This post was my entry for the second week of the contest [“[ENG] Contest - BASE: Body, Art, Science, Emotion”]( https://steemit.com/steemit-italia/@steemit-italia/eng-contest-base-body-art-science-emotion). Unfortunately, I was unable to complete it in time. But I believe it still might be interesting for some people.
# Introduction
In 2015 Alex Mullen (26 years old as for 2018) became the first who was able to memorize 3029 digits in a discipline called [“60 Minute/Hour Numbers” of the World Memory Championships](http://www.world-memory-statistics.com/discipline.php?id=num60). He also has other records in [some other disciplines](http://www.world-memory-statistics.com/discipline_select.php?cid=USA).
How is that even possible?
Do you need to have a [Savant syndrome](https://www.britannica.com/science/savant-syndrome) like Kim Peek who could [recall the content of 12,000 books in great detail and read two pages simultaneously](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/22/kim-peek-rain-man-dies)?
Well, to demonstrate Kim Peek’s level of memorization I guess you do )
The good news is that according to the results of one research you don’t need to have extraordinary intellectual capabilities or special structural brain characteristics to demonstrate the results achieved on the World Memory Championships. You rather need to be aware of the special memorization strategy [[1]]( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12483214)
Alex Mullen uses the special strategy to memorise the information. It’s not a magic and is not a secret (well, I guess some secrets he has though). You can visit his website where he’s trying to explain the Memory Palace technique by examples (like this [How to Use Memory Palaces to Learn Pharmacology: Tetracyclines…](https://mullenmemory.com/memory-palace/pharmacology-tetracyclines)
So, this technique is called the method of loci (places), also known as the Memory Palace technique or “images and loci” method.
According to “The Art of Memory” book by Frances A. Yates this method has been invented in Ancient Greece.
And the story is as follows:
Once upon a time the poet Simonides performed a poem in honour of the host of the banquet he was invited. But the part of that poem was performed in honour of two gods. And the host told him that he could pay this poet only a half of the initially promised sum and that he should get the other half from those gods. After that the poet was informed that two people were waiting for him outside of the hall the banquet took place. And Simonides came out. Then the roof of the hall fell down and this poet was the only one who survived. The damages to the bodies were so severe that nobody of the relatives were able to recognise the people except for Simonides. He was able to remember the places the guests and the host were sitting. That was the moment when he realised that orderly arrangement is what’s needed for a great memory [8].
This post is an attempt to give you some examples of the Memory Palace technique and to check if it really works.
The contest I mentioned above is devoted to the body’s organs. The second week’s organ was a liver. So, in this post we’ll try to memorise the functions of the liver using the Memory Palace technique.
If it’s the first time you hear about this technique then I’m almost sure that all of the above and below should sound a little bit crazy to you but I hope that by the end of the post you will get the point of this approach.
Well, there are basically two steps to apply the Memory Palace technique:
* we need to encode the information about the liver functions into images (in the case with Simonides images were people);
* we need to place those images in the places we know (in the case with Simonides places were locations where host and guests were sitting);
All of what will be describe below is based on my experience (I’ll be using images and places I know). So, if you’ll try the Memory Palace technique you’ll need to use your own images and places.
Well, now I need to say that if you are for example a biochemist and you are working at a laboratory then you know that every procedure/method in there has its own protocol (action sequence). There are a lot of books about mnemotechnics but there’s no a unique protocol to use the Memory Palace technique because we are all different. So, you’ll need to adjust this approach to your needs and capabilities.
Well, there are some general requirements for the images and places though.
The images should be unusual (like the characters of an anime for example) and do unusual actions.
The places should be familiar to you (real) (for example, you could use your school/college/university/stadium as the Palace to place the images).
Now I suggest you to imagine an apple.
Well, I hope some people imagined a real apple (not a Mac produced by Apple Inc or Apple Inc itself). Anyway, where did that image appear?
We’ll see soon.
Now I need to say about a **prefrontal cortex**. I’ll describe some ideas given by **David Rock** in his book “Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long” according to which prefrontal cortex is the part of your brain located behind your forehead which is actually responsible for thinking things through. According to **Amy Arnsten** (professor of neurobiology, Yale Medical School) who David Rock referred to in his book it’s the place where we hold thoughts generated by ourselves (rather than thoughts generated with the help of senses). David Rock suggests us to think of this cortex as a **small theatre stage**. Thoughts are actually actors on that stage. So, we suppose that the apple I was asking you to think about earlier is placed on that mental stage (working memory, or I guess we also could think of it like an RAM (Random Access Memory) of your computer) [2].
