What is the best way to remember information: the Aboriginal method or Sherlock Holmes?

Scientific passion for the secrets of memory and how to improve it and preserve information has no end, and scientists have discovered many ways and means to consolidate information and keep it in memory for a long time, including the method of mental shortening and the method of the indigenous Australians.

What is the difference between the two methods?

And how can we use both to enhance our ability to memorize, memorize and remember information for a long time?

Scientific passion for the secrets of memory and how to improve it and preserve information in it does not end (Getty Images)

mental palace

The Mind Palace method is a method of remembering that depends on linking information to things in a building, an imaginary room, or any familiar place, in order to enhance the ability to recall information. It has several other names, including: Memory Journey, Memory Palace, and the Method of Places. Loci), memory quiz champions use to remember places, numbers, and words.

A scientific study published in the journal Science Advances on March 3 demonstrated the efficiency of the mental shortening method in improving the efficiency of information retrieval and recall.

The origin of this method dates back to the era of ancient Greece, where it was used by the Greek poet Simonides, who was born in 556 BC, and escaped death in a legendary tale in the accident of the collapse of the palace on all those present during the king’s hosting of a huge banquet.

Symonds was able to help identify the bodies by remembering those present according to their location in the palace.

And in the famous detective series "Sherlock Holmes" - which was produced by the British "BBC" (BBC) - the hero used this method to help him solve criminal cases.

Mental shortening is a method of remembering that relates information to objects in a familiar place (Getty Images)

How do you use this method?

You can use this method by visualizing a path or a mental journey in an imaginary place, such as a park, museum, house, or street.

A man's home is the place he is most familiar with.

Imagine that you are walking in your house, and in the kitchen, for example, you put a piece of information or a number on the stove, and next to the refrigerator you put a second piece of information, and on the washing machine you put a third, and on the desk you put a fourth.

When you want to remember this information again, you remember the things where you put the information, reversing or tracing the path you took in the beginning, when you put this information in the indicated places.

Of course, this method needs training, and world memory champions use it to remember large amounts of random information, such as word lists, number strings, and more.

Scientific studies have proven its efficiency in improving the brain's ability to remember and recall information.

The Indigenous Australian method is more efficient and better than the "mental palace" method for enhancing memory (Getty Images)

The aboriginal way

The Australian method is similar to that of Sherlock Holmes, but augments it by adding an element of narration through a story, anecdote, song or artistic expression, the path that connects things to information.

A scientific study conducted by researchers from Australia on medical students and published in the journal "PLOS One" on May 18, entitled "The Indigenous Australian Method of Memorization and its Application in Medical and Health Education", has proven that the Indigenous Australian method More efficient and better than the "mental palace" method.

However, although the Australian method is better at recalling and retrieving information than a single or short training session, it requires a great deal of effort in giving the anecdotal or artistic aspect to the path of connecting the information.

If you want to use this anecdote, you must compose a story that includes the information you want to remember and connect it to a mental or physical path that includes concrete things that are familiar to you.

Science students who participated in the study and experimented with the method expressed their happiness with it, as it provided them with another fun, attractive and interactive way of learning other than paper and pencil, as it enabled them to memorize complex information such as the cycle of carboxylic acid in metabolism, and 95% of the students said that they They found the method effective and beneficial.