Johannes Mallow (born June 7, 1981 Brandenburg an der Havel) is a German memory sportsman. He is a two-time winner of the World Memory Championships, in 2012 and in the 2018 IAM event [a Non-Champion in 2018 World events, when scores of the World Memory Sports Council (WMSC), the original memory sports governing body organizing World Championships, taken into account]. [1] [2] He studied successfully Communication Technology at the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg and finalized his PhD thesis in 2016 at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He also works as a mind coach and scientific author.
He currently uses the Method of loci. Many memory sportsmen use this method. His particular instance of the method uses 1,000 images with corresponding numbers, so that each combination of 3 digits corresponds to a unique image. [6]
The brain is lazy, so we have to trick it. That's where routines and mindfulness come in.
There are certain techniques we can learn to use our memory in a way that makes it easier for us to remember things. One approach is to convert everything we want to learn into pictures and then link them to stories. If I want to remember a row of numbers, I assign a picture to each number from 0-9, with 5 being a farmer, for example, and 8 a loaf of bread. Of course, this method brings best results when the number series is a little longer.
Just to give you an example, I have the numbers 5, 8, 6, 7, and that’s not so easy to remember. But if I tell you a story about a farmer who harvests bread from a field, takes it to a butcher, and then the butcher makes potatoes out of it, it will stick better. It's a silly story, but because it’s exciting, funny or maybe even sad, you will remember it better than a series of abstract numbers.
Stories touch us emotionally, which is why we remember them better. This is because our ancestors already worked with pictures and stories over five thousand years ago. Writing and numbers, on the other hand, only date back a few thousand years, which is why our memory cannot handle them so well. So, if we want to remember information better, we have to try to transform it, and package it in an exciting, funny or visual way.
— Johannes Mallow, Interview by Lena von Holt, Are We Europe
Memorization is the process of committing something to memory. It is a mental process undertaken in order to store in memory for later recall visual, auditory, or tactical information.
The method of loci is a strategy for memory enhancement, which uses visualizations of familiar spatial environments in order to enhance the recall of information. The method of loci is also known as the memory journey, memory palace, journey method, memory spaces, or mind palace technique. This method is a mnemonic device adopted in ancient Roman and Greek rhetorical treatises. Many memory contest champions report using this technique to recall faces, digits, and lists of words.
The title mnemonist refers to an individual with the ability to remember and recall unusually long lists of data, such as unfamiliar names, lists of numbers, entries in books, etc. Some mnemonists also memorize texts such as long poems, speeches, or even entire books of fiction or non-fiction. The term is derived from the term mnemonic, which refers to a strategy to support remembering, but not all mnemonists report using mnemonics. Mnemonists may have superior innate ability to recall or remember, in addition to relying on techniques.
The art of memory is any of a number of loosely associated mnemonic principles and techniques used to organize memory impressions, improve recall, and assist in the combination and 'invention' of ideas. An alternative term is "Ars Memorativa" which is also translated as "art of memory" although its more literal meaning is "Memorative Art". It is also referred to as mnemotechnics. It is an 'art' in the Aristotelian sense, which is to say a method or set of prescriptions that adds order and discipline to the pragmatic, natural activities of human beings. It has existed as a recognized group of principles and techniques since at least as early as the middle of the first millennium BCE, and was usually associated with training in rhetoric or logic, but variants of the art were employed in other contexts, particularly the religious and the magical.
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Clemens Mayer is a German memory sports person. He was World Memory Champion in 2005 and 2006. At the age of 19 years and 10 months, he became the youngest-ever world memory champion in 2005. 12 years later, in 2017, then-18-year- and 11-month-old Mongolian Munkhshur Narmandakh became the youngest champion ever and Mayer lost this record. Narmandakh lost this record to Wei Qinru who won the 2018 world championships at age 14.
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Exceptional memory is the ability to have accurate and detailed recall in a variety of ways, including hyperthymesia, eidetic memory, synesthesia, and emotional memory. Exceptional memory is also prevalent in those with savant syndrome and mnemonists.
Memory sport, sometimes referred to as competitive memory or the mind sport of memory, refers to competitions in which participants attempt to memorize then recall different forms of information, under certain guidelines. The sport has been formally developed since 1991 and features national and international championships. The primary worldwide organizational bodies are the IAM and WMSC.
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything is a nonfiction book by Joshua Foer, first published in 2011. Moonwalking with Einstein debuted at number 3 on the New York Times bestseller list and stayed on the list for 8 weeks.
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Chester Santos is a memory expert and motivational speaker best known for winning the USA Memory Championship. He has been profiled in numerous publications and media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC, CBS, CNN, PBS, Business Week, USA Today, Yahoo! News, Google News, Wired magazine, Reuters and Sports Illustrated. His interview with CNN was featured on the VH1 show “The Best Week Ever”.
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