Memory Sports
The five “Leading Mind Sports” are Speed Reading, IQ, Creativity, Mind Mapping and Memory. All of them are competitive sports, and collectively they can help people improve in their studies or work.
Memory sports refers to competitive memory or the mind sport of memory. It is a contest where participants showcase their ability to memorize large volumes of data in a short period. This event typically comprises multiple rounds of memorization tasks, such as remembering word lists, numbers or playing cards and then recalling them, as accurately and quickly as possible.
Memory championships have gained popularity worldwide since 1990s. The most esteemed of these competitions is the World Memory Championships, that is organized annually since 1991. The competitors who participate in this sport com from 30 different countries to win the next World Memory Champion title.
The championship includes various events like memorizing decks of cards, binary digits, hour numbers, speed numbers, hour cards, speed cards, abstract images, names and faces, random words and spoken numbers.
Mnemonic techniques are generally considered to be a necessary part of competition, and are improved through extensive practice. These can include the method of loci, the use of mnemonic linking and chunking, or other techniques for storage and retrieval of information.
10 disciplines of a memory competition are as follows-
- Memorizing and recalling binary numbers (0, 1) in 5 minutes (She holds the World record by recalling 540 binary numbers in 5 minutes in the same given sequence).
- Memorizing and recalling numbers in 5 minutes in the same given sequence (She has set a World record by recalling 260 numbers in 5 minutes).
- Memorizing common nouns in 5 minutes and recalling them in the same given sequence (She holds the World record by recalling 104 words in 5 minutes).
- Memorizing and recalling names and faces in 5 minutes in the same given sequence.
- Memorizing and recalling abstract images in 5 minutes in the same given sequence.
- Memorizing historical and future dates in 5 minutes and recalling them in the same given sequence.
- Memorizing deck of cards in 5 minutes and recalling them in the same given sequence. Watch the video.
- Memorizing numbers in an hour and recalling them in the same given sequence.
- Memorizing deck of cards in an hour and recalling them in the same given sequence.
- Memorizing spoken numbers by listening to the audio played and recalling them in the same given sequence.
The sport is administered by the World Memory Sports Council which is the governing body for the sport. It compiles the World Rankings, is the custodian of the ten disciplines and ensures fair play worldwide through its Ethics Committee chaired by eight times World Memory Champion, Dominic O’Brien.
