I forget where I put my wallet and my keys. I forget people's names. I forget a lot of things. I like it that way. I think it would be excruciating to have a memory as good as do these folks:
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The Masters of Memory Lane By Michelle Delio
Story location:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,62492,00.html
02:00 AM Mar. 02, 2004 PT
NEW YORK -- A few hours ago we had been a small crowd of strangers. But we quickly became a support group, desperately trying to convince each other that mediocre memory skills don't necessarily imply a complete lack of intelligence.
Humiliated by the scene taking place in front of us, it was hard to recall we'd started the day feeling somewhat smug about our own mental abilities. After all, who spends a beautiful springlike Saturday watching a memory competition but people who figure that they, too, are reasonably intelligent?
But it sure was hard not to feel stupid watching three dozen people who had, in just five minutes, memorized the positions of 52 cards in a shuffled deck and were now happily organizing cards in a new deck into the same order as the pack they had memorized.
"I can feel my brain curling up into a fetal position in shame," whispered one onlooker, who identified himself as a professor of statistical science at a New York university. "I feel very small and very ... limited right now."
We couldn't even comfort ourselves with the idea that the people standing on stage were an elite group with a particular penchant for instant recall. The organizers and competitors in the seventh annual U.S. Memory Championship, held in New York on Saturday, had already taken pains to tell us that we too could perform amazing feats like memorizing a string of 100-plus random numbers if we just practiced.
"This is making me nauseous. I have brain cramps," said Nancy Heeden, a graphic artist who attended the event. "I feel like I should just go home, read a crappy romance novel and give up all my pretensions of being an intellectual. I'm not worthy."
After a series of five tests that apparently were more grueling for onlookers than for contestants, the title of U.S. Memory Champion was won by Scott Hagwood, a one-time engineer from Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Hagwood has won the title three times previously, and will now represent the United States in the 2004 World Memory Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this September. Hagwood didn't come in first in all the contests on Saturday, but he aced the card memorization test, accurately recalling each card's position in his deck in just over two minutes.
That skill will come in handy in the international competition, which evidently makes the national games look like child's play.
The three-day international event pits mnemonic experts from around the globe in competitions that include memorizing a previously unpublished and non-rhyming lengthy poem in 15 minutes, and writing it down complete with proper spelling and punctuation; memorizing a list of 400 random words and reciting them back in order; and the dreaded "binary competition," in which competitors have a half hour to memorize a random string of thousands of 1s and 0s.
In last year's international competition, Hagwood managed to recall 552 numbers in the binary string. Competitor Gunther Karsten remembered 3,009. Hagwood came in 12th out of 46 contestants in 2003; this year he hopes to place in the top five.
Hagwood said he wasn't born with an outstanding ability to memorize, and claims anyone can learn the skill. There are specific techniques that mnemonic masters use -- such as associating images with each number and suit when memorizing card positions -- but in general it all comes down to keeping your brain synapses in good working order.
To do that, Hagwood, who gives seminars on how to improve memory skills, advises people to use their non-dominant hand in daily chores, do crosswords and puzzles, play chess, take a different route on your daily commute, learn to tango, play an instrument and speak another language.
No matter how challenging your job is, it isn't demanding enough. Brains thrive on constant challenge, so presenting them with the same activities that they already excel at doesn't keep the gray matter in top shape. You can, however, substitute the waltz for tango lessons -- just ensure that you have a good balance of fresh thinking and activities built into your life.
Online memory games and exercises are provided for the curious or the hopeful memory contestant in training, including a series of exercises offered by the reigning world memory champ, Andi Bell. Bell recently memorized the positions of 52 cards in 100 decks, and then answered questions such as "What is the 17th card in the 22nd deck?"
He got 89 out of 100 questions right, and ruefully says it wasn't his best performance.