recalling 170 names and faces after studying them for only 15 minutes. Or the phrase, “Man Very Early Made Jars Stand Up Nearly Perfectly” for the names and order of planets in the solar system.Įvery year, the world’s best memorizers compete in the World Memory Championships (WMC). Think of the song that kids sing to remember the order of letters in the alphabet. It establishes a meaningful link between unrelated things. A mnemonic is a memory aid, such as a formula or rhyme, which makes things easier to remember. But repetition is boring and takes a lot of time. Repetition strengthens connections between brain cells and solidifies memory 6. The most common way to memorize arbitrary things is to repeat them over and over and over again. It also helps if there’s an explanation or fundamental principle behind what you’re trying to remember-you’re more likely to remember that Venus is the name of the planet between Earth and Mercury if you know that all the planets are named after Roman gods.Ī good memory constitutes about 70 percent of what commonly passes for genius. It’s easier to remember your friend’s birthday if it’s on Valentine’s Day. In contrast, it’s much easier to remember something if it has a meaningful relationship with something you already know. And if you forget, there’s no hint to help you remember. It takes a lot of time and effort to memorize arbitrary things. One day, some programmer just decided on that particular combination of three keys. It’s like pressing “Ctrl-Alt-Del” to restart your computer. There’s no rhyme or reason behind arbitrary things. How can you improve the transfer of information from short-term to long-term memory? The first step is realizing that your memory actually distinguishes between three types of information 5: In other words, its capacity is practically unlimited. In contrast to your short-term memory, your long-term memory is capable of storing about 100 million items of information 4. Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland “You will, though,” the Queen said, “if you don’t make a memorandum of it.” “The horror of that moment,” the King went on, “I shall never, never forget!”

Alternatively, use your cell phone to record voice memos for yourself.Whenever you get an interesting thought or idea, write it down immediately.

Place pens and notepads on your desk, beside your bed, and inside your car.

Write down the information and save your brainpower.

It takes a lot of mental effort to hold things in memory. The average person finds this easier to remember than a string of seven digits. This is why telephone numbers are split into groups of three or four numbers. Performance declined past three or four disks. After a 1,200 millisecond delay, they were shown a second set of disks, and asked whether it matched the first set for color and location. This underwhelming fact was discovered when volunteers were presented with a display of 1–8 colored disks on a computer screen. Its capacity is only about 3–4 items at the same time 3. Working memory is the ability of your short-term memory to think about multiple items of information at the same time. Even if you make a conscious effort to remember something, you’ll probably forget half of it within an hour 2.

Your short-term memory remembers most new information for less than 20 seconds 1. Your memory is divided into short-term memory and long-term memory.

The memory master method