The amount of the actors you can hold on that stage is limited. Do you remember that magical number **seven**?[[3]](http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1957-02914-001). It’s the number of actors you can hold on that stage at the same time. Well, more recent study revealed that this number is more like **four** and depends on the complexity of the idea (it’s easier to hold four numbers than, let’s say, four sentences) [[4]](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2864034/).
***
***
# Images
So, the ideas you are thinking are placed on the mental stage which I’ll illustrate as follows:
And you can replace those ideas with the new ones when you remember them. You see those potential ideas at the bottom of the image on the chairs (just the first row) in the form of yellow lightnings.
So, now, when we have our mental stage concept, let’s talk about images for our example (functions of the liver).
I’ll be using some characters from the animated television series “[Jackie Chan Adventures](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259141/)” (2000).
It’s great if you watched them too. If not, then here is a short description:
“Jackie Chan Adventures” tells us about an amateur archaeologist who is a good fighter. He has an uncle and a niece. Once he found a magical talisman. And actually after that his adventures began because there are some other guys – the criminal gang “Dark Hand” – who want to get this and other talismans as well to give them to the demon Shendu so that this creature could get a super-power. Well, actually talismans are what we need. They are magical (remember that images should be unusual?). We have ready-to-use images of them from Wikipedia ([CC BY-SA 3.0 license](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) and [Public Domain](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/)). All these talismans (which are actually twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac) have different power:
•  Rat. With this talisman you can make inanimate objects alive;
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_(zodiac)#/media/File:Rat.svg), [Public Domain](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/))
<br>
•  Ox. This one gives its owner a super Strength;
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ox_(zodiac)#/media/File:Ox.svg), [Public Domain](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/))
<br>
•  Tiger. It helps the owner to find the balance of Yin and Yang;
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_(zodiac)#/media/File:Tiger.svg), [Public Domain](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/))
<br>
•  Rabbit. With this the owner have a super-speed;
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_(zodiac)#/media/File:Rabbit.svg), [Public Domain](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/))
<br>
•  Dragon. Gives its holder an ability to generate fire
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_(zodiac)#/media/File:Dragon.svg), [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
[Angelus](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:ANGELUS)
No changes were made)
<br>
•  Snake. Gives you an ability to become invisible;
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_(zodiac)#/media/File:Snake.svg), [Public Domain](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/))
<br>
•  Horse. It helps to repair something (or someone);
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_(zodiac)#/media/File:Horse.svg), [Public Domain](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/))
<br>
•  Sheep. With the help of this talisman we can remove the soul from the body;
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat_(zodiac)#/media/File:Goat.svg), [Public Domain](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/))
<br>
•  Monkey. It gives its owner an opportunity to change anything into animals;
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_(zodiac)#/media/File:Monkey_2.svg), [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
[Angelus](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:ANGELUS)
No changes were made)
<br>
•  Rooster. Gives you the power of levitation.
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooster_(zodiac)#/media/File:Rooster.svg), [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
[Angelus](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:ANGELUS)
No changes were made)
<br>
•  Dog. Gives immortality.
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_(zodiac)#/media/File:Dog_2.svg), [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
[Angelus](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:ANGELUS)
No changes were made)
<br>
• Pig. With this talisman you can emit heat energy with your eyes;
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_(zodiac)#/media/File:Boar.svg), [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
[Angelus](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:ANGELUS)
No changes were made)
Well, we have images.
Well, first of all I want to pay your attention to the name liver = live + r, which stresses the importance of this organ.
The organs we’ll be talking about (the liver and gallbladder) are shown below:
(J. GORDON BETTS, TYLER JUNIOR COLLEGE et al. Anatomy and Physiology, [OpenStax](https://openstax.org/), ISBN-10: 1-947172-04-2, 2013. [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))
The liver produces bile which is stored in the gallbladder and excreted into duodenum when needed.
Now I need to say that all liver functions are interconnected (I mean that it’s not easy to isolate them), and different authors define these functions slightly differently. These names of the functions have been given by humans and for humans for the sake of convenience.
