This is a game I was playing around with the other day with a few people. Anyone who has a number system down can do it already and it’s pretty good as a demonstration of how short term memory functions.
Ok, so the phonological loop is a “separate entity” from the visual-spatial sketchpad. This has been demonstrated by interference studies. Basically, if I ask you to remember a phone number it goes on your phonological loop. The size of your loop is your digit span. No problem to keep the phone number there… unless I ask you to do math.
So try it with someone. Have them try to remember even a 5 digit number while doing math in their head. It’s a pretty damn near impossible task. However, by using something like the Major system you transfer the numbers out of the phonological loop and onto the visual-spatial sketchpad eliminating the interference. So you can do math all you want… and not forget the original number.
I’m sure other people have figured this out before and that I’ve reinvented the wheel. I just though it was a cool little micro-discovery and fun trick. I was really surprised at how strong a response people had. They were really impressed and it’s such a dumb trick really.