Ollie
Legend
I'm supposed to be revising memory, but figured that much of what I'm supposed to be revising is actually pretty useful for applying to BLD memorization. There are loads more examples of factors that affect forgetting in the short term and in the long term, but I have included the ones most relevant to BLD (and a moral of the story of how to overcome it = MOTS.) So here goes:
Why do we forget?
1. Decay (loss of information over time.)
Forgetting is the loss of, OR the failure to retrieve, information that you've already previously remembered. When you encode (memorize) something your brain forms a neural pathway. If over time the pathway is not used it weakens, especially if it is not rehearsed.
That means when the brain needs to recall that thing later on, it is less likely to because the 'normal' route has decayed. This is why is you've forgotten someone's name by simply looking at their face, you can go through in your mind where you met them and things they said to try and jog your memory - you are taking a different neural pathway to find the name of that person.
MOTS = short term memory can be extended a little bit by rehearsing stuff, or creating alternate 'pathways' to recall something. For example, I like to 'pinch' the first letter pair for a piece set for wings, midges and centers when I memorize for 5x5x5 blindfolded. If I can't the image later on, I can try and jog my memory by remembering what piece I pinched (I'm using procedural memory aka muscle memory here!)
If you are just starting out at BLD, you can rely a little bit more on repetition to try and get information into your LTM. If you are doing a big BLD or a Multi BLD then you may want to regularly review cubes/piece sets. Just don't waste time with it!
If you are more pro, and think reviewing is too mainstream, see 3.
2. Interference (competing bits of information)
Your short term memory has a limited capacity as I'm sure you know. It is capable of, in nearly everyone, holding 7 +/-2 chunks of information, but only for a very short period of time (15-30 seconds.) Two things can happen in short term memory:
a. New information can interfere with old information.
If I gave you 7 random digits to memorize (1655904) and then moments later I asked you to memorize a phone number, it is very likely that in memorizing the new telephone digits they will replace some of the digits from that first sequence. This is because of your STM's limited capacity - it was full before I asked you to remember the telephone number, and before you the chance to transfer that information into long term memory I gave you extra digits.
MOTS = Don't take on too much information than you can handle. Try memorizing random digits/letters pairs in groups of 5,6,7,8 and 9 to see which is the comfiest for you. Then in future you can memorize in groups of the comfiest number, or your 'magic' number so that you don't use more loci than you need to OR keep having to go back and rehearse things by taking on too much in one go.
Practice chunking. i.e. 1939200119455050 could be remembered by 'chunking' the numbers into dates; 1939, the start of WW2; 2001, whatever; 1945, end of WW2; and 5050, half and half or that awesome CBBC show.
b. Old information can interfere with new information.
Say I'm memorizing some edges for a Multi BLD attempt. I need to hold on to the image - "a seagull (SG) drinking lemon juice (LJ) from a hat (HT)." I move onto another cube, perhaps 2/3 cubes later, which happens to be "a peacock (PQ) drinking orange juice (OJ) from a shoe (SH)." Seagull and peacock are similar, so are orange juice and lemon juice. Shoes and hats are obviously have different functions, but as they are both items of clothing it is very easy to confuse the two if you don't pay attention during recall. You may end up executing "a peacock (PQ) drinking lemon juice (LJ) from a hat (HT)" = DNF.
Also, try doing a consecutive multi attempts with no rests. Have you ever found that you've began to recall information from previous attempts?
MOTS = This is why having very similar letter pairs (i.e. MN for man and GY for guy could be confused, BL for blue or black, plus all the obvious rude examples) can often lead to mistakes. When choosing your letter pairs pay extra attention and think ahead!
Another good example - I believe Marcell uses themes when memorizing. This can help to keep cubes/piece sets separate and avoid information being replaced by other similar info.
3. Levels of processing
All this really means is we are more likely to recall things with meaning, or that are important to us. Say if I have to memorize the word cockalorum, which means a boa****l person. I could try and do this in a few different ways.
a. Structurally - i.e. counting how many letters it has and how many vowels. Obviously this isn't going to get you very far on its own.
b. Phonetically - we're getting there now. I could try and think of words it rhymes with, or just how it sounds.
