Records Smashed at (Human) Memory Championship

Pika the Mad writes "Wired News has a neat story about the recent U.S.A. National Memory Championship.'The finalists competed in three brand-new recall events that forced them to remember and recite aloud random words, personality characteristics of guests at a fictional tea party and the order of cards in two decks of playing cards, parroting answers in front of a crowd of onlookers, photographers and video cameras.' The winner claims that in the world finals he'll be competing against people who can memorize an entire deck of cards in 30 seconds."

Mnemonic Devices

So, when I was younger, we were encouraged to use mnemonic devices [wikipedia.org] (such as "My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets"). But I've also heard from critics of the process that they just provide more clutter in the scheme of memorizing things.

I guess I've always thought of them as indexes for remembering things. You're storing more information but the keys are easier for you to remember and they hold within them something meaningful about the data.

Oddly, though, often the most bizarre mnemonic devices work the best as the Wikipedia article states:

A curious characteristic of many memory systems is that mnemonic devices work despite being (or possibly because of being) illogical, arbitrary, and artistically flawed. "Roy" is a legitimate first name, but there is no actual surname "Biv" and of course the middle initial "G" is arbitrary. Why is "Roy G. Biv" easy to remember? Medical students never forget the arbitrary nationalities of the Finn and German. Any two of the three months ending in -ember would fit just as euphoniously as September and November in "Thirty days hath...", yet most people can remember the rhyme correctly for a lifetime after having heard it once, and are never troubled by doubts as to which two of the -ember months have thirty days. A bizarre arbitrary association may stick in the mind better than a logical one.

For an article with a little more information, check out the NYTimes coverage [nytimes.com].

Unfortunately, the Wired article only gives us one line sentences from the contestants like:

"It really helps us a lot in school," she [Erin Luley] said.

"(Media presence) makes it more nerve-wracking," said finalist Chester Santos from San Francisco.

"I really did not expect to win," Foer said. "I thought maybe I'd crack the top five."

Wired, that is pure journalistic gold. Perhaps you'd like to rail them with another question like, "What do you like to do for fun with your friends?"

I'm sure it helps you in school, what I want to know is how in the hell do you do that? Does anyone on Slashdot know if people who win these competitions actually use mnemonic devices or are they just gifted savants?

Re:Mnemonic Devices

One of the memory techniques I've seen used before for learning a set of random objects was to place them in a common thing, such as going to work in the morning. This also has the advantage of being able to recall in sequence. For example, say the first four random items were an alarm clock, a banana, a mouse (squeeky type, not computer type), and a spoon, you might remember something like:

'I woke up to my Alarm Clock, which also had a banana on top, which was weird. Sitting up in my bed, I saw a mouse hanging from the end of my bed. I grabbed a spoon to try remove it...'

Obviously depending on how much you have to remember and what you have to remember the amout of extra story can be shortend to nearly the key items, but as long as you can remember the story in whole, there's little to stop you from realling out a list of items.

When I had my dyslexia test done, one of the tests there was to listen to a set of numbers, and wait 10 seconds, then repeate them. I then also had to do it again in reverse with a diffrent set of numbers; the number of digits getting longer with each try. The way I managed to do well in it was to see the numbers in front of me, as if they were neon signs, and then make them dissapear when I had said them. This also allowed me to read them off in any order. Normally the sweetspot for recall is 7, plus or minus two items. I managed to make it to 11 digits in order, 9 in reverse, which is fairly good.

I would wager that people who learn sequences of things would have techniques similar to this.

NeoThermic

Re:Mnemonic Devices

I very often use the technique of making things "light up" in my head depending on whether or not I have counter them yet, which allows me to do things like flawlessly deal cards out of order.

I have a near photographic memory for certain types of things

Re:Mnemonic Devices

But I've also heard from critics of the process that they just provide more clutter in the scheme of memorizing things.

To this day I still remember My Dear Aunt Sally (order of operators Multiplication Division Addition Subtraction). I think little mne

Re:Mnemonic Devices

Please, My Dear Aunt Sally.

Being polite to your elders helps you remember that things in Parenthesis precede the basic Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction!

Re:Mnemonic Devices

Isn't it "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally," to include exponents?

-Augie

Mnemonic Devices - A rude one :)

I prefer the one for remembering trig stuff... SOH TAH COA

Sally
Opened
Her
Thighs
And
Her
C***
Opened
Also

I never failed the maths tests involving trig after I'd learnt that :)

Re:Mnemonic Devices - A rude one :)

I thought it was SOH-CAH-TOA?

