Many of my favourite free access videos are from the California based TED (Technology Entertainment and Design). I always found the combination a little strange, but maybe it is brilliant to join the "two brains" together. The motto: Ideas worth spreading. So here I am sharing with you what has been shared with me.
Joshua Foer, a science journalist, gives a talk called "Feats of memory anyone can do". It's an amusing story of a logic guy getting obsessed. He witnesses a contest of memory, and one year later, after much research and practice, he wins! He, and if his testimony is true, and other contestants are humble about their talents.
The story I didn't remember hearing before (yes, I need to hear this lecture) explains the origin of the mind palace. It started with a Greek poet named Simonides escaping a massive tragedy by leaving a banquet hall just before it collapsed and killed most guests. He was asked to identify their bodies by where they sat, and there began the idea of the "method of loci", LOCI meaning places in latin, which was a memory system whereby things are remembered by moving room to room, also known as the Journey Method, or the Roman Room method.
This is the basis of a mnemonic Joshua elaborates in the talk, taking us from the front porch into the house, maximizing the "hooks" needed to retrieve the memory, with each room filled with the strangest, most visual image that links the memory to the thing being remembered.
I embrace "out-sourcing" my memory to notes, and the Great Google, but Joshua reminds us that training our memory in this era of technology is essential, anyways. So memorize a poem, challenge yourself to a memory game, find a mnemonic and walk through your mind palace today!
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