We often think of prodigious memory as an arcane skill ' almost indistinguishable from magic to those of us who no longer remember more than a few key phone numbers. But the ability to recall an epic poem or the full sequence of a deck of cards may be less mysterious than it seems.According to a study published March 8 in the journal Neuron, the brains of 17 of the world'stop 50 memory championsactually look fairly similar to the brains of people with no standout memory. There are some keydifferences, but the researchers behind the study found that when people with normal memory capabilitiesadoptedthe preferred strategies of the competitive memorizers, theirbrains started to take on the same unique activity and connectivity patterns.The differences between the brains of memory champions and regularpeople (of comparable intelligence and ages, which is noteworthy since all started from a high-IQ baseline) are "distributed and subtle," says Martin Dresler, a neuroscience professor and researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry and one of the authors of the study. Those distinguishing factors are seen in brain activity rather thanthe actual structure of the brain.The researchers identified 71 regions and six networks in the brain that they thought could be involved in memory, and tracked activity between and within these areas in the brains ofmemory champions andpeople who'd never trained as "memory athletes." They observed the participants both at rest and while engaged in a memorization task, they found the super-memorizers had similar patterns ofbrain activity to one another. That activity was distinct enough to set them apart, but wasn't notable enoughto imply some sort of superhuman capability."We would have expected to find some more obvious differences in brain anatomy and memory structure but we didn't, the brains of these people look pretty much normal ' like yours or mine" Dreslertells Business Insider. "We were quite surprised."Making a memory championIn afirst part of the study, the researchers took the 17 memory champions and a control group of untrained peopleand had them all try to recall a list of 72 words. The memory champions could recall about 71 words on average, while untrained people could only rememberabout40. Before and duringthe process, they used fMRI to scan the brains of the memory champions and control group members to identify the neural activity that made the champions unique.The researchers then took another group of 51 "normal" participantsand had them try to recall a list of 72 words ' all with the expected results for untrained people. The scientists split those participantsinto three groups: one that would receive no training, one that would receive short-term memory training, and one that would study the method the champions said worked for them.That method is calledthe "loci" or memory palace technique."The general idea is that you just imagine a really well known environment, it could be your apartment, it could be one room or the way home from your office, some spatial environment,"Dresler says. Then you just associate what you are trying to remember with one landmark in each place on your routine.This is a famed strategy, and there's a lot of evidence showing that it can be learned and it works, Dresler says. Its success may be due to the fact that humans haveevolved to remember maps and places ' the parts of our brain that help us recall directions are active when using this technique for memory.The memory palace technique was also taught in the Middle Ages, and was how how ancient orators memorized speeches that could last for hours.After six weeks of training for 30minutes a day, thegroup with regular memory capabilitiesgreatly improved their recall of long lists of words. In fact, they gotalmost as good at it as the memory champions (an average of 70 out of 72 words). Their mental activity also started to look like that of the memory champions in an fMRI brain scan. The more an individual's brain activity resembled that of the memory champions, the better they did on the test.Again, the differences were subtle ' there was no visible structural transformation, though Dresler says he thinks they may be able to identify some structural changes with a bigger group. But these resultshelp to show how memory works whendifferent regions and networks in the brain talk to each other, and also demonstratehow certainbrain activity is associated with memory improvement.Four months after the six-week training, the groups were tested again. The trainees that had been taught the memory palace strategy kept their newfound ability to use the technique. But the other two groups never showed anysignificant improvement in memory."Once you are familiar with the method and can apply it, you don't forget it that quickly," says Dresler.Based on this evidence, it seems memory champions are not necessarily born any different, but can instead be made.SEE ALSO:What it's like to suddenly lose your short-term memory at the age of 33Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: A national memory champion reveals an easy way to remember a speech
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