Two Reasons NOT to Copy Memory Athletes

Memory athletes use special techniques to perform amazing feats of memory. Are these techniques appropriate for classroom materials?
0:00 Memory athletes can do some amazing things
0:34 Techniques memory athletes use
1:59 The argument against using mnemonics - Reason #1
4:13 The argument against using mnemonics - Reason #2
5:50 The argument in favor of using mnemonics
8:23 Incorporating mnemonic techniques into your studying
8:41 The case of single-digit multiplication
9:18 Chinese emperors and Chinese geography
10:40 The periodic table
11:25 Deciding whether to use mnemonic techniques
12:30 Memory emergencies
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For more on mnemonic techniques, check out the Art of Memory: artofmemory.com/
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REFERENCES
The piece below reports something like the consensus among cognitive psychologists: that mnemonics are pretty good for remembering serial items of unrelated information for short periods of time, but have unproven relevance in the classroom.
Putnam, A. L. (2015). Mnemonics in education: Current research and applications. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 1(2), 130-139. doi.org/10.1037/tps0000023
This is a piece from a psychologist who taught her students the method of loci (AKA memory palace) that showed some modestly positive results, at least on list learning and general attitude toward the method.
McCabe, J. A. (2015). Location, Location, Location! Demonstrating the Mnemonic Benefit of the Method of Loci. Teaching of Psychology, 42(2), 169-173. doi.org/10.1177/0098628315573143
For a novel application of the method of loci, here is a piece exploring how it might be leveraged for emotional regulation.
Werner-Seidler, A., & Dalgleish, T. (2016). The Method of Loci Improves Longer-Term Retention of Self-Affirming Memories and Facilitates Access to Mood-Repairing Memories in Recurrent Depression. Clinical Psychological Science, 4(6), 1065-1072. doi.org/10.1177/2167702615626693
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Footage from a card memorization event is from: • Speed Cards World Reco...
The periodic table is from the NIH website - amazing! pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/peri...
The map of China rivers comes from Antonioga, here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ch...
Image of the Loess landscape, in China, comes from Till Niermann, here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lo...
The image of Gansu province (camel photo) comes from Sigismund von Dobschütz, here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mo...
The map of traditional geographical and cultural regions in China comes from SY, here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ch...
Images related to evolutionary processes come from: Elimbis at Wikimedia commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) Esurnir at the English Wikipedia (Allele frequency, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Al... and speciation here (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sp...)
Image of the Tang Dynasty comes from Seasonsinthesun at Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi.... Image of the Roman Empire comes from Paulusburg at Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...)

[@gdvanc]

I've found mnemonics good for helping me remember particular facts that have helped me learn by being a temporary bridge until frequent use allows me to remember without the device. It gives that initial encoding a boost. While remembering facts isn't the same as deep learning, to me it seems to help juggle things in working memory more easily. If I'm working a problem that turns out to require a particular formula, for instance, and I've used a mnemonic device to help me remember that formula, I find that useful. As I continue to use the formula over the years the mnemonic is no longer needed - just as I don't still sing the Schoolhouse Rock Figure Eight song to remember 8x7.

[@benjaminkeep]

Yes, I think that's a good point that I didn't talk about. Many people have talked about mnemonics as a "bridge" like you do, and I agree. You still need the practice and practical application, obviously, but if it let's you engage at a higher level (without having to spend cognitive effort just grappling with the formula again), then it's very useful. Wish there was more research on it.

[@Beaverswings]

The linking method requires going through items, but with a well-constructed memory palace you can pretty much go to any point immediately. I recently used multiple memory palaces for a course in the philosophy and ethics of science (I made a different palace for each assigned paper--no need to reuse memory palaces because I can always think of a different room that I was once in) and I've never had an easier final exam in my life (context: I have a doctorate so I'm no stranger to studying). Aside from being able to rip through exams, the main advantage is that all of the information is available for review, so a person can review all the points of a reading while walking down the street, while waiting for someone, or before falling asleep. Yes, understanding is better than straight up memorizing for long-term retention, but it isn't an either/or situation--understanding and memorizing is gold.

[@benjaminkeep]

Thanks for your thoughts. Great points.

[@yourdogissilly]

@beaverswings, Would you mind elaborating briefly how you used the technique? Did you use it to remember a string of ideas that has to be remembered in sequence? I'd love to know - I am currently struggling in dental school. I believe using this technique can help me a lot. Thanks for your time if you do see this message.

