Mar 08, 2021 12:00:00

Research results show that Sherlock Holmes' memory technique ``Memory Palace'' actually helps improve memory

Sherlock Holmes , the famous detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle, is said in the story to store vast amounts of memory by placing important information in ``imaginary locations in his head.'' I am. A new study examining this mnemonic technique, also known as the 'memory palace' or ' location method ,' found that it helps people remember more things.

Durable memories and efficient neural coding through mnemonic training using the method of loci
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abc7606

Sherlock Holmes' famous memory trick really works | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/ancient-memory-technique-creates-long-lasting-memories.html

The ``location method'' is a mnemonic technique that involves imagining an imaginary space in your head, such as a palace, room, or path, and placing the information you want to memorize in various locations within that space. When you want to remember information, you visit the imaginary space in your head again, visit the place where the information was placed, and pick up the memory. This mnemonic technique also allows you to use familiar places, such as the route you take to work or school, your home, etc., and place the information you want to memorize.

The location method, which was invented in ancient Greece, is one of the widely known memory techniques, and it is said in the work that the famous detective Sherlock Holmes also uses this memory technique. Isabella Wagner, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Vienna, says of the location method, which uses familiar places and routes as cues to embed new information that you want to remember, saying, ``It's a very powerful way to improve your memory.'' says.

Wagner's research team conducted an experiment to find out how effective the location method is in improving the average person's memory, and how it works. First, the research team recruited 50 participants who had never received mnemonics training before, and gave 17 of them six weeks of location method training, and another 17 participants who had no prior mnemonic training. The remaining 16 participants received no training at all.

After training, the research team had subjects perform a task of ``memorizing as many words on a list as possible'' and measured brain activity before and after the task using

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). thing. In addition, we investigated how many words the subjects remembered by asking them to recall the words on the list again at three times: 20 minutes, 24 hours, and 4 months after the memory task.

The results showed that subjects who were trained using the location method remembered more words than subjects who were trained using other mnemonic techniques or those who received no training. At the 20-minute test, subjects trained using the location method remembered 62 words, those trained using other methods remembered 41 words, and those who received no training remembered 36 words. subjects remembered 56 words, and subjects in the control group remembered 30 and 21 words, respectively. In a test four months later, subjects who had been trained in the location method memorized 50 words, while subjects in the control group memorized 30 and 27 words.

The research team also conducted an experiment in which they gathered 17 ``memory experts'' who actually ranked high in a global memory contest, asked them to memorize information, and measured their brain activity at that time using fMRI. . An analysis of this measurement result and the measurement results of 50 subjects revealed that ``amnemonic processing and long-term memory were significantly affected while memorizing list words in memory masters and subjects trained in the location method. It was found that brain activity in the area had decreased.

Wagner commented on the results: ``This result was somewhat surprising to us, as improved performance is generally associated with activation of various brain regions.'' The reason why memory improves with lower brain activation is that the location method may play a role in ``making the brain function more efficiently.'' In addition, the subjects who mastered memory masters and the location method showed increased brain connectivity in areas important for storing long-term memories during rest after completing a memory task.

Wagner said many people can learn the location method, but added: 'Obviously it's not suitable for everyone because it takes time and regular practice, but it can help 'boost' your memory.' 'It is definitely possible to achieve high or exceptional memory performance using the same techniques.'