LEARN TO REMEMBER

I have recently been drawn to books about learning and memory. On audio I am listening to Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer, on Kindle I’m reading The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle having recently read Limitless by Jim Kwik. Lined up I have The Only Skill that Matters by Jonathan Levi, and Learn like a Polymath by Peter Hollins. In addition I was thrilled to be invited to become a member of the Oxford Review (OR) by Dr David Wilkinson. The OR releases distilled research briefings on the latest findings to do with people and organisations across the globe.

These books and reviews are all about building our capacity to read, remember, and learn more effectively. This is something I am personally and professionally interested in. The tools and skills, examples and experiments which are unpacked in these books, can help me to become a better human while also helping our Exceed Performance offer to build on cutting edge research into the concept of accelerated improvement for leaders and teams in upstream oil and gas, in the energy sector, indeed wherever there are safety, quality, and wellness objectives to be met, against a budget of time and cost.

I found myself watching a TEDx talk about memory too. It reinforced some of what I have been hearing/reading. It felt appropriate to share some of the points of consistency as these ideas are built on centuries of trial and error.

1. Story and Imagery.

During the TED talk that I watched, the speaker put up a list of words and gave the audience a minute to memorise them before taking another minute to write them down. Our tendency in this scenario is to adopt what is called a rote memorisation technique which is based on repetition. The idea is that we will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the material the more we repeat it but I know from experience that this is a flaky way to retain information. Even if it works for the short term, the information will be lost after a short while.

The speaker then demonstrated through story and imagery, a different and better way to commit a list to memory. I was struck by how easy it was to remember the story because it was deliberately bizarre and strange. By associating items or names with bizarre images in a story about a familiar reference such as the human body, or a familiar place such as where we live, lists or potentially anything can be recalled with a lot more ease.

2. Location.

There is a fascinating story from 500 BC when Simonides the Greek allegedly escaped death when a banquet hall he vacated, collapsed behind him, killing all inside. The one positive to emerge from this tragedy was that Simonides was able to use his memory to recall exactly where everyone in the hall had been sitting. He correlated their identities to their positions (loci in Latin) and later drew on this experience to develop the memory theatre or “memory palace”; a system for mnemonics.

A mnemonic device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory. Mnemonics make use of elaborate encoding, retrieval cues, and imagery as specific tools to encode any given information in a way that allows for efficient storage and retrieval. – Wikipedia

3. Visualisation.

In Moonwalking with Einstein, the author relates his own learning through experience as he goes from journalist to “genius”. In order to prepare himself for memory greatness, Foer perseveres through deep, deliberate practice. This practice takes place well outside the comfort zone and involves constant feedback. However, the rate at which it accelerates the improvement curve is quite astounding.

Foer enlists the help of Coach “Ed” who has competed in memory competitions himself. Everyone needs an accountability guide. Ed helps Josh to understand that there are no limits, only plateaus. We all reach plateaus when we become consciously competent at something (EG driving), the key to break through the “ok plateau” is to refocus and revitalise the deep, deliberate process of getting better.

There are no limits, there are plateaus. But you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. – Bruce Lee

The book uncovers fascinating insights into the little-known World Memory Championships and the Mental Athletes or “Mathletes” who compete there. It also dives into pedagogy or teaching methodology; how to inspire effective learning for individuals and teams. From rote to experiential learning, we get an understanding of how learning has evolved. Memory gets a bad rap, but in essence learning and memorisation should go hand in hand, it is about learning how to learn.

Tony Buzan, the mind behind mind mapping, is well known for his belief that mind mapping makes us smarter. There is evidence that he is right, and indeed his tools draw principally on those used by previous great minds such as Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein. Effectively mind maps draw on imagery, location, and visualisation. They require mindfulness and memory to create. It is about inventing the appearance of inventory as Foer suggests.

I also learned about “savant syndrome” including the prodigious savant Daniel Tammet. Daniel Tammet was born with an unusual mind; he was diagnosed with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome, which meant his brain’s uniquely wired circuits made possible such extraordinary feats of computation and memory as learning Icelandic in a single week, and reciting the number Pi (π) up to the 22,514th digit! He is what is known as a synesthete.

Tammet does not calculate numbers as much as experience them. On the flip side, socialising did not come easily and he avoids public places. There are some interesting documentaries about him, including Brain Man. Savants have phenomenal memories without any tricks. Real “Rain Man” – Kim Peek, is a mystery to science. He has a unique brain which has manifested in a unique memory and incredible reading speed. Damage in the brain’s left hemisphere seems to correlate with savantism. There is potentially a rain man in all of us! Mental maths is also a skill that can be learned. Finger movement can aid cross multiplication, while calendar calculation (for any century) can apparently be learned by anyone in an hour!

Foer returns to the US Memory Championships a year after covering it as a journalist. He goes on to win the whole thing, and sets a new US record for the time taken to memorise a pack of cards (100 seconds)! He then competes in the World Championships and comes a very credible 13th overall.

Foer’s final reflection sums up what I am learning about remembering: Habits are shaped by our memories. Our minds are capable of incredible memory. Mindfulness leads to a greater human experience for ourselves, and those around us. In this digital age, clearly we can delegate much of our memory, but for learning how to learn, for memorising important lists of information, memory tools are definitely worth knowing.