[@Beaverswings]

@@yourdogissilly In brief: I imagine a room in my mind (my office, for example--square or rectangular rooms are best). Using the same route each time (that way I don't have to think about where to go next), I start in the ceiling corner farthest away from the door and imagine the first image, go below that to the mid-height level of the corner and put the next image, and then put the third image on floor in the corner. Then I move to the mid-wall, repeat, next corner, repeat, mid-wall, center of room, mid-wall, corner, mid-wall, corner where the door is. 27 locations per room (Anthony Metivier is the guy who teaches this method of organization). The images are important (they need to be vibrant and memorable and related to what you're trying to remember. They can be a similar sounding thing or something visually similar. For example, in the top left corner of my office I want to remember "gingivitis"--I will image an angry piece of ginger. I can associate the smell of ginger, the sound it's making (yes, I know real ginger doesn't make a noise, but this is a cartoonish piece of ginger), and I can give it red and inflamed gums. Then, I can move down to the mid-corner below the ginger and try to remember "buccal." Perhaps think of Bacchus in one of his orgies smacking the inside of his cheek with a belt buckle (the "buc" and the "Bacc" part should be close enough to the orginal sound to remind me). If I use the linking method, I could link the ginger to Bacchus, but it’s not necessary. Anyway, go through the room like this, review it while walking down the street or falling asleep or whenever, add details or change images for those things that don't spring to mind easily, and you're pretty well done. When you've filled up one room, move to another. The concept and application are pretty simple. There are a ton of variations and tricks that people use, but don't try to do all that at once. For example, at the moment I'm using a variation of Giordano Bruno's memory well (in my case, only with the English alphabet rather than his full version) so that in each location (top corner, say) I can have 26 items (I'm reading a book called "Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking", and while I generally take notes while I'm reading, organize the main points, and put those in a memory palace after I'm finished reading, with this method I'm putting the ideas into my head as I go, with, so far, about four or five points per chapter). Sorry, I wrote a little much. If you want more information, look up Anthony Metivier's channel, or check out the "Art of Memory" forums. Good luck.

[@ILoveLearningEverything]

@@Beaverswings Really interesting you brought up the linking method. I wonder, could there be a way to convert this method into more meaningful and conceptual knowledge? What if we used the linking method not to tell a story, but rather to explain the relationship between the images we have placed in your memory palace variation. Such as contrasting and comparing similarities and differences?

[@ILoveLearningEverything]

@@benjaminkeep Would the method above work at all to help make these mnemonics incorporate more conceptual learning?

[@joshuaworman4022]

"people going through life thinking they are bad at things when they are just using a bad technique" i feel like this describes so much of the mentality of modern life.

[@pepperpeterpiperpickled9805]

Im so happy to see this video. Memory athlete's are so annoying when they appear on language learning and business development podcasts. their skills arent transferable to the real world. *"if you want to remember the name 'Anna', think of a room in your house, think of an item in the room, like a banana, think how anna wants to be a Nana. nana is an anagram of Anna. and there you have it, 100 steps to remember something mundane."*

[@jamesmarshel1723]

😂

[@theblinkingbrownie4654]

I never used memory techniques (because of laziness) but recently I realized that they can be quite powerful. In my chemistry and information tech exams I used the memory palace method to memorize things like colours of solutions and such, where there isn't much to understand without putting more effort than required for the syllabus. If you construct the palace well enough then you don't have to go through items sequentially. I used one scenario that changed with time instead of rooms and made it as unrealistic as possible. The hardest part was making it so objects with similar properties (which, again, i do not need to understand yet) appear at the same time. They still only took a few hours each though and it was well worth the effort as even after I gave up on studying for the specific exams for a long time, I still remembered the scenario vividly.

[@benjaminkeep]

Thanks for sharing your experience! I think memory palaces (and how people might usefully adapt memory palaces) has been pretty under-studied in the literature. So it's always interesting to hear from folks that have found ways to use them effectively.

[@mujtabaalam5907]

"I used one scenario that changed with time instead of rooms and made it as unrealistic as possible." What do you mean by this?