A and B are called shallow processing. This means we can assign less meaning compared to deep processing:
c. Semantically - I could imagine a friend with an unusually high opinion of himself. As hes boasting, I cast a spell on him with my wand by saying to him "stop being suck a cockalorum." I have a nice image to associate that word with from now on!
MOTS = When information has a definition/funny association/some important meaning assigned to it we don't need to rehearse it often, if at all. My other tutorial with examples in may help with this.
4. Not paying attention!
This might seem obvious, but simply if you're not paying attention to something then you are far more likely to have memory lapses. A boring lecture loses the attention of students almost immediately, plus you can only ever recall on average around 20% of what has been said. Teach it in an exciting/interactive/stimulating way where students will concentrate then you will recall more - 50%+ quite often.
BLD solvers wear ear defenders to block out noise for good reason. You are constantly processing not just visual information but sounds as well. If someone makes a distracting sound when I have some information in my STM, that event could push out a letter pair or two which might not ever get to LTM. I could go over this again in review, obviously, but it's just an example.
(And from previous experience) If I am memorizing a 5x5x5 blindfolded attempt and I look around and see a hot judge, some the information I have put into my short term memory could be replaced by a hot judge. If this pushes a letter pair out of my memo then I'm doomed!
MOTS = don't stress/tire yourself out doing too much BLD or by doing too much of it when you're already tired. Find a way to keep your concentration up if you can.
5. Motivated forgetting.
This is a more 'controversial' one as it won't be true for everyone. Particularly disturbing images or gross images (let's just say negative images) can actually be forgotten more easily. If we feel uncomfortable/anxious by holding onto a negative image then we may try and repress it and have trouble recalling it later. This occasionally happens to me, but it's still very rare.
MOTS = obvious, but if it applies to you, then tweak your images to make it weird to the point that it is very memorable but not to the point where you are overly grossed out by it!
I'm currently a second year Cognitive Neuroscience student so this is all based on valid science. Should you want to see the studies for yourself (or some PPT lecture slides containing these studies and other interesting ones) then just PM me and I can send you the references or any other interesting/useful stuff.
Hope this helps!
Why do we forget?
1. Decay (loss of information over time.)
Forgetting is the loss of, OR the failure to retrieve, information that you've already previously remembered. When you encode (memorize) something your brain forms a neural pathway. If over time the pathway is not used it weakens, especially if it is not rehearsed.
That means when the brain needs to recall that thing later on, it is less likely to because the 'normal' route has decayed. This is why is you've forgotten someone's name by simply looking at their face, you can go through in your mind where you met them and things they said to try and jog your memory - you are taking a different neural pathway to find the name of that person.
MOTS = short term memory can be extended a little bit by rehearsing stuff, or creating alternate 'pathways' to recall something. For example, I like to 'pinch' the first letter pair for a piece set for wings, midges and centers when I memorize for 5x5x5 blindfolded. If I can't the image later on, I can try and jog my memory by remembering what piece I pinched (I'm using procedural memory aka muscle memory here!)
If you are just starting out at BLD, you can rely a little bit more on repetition to try and get information into your LTM. If you are doing a big BLD or a Multi BLD then you may want to regularly review cubes/piece sets. Just don't waste time with it!
If you are more pro, and think reviewing is too mainstream, see 3.
2. Interference (competing bits of information)
Your short term memory has a limited capacity as I'm sure you know. It is capable of, in nearly everyone, holding 7 +/-2 chunks of information, but only for a very short period of time (15-30 seconds.) Two things can happen in short term memory:
a. New information can interfere with old information.
If I gave you 7 random digits to memorize (1655904) and then moments later I asked you to memorize a phone number, it is very likely that in memorizing the new telephone digits they will replace some of the digits from that first sequence. This is because of your STM's limited capacity - it was full before I asked you to remember the telephone number, and before you the chance to transfer that information into long term memory I gave you extra digits.
