A Chilliwack, B.C. man can memorize more than 250 random numbers in five minutes and now has the distinction of having Canada’s best recollection.

Braden Adams, 32, won the 2018 National Memory Championship over the weekend, where memory athletes are tasked with recalling random names, images and numbers as fast and accurately as possible.

As part of the competition, Adams was able to memorize the order of 263 random images in five minutes, 258 random numbers in five minutes and 155 random words in 15 minutes.

All three results are new Canadian records and left him as the clear-cut champion in the eight-person championship.

“I actually have been pretty good, over my whole life, with remembering things,” Adams told CTV News Channel on Thursday.

Another of the challenges was to memorize the order of a deck of cards as quickly as possible. Adams managed to complete the task in one minute and eight seconds.

“I’ve done it quite a few times, so it wasn’t too tough,” he said.

To become successful at memory sports, the majority of the athletes use a method of recollection known as the “Method of Ioci,” also known as the “Greek memory palace.”

The method is simple enough:

  1. Imagine a familiar location, like a childhood home.
  2. Imagine a path through the home from one end to the other.
  3. Through this path, there will be several landmarks along the way. (Adams suggests making these landmarks as unusual as possible, to make them memorable later on)
  4. With each landmark, attach a piece of information you are trying to remember.
  5. When it comes time to recall, you imagine walking through the “palace” and seeing the landmarks with the piece of information attached.

Adams says this method is not only good for competitions, but can also be effective with every day remembering, such as a grocery list.

“Our brains work with visualization so well, it’s very easy to recall information,” Adams said.

Through his time in memory sports, Adams says the more complicated challenges involve memorizing the order as many decks of cards as possible over a 15 or 30-mintue span.

“That involves going through numerous memory palaces and reinforcing the things that you put there,” he said.

In the past, Adams has been able to recall four decks of cards in 10 minutes and nearly 600 random numbers in 15 minutes.

 

You’re looking at the 2018 CMSA National Memory Champion! Seeing the results of hard work is always satisfying. Official...

Posted by Braden Adams on Sunday, 16 September 2018