Memory, Identity, and Personal Growth

Accepting the Limitations of Your Memory and Unlocking its Potential

If you woke up tomorrow with no memory of your childhood, your adolescence, your biggest mistake, first or last love, family or friends. Would you still be you?

“What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.”

― Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

Memory and identity are inextricably linked. This is the reason the loss of memory is such a scary thing. Memory is central not just to finding your keys to get to work on time, but to who you are.

Memories are the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. The plot of our existence. 

And the study of Explicit Memory, both Semantic (facts, dates, numbers, and words) and Episodic (personal experiences), help us to define ourselves and chart a course for who we might be. 

“Anyone could do it, really”: How To Be a Memory Champion

Joshua Foer’s 2011 bestseller Moonwalking with Einstein details his experience of becoming the winner of the USA Memory Championships in one year.¹

He was intrigued by a statement from previous winner Ben Pridmore that, “anyone could do it, really.” Some version of this statement comes up repeatedly in interviews with memory champions.

The sentiment seems unlikely coming from individuals doing seemingly exceptional things; memorizing 120 random digits in five minutes, the first and last names of hundreds of strangers within 15 minutes, a shuffled deck of cards in under a minute. But even in the very recent documentary Memory Games champion Yanjaa Wintersoul recalls reading the end of the book Moonwalking with Einstein and deciding that that if he (Foer) could do it, she could do it.²

So what is the secret to the exceptional semantic memories of memory champions? The answer dates back to fifth-century B.C. and is called The Memory Palace. This mnemonic device is rooted in a place you know well. It involves imagining you are traveling through that place and placing memories along the way; in rooms, by street signs, and near landmarks within your mind.

Used in conjunctions with The Memory Palace are other mnemonic devices such as the Major System. This translates the numbers one through nine into letters (0=S, 1=T or D, etc.). Using this system it’s possible to make words or acronyms from numbers, making numbers easier to visualize and remember.

Neuroscientists studied a group of similar abilities who began using memory training techniques and found that not only were the effects lasting but the group’s brains changed. Scans showed some 2,500 different connections. The group’s patterns of connectivity began to rearrange themselves in the way memory champions’ functioned.³

Anyone can do it, really.

The Strengths and Weaknesses of Episodic Memory

“It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”

-Lewis Carroll, Alice Through the Looking Glass

Our episodic memory is notoriously unreliable. Nowhere is this more woefully evident than in the justice system and eye-witness testimony. A whopping 70% of convictions later overturned with DNA evidence relied on eyewitness  testimony.⁴

Your episodic memory is prone to distortion by emotion, trauma, even the power of suggestion. Why is this? It seems a flaw from an evolutionary standpoint.

The research of Dr. Donna Rose Addis provides some answers. In an fMRI study, the neural regions of participants’ brains were examined while they were asked to think back on the past, and then imagine future events. ⁵

The same parts of the brain were engaged. 

With this in mind, the part of the brain responsible for episodic memory seems pretty useful. Because of it, we can predict possible outcomes, an essential element to the survival of our species.

There is great potential for this type of research from a mental health perspective. Addis’ most recent research examines depression. Findings indicate that depression distorts people’s memories.

Since we have established the link between memories and predictive imagining we can see how this would the way the future is viewed by people managing depression. ⁶

Improving Your Memory and Accepting its Limitations

Memory training is useful not just for competitions or as a party trick/bar bet. Part of the reason Yanjaa Wintersoul wanted to learn the techniques outlined in Moonwalking with Einstein was to complete a four-year degree “in two years, or ideally one and a half”. 

There is enormous potential in studying these techniques. They help in many other aspects of learning (math, languages, theatre). Plus, it is a beneficial social hack to know everyone in the room’s name immediately after being introduced.

But if you’re lacking the time to put into building your memory palace, there are more general tips for improving memory.

Quick Memory Tips

1. Use Emotion. The emotional center of the brain, the amygdala, sits right next to the hippocampus (essential to memory). If you are trying to remember someone’s name and you can attach their name to an emotional memory you already have, you are far more likely to remember the name.
2. Meditate. The value of meditation has come up in several of our articles (notably with our work regarding rumination) but its importance is not being overstated. Meditation improves memory primarily because it is an exercise in concentration and concentration improves memory.
3. Tell a Story. If memorizing a list of vocabulary words you are more likely to remember them in the form of a story. Storytelling is an important part of the human experience and involves other aspects which anchor a memory; the sense of place the Memory Palace provides, and the emotion of an engaged amygdala).

Accept Limitations

When it comes to episodic memory it is important to keep in mind that your memory is not a recording in your brain but a narrative largely influenced by emotion, opinion, and circumstance.

Knowing this allows for differing perspectives on past incidents, and increases the likelihood of resolving differences.

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Sources and Further Readings

Sources

1. Moonwalking With Einstein, by Joshua Foer
2. Memory Games
3. Smithsonian
4. The Mind Explained 
5. Remembering the Past and Imagining the Future, Donna Rose Addis, Alana T. Wong, and Daniel L. Schacter
6. The research of Donna Rose Addis. 
7. Featured Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

Further Readings 

1. 7 Ways Meditation Can Actually Change The Brain
2. Memory Champion Yanjaa Wintersoul
3. Memory Champion Nelson Dellis