Have the Memory of an Elephant!
Brain Mnemonics to Help You Remember Things
Why I chose this topic:
Brain mnemonics are fascinating tools that can greatly improve your life. Take a moment to remember everything you have to remember. With all the homework assignments, family obligations such as birthdays, places you put certain things, and test material you studied there is a lot to remember in life! I want to research this topic because in doing so I will learn tools to improve not only mine but other people's memory that hopefully will have a lasting impact.
What are Brain Mnemonics?
Mnemonic means "memory tool" and that is exactly what Brain Mnemonics are. They are tools you can use to improve your memory.
Brain Activity
Whenever you use a brain mnemonic, different parts of your brain are activated than if you were to use your "normal" memory. The occipito-parietal cortex and left retroplenial cortex are more active when people use brain mnemonics to remember. This is thought to be because when you use a mnemonic such as a memory palace, you are using your excellent spatial mental visualization. This different part of the brain is excellent at remembering for unknown reasons but it is hypothesized it is because since human's first days we have had to navigate dangerous terrain.
Research
A Swedish experiment in 2003 by Lars Nyberg and his team studied how brain activity increases in young and old people who are told to use mnemonics to remember lists of words. It was found different parts of the brain were activated for both groups who use the mnemonic, but it was the younger group who showed the greatest increase of brain activity. This is theorized to be because younger people have more plastic brains than old people.
Interesting Examples of Mnemonics
Daniel Tammet memorized the first 22,514 digits of pi using mnemonics. Derren Brown memorized the ENTIRE works of Shakespeare. David Farrow memorized 59 full packs of playing cards totaling 3068 individual cards. Johannes Mallow was able to memorize 132 historic dates in only 5 minutes. To see more records, go onto http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/memory.html