[@theblinkingbrownie4654]

@@mujtabaalam5907 In a palace of loci, you usually keep each of the things separated into different rooms, such as something related to light in one room and sound in another. What I did was make a scenario where an event related to light happens and after that an event related to sound happens, for example seeing me be pulled of the ground rapidly into the atmosphere and then it becomes completely silent. These 2 events occur at the same place but in different times and linking them like this made it easier for me to remember. The unrealistic part about this was that I was being pulled off the Earth by my sister who was playing God. It's absurd and I can't help but remember it.

[@d6d6d6d61]

I love memory palaces. They make me remember everything quickly, what is in the beginning just a string of words (eg a definition) only becomes easy for me to decode and understand on a deeper level after memorizing. I don't know why that is, but it's like my brain can shift the focus from remembering to understanding. I don't remember most of the memory palaces by the time the final exam comes around though, at that point everything just sits in your long term memory anyway.

[@benjaminkeep]

I think if you combine memory palaces with actual practice (solving problems, answering questions, that kind of thing), you would get the result you describe. Is that the case? IMO, this has been a bit of an under-studied area. It'd be interesting to hear more from folks like you using memory palaces to study.

[@d6d6d6d61]

@@benjaminkeep Yep, memory palaces is usually step 1 (out of many steps) of when I start learning something new!

[@Bradlee297]

​@@d6d6d6d61how has it resulted in your exams tho? What are your marks like?

[@JCtheMusicMan_]

I remember that I purchased a Memory Techniques Program when I was younger. However, I don’t remember where I put it😂

[@Ash.Phoenix]

Hi - thank you for such a fantastic video as usual! I’ve been continuing my journey of going through your videos and just wanted to clarify my understanding on your approach to note taking. As someone doing an argumentative essay-based non-technical course, I’ve thought of structuring reading/lecture notes in the form of a Question/Evidence/Conclusion (a method promoted by Cal Newport) - it would be amazing to know your thoughts on formatting styles like it. This would be for the master document that I would refer to when checking my free recall. Thank you!

[@notgate2624]

Great video. Moonwalking with Einstein was a very influential book for me, because it was my first introduction to techniques like this (or that people could do such incredible feats with them) and I just remember finding it completely magical. It started my journey of learning about learning, essentially. I think the greatest thing to learn regarding these techniques is a general level of mental flexibility that you can use to apply it to anything, no matter the type of information. Some athletes may only be good with the specific techniques they learn, but if you can practice turning any piece of information into a vivid image and injecting as much information as possible into it, you can hold onto a wide variety of information a lot better. Mnemonics are a testament of the importance of creative, vivid, and effortful associations between new and existing information.

[@benjaminkeep]

That's a great point. I've been using the major system occasionally for some of my mental math work and I think people don't appreciate the way that you make these things "yours" as you work with them. These techniques aren't meant to be limiting, even if memory competitions seem to be.

[@keithdow8327]

Moon Walking with Einstein is weird in one sense. The author worked with Anders Ericsson, who created the rule that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. However Joshua Foer, the author claims he only worked half an hour a day, for a year. That means it took him less than 200 hours to become an expert. Interesting.

[@khana.713]

Could you make a video on fatigue management? I think that's one of the biggest pain points for a lot of self-study enthusiasts and students as a whole

[@jasonharris8486]

A good way to remember capitals of countries/states is to use wordplay to create connections, sort of like and joke. For example Hungary-Budapest ( If you are Hungry then you are a Foodie Pest) Mali- Bamako (Muhammed Ali (M.Ali) would punch an opponent and Bam a K.O) New Hampshire- Concord (A New rope, made out of Hemp, Shears (breaks). You were therefore Conned into buying this Cord; it's a Concord. Once you create these connections you can't really forget them.

[@pedroewert143]

Would be interesting to see a toe to toe with anthony metivier that i started followed recently (he is an academic who uses things like memory palace and story method for recall of historic texts aswell as books). I used the memory palace with linking and memorized a table of 32 elements in psychology in around 4 minutes. I see it more as a different variation of a chunk, that just 5x-ed my working memory. So now i can really think about the info and manipulate it. As i understand more of a topic i can always connect the mnemonic device with the "true concept". The end goal still would be to gain fast & direct access in retrieval practice (and use the mnemonic more as a crutch) But with your video i realized again the fallacy: when its claimed that school didnt teach us how to learn, studyyoutube aswell doesnt do it, but more teaches studying for a testing-situation. (High amounts of parallel classes, high workloads, time constraints by the curriculum). So i see alot of value in the learning-psycholgy perspective. Another point pro abstract mnemonic devices is that we use some concepts that are not really true anyway - when a child asks why iron gets red and breaks we say "well its because its rusting", later in school we learn, that rusting is actually a reaction with Oxygen (Oxydation), but even later you find out that oxidation doesnt even have to include oxygen, but its when ions and atoms give away electrones. In this sense "rusting" maybe seen as a mnemonic device for giving away electrons. Yet while "rusting" maybe related to the concept, it has as little explicative value as me saying "iron gets red and breaks because of an OX-EATs-a number plATE"

