Rain or shine, we're out here walking our dog—turns out that helps with memory! A recent NY Times article reports that daily walks, even as short as 10 minutes, can give your memory a boost. Read the article, and Cathy's musings, here.
Read MoreHow Should Medical Students Use Memory Techniques in the Clinical Setting? [Video]
Ever wondered how best to apply memory techniques in the clinical setting? Should I use memory palaces for patient interviews? For presentations? How might practicing physicians make use of memory techniques? In the video below, we give an overview of how we think memory techniques are best applied in clinical practice.
Read MoreSurface Learning Still Matters
By discouraging memorization and drilling, we’ve been implicitly taught that conceptual understanding of a topic is equivalent to learning. A student who memorizes is, therefore, a subpar learner. But without internalization of surface concepts—acquired through surface techniques such as memorization and drilling—deeper ones will continue to evade the learner.
Read MoreHIIT Study Session: Maximize Your Time
We’re big fans of high-intensity interval training or HIIT. Effortful retrieval is actually a well-studied learning technique that can help you "HIIT" your studying.
Read MoreMemory Tips for Medical Students (Live Seminar) [Video]
A short seminar we recently gave to the first year class at our medical school. It covers some science-backed tips we think every learner should know.
Read MoreFighting Palace Fatigue with Interleaved Practice
Interleaved practice is great for keeping things interesting and making sure you can do a quick mental jump to the relevant locus. Research has shown that training this way can improve learners' problem solving abilities.
Read MoreWhy I Never Erase Old Memory Palaces
You might consider making an active effort to erase "ghost images"--images on loci you want to reuse. I never actively clean palaces, whether for memory sports or learning projects. Here's why.
Read MoreHow to Use Memory Palaces to Learn Equations: An Updated Guide
In the case of equations, true understanding should be achievable, so memory techniques should generally take a backseat. That said, I do use memory techniques for specific pieces of equations I find difficult to remember. Here's how.
Read More3 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Memory Palaces (and Not Only Standalone Images)
Standalone mnemonics are also a relatively simpler yet still effective way for, say, an absolute beginner to pick up new foreign language vocab. When it comes to carefully learning structured material, however, I’ve found there to be three main arguments in favor of palaces.
Read MoreWhy You Shouldn't Stress Over Visual Clarity
Here's a question I've gotten a lot recently, in some form or another: How clear should my visualizations be? The visuals themselves aren't that important. Here's why.
Read MoreWhy You Should Learn Memory Techniques, No Matter Who You Are
Back to basics for this week's Question of the Week: What are applications of memory techniques? Why should I learn to use them?
Read MoreMy Home for Spaced Repetition: What My Anki Setup Looks Like
My Anki is broken into three parent decks: Medicine, Languages, and Memory Sports, each with a few subdecks (e.g. Pathology, Chinese). Here's what my day-to-day home for spaced repetition looks like.
Read MoreWhy Double-Encoding Is a Double-Edged Sword
I often run into scenarios in which the same piece of information pops up in different contexts. Here's why encoding info multiple times might not be the great idea it seems.
Read MoreDo Memory Palaces Hinder Learning? Our Top 3 Don't-Miss Tips
If you're someone struggling to apply memory palaces, look no further. Here I discuss my top 3 realizations about memory techniques as they pertain to learning—the ones that took my approach from frustratingly ineffective to invaluable.
Read MoreHow to Memorize All 44 Presidents in 15 Minutes (and Remember Them a Week Later) [Video]
In this video, Alex walks you through a special memory palace to help you remember all 44 U.S. presidents. 15 minutes + a few reviews = never forget another president! (16:22)
Read MoreHow to Keep a Clean Memory Palace: What to Do When You've Got Too Many Arms & Legs
Memory palaces getting congested? Using lots of people, so your palaces are full of arms, legs, blood, and urine tanks? Here's what to do.
Read MoreNever Forget What You Learn: 4 Reasons You Should Be Using Anki in Medical School and Beyond
Anki, powered by spaced repetition, is a powerful tool for making things stick long-term, and I can't imagine learning without it—even with the aid of memory palaces. Here's why you should be combining spaced repetition with memory palaces to get the most from medical school and beyond.
Read MoreShould I Memorize Everything Using Memory Palaces?
Bottom line: No! Here's how to know when (and when not) to encode information using a memory palace.
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