The liver functions can be divided into two groups:
### Functions that aren’t related to digestion:
<br>
\1) **Detoxification**
The liver serves as a barrier for xenobiotics (substances that aren’t used in the organism neither for energy production nor for building of the organism tissues; drugs for example). Hydrophilic xenobiotics (those which can be mixed with water) are excreted out of the organism with urine. Hydrophobic xenobiotics (those which can’t be mixed with water) might stay in tissues and form complexes with proteins or lipids leading to cell functions dysfunctions.
The idea here is to make hydrophobic xenobiotics more hydrophilic. This process happens in two phases which are catalysed by different catalysts (enzymes):
a) OH - group is added to the xenobiotic (RH):
RH + OH – => R-OH –
b) Conjugation. A special role at this step play enzymes called Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) which use a tripeptide glutathione (GSH):
R + GSH => GSHR (it’s just one of the possible mechanisms)
Then xenobiotics could be excreted with urine or faeces.
<br>
\2) **Deposition**
The liver serves as a storage for some substances (for example glycogen, vitamin A, D);
The level of glucose (the key source of energy for different organisms) in blood must be maintained at a specific level. Glucose can be stored in the form of glycogen (polymer which consists of monomers (glucose)). This glycogen can be decomposed to glucose and is used to maintain the blood glucose at a constant level. [5]
This glycogen looks like
([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen#/media/File:Glycogen_structure.svg), Häggström, Mikael (2014). "Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014". WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.008. ISSN 2002-4436. [Public Domain](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/))
<br>
\3) **Immunological**
Liver has a macrophage system (a group of cells which are able to eliminate old red blood cells and bacteria); [6].
<br>
\4) **Metabolic**
A lot of different substances are synthesised in the liver: cholesterol, ketone bodies, fatty acids, fats, some plasma proteins (like albumin), urea, angiotensinogen…;
I’ll just talk here about two examples.
As a result of proteins metabolism ammonia is produced. Ammonia is a toxic substance for cells (especially for nerve cells). This ammonia mostly detoxified by transformation into urea which is excreted with urine.
Albumin is the key human blood plasma protein. I guess you have already saw it a lot of times when you boiled the chickens eggs and ate them. This is that famous white substance surrounding the egg yolk. This albumin serves as a “bus” in human blood as it transports a lot of other substances (water, hormones…)
### Digestion-related function
<br>
\5) **Production and excretion of the bile** (a dark green substance that helps to digest fats for example)[5]
<br>
### Other functions
<br>
\6) Well, I guess that we can also add one more function – liver **regeneration** [7].<br>
So, I didn’t mention all the liver functions, but I guess we have enough (6 functions) for the purposes of the post.
Now we have images as well as functions. And all we need to do is to code these functions into those images (talismans in our case).
The procedure will look as follows:
• we remember some information about the specific liver function placing it onto the stage;
• we recall talismans and place them onto that mental stage. Basically, we need to answer the only question: “Is there something similar between this function and that talisman?”. If yes, then we capture this association and begin the procedure again looking for the next association.
Well, I won’t present you all that process of finding similarities visually but I’ll give you the final result and a little description.
Well, let’s see.
### Functions that aren’t related to digestion:
<br>
\1) Detoxification.
“Is there something similar between the function and that talisman?”
We have a **Monkey** talisman which gives its owner an ability to **MODIFY** anything into animals. It reminds the function (in the liver xenobiotics are detoxified by the chemical **MODIFICATION**, right?).
<br>
\2) Deposition
“Is there something similar between the function and that talisman?”
I’ve mentioned above that glycogen can be used to maintain the blood glucose at a constant level (to give the glucose level a **BALANCE**). And we know the **Tiger** talisman is responsible for giving its owner the **BALANCE**.
<br>
\3) Immunological
“Is there something similar between the function and that talisman?”
We have a **Sheep** talisman which gives its owner an ability to ** REMOVE THE SOUL** from the body.
We know that the liver has cells which can eliminate old red blood cells and bacteria. So, we can say that these cells can, metaphorically speaking, ** REMOVE THE SOUL** of bacteria (by killing them) from the body.
<br>
\4) Metabolic
“Is there something similar between the function and that talisman?”