[@dannyheller4612]

In the books I've read about memory, the experts don't just talk about techniques. They talk about factors such as attention, mindset and interest. I'm much more likely to be engaged learning material that is relevant and of interest to me, such as song lyrics, than digits of pi. I highly recommend "Remember It!" by U.S. Memory Champion Nelson Dellis and "Moonwalking with Einstein", which provides a detailed description of memory techniques as well as memory competitions, by U.S. Memory Champion and journalist Joshua Foer.

[@keithtorres5507]

Great vid! I am currently using method of loci to memorize 16 chapters of a book (for fun). Because I want to word for word memorize it, I am using a dry mnemonic technique. However when I want to anything conceptual I obviously won't use mnemonics. Question, are there helpful words to distinguish between things better learned through rote techniques like mind palace/method of loci and things better learned through conceptual targeting techniques like higher-order learning and interleaving recall etc?

[@benjaminkeep]

It's a good question! Not that I know of. Sometimes, people use the term "itemized list" to refer to the kinds of material that memory athletes memorize and "classroom-like" material to refer to things more appropriate to higher-order learning. Of course, this is from people who (mostly) study learning of classroom topics. If there was a term, it would have to be about the learning goals because the same "learning material" could be used in either way.

[@paulmakiana]

really good points!! thanks for your point of view.

[@laiwansan3729]

Hi Benjamin can i pause the video or the book that im reading everytime i see a word that i dont understand or a phrase that i dont get it when Im learning or studying? Because i have been doing this for a long time and i found out that it does consume a lot more energy in my brain since it's like multitasking, or do i need to finish the book or video first then only i go back to search for the words that i dont understand? What would you recommend me to do? What would you do if you face the same situation? I have no idea about the answer and i just cant figure it out so i decided to ask you instead. Hoping that i can get a reply, thanks!

[@benjaminkeep]

Balance is a good thing here. If you have to look up every third word, you're not going to get anywhere. The text is probably too complex to tackle right now. But if you read through a bunch of stuff that you never understand and then go back to look up words, it's probably not going to help you either. The goal is to understand things. So we're focused on the meanings of sentences and the links between sentences. Usually, I don’t jump to the dictionary immediately after seeing a new word. I take a few seconds to figure out what the word might mean from context. If it seems important or interesting, then I’ll look it up to get a better understanding of what it means. Examples of the word in use (like in the OED) are at least as useful as any definition. And understanding the definition is really just the introduction of the word to our vocabulary. Some words we just need to understand in that moment, so that we get a better understanding of the sentence. Some words will come up in other contexts and we’ll be able to recognize and understand them there. And some words will become a part of our vocabulary - we’ll start using them in our own speech and writing. I would not quite equate looking up words with multi-tasking, although if you’re looking up words very frequently then it is pretty disruptive. But ideally you’re looking up the word and going back to the sentence, gaining a deeper understanding of the meaning of the sentence. You want your “look-ups” to support your comprehension, not impede it. Depending on the word or the context, you might just quickly look-up the word (many e-readers and foreign language apps have rapid look-up features where you just get a quick sense for the word’s meanings). You don’t have to go to the OED every time you need to look up a word. What you should do depends on your goals and what the word is.

[@TheIllerX]

This is exactly the criticism I have had against those memory palace and similar techniques.Nice to hear someone else stress this as well. Material you have to learn on a deeper level typically has a lot of internal structure. If you then make some fun, but nonsensical, memory palace to rmember words or conepts, you will seriously damage your real and deep understanding since your vivid irrelevant images in your mind leads you to think in the wrong way. I have thought about this question for a few years. It would be nice to be able to adapt the memory palace technique in some way so it helps understanding rather than distracting and focusing on mindless memorization. My hunch is that the palace structure itself must be very similar to the actual internal information structure of the subject. But so far, I have no clear idea on how to do it. But on a more abstract level, it should be possible to use that associative memory when learning, but maybe using some other related technique.