MOTS = Don't take on too much information than you can handle. Try memorizing random digits/letters pairs in groups of 5,6,7,8 and 9 to see which is the comfiest for you. Then in future you can memorize in groups of the comfiest number, or your 'magic' number so that you don't use more loci than you need to OR keep having to go back and rehearse things by taking on too much in one go.
Practice chunking. i.e. 1939200119455050 could be remembered by 'chunking' the numbers into dates; 1939, the start of WW2; 2001, whatever; 1945, end of WW2; and 5050, half and half or that awesome CBBC show.
b. Old information can interfere with new information.
Say I'm memorizing some edges for a Multi BLD attempt. I need to hold on to the image - "a seagull (SG) drinking lemon juice (LJ) from a hat (HT)." I move onto another cube, perhaps 2/3 cubes later, which happens to be "a peacock (PQ) drinking orange juice (OJ) from a shoe (SH)." Seagull and peacock are similar, so are orange juice and lemon juice. Shoes and hats are obviously have different functions, but as they are both items of clothing it is very easy to confuse the two if you don't pay attention during recall. You may end up executing "a peacock (PQ) drinking lemon juice (LJ) from a hat (HT)" = DNF.
Also, try doing a consecutive multi attempts with no rests. Have you ever found that you've began to recall information from previous attempts?
MOTS = This is why having very similar letter pairs (i.e. MN for man and GY for guy could be confused, BL for blue or black, plus all the obvious rude examples) can often lead to mistakes. When choosing your letter pairs pay extra attention and think ahead!
Another good example - I believe Marcell uses themes when memorizing. This can help to keep cubes/piece sets separate and avoid information being replaced by other similar info.
3. Levels of processing
All this really means is we are more likely to recall things with meaning, or that are important to us. Say if I have to memorize the word cockalorum, which means a boa****l person. I could try and do this in a few different ways.
a. Structurally - i.e. counting how many letters it has and how many vowels. Obviously this isn't going to get you very far on its own.
b. Phonetically - we're getting there now. I could try and think of words it rhymes with, or just how it sounds.
A and B are called shallow processing. This means we can assign less meaning compared to deep processing:
c. Semantically - I could imagine a friend with an unusually high opinion of himself. As hes boasting, I cast a spell on him with my wand by saying to him "stop being suck a cockalorum." I have a nice image to associate that word with from now on!
MOTS = When information has a definition/funny association/some important meaning assigned to it we don't need to rehearse it often, if at all. My other tutorial with examples in may help with this.
4. Not paying attention!
This might seem obvious, but simply if you're not paying attention to something then you are far more likely to have memory lapses. A boring lecture loses the attention of students almost immediately, plus you can only ever recall on average around 20% of what has been said. Teach it in an exciting/interactive/stimulating way where students will concentrate then you will recall more - 50%+ quite often.
BLD solvers wear ear defenders to block out noise for good reason. You are constantly processing not just visual information but sounds as well. If someone makes a distracting sound when I have some information in my STM, that event could push out a letter pair or two which might not ever get to LTM. I could go over this again in review, obviously, but it's just an example.
(And from previous experience) If I am memorizing a 5x5x5 blindfolded attempt and I look around and see a hot judge, some the information I have put into my short term memory could be replaced by a hot judge. If this pushes a letter pair out of my memo then I'm doomed!
MOTS = don't stress/tire yourself out doing too much BLD or by doing too much of it when you're already tired. Find a way to keep your concentration up if you can.
5. Motivated forgetting.
This is a more 'controversial' one as it won't be true for everyone. Particularly disturbing images or gross images (let's just say negative images) can actually be forgotten more easily. If we feel uncomfortable/anxious by holding onto a negative image then we may try and repress it and have trouble recalling it later. This occasionally happens to me, but it's still very rare.
MOTS = obvious, but if it applies to you, then tweak your images to make it weird to the point that it is very memorable but not to the point where you are overly grossed out by it!
I'm currently a second year Cognitive Neuroscience student so this is all based on valid science. Should you want to see the studies for yourself (or some PPT lecture slides containing these studies and other interesting ones) then just PM me and I can send you the references or any other interesting/useful stuff.
Hope this helps!
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