Re:Mnemonic Devices

Well, that's what happens when you design a computer has a three bit working memory address bus on one hand, but on the other has literally billions of switches dedicated to pattern matching and special purpose retrieval functions.

Re:Mnemonic Devices

"Thirty days hath..."

I never learned the rhyme. What I learned was

1. Make a fist and look at the back of your hand.
2. Start with the knuckly on the left. That's elevated, so January has 31 days.
3. The gap between the first and second knuckles is recessed,

Re:Mnemonic Devices

It's thirty days hath september, april, june, and november. All the rest have thirty-one, except for february, because Caesar was a jerk.

Re:Mnemonic Devices

It's thirty days hath september, april, june, and november.

No, no. Its, "Thirty days hath September. All the rest I can't remember."

Re:Mnemonic Devices

And you've got knuckles left over, so in the event that Thirteenember and Fourteenuary are ever added to the calendar, you're still good to go.

Re:Mnemonic Devices

You can do it with your two hands next to each other as well, to get a view of the whole year. Starting from one end again, ridge=31 days, valley=30, except for February.

Re:Mnemonic Devices

There is an article in this month's Discover about it. It doesn't appear to be online.

For the cards, for example, each card is associated with three things: a subject, a verb, and a direct object, I believe. You memorize a deck of cards by getting 3 ca

Re:Mnemonic Devices

I post a link to the book below everytime the subject comes up on /. Luria's treatment of the subject matter is a good overview and shows the potential downside to such gifts. I met one woman who gift was equal to those described in the article. She had no training and simply had the gift. I have an above average memory that serves me well but I find the majority of people become bored when I start to itemize particulars. My parents and sibling smile indulgently at me then carry on a conversation roundly ignoring my detailing.

I've studied various mnemonic methods. The ancient greeks used an empty stadium as a mnemonic device then would 'seat' items to be remembered in the stadium seats.

Luria, A. R. (Aleksandr Romanovich) The Mind of a Mnemonist: A Little Book about a Vast Memory [nyu.edu]

Re:Mnemonic Devices

My brother is like that. Mega memory for the finest details. I had to bash him constantly when we were teens for going on and on. Every time he go on, I'd just say "TMI" or Too Much Information.

While it still surfaces from time to time (occasionally if we'

How to Win the Memory Championship

Today's "Slate" has a link to an older article about that.
It was, in fact, written by the guy who won it, so he may know
what he's talking about.

http://www.slate.com/id/2114925/ [slate.com]

Re:How to Win the Memory Championship

There's a little bit about the history of memorizing in the article, and if you're looking for more on the topic, Frances Yates' [wikipedia.org] The Art of Memory [amazon.com] covers memorization from its mythical beginnings with Simonides, through its use by Roman orators, and ulti

Re:Mnemonic Devices

Everyone who makes money off of it says that the skill can be learned. There are people who have it naturally (including one guy I've read about who lacks the ability to forget anything--which really makes his life hell); but I have known people who got v

Never forget

Everyone who makes money off of it says that the skill can be learned. There are people who have it naturally (including one guy I've read about who lacks the ability to forget anything--which really makes his life hell); but I have known people who got ve

Re:Mnemonic Devices

I'm sure it helps you in school, what I want to know is how in the hell do you do that?

I believe the generic term for this sort of thing is Chunking [wikipedia.org]. Your short term memory is of a limited size, you can only keep track of so many things at once (most co

Re:Mnemonic Devices

Interesting stuff.

Maybe the reason arbitrary devices work better is that there's no second-guessing? I'm absolutely certain that "30 days has September". So much of what we learn is uncertain, or has exceptions. When you can succinctly file away a piece

Re:Mnemonic Devices

Medical students never forget the arbitrary nationalities of the Finn and German.

This is from a mnemonic for the 12 cranial nerves (Olfactory, Optic, Oculomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Abducens, Facial, Auditory, Glossopharyngeal, Vagus, Spinal Accesso

Re:Mnemonic Devices

There's also a mnemonic for remembering whether each nerve is sensory (S), motor (M), or both (B):

Some Say Marry Money, But My Brother Says Big Boobs Matter More!

