Image credit: pixabay
When you see some amazing performances of memory geniuses in film and television dramas or variety shows, you may be surprised or even half-believed. But their amazing ability to remember comes not only from talent, but also because of some effective memory methods. A recent study published in Science Advance found that positional memory, also known as the memory palace, does improve long-term memory and revolutionize the brain's memory patterns.
In various genius or detective-themed film and television dramas, one of the protagonist's standard abilities is unforgettable memory, such as being able to remember the map of the entire city, or searching for information in memory to find faces with only one side. Although these films and TV dramas are designed to create drama, this amazing memory may not be uncommon in reality.
In 1991, Tony Bozan and Redmond Keane co-founded the World Memory Championships. The event has become the highest level of memory technology, it includes a total of 10 memory events, requiring players to memorize numbers, images and playing cards at a fixed time. If you want to earn the Title of International Memory Master (imm), you need to participate in these 10 events, in addition to accumulating a certain number, you also need to achieve the three mandatory requirements of remembering 1100 random numbers in 1 hour, at least 12 decks of playing cards in 1 hour, and remembering a deck of playing cards in 60 seconds. The reason why these memory masters have amazing memory is not only that they are born with strong brain power (stronger brain impulse conduction and synergy between brain regions), but they also use some specific memory methods to train.
Tony Bozan (left) and Redmond Keane (right). Image source: Memory of the World Championship China official website
It is speculated that the method of loci appeared because the orators of the ancient Greek period did not use speeches when giving speeches or debating with people, so this method of memory was developed to record a large amount of text. This type of memory involves using brain imagination to construct a very familiar spatial map (for example, in a room or building with a path), and to place the material that needs to be remembered on a prominent landmark of the path, and then recall it by tracing the route, "picking up" the information that was previously "dropped".
In one episode of "Sherlock" produced by BBC in 2010, Detective Sherlock Holmes used this method of memory: he built a memory palace in his mind , a huge library , using positional memory to memorize all the information in the case, and review these memories one by one when needed to find key clues to solve the case. In the World Memory Championship, this kind of memory is also one of the methods often used by competitors. Admittedly, the people in these examples may have a high IQ themselves, so is this method of memory also helpful to ordinary people? A 2014 study published in the medical journal Advance in Physiology Education found that urology students who used positional memory when taking a course had significantly improved their grades compared to those who only took the course.
The palace of memory conceived by Sherlock Holmes in the English drama. Image source: bbc
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Germany have noticed that participants in memory competitions participate in the competition within a short period of time after learning memory techniques, so the effect of this memory on long-term memory cannot be evaluated. Recently, in an article published in Science Advances, they designed experiments to explore the effects of positional memory on long-term memory and human brain structure.
The research team set up a total of 2 sets of experiments. In the first group of experiments, the researchers found 17 memory players (ranked in the top 50 in the world in memory ability) and matched them one by one with 17 ordinary participants of equal age, gender, hand habits and intelligence (who had not previously used memory techniques). The 34 participants underwent word memory tests (72 words in total, 20 minutes after memory) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) imaging experiments. Subsequently, the researchers selected 50 men of similar age, hand habits and intelligence (but lower than group 1) for the second group of experiments. The experimental process of this group was relatively complex, and they first divided the participants into 3 groups, of which 17 received up to 40 days (30 minutes per day) of positional memory training, and 16 received the same amount of working memory training (positive control, including repeating tasks, feedback learning outcomes and gradually increasing the difficulty of tasks, as well as appropriate rewards. ), the remaining 17 people as blank controls.
In the first group of experimental results (left panel), the memory performance (memory word list) of the memory players and the control group was significantly higher than that of the control group; the second group of experimental results (right panel), the short-term memory of the players using positional memory was no difference compared with the other two groups, but the continuous memory was significantly improved. The image comes from the paper
After training, participants were given word memory tests 20 minutes and 24 hours later, respectively, to assess their weak memory and durable memory. In addition, to assess the effects of positional memory on long-term memory, the researchers again tested the participants' ability to memorize words after 4 months of the experiment. During this time, they also performed brain fmri imaging experiments on participants at multiple stages.
The results of the first set of experiments were not surprising: the short-term memory ability of the memory players was generally higher, and the memory ability of the individual memory players was significantly higher than that of the ordinary participants who matched them. In the 2nd group of experiments, the short-term memory performance of the 3 groups of participants did not differ significantly, and the response ability of the participants in positional memory was even generally slower, but this type of training enhanced the participants' continuous memory. In the memory retrospective experiment 4 months later, they also performed significantly better than the other two groups. That is to say, what positional memory really improves is long-term memory ability. How is this achieved? When the researchers finished analyzing the FMRI data, they found the answer.
It has been theorized that hippocampus-neocortex coupling shifts short-term memory from the hippocampus to the neocortex when the human brain rests, forming long-term memory. The average participant who was trained in positional memory may have revealed a more universal phenomenon. Their hippocampus was enhanced not only to the neocortex, but also to all brain regions involved in memory processes, including the adjacent medial temporal lobe (mtl), the retrosplenial cortex, the lateral prefrontal cortex (lpfc), the brainstem, and the cerebellum. It is these enhanced brain region connections that, combined, promote stronger, long-lasting memory.
In addition, the researchers also found an unexpected phenomenon. Based on previous research, they originally speculated that positional memory will enhance the activities of brain regions involved in visuospatial processing (including scene construction, mental navigation and episodic memory) and memory coding, such as post-compression cortex and LPFC. However, the fmri data showed diametrically opposite results: both memory players and ordinary people in the Group 2 experiment either decreased or did not change significantly after using positional memory. The researchers say this phenomenon may confirm the neural efficiency hypothesis: in cognitive tasks, people with high skills or high intelligence have less brain activation, or more efficient use of the brain.
The image comes from the paper. Participants in positional memory (far right) had a reduced degree of activation of the brain regions involved in memory compared with positive controls (top) and negative controls (bottom).
The researchers say that positional memory enhances memory, probably because it combines well some of the key factors that affect memory, such as visuospatial processing, transcendence, and novelty. This method is also effective for ordinary people to enhance long-term memory, in contrast, working memory training may not be very helpful.
Author: Shi Yunlei Reviewer: Wu Fei
Original paper:
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/10/eabc7606
Reference Links:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc4056179/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19580915/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/working_memory_training#strategies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/method_of_loci
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/secrets-sherlocks-mind-palace-180949567/