[@JCtheMusicMan_]

I love this topic! I used to memorize phone numbers (when we only had home phones) by using chunking, area code - prefix - suffix. I still remember many phone numbers I memorized as a child/teen from over 30 years ago.

[@Phonons.]

This is totally unrelated to this video but I have always wondered how eidetic and photographical memories work. Is it simply natural? Or can it be trained using things such as these mnemonics? Would you mind explaining?

[@lizdoesit]

thank you! this is super helpful regarding a question I left on a previous video :)

[@biancarocha823]

Good video! Thank you, Benjamin!

[@maza5866]

what are your thoughts on obsidian?

[@ghosthunter0950]

What do you think would be an effective memory encoding technique for let's say learning programming? I would divide it to 2 types of information. behavior and syntax. Syntax: its pretty obvious. it's just remembering how to write things. remembering how to initialize an array for example is kind of like remembering a new word and how to spell words except more complicated and you also have to connect the different behaviors of the way you initialized it. the second thing is remembering which standard library functions exist what they do and the parameters they take and return. you at least have to memorize their existence and how to use them. but remembering the parameters they take in order and return is also really helpful to programming faster. Behavior: there are so many behaviors of the programming language that are difficult to classify. like learning which syntax works and the differences between them. for example initializing a c array can be done as: int array[5] = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}; in which case it's obvious what each number is. int array[5] = {0}; here you have to remember that everything is initialized to 0; or lets say you write something like this: struct Person { char name[19]; int age; }; You have to remember that generally all this data would continuous in memory, except you can't assume that since because of CPU optimizations sometimes padding is added to have the struct be a power of 2 number of bytes. so if you write code with the assumption that it's continuous in memory there are definitely going to be bugs. The question is how do you effectively memorize these kind of bits of information.

[@user-lq8lz7wl1b]

I actually don't think you need to memorize this. A good ide will almost always ensure your syntax is correct, I would say it makes more sense to spend more time thinking through data structures, algorithms and such.

[@sthiag0]

I've been trying out the free recall thing. It's kinda weird because it FEELS like I'm doing some kind of rote memorization exercise, even though I understand the reasons why they're not the same thing and that free recall is more effective

[@jimbeam4736]

I just discovered your channel and what strikes me most is that you are a former lawyer just like myself who ventured out into more interesting territory, unlike myself (but I´m trying). Could you please make a video about your background and why/how you left the law?

[@benjaminkeep]

Hello fellow law person! I can. I've been asked some similar questions about my background. Been thinking of making some more casual videos with less b-roll which I could roll out a bit more quickly that would address questions like these. Thanks for the idea!

[@ZeddyZed]

Hello Benjamin, I want to hear your thoughts on studying with music (classical) on vs studying without music on. Does it really improve memory retention? or is it a myth?

[@benjaminkeep]

I don't think the difference is that great; there are probably other decisions that have far larger impact on your studying. Having the music on in the background is something your brain will tune out as you study. It can potentially take up valuable mental "space" in your working memory (this would be particularly true for music with words). But it can also serve as a cue that you associate with focused studying. You start listening to classical music when you're studying and you create a positive study association - you'll probably find it easier to study with classical music on and harder to study with it off. Music can also effect moods. If listening to it makes you feel calm and happy, that'll make your studying session more pleasant and you'll probably be able to study for longer. But there's no magic power that classical music has to improve memory for the studied material. At least, I'm not aware of any reliable evidence that suggests that.

[@uglyguy3449]

Awesome video. Can you make a one about stock trading? I mean, how to learn skills like technical analysis more efficiently?

[@barrykp]

This was quite informative. I wonder what you think about using memory palaces to memorise foreign language vocabulary.

[@milo256]

I saw someone elsewhere say that memory palaces aren't the right tool for this because vocabulary items need to be learned on their own, not in order. I do think that simpler mnemonic techniques are useful though! e.g. the "keyword technique" described in "What do you need to learn a foreign language?" by Paul Nation.

