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Week 1 (6-12 October 2014)

Read the article How to learn like a memory champion published at http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140307-how-to-learn-like-a-memory-champ  and comment on/discuss it. Also, present your methods of memorization/learning. Have apps enhanced learning?

Comments

Unknown said…
My ways of learning might not be the most sophisticated sounding, but at least they work for me.

I'm a night owl. That means, that when I need to learn or memorize something I just start a learning session around midnight and study quickly to be able to finish at a reasonable time, so I have that time pressure, but at the same time my mind is the most capable at those hours. As a result, I basically remember everything I read/see/hear as long as it's necessary to be remembered next day.
The idea in the artictle is nothing innovative or special. I have already heard about something similar at least 10 years ago.
In general, everything is based on the fact that as human being we tend to memorise easier anything connected with actions, images or sounds rather than plain words or dates.
For instance, it is easier for you to recall the date of some event in the past if you participated in it.

Sometimes I use these techniques myself. Mostly it is just making mind map or connecting words,dates or difficult names with events in my past or something I have already memorized.
However, most of the time I simply sit and have learning session before going to bed and then have quick revision in the morning.
Michal Kulesza said…
I've used some apps enhancing memory for some time (around 3 months) but I didn't see any changes.

One thing is to read about these people memorizing so many things, the other is to see them in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-xl7_hdWZo#t=104
Unknown said…
I think in the future people will communicate mostly by symbols/pictures (like pictograms) or visual content. Already twitter is gaining a lot of popularity and it's based on an idea of really short statements (140 characters per post I think) and we use a lot of emoticons in messages instead of writing a full thought. People post movie clips with the news so there is no need to write or read articles. Popularity or applications like Instagram or Snapchat also indicates that we are more interested in sharing information by photos then by written word. And as they say in the article it's a great way to memorize something by "connecting it" to an image. About "Fun learning part" I think that in modern times it's hard to make kids or people in general to focus on something because they are bombarded by information and stimulus's for every direction (television, internet, commercials) and it's becoming harder and harder to make things always entreating.

There is a pretty interesting article about that here, if anyone is interested:
http://fortune.com/2014/06/04/future-of-the-image/

I've never used an application to learn but that seems like a really convenient idea and I think every tool to learn is great and that everybody should use a method that is most effective for them. I personally find myself remembering things best when I'm rewriting them.
rf. said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
rf. said…
~brain
Guess my keyboard has some 'r' problems lol.
rf. said…
What really struck me in the article was the part where they referred to people testing memory apps as 'subjects'. We don't want animal-tested cosmetics while we do memory/brain testing on humans? Well, maybe it's not a big deal but it got my attention.
As for the memory techniques, what works best for me is listening. A good class with strong examples is enough to grasp the topic if I'm attentive enough.
Oh, an my personal opinion on learning by heart - it trains the brain, true, but nowadays we have such an incredible technology allowing us to access immense amount of data in no time that the ability to find the important data is the real deal-breaker, compared to memorizing it all.
In my opinion learning and memorizing are two different things. Great memory is useful while learning language or history or preparing for an exam.
In technical field good memory will not help us as much without deep understanding of ongoing processes.
We usually naturally remember things that are important to us(for instance to solve a particular task) and struggle when we need to learn by heart useless information for the exam.
So, my method to pass the exam is constant repetition of what I read part by part. Afterwards I self-check my skills by writing down everything I've learnt.
MartaSB said…
I'm passionately learning foreign languages, so learning by heart is something that cannot be skipped. I have never learned any special techniques for enhancing memory, but I'm frequently using language applications which have embedded revision schedules working on some algorithm. I'm usually trying to work as much on my own as I can, make flash cards, listen to audio podcasts.

I have never used Memrise, but after reading this article I will surely take a look at it.

