The Power Of The Senses

Let’s talk about the power of the census.

How do memories form in our brain.

How do we learn.

Well in order for us to remember a topic in order for us to be able to recall a topic it should be memorable

right.

And we also learned that you need repetition spaced repetition is what helps us recall that memory and

keep building those neural connections to make them stronger and stronger.

But how can we help improve this recall.

And this is where the power of the senses comes in.

You see imagery in our mind really helps.

This is the topic why handwriting helps you learn better versus typing something.

This is why when you go on a big travel adventure you remember those experiences you don’t remember

your monotonous boring days by you remember the days that you did something exciting where maybe U.N.

bungee jumping you’re not gonna forget that memory maybe you had your first kiss.

You’re not going to forget that memory because all of your senses were firing.

So let’s talk about this as humans metaphors and analogies and visualizations stories are important

because we use what we call the mind’s eye that is we imagine things in our brain we visualize things

in our brain we hear things in our brain the more memorable the better it is and people learn by making

sense of information that they receive.

We rarely actually learn something complex by just being simply told things.

For example you might find that in history class it’s really hard for you to learn dates specific dates

of when did the Battle of Waterloo happen or when was Roosevelt born when did world to end and dates

are really hard for most people to learn because they’re just simply being given facts.

Same with if you’re learning how to solve problems let’s say you’re learning to code.

If you’re simply are given an answer it’s hard for you to actually learn anything from it especially

if it’s complex.

In order for us to learn we need to use our visual memory and sensual memory to remember things.

So why does this work.

Well here I have pictures of famous characters we have Robin Hood we have Deadpool we have that woman

stories are usually visual we use our visual memory to remember things stories like Little Red Riding

Hood Snow White Robin Hood our stories that we remember from childhood because we’re able to envision

them they’re memorable pictures memorable ideas novel things.

It’s not often that we see somebody dressed like Batwoman or Deadpool.

So it becomes memorable.

It makes us feel things and makes us feel emotion.

And that’s why images and diagrams and infographics help us remember things.

It helps us encapsulate the very hard to remember concepts and using our visual memory to help us remember

things.

So this is the big takeaway from this section.

The way you can form really strong neural connections in your brain is by invoking as many of your senses

as possible your sense of smell your sense of sight your hearing the more you can hook into those the

more you can recall the concept finally adding an emotional element to your studies hooks in even more

neurons to strengthen those memories.

This is why your first kiss is so memorable right.

You remember visually what happened.

You remember the sense of touch on your lips.

You remember the sounds maybe the smell maybe the emotions and the heartbeat that you had before we

had the internet before Gutenberg invented the printing press and we had any books the way knowledge

was passed down through humans was through oral storytelling.

We told stories because humans are bad at remembering facts but they’re good at remembering stories

that invoke those emotions those senses.

That’s why movies are memorable.

That’s why we feel good when we watch a movie and remember how we talked about being adventures is actually

scientifically proven to help your memory.

When we have new experiences and new things our brains are stimulated.

So using this knowledge how can we improve our learning abilities.

Well one you can seek out new experiences outside of learning to stimulate your brain too.

You can learn in places that stimulate your senses.

Some people are able to learn really well in a coffee shop or maybe you get stimulated by going to different

locations and learning and different things some people learn really well in front of a fire.

Some people learn really well in the garden where they can smell the flowers.

The more senses you can involve when learning the better.

Often if you’re learning in your bedroom on your bed where you spend every single night that’s not stimulating

that’s not exciting.

And that’s not going to make.

Whatever you’re learning at the time memorable for me personally I like having a dedicated study area

not in my bedroom.

I have an office where I have flowers.

I have a big window to look outside.

I can hear the birds chirping maybe even have music in the background.

Maybe I have paintings around me.

I have a dedicated study area that stimulates my senses.

It sounds cheesy but it works by the way you’re thinking.

Andre I feel like you’re just making this up.

No this is actually a scientifically proven thing by engaging your emotion and thinking about how you

will apply the knowledge that you just gained and how it will impact your learning is a proven way to

enhance memory another thing that you might want to do is to create analogies in your mind metaphors

in your mind learning complex concepts by using what you already know.

For example when you want to know how a computer works you can connect it to something that you already

know you think about it as oh a computer is like a brain.

My blood vessels in my body are like a highway.

One of the things that I like to do is call the funny notes technique that is when I’m learning something

like history or reading a book and I’m taking notes.

I make my notes super funny.

Maybe not to anybody else but to myself.

I joke around with my notes and I laugh or howl like a crazy person while I’m reading and taking notes

because I make jokes about what I’m learning and I make funny notes in these notes are more memorable

to me because they invoked that emotion.

Now in the next exercise we’re gonna learn about one of the most powerful techniques when it comes to

the census.

It’s called The Power of Loki method.

It’s so powerful that within a week of using it you can memorize any random 52 numbers in a row or a

deck of cards.

It’s a technique that’s used by memory champions which by the way there are competitions for memory

masters and memory competitions.

It’s a technique that’s discussed in the book Moonwalking with Einstein and it’s absolutely fascinating.

So let’s dive into that exercise.