[@benjaminkeep]

I've been reading more about language learning lately, and have some videos coming down the pipeline eventually on learning vocab, but here are some quick thoughts: Different kinds of vocab present different kinds of challenges. There are some words that the foreign language student just has to "hard" memorize. There are no clues about the meaning from the word. In other cases, you have cognate words and false cognate words. In other cases, you can derive or remember the meaning quite easily from the component parts (Chinese has many examples of this). Words also differ in how much contextual variation matters. In English, "a chair" is just a chair. It's a static item and it can be used to describe just about any chair-like thing, even if there are more specific words for some items (e.g., armchair, bench, couch). Other times, the context matters greatly. We use a verb like "send" to send armies and letters and regards. But other languages might use very different words for those different contexts. So when it comes to remembering the new word, it's not just about linking the new word to "send," it's also about understanding the usage contexts. So you would have to adapt the memory palace technique in some way to account for that. Something else to keep in mind is that "memorizing vocabulary" is not a very specific term. You might be exposed once or twice to a vocab word; enough to recognize it, but not recall it. Or you might know a word, but it's not part of your everyday vocabulary. Or you might only be able to remember the word with a specific cued context. I also agree with Michael's point that the memory palace is particularly helpful for remembering ordered items. There's some degree of wasteful cognitive effort in making the memory palace when you're not interested in recalling order (both from encoding it in a list-like form and retrieving it in a list-like form). Overall, I think the best way to grow vocabulary is to see or hear it in use in context, in multiple situations, over the course of a longer period of time (using contextual variation, contrasting or analogical cases, and spacing). But that doesn't mean that other methods can't play a role, too. You might use flashcards or memory palaces or other methods to quickly have a rough sense of words before engaging in lots of reading and listening practice. But my views might change as I read more about it.

[@AlexeyShort]

But what if we use memorization techniques to remember patterns and structures?

[@hellobro7134]

Hello good to see your video please keep uploading regularly

[@JCtheMusicMan_]

I use a different memorization technique depending on the information I have to remember.

[@Aritul]

11:35, 11:46, & 11:58 were particularly helpful.

[@DannyHatcherTech]

You mention cognitive psychologists a lot here. I am curious if you could expand on that a little further? Experience - encode - memory store - recall Memory techniques seem to be based on the experience - but if you 'store' memories, how does cog psych argue against the methods of these memory athletes. I might be missing something as someone that looks at ecological psychology instead. I have been falling behind with cog psych research a bit.

[@benjaminkeep]

Sorry, I don't understand your question. I don't think anyone argues against the idea that mnemonic techniques lead to high memory performance (of the sort tested in memory competitions). The "consensus", if there is one, among cognitive psychologists, is more that these techniques are best used in particular circumstances.

[@DannyHatcherTech]

​@@benjaminkeep You mention the memory athlete techniques are useful in some specific contexts, but I don't understand the argument to why they don't work for other learning topics. Assuming we have a 'memory store' why doesn't those techniques work? You say topics in a lesson have more 'structure' and memory athletes create that structure - by that logic wouldn't it make it easier to learn if the structure was already there... The other argument was that the techniques are short term but if the person was to repeat that practice doesn't that strengthen the memory...

[@Mymemoriesgift]

Thats a very good argument you point it , and that explan alot to me thank you

[@donsmemoryvideos50]

Point 2 is flawed, you even hit it on yourself. Just build more palaces, if you need it long-term, review at regular intervals. The techniques the athletes, use is the same to memorize long-term. I compare it to weight lifting, it's interesting to see what humans are capable of physically, it's also interesting to see what we are capable of mentally. There's also this assumption that memorization/understanding is separate, this couldn't be further from the truth. My recommendation, read/understand first, then encode it with memory techniques. It's much easier to memorize when it has meaning. I often memorize words in German to strengthen my ability on an abstract task, I usually get about 15/50, however in English it's usually 48 or more correct. Same techniques, but the English words have meaning.

[@mageprometheus]

The subject-action-object per card and 18 memory palace rooms for a deck of cards never helped me with anything but a party trick. Rhymes are good. One over 2 pi root L C, is the resonant frequency.

[@arihaviv8510]

With a peg system, you might want to associate 3 key points per page or chapter of a book and that way, you'd know something about each page

[@keithdow8327]

There is a saying, the amateur practices until he gets it right. The professional practices until they can't get it wrong.

