Yunshan Li [Week 17]: Memory Athletes
Week 17: Memory Athletes – 5/18 - [4:53PM].
Recently I came across a category of events from The Guinness Book of World Records that tests people’s ability to memorize things. I learned that in 2020, the title of World Memory Champion went to a memory athlete named Emma Alam after she was able to memorize a list of 410 randomly generated words in 15 minutes. I was instantly intrigued by Alam’s special ability and wanted to learn more about memory athletes.
I was completely awestruck when I found out that another memory athlete named Numkshur Narmandakh was able to memorize a combination of 6,000 binary numbers in 30 minutes. I can hardly remember my own phone number for around a year!
I really want to acquire amazing memories like these memory athletes so I looked into how they developed and trained their memories. My research led me to a method called the “Major System” (pictured below) which was developed by a historian named Johann Winkelmann in 1648. This method connects letters in words with similar-sounding numbers to make them easier to memorize. For example in a word like Dr. Pepper, the memory athlete will remember the most prominent letter DP as the digit 19. Sadly, I personally found this method to make memorization even more difficult.
I soon went down a rabbit hole and discovered that there is an annual event called the World Memory Championship that started in 1991 and hosts many memory competitions including categories like abstract images, names and faces, and historic and future dates. The event includes 30 countries worldwide and usually takes place in December. Unfortunately, I do not have the talents to participate in this event, but I definitely want to watch it this year!
Source:
www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/360575-most-random-words-memorised-in-15-minutes
www.worldmemorychampionships.com/
Image:
www.gurra.mk/five-ways-you-could-become-a-memory-champion/
www.keytostudy.com/mnemonic-major-system/
Hey Yunshan! Memory athletes sound like insane prodigies. How they memorize insane amounts of information in such short periods of time is honestly beyond me, but fascinating nonetheless. The “Major System” seems a bit tricky, but I’m sure when implemented correctly, using this method to memorize large quantities of information will be much easier. I look forward to watching one of these tournaments in the near future. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Yunshan ! Pushing the limit of human memory is certainly an interesting thing since for some people it seems to be in no short supply but in others it is as rare as gold. Even so 6000 numbers is insane and I am now feeling extremely inferior for my inability to remember any phone numbers. But it is also uplifting since it shows that practice is what got them here and that anyone could do it with dedication.
ReplyDeleteHi Yunshan! The capabilities of these memory athletes is really astounding. The fact that they are able to memorize so much in such a short amount of time seems like a miracle, even though I know that memory athletes go through training and hard work. I've never heard of the Major System, but like you mentioned, it does seem a little harder. It must make it easier for the athletes, however, since they have a much larger memorizing capacity.
ReplyDeleteYunshan, this was definitely a shocking and interesting blog post to read. I have heard about people having really good memories and memorizing things in just a couple of minutes but I never knew it was a sport. Memory athletes sound so intriguing and honestly as hard as a physical athlete but mentally. I cannot imagine memorizing so much information in such a short amount of time. I am someone who cannot for the life of me remember birthdays; I always get so confused and I have to have all their birthdays on my calendar. I too am definitely interested in watching one of these Memory Championships.
ReplyDeleteHi Sophia, I will definitely always be impressed by people who have such amazing memories. I know that they have some tips and tricks that help them with association, but it is still super hard to pull off. Some people can just rattle on the digits of pi, and past like 10 digits most people won't even be able to tell if they are actually repeating the digits or just spouting a random series of numbers.
ReplyDeleteHey Yunshan, I never heard of memory athletes before so this was interesting to learn about. It is crazy how people are able to accomplish such amazing feats. There is a technique called the Memory Palace, so I wonder if these memory athletes would also use this technique in their competitions. This also makes me wonder how memory athletes do on on tests on things like history dates, vocabulary terms, or math equations. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Sophia, before reading your blog I did not know that there were such things as memory athletes. I am very shocked and impressed by the number of things they are able to memorize and I am very curious about whether these memory athletes are efficient at memorizing everyday things such as their groceries or schedules.
ReplyDeleteHey Sophia, by simply looking at the picture you included in your blog post, I can imagine the vast extremes of memory present in that room. I cannot fathom how people are able to employ their memory to such extreme extents, somehow completing seemingly impossible tasks like memorizing thousands of digits of π. I really feel insignificant when hearing about people accomplishing tasks like those, as I myself could barely even memorize a piano piece. These people are simply superhumans.
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