Imagine the route you normally take to the supermarket. Now imagine the many recognizable landmarks that exist between your home and the store, such as a specific yard, a stop sign, or a gas station.
Take these landmarks and associate them with things you are trying to remember, such as the items on your shopping list. So for the garden let’s allocate mustard. For the stop sign we add ketchup and for the gas station we use flavor. Once at the grocery store, you can easily retrieve these items by re-imagining your trip to the grocery store and its attractions.
This mnemonic, called the “method of loci”, has been around for centuries and is surprisingly effective. New Research Published Wednesday in Science Advances suggests this technique is good for both short-term memory and also long-term recall. In addition, the loci method rewires the brain, allowing long-term storage and retrieval.term memories, according to the new findings. The research was led by neuroscientist Isabella Wagner of the Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands.
It is so effective that memory athletes, those who exercise and have superior memories, use it, to,” Jeni Pathman, an assistant professor at York University in Toronto, explained in an email, referring to the technique
This method, which dates back to Ancient Greece, works well because we can use well-known places or routes that act as a kind of ‘jetty’, as Wagner explained in an email. This allows us to embed new – but totally unrelated information – into a “ structure ” that we already know, she said.
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“Plus, it certainly helps form unusual, new, or even bizarre associations that draw attention,” Wagner said. “The combination of prior knowledge and novelty is very powerful in stimulating memory.”
That the loci method is good forTerm recall is well known, but its effect on longer-term memories is poorly understood, as is the effect of this technique on the brain. To find out, Wagner and her colleagues recruited 17 prominent memory athletes – all experts in the loci method – and 50 non-experts. These 50 individuals were assigned to three groups, one that underwent rigorous six-week training in the loci method, one that received working memory training, and one that had no memory training at all.
“We wanted to see if beginners could train the loci method to achieve performance levels close to true memory champions, and also whether their brain processes become comparable to those of champions with training,” explains Wagner.
All participants were run through fMRI scanners both before and after training, which was done to assess their memory performance and study brain function.
Brain scans allow scientists to ‘indirectly visualize the activity of neurons in the brain’, which allows them to identify areas that are ‘engaged in the study of new information, while remembering or at rest, which is important for information in the brain. stabilize for a longer term, ”said Wagner, adding,“ This is also why a good night’s sleep or a nap is so important! “
In terms of the memorization task, participants were asked to memorize lists of random words. They were then presented with word triplets, that is, three words at a time, and asked whether the words were presented in the same or a different order than how they appeared during the training.
Four months later, the participants were given the test to see if they could remember some of the memorized words from the training sessions. The loci group method recalled an average of 50 words, the working memory group recalled about 30 words, and the untrained group only 27 words on average.
“Performance was still remarkably good after four months, showing that participants were still able to successfully use the loci method to improve their memory,” Wagner said. “This was not very surprising to us, as we were already hoping that training would have a long-lasting effect.”
Analysis of the brain scans showed decreased activity in the lateral prefrontal, posterior parahippocampal, and retrosplenial cortex – areas associated with task-based activation. By “task-based activation,” the scientists refer to brain processes that take place while studying and memorizing arbitrary word lists. This was observed in both memory athletes and the non-experts who received training.
“We found that training led to decreased brain activation in regions that are typically involved in (spatial) memory processing and are important for long-term memory,” explains Wagner. “This was somewhat surprising to us, as better performance is typically associated with greater involvement of different brain regions. What we saw here is the opposite: training reduced activity in these regions, so that lower brain activation leads to better memory. “
This could be interpreted as “ neural efficiency, ” she said, as it may require fewer resources to achieve better performance.
At the same time, the training resulted in strengthening neural connections between the hippocampus and cortex. This helps preserve memories for the long term, which could explain why participants’ memories were so good four months later.
“This study is important because it not only showed that ordinary people can practice using this technique to create long-lasting memories, but it also showed how it can affect their brains,” said Jeni Pathman, an assistant professor at the US. York University in Toronto, said in an email. “Those in the memory training group showed activity in the brain during learning and remembering, which was more like memory athletes.”
Pathman’s only complaint was the relatively small sample size, which she said is “understandable given the nature of this work.” As for the future work required, Pathman said it would be “important to extend this study on creating long-lasting memories to other age groups or groups who may have more memory problems,” as they may also benefit from it.
Good point.
Indeed, the loci method could be useful for people with age-related cognitive decline, but future research will need to figure that out. For now, we can use these new findings as we garden, stop signs, and gas stations make our way through the grocery store.