[@maryo1065]

Could you do a video on IQ? Is intelligence fixed or can it improve ? If it’s fixed, is there no use of trying to learn complex things anyways? I’m really curious

[@benjaminkeep]

Intelligence (which is not the same thing as IQ, necessarily - IQ is a measure of something we would call intelligence) has genetic, environmental, and developmental influences. It is certainly not "fixed" in the way that I think you're thinking about - it develops and changes across the lifespan. A longer video on IQ is in the works.

[@G30RG3KA]

thank you for your videos!

[@rabi636gamer]

Bro why did you delete your new video please reupload it

[@benjaminkeep]

Sorry about that - the upload was an accident. I'd like to add some extra information to it. Should be uploaded again in the next week or so.

[@wesleytwiggs7687]

I’ve memorized thousands of digits of pi with pao and a memory palace. Super fun.

[@stageconvention2298]

Thanks

[@alexandercardona6816]

What is the way flashcard?. Active recall, flashcard and mnemonic would be holistic.

[@raajaggarwal7777]

Can you make a video on metacognition?

[@benjaminkeep]

Yes, I am working on some things along those same lines.

[@raajaggarwal7777]

@@benjaminkeep Thank you!

[@alvarorubenvera5915]

You have a doppelganger in Peru, a famous singer 😅

[@Chinekeh]

Nice. I am going to have to remember some acronyms for Comptia Project Management

[@admin-morres007]

I Found really hard to make memory palaces, mnemonics 😢

[@didack1419]

Have you tested your ability to imagine things visually in your mind? I assume that has to do with it.

[@admin-morres007]

@@didack1419 yes but my capability to link items is poor

[@nayasahnaaf-lh2mj]

Memory palace does works for long term . I have my own experience.

[@TheUnbotheredTexan]

I memorized almost 600 digits of pi without using any techniques. And I hate the fact that I just discovered there's a teachnique. Like, i'm losing a streak or I'm too lazy to start again.

[@abdogamal1306]

Thank you very much for the video and i want to ask about something Regarding the emergency situations of exams ,suppose the following : there is an exam that would only test the recognition of symptoms to a certain disease in mcq ,now assess the following method in studying : randomizing a list of all the symptoms of all diseases in a certain system say the GIT and then try to deal with it as a matching question ; which belongs to which And if there are even better techniques to such a scenario i would like to know

[@benjaminkeep]

I think that's a pretty good approach. But I would balance that with looking for relationships among different diseases and different symptoms. There are likely many "easy" diseases - one or two characteristic symptoms distinguish them. And there are likely many diseases that offer similar presentations of symptoms. Get a solid organization in your head, dive into the questions, re-organize/identify gaps in your knowledge based on your mistakes, do it again.

[@abdogamal1306]

@@benjaminkeep thank you very much ! ,and i think it would of a great benefit that you make videos applying the learning concepts to various chapters of various subjects based on the types of exams (if it is possible to do that, despite the fact that it is impossible to study all materials ,so if not at least give the hint) ,and i think if you gave us a mail or something to send you the chapters it would be even better to see the application

[@user-nu8in3ey8c]

Classes and courses have been getting longer and more expensive for years, often including information that is unnecessary for anyone pursuing a career or job in what they are studying. The Pareto Principle seems to apply: 20% of the course content provides 80% of the value. If the information is not useful, and relevant, except to pass a test, I might use a memory palace for it, pass the exam, and let it fade and be overwritten by new information. Sometimes entire courses fell into this category when I was at university. Other information that was important I would instead focus on understanding the patterns, meaning, application, and want to really know it forwards and backwards.

[@keithdow8327]

The record for memorizing a deck is 12.74 seconds. A minute is slow.

[@JCtheMusicMan_]

I used a similar method to memorize the US Army’s “Creed of the NonCommissioned Officer” by memorizing it a paragraph at a time, then made a sheet with the first few words of each sentence and then with only the first word of each sentence. Finally, once I had it memorized I kept reciting it over and over. I still periodically recite it from time to time when I think about it. I recently attended a senior leadership course where it was required to recite from memory for a grade. I was the only one to get a perfect score. Here are some metrics to give an idea of how challenging the task was: +-----------------------+--------+ | Metric | Count | +-----------------------+--------+ | Total Words | 254 | | Total Sentences | 14 | | Total Paragraphs | 3 | | Avg Sentence Length | 18.14 | | Avg Recitation Time | 1m35s | +-----------------------+--------+ Footnote: I wrote this comment in your learning video and then realized it fits this video perfectly!

