Records Smashed at (Human) Memory Championship

Pika the Mad writes "Wired News has a neat story about the recent U.S.A. National Memory Championship.'The finalists competed in three brand-new recall events that forced them to remember and recite aloud random words, personality characteristics of guests at a fictional tea party and the order of cards in two decks of playing cards, parroting answers in front of a crowd of onlookers, photographers and video cameras.' The winner claims that in the world finals he'll be competing against people who can memorize an entire deck of cards in 30 seconds."

Mnemonic Devices

[eldavojohn]

So, when I was younger, we were encouraged to use mnemonic devices [wikipedia.org] (such as "My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets"). But I've also heard from critics of the process that they just provide more clutter in the scheme of memorizing things.

I guess I've always thought of them as indexes for remembering things. You're storing more information but the keys are easier for you to remember and they hold within them something meaningful about the data.

Oddly, though, often the most bizarre mnemonic devices work the best as the Wikipedia article states:

A curious characteristic of many memory systems is that mnemonic devices work despite being (or possibly because of being) illogical, arbitrary, and artistically flawed. "Roy" is a legitimate first name, but there is no actual surname "Biv" and of course the middle initial "G" is arbitrary. Why is "Roy G. Biv" easy to remember? Medical students never forget the arbitrary nationalities of the Finn and German. Any two of the three months ending in -ember would fit just as euphoniously as September and November in "Thirty days hath...", yet most people can remember the rhyme correctly for a lifetime after having heard it once, and are never troubled by doubts as to which two of the -ember months have thirty days. A bizarre arbitrary association may stick in the mind better than a logical one.

For an article with a little more information, check out the NYTimes coverage [nytimes.com].

Unfortunately, the Wired article only gives us one line sentences from the contestants like:

"It really helps us a lot in school," she [Erin Luley] said.

"(Media presence) makes it more nerve-wracking," said finalist Chester Santos from San Francisco.

"I really did not expect to win," Foer said. "I thought maybe I'd crack the top five."

Wired, that is pure journalistic gold. Perhaps you'd like to rail them with another question like, "What do you like to do for fun with your friends?"

I'm sure it helps you in school, what I want to know is how in the hell do you do that? Does anyone on Slashdot know if people who win these competitions actually use mnemonic devices or are they just gifted savants?

Isn't this just...

[Billosaur]

...a competition for people with eidetid memory [wikipedia.org]? It seems if you have a so-called photographic memory, then most of these feats would be child's play, I would think. There are some autisitc individuals who would find some of this trivial. It seems like fun and all that, but how about harnessing all that brain power to solving the world's problems instead of memorizing playing cards.

Re:Isn't this just...

[ROBOKATZ]

Maybe because the world's problems can't be solved by memorizing playing cards. Just because they're good at rote memorization does not necessarily make them better at anything else. They'd probably have a slightly easier time in medical school but other than that I don't see what you would have them do.