Is it necessary I have a perfect visualization to become a top memory athlete?
This question have been boggling my mind for a while now!
Any help hommies?
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No
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Pls Explain better broā
To explain further, you donāt need to perfectly visualize anything. All you need is a sense or impression of visual memory. You donāt really even need to use your visual memory at all, as there are some people who have aphantasia who can use memory techniques just fine with some adjustments.
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I donāt think that you need perfect visualization for memory sports. In my experience itās sufficient when you add just enough details to be able to distinguish the images.
For instance a zebra can just be a blur with some implied stripes. As long as you remember that there was something with black and white stripes at the location, you can retrieve all the information.
But I canāt speak for top athletes unfortunately.
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Definitely not. In fact, some are doing this with aphantasia.
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Here are some related posts: aphantasia
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what adjustments are you referring to?
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If you search some of the posts made by @LynneKelly, you can get the general idea of how people with aphantasia memorize with memory techniques.
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Hi Soobin, Eli and all,
I have aphantasia, so no visualisation at all - I close my eyes and think of something and all I see is grey mush. But I do have some kind of impression of an image. I know what a tree looks like!
When I started on memory training for long term and competitions, I didnāt know that I had aphantasia. It was a shock to learn that other people actually āsawā the images. I just followed the training ideas, created memory palaces, PAO and so on. I didnāt realise until later that I was doing things a bit differently. Even now, I am not sure how much that differs. I suspect that everyone does their own refinements on the methods to suit themselves.
I tend to use stories more. Dominic OāBrien, who helped me a lot when I started training, said to make sure every image had a logical connection. I suspect that I donāt use āweirdā as much as ālogicalā - but these are not strict rules. For my memory palaces, I donāt have a clear image of the location. I have a key point, as Finwing suggested with zebras.
My palace for images, for example, is a series of shops, but with time they have reduced to a sequence of key ideas associated with each shop. So my sequence is grog-shop-pillar-post-rain-yellow-riverā¦ Thirty shops have become thirty simple concepts that I look for in each image.
Whether I could become a top athlete or not, I donāt know. I suspect not, but more because of my personality and that I donāt handle the stress of competing well at all. I competed twice in real world competitions and took out the Australian Senior (60+) title both times (there arenāt many of us in that category!), but I found the stress almost unbearable. That was before I knew that I had aphantasia. I do Memory League and compete against myself when I get time. I love that!
I think that I do names and faces differently, because remembering a face isnāt going to happen and likening them to someone else with the same name is even less likely. I have a bestiary, a series of animals and characters for the first two letters of names. Each of those has a key feature - the chipmunk (ch-) has a stripe, the bower bird (bo-) loves blue. So I look at the first two letters of the name and then find some relationship in the image. Often I will only note the striped tie or total lack of blue in the clothes.
So my advice would be to stop worrying or even thinking about it. Just start practicing, making memory palaces, making up stories and characters, and have fun! Your brain will adapt the methods.
Lynne
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There is no such thing as "perfect visualization. "
You are a motivation for me and many othersā
Love youā
More power to your elbow maā
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Oh my god you monster! twice?! Wow. Thatās inspirational. Do you have any tips for how to train on a daily basis? I know of the PAO, Dominic, and other systems and have a system in place for most of them, but I donāt know what daily practice would actually look like.
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Thank you. I am hugely flattered.
It was the Senior - over 60 section - not the main one! Although I did come in third overall once. As for daily training, I just set a time the day and did it. I kept detailed records so there was the reward of seeing the improvement over time. Plus my palaces, characters and PAO kept being refined as I went. Be ready to do that. Some of my characters were too alike, so I changed them. Some days werenāt good, but the longer time records kept me going because I could see the variation but overall improvement.
I also followed some other advice of Dominic OāBrienās, to exercise before training. So I would only train for 20 - 30 minutes (although it took longer the first few times I did an entire deck). I would always jump around for about ten minutes before training, and always review my palaces or key names before I trained. For some reason, my best event by far was binary numbers. And it isnāt on Memory League!
I quite liked training. I just hated the competitions because of the stress. Others thrive on it, but I havenāt liked any competitions of any kind all my life. Just me.
In competition, I went much slower than in training - that reduced the stress and improved accuracy, and I was primarily there for the experience - and the hope of the Senior title. There havenāt been any Australian competitions since. I donāt know if I would have done it again.
Most of all - have fun and compete against yourself. Thatās rewarding!
Hope that helps. Others here will have better suggestions because others here are much higher ranked competitors, so maybe try searching for guidance or starting a new thread on that question.
Lynne
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How would you go about remembering that sense then? for instance if I have 2 objects that represents sadness together, how would I be able to tell that it was this type of sense upon recall out of all the possible senses like touch, love, bitterness, loudness or whatever?
I am not sure what context you mean. Can you explain when you would want to add a sense to the images?
Actually describing what your āmindās eyeā imagines is difficult. Iām having trouble knowing actually. Right now, a PAO vignette I just created is a famous podcaster (the person) putting on a t-shirt (the action) with a picture of computer RAM (the object) on it in a gas (petrol) station (the loci) near my house. As I write that, I donāt really āseeā it.
But if pretend Iām a drone and zoom out on the gas station loci, I do see/intuit/feel/imagine what the drone would see. I can add the detail of a red t-shirt and see the change. Itās not like HD TV, itās more like remembering a dream. Using Mark Channonās idea, I can fast forward and rewind the sequence, and that does help to lock it in. Iām very verbal, so I like reciting the vignette in my brain in words. But itās more memorable if I can force myself to then āseeā it from the drone. Left brain/right brain? Who knows.
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