equipment as everybody
else so its something anyone
can do.
It sounds intriguing so Im
going to give it a try.
So Andi, what mental torture
have you got for me this
morning?
Well Im going to give you
this list of words and I
want you to try to remember
them. These are the words,
wash, apple jet, mad, actress,
marmalade, jack, van, clock,
tile, polecat, tail, film, pier,
bucket, chain, bottle, sand,
egg, window, salamander,
paper, microphone, cork,
piano, dog, captain, tennis,
kennel, tomato. And youre
going to be able to
remember them.
No Im not.
Well I think you might
because Im going to give
you a technique that will
help. Im going to ask you
to picture 2 words at a
time in a sequence of
locations around your
home. So Ill give these to
you.
But then Ill have three
things to remember, the 2
words plus the location.
You will already know the
locations around your
home so the sense of
location is going to help
you, trust me. Its not
going to add to your
problems.
Ill never do it.
Yes you will Im going
to give you at least until
that egg gets cold to have
a look at that list.
So I start off in the garden,
wash the apple. Then to
the hall where there is
a jet madly flying around.
Into the dining room where
this is an actress.
Whos your favorite
actress?
Judy Dench. But she
wouldnt be smeared in
marmalade.
She would be.
Why?
So you can remember her.
For the next 5 minutes I
frantically try to imagine
all these crazy images and
think where to put them.
The normally quite
unexceptional Winston
household will never feel
quite the same again.
Frankly Im convinced it
wont work.
Okay I think that better
be, time up.
No. Its not long enough.
I know the first two. Ill
never remember that.
No youll do okay
I better get to work.
See you later.
Now all Ive got to do
is go through my normal
working day. The challenge
will be see how many
of the 30 words I can
remember at the end
of it.
So do you think you can
remember any of the
words I gave you earlier
today?
Well Ill give it a go.
We will start outside in
the garden, wash, apple,
jet, mad, actress,
marmalade, jack, van,
polecat, tail, film, pier,
bucket, chain, clock, tile,
bottle, sand.
Okay try to remember
the room you were in
when you thought of those
words.
Salamander, paper,
microphone, cork, piano,
dog, captain, tennis, kennel,
tomato.
How many out of 30 do
you think youve gotten.
I think Ive probably gotten
them all right.
All of them, well done.
So it works?
Of course it does.
When we use simple story
to memorize facts, were
creating several pathways to
where those memories are
formed in the brain. Its as
if instead of setting up one
set of dominos we are
setting up several. The
reason we often have
difficulty retrieving a memory
is because one neuron
pathway can often get
broken. But by having several
different pathways to a memory
it means that if one doesnt
manage to reach it another
one will. Thats the advantage
of the story technique it
creates lots of neural
pathways in our brains,
and all our brains can work
in this way. Which is why
everyone can use this method,
by using a story to memorize
facts we all have the potential
to perform astonishing feats
of memory.