[@accidentalgeniusxd2297]

❤

[@alikarim2345]

I don't find mnemonics that helpful when trying to learn something my main problem is comprehension because some articles/books have either bad grammar or use advanced words. besides if u truly understand something u will remember it.

[@tee1532]

Do you use memory athlete techniques to learn Chinese characters?

[@user-lq8lz7wl1b]

My experience with memory techniques is tied with my story of how I found and came to love Benjamin content! When I discovered memory techniques they absolutely changed my view of memory, what it is and what it can do. I of course never got to competition but still my daily life improved. I quickly tried to apply it to everything including work. For context, I work in a deeply technical field. I have since found out the tools have significant problems. There is a reason you see people having to put on earphones, it takes a significant amount of your attention. This is not a problem if the information you are being given is absolute truth and you don't need to engage just cram it. However in real world scenario, your colleagues want to hear your point of view as well. Ie you are expected to add to the conversation not just store it like some kind of biological recorder. The techniques here have changed how I see work knowledge, transforming it into a captivating tapestry of patterns and insights. From a practice perspective, I whole heartedly took on free recall and now just don't bother taking notes on most meetings and instead do free recall after! The net effect has been I am more engaged and feel I contribute more. So thank you Benjamin and waiting for your book to come out!

[@edgarroberts8740]

10:54 "Including all known lanthanides and actinides? Good luck!"

[@suppression2142]

Anthony mitiever anyone? :)

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

10:39 Ha thats funny, isnt this like visualization in scientific learning but just in your brain instead of drawing? I dont think i have a mental image good enough to do that btw (it's very shitty to the honest). One can learn, i guess.

[@tarunarachmad3976]

2:47

[@tarunarachmad3976]

5:54

[@tarunarachmad3976]

11:25

[@jfox8888]

hmm will prolly edit my own comment tomorrow once I'm well rested and the brain strikes again : - Jim kwik / Justin Sung , do bring out similar things as what Ben has mentioned, regarding " bad " memory techniques or encoding, problem is, its not just 80% wrong technique , but rather when its used and how its being used in relation If I had a very near death experience, for NOT remembering a number or signs of danger, the moment I've experienced that very first near death , the brain kicks in pretty fast as [ trauma ] , can't recall where ive read it, but extreme conditions makes the brain hella efficient if there's no, [ love ] / [ interest ] baseline for the incoming information, there's no effort [ recalling is effort, always ], regardless how well versed the mnemonics are, say my favourite Sherlock memory palace, it will just not stick , but, bringing in BBC's favourite Sherlock, immediately I would reckon, almost everyone in the comments would immediate recall, quite vividly which episodes, or roughly which ones stood out , e.g the cab chasing , where Benedict Cumberbatch , had to recall the timings of all street lights, or the decoding of a name, which was the code for a testing protocol etc. at least, in my own view of summary for those viewing this video, knowing what you're copying the mnemonics, [ Jim kiwis' 6Rs ? or Justin's other usual tools of encoding ] with Dr Ben here's [ Free canvas recall ] , one is able to reproduce Sherlock live recollection, the daily path you take to your favourite cafe, and when it would be the ideal timing, to get fresh beans, the smell and taste and sound etc.... or the annoying neighbour , at what time, what topic are being " projected out loudly ' it can be combined to long term , via spaced rep / spaced active free recall and asking how it lunked up to the that fond memory of your cafe path, we're really unlimited when it comes to solving problems, because we're just that lazy innate, and THATS good

[@shakebraza196]

Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Summary imo. 1. Memory atheletes don't acquire skills to predict future problems for long time. There learning is illusions not real. And they need to forget all what they have learnt almost immediately. 2. They misjudge themselves as good learners where as they are good short term recallers. 3. They use a lot of pneumanics to memorize things instead of finding repeating patterns to solve real problems. Why you should use these techniques; 1. You are lazy, ignorant, arrogant and want to cramp to exams , only marks matters for you and you don't value skills that comes with learning sciences. You want to escape from reality (you are a liar). Then you should use these so called memorization techniques. Teacher said ; there are no short cuts to success in this world. No escape , accept your challenges , ask guidances from ONE true God and strive to find truth , do goods avoid evils. Allahu AL Akbar.

[@technoworlddd]

Thanks