On November 10, America’s top memory gurus gathered in MIT’s Kresge Auditorium to compete in the “Tournament of Memory Champions” in front of a live audience.
The competition was divided into four events: long-term memory, memorized words, auditory memory, and two decks of cards where competitors had to memorize the exact order of two decks of cards. In between events, MIT faculty members who are experts in memory science provided short talks and demonstrations about memory and how to improve it. Among the competitors was Claire Wang, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. Mr. Wang has been participating in memory sports for years, and his hobby has taken him all over the world, learning from some of the best memorists on the planet. At the tournament, she tied for first place in the words to remember contest.
The event commemorated the 25th anniversary of the USA Memory Championship Organization (USAMC). USAMC sponsored the event in partnership with the MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT Quest for Intelligence, and Lumosity.
MIT News spoke with Wang to find out more about her experience in memory competitions and if she had any advice for those of us who don’t have such amazing memories.
Q: How did you start participating in memory contests?
A: When I was in middle school, I read a book called “Einstein’s Moonwalk.” This book tells the story of one journalist’s journey from average memory to being named Memory Champion in 2006. My parents were also obsessed with this TV show about memorizing decks. Perform card usage and other memory feats. I was already familiar with the concept of “memory palaces”, which inspired me to explore memory sports. Somehow, I convinced my parents to let me take a gap year after 7th grade to travel the world, attend competitions, and learn from memory grandmasters. At that time, I was able to get to know the community and build my own memory system, which was a lot of fun. After that year and several subsequent USA Memory contests, I entered those contests a lot less, but it’s still fun to have this ability.
Q: What was the Tournament of Memory Champions like?
A: USAMC invited many of the previous year’s winners to compete. This was really great. It was great to meet so many people I hadn’t seen in years. I couldn’t compete in all the events because I was too busy to do long-term memory. The memorization process will take two weeks. But it was a really great experience. I helped brainstorm a little bit beforehand because I know one of the professors who does brainstorming. I thought about how to give a lecture and the structure of the event.
Then I participated in a word event. The test consists of 300 words in 15 minutes, and participants have to memorize each word in turn in a round-robin competition. There were two strikes. Many other contests just require you to write down the words. Round robin makes it more fun for viewers. I made a stupid mistake because I was tied with someone else. In hindsight, it was a little sad, but it’s still great that we came in first place.
I was a little nervous that my head wouldn’t remember anything since I hadn’t done this in a while (and I had just come back from a trip where I didn’t get much sleep), but it was fun. I was surprised that he didn’t just go blank on stage. Also, since I hadn’t done this in a while, I had forgotten a lot of the trails and memory palaces, so I needed to do a speed review of them before the tournament. Event vocabulary doesn’t get easier over time. It’s 300 random words (ranging from “disappointment” to “chair”) that you just need to remember in order.
Q: What are the approaches to improving memory?
A: The whole idea is that we remember images, feelings, and emotions better than numbers or random words. How it actually works is that you create an ordered series of locations in your “memory palace.” The palace can be anything. It could be part of a campus, a classroom, a room, but as you imagine yourself walking through this space, there’s a certain order to it, and you put certain information in every place. This is information related to what I’m trying to remember. Some pictures are associated with words, while others are specific images that are associated with numbers. Once you have a correlated image system, all you need to do is remember the story and convert it back into information when you remember it.
Doing memory sports is very helpful for visualization, and the faster and better you can visualize things, the better you will remember things. Start remembering by repeating it at intervals so you can talk to yourself. It’s also important to have an emotional connection to things because it helps you remember emotions better. Participating in a memory contest inspired me to study neuroscience and computer science at MIT.
Much of the information we learn is more valid and requires intuitive understanding, so certain memory sports techniques may not be as useful in everyday life as you might think, but they can be helpful in some ways. I think so. First, sometimes you need to remember things first before developing strong intuition later. You also have to get good at telling lots of stories over time, so you get good at visualizing and manipulating objects in your head, which is very helpful.
