After six weeks of using the loci technique, they were able to recall about 56 words.Ī control group actually fared better than the memory training group pre-training, recalling 30 words, but subsequently fell behind those who learned the loci technique over the training period. The memory training group could recall about 25 words on a list without training. The same pattern was seen for the people who had just learned the technique. The memory athletes using the loci technique showed better recall than the control group. The athletes were just scanned once, but the participants had images taken before and after their six weeks of training. Isabella Wagner, 2021Īll participants memorized a list of words and had fMRI images taken of their brains. New research suggests memory training can lead to longer-lasting memories. The second was based on previously untrained people, 17 of whom learned the memory palace technique in 40 half-hour training sessions over six weeks, as well as two control groups. The first was done on 17 memory athletes and 16 controls who didn’t use the loci technique but also had strong memory skills, which were gauged according to IQ scores. “Although training is important here, one can reach already smaller success quite quickly.”ĭigging into the details – Wagner and her team measured the effects of memory palace in two studies. “Everyone can achieve better memory through training,” Wagner tells Inverse. Isabella Wagner, the study’s first author and a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Vienna, tells Inverse that, post-training, the trained participant’s brains showed greater signs of “neural efficiency.” This suggests the training was making their brains better at storing these memories. A sample of untrained people who were taught memory palace technique also improved their memory compared to controls, and showed similar patterns of brain activity to the memory athletes after just six weeks of training. Then, to “collect” that information, mentally retrace your steps.Ī paper published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances suggests this technique doesn’t just work for memory athletes – it can also work for regular people. You might place the first three digits of your social security number in locations within your childhood bedroom (on the bed, in the mirror, on a dresser, maybe) the second two in the hallway, and the last four in the bathroom. Place the information you want to remember along a visual route you know well. How do you build a memory palace?Īs sophisticated as it may sound, building a memory palace relatively simple. ![]() The technique was first described in early Greek and Roman treatises, was popularly demonstrated by Benedict Cumberbatch in BBC’s Sherlock, and helped one man memorize as many as 65,536 digits of pi. Memory athletes, or people who memorize numbers, words, or faces as part of competitions like the USA Memory Championship, often use a technique called loci or the memory palace to enhance their recall. In pandemic times, it’s hard enough to remember what day it is, let alone the deluge of passwords, numbers, and tasks that need to be recalled each day.įortunately, new research suggests the techniques used by memory athletes - people with such infallible recall that they compete against one another - might be able to help.
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