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

If you want to be the first to know about the courses I'm releasing, sign up here: https://forms.gle/px7ZmXkvJW26uFWp8

For more on mnemonic techniques, check out the Art of Memory: https://artofmemory.com/

Sign up to my email newsletter, Avoiding Folly, here: http://www.benjaminkeep.com


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. https://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. https://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. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702615626693

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Footage from a card memorization event is from:    • Speed Cards World Record 12.74 second...  

The periodic table is from the NIH website - amazing! https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/peri...

The map of China rivers comes from Antonioga, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ch...

Image of the Loess landscape, in China, comes from Till Niermann, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lo...

The image of Gansu province (camel photo) comes from Sigismund von Dobschütz, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mo...

The map of traditional geographical and cultural regions in China comes from SY, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ch...

Images related to evolutionary processes come from: Elimbis at Wikimedia commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) Esurnir at the English Wikipedia (Allele frequency, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Al... and speciation here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sp...)

Image of the Tang Dynasty comes from Seasonsinthesun at Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi.... Image of the Roman Empire comes from Paulusburg at Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...)