WEBVTT 00:00:00.455 --> 00:00:02.134 ...equipment as everybody else. 00:00:02.134 --> 00:00:06.484 So, it's something anybody can do. 00:00:06.484 --> 00:00:08.181 It sounds intriguing. 00:00:08.181 --> 00:00:10.738 So I'm going to give it a try. 00:00:17.450 --> 00:00:20.601 So, Andi, what mental torture have you got for me this morning? 00:00:20.601 --> 00:00:22.767 Well, I'm going to give you this list of words, 00:00:22.767 --> 00:00:24.664 and I want you to try to remember them. 00:00:24.664 --> 00:00:28.267 These are the words: Wash, apple, jet, mad, actress, 00:00:28.267 --> 00:00:32.680 marmalade, jack, van, clock, tile, polecat, tail, film, pier, 00:00:32.680 --> 00:00:37.599 bucket, chain, bottle, sand, egg, window, salamander, paper, 00:00:37.599 --> 00:00:41.932 microphone, Coke, piano, dog, captain, tennis, kennel, tomato. 00:00:41.932 --> 00:00:43.488 Huh, huh. 00:00:43.488 --> 00:00:44.844 And you're going to be able to remember it. 00:00:44.844 --> 00:00:45.620 And I'm not. 00:00:45.620 --> 00:00:48.536 Well, I think you might because I'm going to give you a 00:00:48.536 --> 00:00:49.758 technique that will help. 00:00:49.758 --> 00:00:53.681 I'm going to ask you to picture two words at a time in 00:00:53.681 --> 00:00:56.584 a sequence of locations around your home. 00:00:56.584 --> 00:00:57.760 So I'll give these two... 00:00:57.760 --> 00:00:59.132 But then I'll have three things to remember: 00:00:59.132 --> 00:01:00.509 The two words plus the location. 00:01:00.509 --> 00:01:02.461 You already know the locations around your home, 00:01:02.461 --> 00:01:04.492 so the sense of location is going to help you. 00:01:04.492 --> 00:01:04.980 Trust me. 00:01:04.980 --> 00:01:06.428 It's not going to add to your problems. 00:01:06.428 --> 00:01:07.737 I'll never do it. 00:01:07.737 --> 00:01:08.735 Yes, you will. 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. 00:01:13.690 --> 00:01:15.766 00:01:15.766 --> 00:01:18.520 So I start off in the garden. 00:01:18.520 --> 00:01:21.844 Wash the apple. 00:01:21.844 --> 00:01:29.685 Go into the hall where there's a jet madly flying around. 00:01:29.685 --> 00:01:35.102 To the dining room where there's an actress. 00:01:35.102 --> 00:01:36.464 Who's your favorite actress? 00:01:36.464 --> 00:01:39.683 Judi Dench. 00:01:39.683 --> 00:01:41.239 But she wouldn't be smeared in marmalade. 00:01:41.239 --> 00:01:41.894 She would be. 00:01:41.894 --> 00:01:42.689 Why? 00:01:42.689 --> 00:01:44.101 So you can remember her. 00:01:44.101 --> 00:01:47.969 00:01:47.969 --> 00:01:50.931 For the next five minutes, I frantically try to imagine 00:01:50.931 --> 00:01:54.356 all these crazy images and think where to put them. 00:01:59.414 --> 00:02:02.547 The normally quite unexceptional Winston household will never 00:02:02.547 --> 00:02:05.122 feel quite the same again. 00:02:08.565 --> 00:02:12.091 Frankly, I'm convinced it won't work. 00:02:12.091 --> 00:02:13.329 Better be time out. 00:02:13.329 --> 00:02:15.028 No. Yep, yep. 00:02:15.028 --> 00:02:18.419 I know the first two. Full of time. 00:02:18.419 --> 00:02:20.335 I'll never remember that. 00:02:20.335 --> 00:02:22.501 Well, no, you'll do okay. 00:02:22.501 --> 00:02:24.608 I better get to work. See you later. 00:02:27.502 --> 00:02:30.616 Now all I've got to do is to go through my normal working day. 00:02:33.053 --> 00:02:35.929 The challenge will be to see how many of the 30 words I can 00:02:35.929 --> 00:02:38.386 remember at the end of it. 00:02:55.042 --> 00:02:56.740 So do you think you can remember any of the words 00:02:56.740 --> 00:02:58.462 I gave you earlier today? 00:02:58.462 --> 00:03:00.367 I'll give it a go. 00:03:00.367 --> 00:03:05.956 We'll start off outside in the garden. 00:03:05.956 --> 00:03:09.988 Wash apple. Jet mad. 00:03:17.820 --> 00:03:19.860 Actress marmalade. 00:03:21.209 --> 00:03:31.165 Jack, van. Polecat tail. 00:03:31.165 --> 00:03:32.748 That's right.. Bucket chain. 00:03:32.748 --> 00:03:35.413 Uh, uh. 00:03:35.413 --> 00:03:38.466 Clock, tile. 00:03:38.466 --> 00:03:41.239 Bottle, sand. 00:03:50.170 --> 00:03:50.611 Okay. 00:03:50.611 --> 00:03:54.775 Try to remember the room you were in when you thought of those words. 00:03:59.248 --> 00:04:02.162 Salamander, paper. 00:04:03.812 --> 00:04:05.416 Microphone, Coke. 00:04:05.416 --> 00:04:06.802 Piano, dog. 00:04:06.802 --> 00:04:08.813 Captain, tennis. 00:04:08.813 --> 00:04:10.406 Kennel, tomato. 00:04:10.406 --> 00:04:12.803 How many out 30 do you think you got? 00:04:12.803 --> 00:04:14.371 I think I probably got them all right. 00:04:14.371 --> 00:04:15.038 All of them. 00:04:15.038 --> 00:04:16.287 Well done. 00:04:16.287 --> 00:04:17.373 So it works. 00:04:17.373 --> 00:04:20.325 Of course it does. 00:04:20.325 --> 00:04:23.483 When we use a simple story to memorize facts, 00:04:23.483 --> 00:04:26.701 we're creating several pathways to where those memories are 00:04:26.701 --> 00:04:28.539 formed in the brain. 00:04:28.539 --> 00:04:32.293 It's as if instead of lining up one set of dominos, 00:04:32.293 --> 00:04:34.943 we're setting up several. 00:04:41.653 --> 00:04:44.045 The reason we often have difficulties in retrieving 00:04:44.045 --> 00:04:48.832 our memory is because one neural pathway can easily get broken. 00:04:53.561 --> 00:04:56.402 But by having several different pathways to our memory, 00:04:56.402 --> 00:04:59.646 it means that if one doesn't manage to reach it, 00:04:59.646 --> 00:05:01.677 another one will. 00:05:04.993 --> 00:05:07.602 That's the advantage of the story technique. 00:05:07.602 --> 00:05:10.771 It creates lots of neural pathways in our brain, 00:05:12.766 --> 00:05:16.194 and all of our brains can work in this way, 00:05:21.477 --> 00:05:24.567 which is why everyone can use this method. 00:05:24.567 --> 00:05:26.932 By using a story to memorize facts, 00:05:26.932 --> 00:05:31.000 we all have the potential to perform astonishing feats of memory.