Re:Mnemonic Devices

I find that the more info I have (metainfo) about some info, the more of the mere info I can remember. I also generally find I can remember more of the metainfo as well. The more "complete picture" I have, the more I can remember it. Especially if multiply

Re:Mnemonic Devices

I definitely agree with this one... I think I learned more of some topics from Animaniacs songs than I did from classes at school. States and their capitols, Countries of the world, presidents of the United States, etc.

And then there's also Tom Lehrer's Pe

A deck of cards? That's it?

Sure, they can memorize a deck of cards, but can they learn the lyrics to It's the End of the World as We Know it?

Re:A deck of cards? That's it?

Sure, they can memorize a deck of cards, but can they learn the lyrics to It's the End of the World as We Know it?
Damn you...now I can't get it out of my head.

When the revolution comes, I'm locking you in a cell with Michael Stipe and a hundred rabi

That's great

it starts with an earthquake....doesn't it? ;)

that's nice

but when are the mammary championships?

Re:that's nice

September, in Poland. [missworld.tv]

Re:that's nice

> Mother do you think they'll like this sig?

I'll eat some Karma just to tell you how clever your sig is.

Now I'm playing a big Pink Floyd playlist...

1 Deck in 30 Seconds?!

That's pretty impressive, I don't even think I could flip through all 52 cards in 30 seconds.

Re:1 Deck in 30 Seconds?!

On long stuff like that, I tend to use the "Simon" method (I just made that up, no idea what it would really be called).

Look at the first card, say the name in your head. Look at the second, say the first and second. For every card, repeat the whole series

Isn't this just...

...a competition for people with eidetid memory [wikipedia.org]? It seems if you have a so-called photographic memory, then most of these feats would be child's play, I would think. There are some autisitc individuals who would find some of this trivial. It seems like fun and all that, but how about harnessing all that brain power to solving the world's problems instead of memorizing playing cards.

Re:Isn't this just...

Maybe because the world's problems can't be solved by memorizing playing cards. Just because they're good at rote memorization does not necessarily make them better at anything else. They'd probably have a slightly easier time in medical school but other t

Re:Isn't this just...

Maybe because the world's problems can't be solved by memorizing playing cards. Just because they're good at rote memorization does not necessarily make them better at anything else. They'd probably have a slightly easier time in medical school but other t

Re:Isn't this just...

Remembering things incredibly well doesn't imply high intelligence, or an ability to solve all the world's problems. After following your link, I carried on and read the article about S.V. Shereshevskii [wikipedia.org], who apparently had truly astounding recall -- he cou

Have they been tested for cognition enhancers?

I know it's the cynic in me, but I'm only half kidding.

Another possibility is that competitors have worked out the best methodology for succeeding on these tests.

Jon Acheson

Damn

The championship was THIS weekend?

Damn. I meant to tape that.

Re:Damn

The championship was THIS weekend?

Don't worry, I can recall every detail of it! :P

Eidetic memory - blessing or curse?

I have a friend with eidetic memory. Ask him to imagine being in a particular location where he's been before and he is there: he can tell you what's to his left, right and up, the color of any landmark, the text on signs (even detailed text: when asked

A deck of cards in 30 seconds...

Pfft, I can do that.

Oh, you mean the order of the cards... On second thought.

Ooooh!

I think I've finally figured out what "Elephant Man"'s mutant power was!

Multiplication tables

When I was in elementary school I used to think that memorizing the multiplication tables was stupid. You could look it up in a table, or if you didn't have a table you could work it out in a few seconds.

I continued to feel more or less the same until I w

Re:Multiplication tables

I can tell you from personal experience that even the simplest division problem becomes amazingly difficult for students who don't have their times tables memorized. Long division is an arduous torture-session for those who have to look everything up, and

Re:Multiplication tables

Repetition is how you learn things. Give me a reason to repeat something, and I'll learn it. But just learning the tables for the sake of learning the tables... meh. I never did get the hang of that.
I was always amused, because they started us out with

Re:Multiplication tables

Well, our drills were 100 problems/sheet. At first, we had a week or so to do them. By the time I was in 4th grade or so, we had 10 minutes to do them. Addition, subtraction at first, then multiplication. They were random. Of course, one quickly learns how

Re:Multiplication tables

I had problems memorizing my multiplication tables in 4th grade. I wasn't slow, just too stubborn to do the work. My older sister and my mother drilled me all summer so I wouldn't be held back from 5th grade. I've got them down, but I still have a feeling