IntroI was always interested in how our memory works and if there are some ways to make it work more effective. One of the most efficient approaches is mnemotechnics - which has proven it efficiency many times (see last slide).

So I decided to do my final project on gathering and summarising the information of memory formation and memory recalling processes. And my primary point was to understand how Mnemotechnics works in terms of neuroscience.

MnemotechnicsWhat it is and how it works from

neuroscience point of view

final project for “Neurobiology of everyday life” courseby Ilya Makarov. December, 2016.

Memoryis the process by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved.

Memory types

- Working (Short-term)

- Implicit (Nondeclarative)

- Explicit (Declarative)

- Semantic- Episodic

Memory storage

Working memoryNot actually a memory, but more like something you are focusing on at the moment. It allows you to comprehend what you are reading or to figure out the meaning of what has just been said to you in a conversation

Capacity: 4-5 items. (extensible using chunks)

Lifetime: up to 30 secs.

Specifics: primary relates to auditory cortex.

Example: Repeating a cell phone number, repeating a name of a person

Implicit memory- Skill learning

- Knowing how to ride a bicycle

- Knowing how to touch type (typing without looking at keyboard)

- Priming- Stronger likelihood of using the word you heard recently

- Being scared of every sound after watching a horror movie

- Conditioning- Salivating when you see a favorite food- Feeling anxiety when you enter dentist office

Explicit memory- Episodic

- Remembering your first kiss- Remembering your first flight by airplane

- Remembering the wedding day.

- Semantic- Knowing emergency number- Knowing the capital of Great Britain- Knowing the name of current president

Memory Formation

External Events

Sensory Memory Working / Short-term memory Long-term memoryEncode Encode

Retrieving

Hippocampus

Hippocampus - the “save button” of our brain. Allows us to save information in our brain.

Amygdala - the structure responsible for the emotional reaction, and has big impact on what we remember (primary implicit memory)

Where are the memories stored?

It’s

all over

the cortex.

Are memories reliable?Your memories can be affected by you or someone else almost as easily as they are created.

There are two main ways to change the memory:

1) Remember it, and you will surely change something according to your current circumstances. E.g. during remembering your first kiss, if sun is shining through your window you might also think that your first kiss was in sunny day, even though it was not.

2) Experience something remotely similar to any of your memory and this memory can be affected. E.g. I’m drinking red wine and listening to the song, that played on my wedding - so as a result I might remember as though I drank red wine on my wedding.

TED Talks: How reliable is your memory?

What affects memories?- Emotions

- If you feel depressed, you can not concentrate on the subject and thus there is a big chance your memory won’t be encoded into long-term

- Otherwise if you are motivated and like what you are doing there are more chances you

remember the subject.

- Physical state- To get maximum out of your abilities you should feel comfortable and healthy

- Existing patterns- Existing information from visual cortex significantly affects the things we see. This allows us to

understand things we already are familiar with easier and quicker. However it can also affect the way we understand and memorise new things.

Mnemotechnicsalso known as the Art of Memory, is a number of practices to improve memory forming and recalling processes.

The most important principle is the visual sense in combination with the orientation of 'seen' objects within space.

Imagination is the key requirement for using this technique.

Convert Semantic memory into Episodic

How it works?

1. Create an imaginary object for a semantic data using associations

2. Think out a story using imaginary objects, so one object is clearly linked to the next one.

3. Recall by remembering first object from your story

1. Encode the informationIf I want to remember the phone number 456686 of my neighbor whose name is Bill, I need to:

- Encode my neighbour to some object, let it be Bill Gates (it’s our main object)- Split his phone number into chunks (chunks is a piece of information, e.g. 99

is one chunk of two digits) In our case we will use chunks of 2 digits - Encode each chunk to the visual object, accordingly to this table we need to

link following objects:

Bill Gates (our neighbour) + rose (45) + ice cube (66) + lightbulb (86)

2. Create an event Bill holds a rose in his mouth, at the end of this rose there appears Ice Cube who got some kind of idea which looks like a lightbulb in his head.

3. RecallNow, in case we want to recall our neighbour’s phone number - the first thing we will remember is his name - Bill, and then association memory (episodic) will lead us to the objects we created in our imagination.

Problems covered by mnemotechnics1. It uses episodic memory instead of semantic which allows us to memorise

way more quickly (easier to remember some imagined story, than repeat several dozen times same number)

2. The accuracy of such memories will be more reliable due to linking memorizable objects together (more chance you remember next digit, name or whatever due to the fact they have some association links with each other)

3. Partially fixes the problem with changed memories due to unique events we create in our mind with encoded objects. (the more unique the event the less possibility you distort it)

World memory records

- Suresh Kumar from India memorized 70 030 digits of Pi for 17hr 15min

- Recent world speed record for memorizing a deck of cards was 16.96 seconds, held by Alex Mullen of the United States.

- Also Alex Mullen memorized 416 cards from 12 decks of 52 cards in each during 5 minutes.

Comments are welcome

/ilya.makarov

@ilyacs

imakarov@cs-cart.com