1 00:00:00,455 --> 00:00:02,134 ...equipment as everybody else. 2 00:00:02,134 --> 00:00:06,484 So, it's something anybody can do. 3 00:00:06,484 --> 00:00:08,181 It sounds intriguing. 4 00:00:08,181 --> 00:00:10,738 So I'm going to give it a try. 5 00:00:17,450 --> 00:00:20,601 So, Andi, what mental torture have you got for me this morning? 6 00:00:20,601 --> 00:00:22,767 Well, I'm going to give you this list of words, 7 00:00:22,767 --> 00:00:24,664 and I want you to try to remember them. 8 00:00:24,664 --> 00:00:28,267 These are the words: Wash, apple, jet, mad, actress, 9 00:00:28,267 --> 00:00:32,680 marmalade, jack, van, clock, tile, polecat, tail, film, pier, 10 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:37,599 bucket, chain, bottle, sand, egg, window, salamander, paper, 11 00:00:37,599 --> 00:00:41,932 microphone, Coke, piano, dog, captain, tennis, kennel, tomato. 12 00:00:41,932 --> 00:00:43,488 Huh, huh. 13 00:00:43,488 --> 00:00:44,844 And you're going to be able to remember it. 14 00:00:44,844 --> 00:00:45,620 And I'm not. 15 00:00:45,620 --> 00:00:48,536 Well, I think you might because I'm going to give you a 16 00:00:48,536 --> 00:00:49,758 technique that will help. 17 00:00:49,758 --> 00:00:53,681 I'm going to ask you to picture two words at a time in 18 00:00:53,681 --> 00:00:56,584 a sequence of locations around your home. 19 00:00:56,584 --> 00:00:57,760 So I'll give these two... 20 00:00:57,760 --> 00:00:59,132 But then I'll have three things to remember: 21 00:00:59,132 --> 00:01:00,509 The two words plus the location. 22 00:01:00,509 --> 00:01:02,461 You already know the locations around your home, 23 00:01:02,461 --> 00:01:04,492 so the sense of location is going to help you. 24 00:01:04,492 --> 00:01:04,980 Trust me. 25 00:01:04,980 --> 00:01:06,428 It's not going to add to your problems. 26 00:01:06,428 --> 00:01:07,737 I'll never do it. 27 00:01:07,737 --> 00:01:08,735 Yes, you will. 28 00:01:08,735 --> 00:01:13,690 I'm going to give you at least until that egg gets cold to have a look at that list. 29 00:01:13,690 --> 00:01:15,766 30 00:01:15,766 --> 00:01:18,520 So I start off in the garden. 31 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:21,844 Wash the apple. 32 00:01:21,844 --> 00:01:29,685 Go into the hall where there's a jet madly flying around. 33 00:01:29,685 --> 00:01:35,102 To the dining room where there's an actress. 34 00:01:35,102 --> 00:01:36,464 Who's your favorite actress? 35 00:01:36,464 --> 00:01:39,683 Judi Dench. 36 00:01:39,683 --> 00:01:41,239 But she wouldn't be smeared in marmalade. 37 00:01:41,239 --> 00:01:41,894 She would be. 38 00:01:41,894 --> 00:01:42,689 Why? 39 00:01:42,689 --> 00:01:44,101 So you can remember her. 40 00:01:44,101 --> 00:01:47,969 41 00:01:47,969 --> 00:01:50,931 For the next five minutes, I frantically try to imagine 42 00:01:50,931 --> 00:01:54,356 all these crazy images and think where to put them. 43 00:01:59,414 --> 00:02:02,547 The normally quite unexceptional Winston household will never 44 00:02:02,547 --> 00:02:05,122 feel quite the same again. 