I’ve mentioned above that with the Pig talisman you can emit, or **Produce**, heat energy with your eyes.
And this function is about **Producing** different substances.
### Digestion-related function
<br>
\5) Bile production/excretion (a dark green substance that helps to digest fats)
“Is there something similar between the function and that talisman?”
As we know the Dragon talisman gives its holder an ability to generate, or **PRODUCE/EXCRETE**, fire.
And we know that the liver **PRODUCE/EXCRETE** the bile, right?
### Other functions
<br>
\6) Liver regeneration
“Is there something similar between the function and that talisman?”
I’ve mentioned above that the Horse talisman helps you **REPARE** something (or someone). And we know that the liver has an ability for self-**REPARing**
<br>
As you’ve noticed there’s the “"Superpower" of the Liver” (**SUPERPOWER**) phrase in the title of the post. I guess that we could say that having all those talismans the Liver has the “Superpower” (recall people who drink alcohol, and that their liver is usually able to withstand all that anti-liver behaviour (well, for some limited amount of time, of course ))).
Well, I understand that we’ve used only 6 talismans but we have 12. The purpose of this post is just to give you an idea of the Memory Palace approach though, so we’ll move on to the next step.
***
***
# Loci
Liver is often compared with a **BIOCHEMICAL LABORATORY** because a lot of metabolic reactions take place in this organ.
So I’ll use as the Palace (places) for all those images we’ve created above the **LABORATORY** I’ve been visiting when I was a student (at a biological department). I’ve visited that lab several dozens times so I know it very well. I understand that, of course, you don’t know it. But, as I’ve already said all in this post is just an example of Memory Palace technique.
So, the lab I’ll be using looks like the following:
(This image has been created with the help of “[Sweet Home 3D](http://www.sweethome3d.com/)” – a free open source program which is under [GNU GPL license](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.txt) and according to [this](http://www.sweethome3d.com/support/forum/viewthread_thread,1051) models used in it are under [Creative Commons Attribution license](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/). The [flask](https://pixabay.com/en/chemistry-flask-glass-test-science-1300413/) is from [pixabay](pixabay.com))
What do we have?
1) Distillation system
2) Thermostat
3) Chromatography paper
4) Flask
5) Sink
6) Fume hood (fume cupboard)
I guess that it’s a good idea if the places of this lab also will have something similar with the liver functions (and with talismans correspondingly).
Well, let’s try to find similarities between places and talismans (and the liver functions):
1) Distillation system. It’s used to **PURIFY** the water from the salts. Doesn’t it remind you something? We have a Monkey talisman which we use as a representation of the **DETOXIFICATION** function;
2) Thermostat. Biochemists often need to heat their samples (usually up to 37 °C). So they need to keep **BALANCE** required for those samples. And we have the Tiger (**BALANCE**) talisman.
3) Chromatography paper. It’s used to **SEPARATE** some substances from each other. And we have the Sheep talisman (gives its owner an ability to **SEPARATE THE SOUL** and the body.
4) Flask. Biochemists use flasks to **CREATE** different solutions. And we have the Pig talisman (metabolic function of the liver).
5) Well, you can see under the fume hood (number 7) a special flask with the cleaning mixture (which becomes dark green after a while. Doesn't it remind us a bile?). Biochemists use that mixture to wash the flasks. And they wash them with the water coming from the tap into the sink (just like bile is excreted from the liver into the gallbladder and then into the duodenum). So the mixture helps biochemists to **DIGEST** the substances that need to be removed from the flasks. It reminds the Dragon (bile production/excretion which helps to **DIGEST** fats for example).
6) Fume hood. It’s used to get rid of toxic unwanted substances (mainly gases). So, it helps actually to **REPAIR** the air in the laboratory. And we have the Horse talisman, right? Which represents the liver self-**REPAIRing** function.
So, that’s it! Finally, we have encoded the liver functions into images (which in our case are those talismans from the “Jackie Chan Adventures” animated television series). We’ve placed these images into places (loci) which in our case were places in the lab, and the lab itself represents the liver.
***
***
## Why this visual approach could be effective?
According to David Rock:
• It’s easier (and more energy efficient) to hold the image than let’s say to describe that image in words
> Visual processes evolved over millions of years, so the machinery is highly efficient, especially in comparison to the circuitry involved in language
[2]
In this post we’ve created images and places. And there’s a story behind every talisman coming from “Jackie Chan Adventures” already. Or you could even create your own stories about those talismans or laboratory equipment. Stories help you to memorize information even more reliably. According to Jennifer Aaker (Professor of Marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business):
>Stories up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone.
