Learning to Remember
Eliminating Cerebral Junk
Published: 6/30/2021
By: Spencer Loftin
In the modern era, it's no longer required for our brains to store overflowing amounts of knowledge, compared to centuries ago when there was not the luxury of finding any answer within a few keystrokes.
This cultural change raises a dilemma— how can our brains get stronger if we aren't hitting the "mental gym" as much?
The organization USA Memory Championship embodies the value of continuing to push the limits of the mind, in the form of an assortment of different memory-based challenges, such as reciting poems and computer-generated number strings after just 5 minutes of studying.
In 2011, freelance Journalist Joshua Foer published the New York Times Best-Selling novel, Moonwalking With Einstein, which detailed his journey to championing this competition, and the science behind how he taught himself to do it.
The story outlines how he went from being a curious reporter at the event in 2004, to crowned champion in 2005 and details that year in between where he researched methods used by early inventors, such as Einstein, and ancient Greeks, about how they were able to be successful inventors and masters of memory.
One of the biggest takeaways from the novel is how one can go from having a self-proclaimed average memory to being the best in the USA by developing methods that encourage thinking outside the box.
Here are two of my favorite concepts outlined in the novel:
Creating a "Memory Palace"
The concept behind this strategy is creating a journey through a familiar place and then associating each item in the list you're trying to memorize with a sequential point in that journey.
For example, in an interview with a record-holder for the memorization of the sequence of 52 cards, he describes the first step on his journey to smear jelly on his car's bumper. Crazy right? But now that this event has been visualized, it will be hard to forget, just because of how outlandish it is.
That is the whole concept of how these competitors are able to have information linger for more extended amounts of time by creating something quite unforgettable.
Mnemonics
Mnemonics is based around creating new, often fictitious acronyms to remember long sayings or recall a sequence of events. Some famous examples of this are PEMDAS and NESW which can expand to various sayings, but individually have the same implied meaning.
"What distinguishes a great mnemonist, I was learning, is the ability to create these sorts of lavish images on the fly, to paint in the mind a scene so unlike any that has been seen before that it cannot be forgotten."
– Joshua Foer
While many of us may not strive to remember tens of thousands of digits of pi or the exact order of a deck of cards, practicing less dependency on technology can help self-explore the potential of one's mind to overall become a better learner and more creative individual.
Getting in touch with your imagination to remember daily tasks, such as creating a mnemonic device to go through your morning routine, can lead to a new path to thinking that can unlock those extra few GB of personal memory.
"What I had really trained my brain to do, as much as to memorize, was to be more mindful, and to pay attention to the world around me. Remembering can only happen if you decide to take notice."
– Joshua Foer
Context
Thoughts
– What is something which you wish to learn in the future?
– How have you already been practicing these learning concepts?
– Would you describe yourself as someone creative, and why?