45 00:02:08,565 --> 00:02:12,091 Frankly, I'm convinced it won't work. 46 00:02:12,091 --> 00:02:13,329 Better be time out. 47 00:02:13,329 --> 00:02:15,028 No. Yep, yep. 48 00:02:15,028 --> 00:02:18,419 I know the first two. Full of time. 49 00:02:18,419 --> 00:02:20,335 I'll never remember that. 50 00:02:20,335 --> 00:02:22,501 Well, no, you'll do okay. 51 00:02:22,501 --> 00:02:24,608 I better get to work. See you later. 52 00:02:27,502 --> 00:02:30,616 Now all I've got to do is to go through my normal working day. 53 00:02:33,053 --> 00:02:35,929 The challenge will be to see how many of the 30 words I can 54 00:02:35,929 --> 00:02:38,386 remember at the end of it. 55 00:02:55,042 --> 00:02:56,740 So do you think you can remember any of the words 56 00:02:56,740 --> 00:02:58,462 I gave you earlier today? 57 00:02:58,462 --> 00:03:00,367 I'll give it a go. 58 00:03:00,367 --> 00:03:05,956 We'll start off outside in the garden. 59 00:03:05,956 --> 00:03:09,988 Wash apple. Jet mad. 60 00:03:17,820 --> 00:03:19,860 Actress marmalade. 61 00:03:21,209 --> 00:03:31,165 Jack, van. Polecat tail. 62 00:03:31,165 --> 00:03:32,748 That's right.. Bucket chain. 63 00:03:32,748 --> 00:03:35,413 Uh, uh. 64 00:03:35,413 --> 00:03:38,466 Clock, tile. 65 00:03:38,466 --> 00:03:41,239 Bottle, sand. 66 00:03:50,170 --> 00:03:50,611 Okay. 67 00:03:50,611 --> 00:03:54,775 Try to remember the room you were in when you thought of those words. 68 00:03:59,248 --> 00:04:02,162 Salamander, paper. 69 00:04:03,812 --> 00:04:05,416 Microphone, Coke. 70 00:04:05,416 --> 00:04:06,802 Piano, dog. 71 00:04:06,802 --> 00:04:08,813 Captain, tennis. 72 00:04:08,813 --> 00:04:10,406 Kennel, tomato. 73 00:04:10,406 --> 00:04:12,803 How many out 30 do you think you got? 74 00:04:12,803 --> 00:04:14,371 I think I probably got them all right. 75 00:04:14,371 --> 00:04:15,038 All of them. 76 00:04:15,038 --> 00:04:16,287 Well done. 77 00:04:16,287 --> 00:04:17,373 So it works. 78 00:04:17,373 --> 00:04:20,325 Of course it does. 79 00:04:20,325 --> 00:04:23,483 When we use a simple story to memorize facts, 80 00:04:23,483 --> 00:04:26,701 we're creating several pathways to where those memories are 81 00:04:26,701 --> 00:04:28,539 formed in the brain. 82 00:04:28,539 --> 00:04:32,293 It's as if instead of lining up one set of dominos, 83 00:04:32,293 --> 00:04:34,943 we're setting up several. 84 00:04:41,653 --> 00:04:44,045 The reason we often have difficulties in retrieving 85 00:04:44,045 --> 00:04:48,832 our memory is because one neural pathway can easily get broken. 86 00:04:53,561 --> 00:04:56,402 But by having several different pathways to our memory, 87 00:04:56,402 --> 00:04:59,646 it means that if one doesn't manage to reach it, 88 00:04:59,646 --> 00:05:01,677 another one will. 89 00:05:04,993 --> 00:05:07,602 That's the advantage of the story technique. 90 00:05:07,602 --> 00:05:10,771 It creates lots of neural pathways in our brain, 91 00:05:12,766 --> 00:05:16,194 and all of our brains can work in this way, 92 00:05:21,477 --> 00:05:24,567 which is why everyone can use this method. 93 00:05:24,567 --> 00:05:26,932 By using a story to memorize facts, 94 00:05:26,932 --> 00:05:31,000 we all have the potential to perform astonishing feats of memory.