Memory Play

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Memory Play is a series of activities that children are encouraged to practice during Right Brain Education classes. They comprise the following activities:

• Image Memory
  • Space Memory
  • Mandala Memory
  • Photo Memory
  • Object Memory
  • Quantity Memory
• Linking Memory
• Peg Memory
• Memory Palace

If you are familiar with memory methods and techniques, you may recognise some of these activities. They are popular memory systems taught in self-help books for adults. When taught to children, they can be a phenomenal skill to support your child throughout school and daily life.

For those who have never heard of these memory methods, the work of Joshua Foer may provide some enlightenment.

Who is Joshua Foer?

Joshua Foer is a freelance journalist with a primary focus on science. One of the topics he wrote about led him to the study of memory. Using the methods that he had learned from top “mental athletes”, he was able to become the 2006 U.S.A. Memory Champion. His year-long quest to improve his memory is documented in his bestselling book “Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything“. The methods described in his book are drawn from cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tricks of the mentalist’s trade that transform our understanding of human memory.

How Joshua Foer Improved his Memory

For further insight into Joshua Foer’s journey, it is perhaps best to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. In the following video, he talks about the methods he learned that helped him to improve his own memory and to win the 2006 US Memory Championship.

About Moon Walking with Einstein

Moonwalking with Einstein follows Joshua Foer’s compelling journey as a participant in the U.S. Memory Championship. As a science journalist covering the competition, Foer became captivated by the secrets of the competitors, like how the current world memory champion, Ben Pridmore, could memorize the exact order of 1,528 digits in an hour. He met with individuals whose memories are truly unique—from one man whose memory only extends back to his most recent thought, to another who can memorize complex mathematical formulas without knowing any math. Brains remember visual imagery but have a harder time with other information, like lists, and so with the help of experts, Foer learned how to transform the kinds of memories he forgot into the kind his brain remembered naturally. The techniques he mastered made it easier to remember information, and Foer’s story demonstrates that the tricks of the masters are accessible to anyone.

Miriam Landis

Why Should We Remember?

In a world where the technology at your finger tips can provide you with the answers to anything, one may wonder what is the purpose of developing our memory capabilities. While it is true that computers are far superior to us when it comes to the storage of information and recall abilities, there are plenty of reasons for us to retain our memories.

Creativity in science requires the ability to recall information and data, and will suffer if we rely too much on technology to remember things for us.

Eve Marder

• Memories shape who we are. They make up our internal biographies—the stories we tell ourselves about what we’ve done with our lives. They tell us who we’re connected to, who we’ve touched during our lives, and who has touched us. In short, our memories are crucial to the essence of who we are as human beings.
• The ability to make novel connections between random pieces of information is a fundamental quality of creativity that is uniquely human. If we do not remember those random pieces of information, it prevents us from making those novel connections. In short, a lack of memory can kill creativity.

Creativity is characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions.

Creativity at Work

Further Reading on Memory Methods

• Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and be More Productive – this book was written by International Grandmaster of Memory, Kevin Horsley, a World Memory Championship medalist, and a two-time World Record holder for The Everest of memory tests.
• The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

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