[source](https://leanin.org/education/harnessing-the-power-of-stories)
As I’ve mentioned earlier the Memory Palace technique is NOT a magic:
>…mnemonic training drives distributed rather than regional changes, reorganizing the brain’s functional network organization to enable superior memory performance.
[[9]](https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(17)30087-9)
***
***
## What is this experiment about?
Now, for the experiment.
I believe that there will be people who are still reading this sentence )
So, I’m asking you these questions:
1) Does this approach work for you? Could you come here (well, in the comment section) again after a week and live your opinion. How many liver functions will you be able to recall after a week without re-reading this post?
2) Could you try to use this Memory Palace approach during the following week to encode something? Maybe you will even share your Memory Palace image.
Do you know that there’s a person on Steemit who has created “A Steem World Playlist” (https://steemit.com/music/@soyrosa/a-steem-world-playlist-community-music-challenge-celebrate-our-native-languages-by-sharing-music)?
Why won’t we try to create a Steemit World Memory Palace?
I guess if there will be enough comments with people’s Memory Palaces we could )
***
***
# Very Important!!!
I believe that books about mnemonics belong to the unusual type of books. I know some people who were reading some unusual books, and they are now in a psychoneurological hospital (funny house). So such books should be used without a fanaticism. You could train this Memory Palace technique for example at home but not when you, let’s say, are crossing the street. It’s important to remember about a reality. And mnemotechnics requires to change real places and use unusual images with the help of your imagination, right?
So be careful (without a fanaticism).
Do you remember?
>Because building a dream from your memory is the easiest way to lose your grasp on what's real and what is a dream.
Leonardo DiCaprio (“[Inception](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/)”, 2010)
([Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/en/bridge-bir-hakeim-paris-black-2911103/), [CC0 Creative Commons](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/))
I guess in the context of this post we need to change that "...building a dream from your memory" phrase into "...building the Memory Palace from your memory" and “…what is a dream” phrase into “what is generated by your imagination”.
***
***
# Final thoughts
When I was a student there was a teacher who was giving me and other students lectures about immunology in the university. And that teacher just was giving us an audio version of the book about immunology, I mean that she just was retelling that book and her lectures were quite boring. Wouldn’t this Memory Palace approach be more interesting and entertaining?
***
Actually, in my [first post](https://steemit.com/steemit-italia/@alexbiojs/heart-orchestra-evolution-literally-the-human-heart-song) for this contest ([[ENG/ITA] Contest WEEK#1 - BASE: Body, Art, Science, Emotion](https://steemit.com/steemit-italia/@steemit-italia/ita-eng-week-1-base-body-art-science-emotion)) I’ve also used the Memory Palace approach when I was trying to describe the heart evolution with the help of orchestra. Parts of the heart were represented by orchestra instruments and they were placed at specific locations on the scene.
Thanks for reading )
***
***
# References:
1. [Maguire EA, Valentine ER, Wilding JM, Kapur N. Routes to remembering: the brains behind superior memory. Nat Neurosci. 2003 Jan;6(1):90-5. PubMed PMID: 12483214](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12483214)
2. David Rock. Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long. October 6, 2009
3. [Miller, G. A. The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63(2), 81-97, 1956](http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1957-02914-001)
4. [Nelson Cowan. The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2010 Feb 1; 19(1): 51–57](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2864034/)
5. Severin ES (ed). Textbook on biochemistry [in Russian]. GEOTAR-Media, Moscow, 2005, p 784
6. Sherwood L. Brooks/Cole, Human Physiology: From Cells to Systems, 7th Edition, Cengage Learning. 2010, p 798
7. Haussinger, Dieter. Liver Regeneration. Berlin: De Gruyter. Jul 7, 2011 - Medical - p 232
8. Frances A. Yates. The Art of Memory. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966
9. [Martin Dresler, William R. Shirer et al. Mnemonic Training Reshapes Brain Networks to Support Superior Memory, Neuron, Volume 93, ISSUE 5, March 08, 2017](https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(17)30087-9)
hiveblocks