In my opinion, learning by heart makes no sense when it comes to information that we can find in a second using internet or other means. Today it's more important to be able to use specific tools to get what we want than to spend our valuable time on learning it.
Unknown said…
This is a very interesting idea to develop this kind of an app, that will train you memorize. In my opinion, on the market of brain training apps, there still is a lot of potential to create. Everything we do requires memorization so this game is very helpful in terms of.. everything. There are so many unique brains though, it gives unlimited possibilities. Even I already thought about creating a simple mobile application to help you memorize and concentrate. Maybe one day you will play it :)
Unknown said…
I totally agree that learning and memorizing are two different things. And it's true, if you want to learn something you should understand it, you should know how it works. But if you want just to remember an important date or something like that you should just memorise it.
Unknown said…
I think there are so many apps and possibilities to improve your memorising now, but unless it doesn't mean they work. Because every person is an individuality and every person has their own methods of memorising. It depends on many things. For me there are 2 main methods: associations and repetition. It's easier to memorise things that are visual and descriptive or thing we can associate with something. I like associations because they work for me. I've studied Polish for 6 months and almost every word has an association with Ukrainian one for me. There are a lot of English words as well. And I agree with this thing "the most effective time to reactivate a memory is when you feel that it is half-remembered, half-forgotten – when you feel it’s on the “tip of your tongue” but you can't quite reach it.". It's really true!
What about learning? As I already replied to Robert Kilar, for me learning is understanding, because I have to know and clearly understand how it works then I'll learn it.
Unknown said…
And here is an interesting short film about our memory http://youtu.be/Nw31gQW8chM
Unknown said…
I'm the complete opposite :)
For me the best time to learn is early in the morning.
Sylwia said…
Unfortunately learning by heart is not easy for me. It takes so much time and it’s so boring. I definitely prefer learning by understanding the process, but sometimes you can’t skip memorising. I like to learn by watching videos. It is more interesting than reading. Nowadays there are lots of videos on YouTube covering so many different topics. From time to time I also prepare flash cards with vocabulary or dates etc. However, making my own notes works for me the best. Apart from that, I don’t use any specific learning methods and I don’t recall using any app.
I've always admired people who can extreme use his own brain. You have really a lot of determination and work to memorize many numbers or other strange things. I've also heard about people who can read whole sentences or whole pages, instead of words. For me it's unreal, but I read that it's impossible to teach. Custom learning methods mentioned in this article are very interesting and effective than usual cramming. In my life I've met with unconventionl methods of teaching and this always aroused interest from students. Apps are definitely a great things.
Unknown said…
I think I learn best at night because there are less things to distract me. But I guess that everybody has the best time for themselves when they're focused.
Marcin Lyzwa said…
The article is quite interesting but author didn't say anything new. Applications like described are thousand in market. Of course they may help you in some way to learn another language or dates for history class. The truth is simple if you find this topic you learn very interesting for you, you may learn thousand of artworks and authors. IMO the practise, hard work and passion on subject are the key.
As Robert mentioned learning and memorizing are definitely two different things.
Marcin Lyzwa said…
By the way, here is a short article about Art and Memorizing: http://wyborcza.pl/napamiec/1,141101,16721717.html - it's not the "Science mag" but still quite interesting
Marcin Lyzwa said…
As you said, you remember things by the next day, but do you still remember those things year later ?
Dominika Suszek said…

I haven’t heard about Memrise before. I used Busuu to learn Italian. Busuu is the app and website to learn languages. Unfortunately I failed, because it was hard for me to motivate myself to learn or maybe I’m just too lazy to do it. The truth is apps like Memrise or Busuu are great and very well developed but you have to be systematic in learning, so it’s a good way to learn at school.
I don’t have any special method of memorizing / learning. I usually mark out my learning material with lots of colors and every color has different meaning. For example green means definitions, blue means dates etc.
Unknown said…
I'm not interested in techniques like these. I wouldn't call it learning. For me it's just a good way of memorizing things in order to pass some exam in which you have to remember many words, or placing them in some order. I know it can be useful and I sometimes use similar techniques in everyday life, but only with simple things to remember. You can't learn math with it. Maybe it can be useful with languages, but for me the best and the easiest way to expand your vocabulary is just practice, like for example reading, watching movies or playing games.
I am sure that many people can say this, but for me I am able to actually learn something only if it truly interests me. Many times when I have some exam I simply read and re-read the textbooks so that I will finally memorize everything that I need, at least for the time being. However if I am not keen on the subject, I simply can't find a way to actually “learn” it or memorize it for a very long time. On the other hand if I'm passionate about a subject I will spend a long time to study it and will remember it most probably for the rest of my life.

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