Unlocking the Secrets of a Memory Champion: Inside the Brain of a Memory Master

Nelson Dellis, a six-time American Memory Champion, has astounded the world by memorizing a shuffled deck of cards in just 40.7 seconds and recalling the first 10,000 digits of Pi. Recent studies on his brain offer insights into the extraordinary capabilities that allow such feats and how others may develop similar skills.

Dellis reports that he had an average memory until age 25, when he began rigorous memory training after observing his grandmother suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. This dedication included extensive practice memorizing numbers, names, and vocabulary. “I continue to train my memory regularly,” he states. “It’s akin to a muscle; if you don’t utilize it, it deteriorates.”

While dementia-related memory issues are well documented, the phenomena of exceptional memory are less understood. To investigate this, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis collaborated with Dellis for a comprehensive brain analysis.

Dellis participated in extensive brain scans and memory assessments over approximately 13 hours between 2015 and 2021. In one assessment, he was tasked with memorizing a series of four to seven words displayed for just over a second, employing traditional memorization techniques like repetition.

“Sitting still in a scanner while memorizing wasn’t my usual training method, but it was fascinating to contribute to the connection between memory athletes and measurable scientific outcomes,” Dellis remarked. His brain activity was compared to two control subjects with strong, yet not extraordinary, memories.

The Washington University team analyzed the results and discovered that Dellis and the controls exhibited similar brain activity during the tasks. All three individuals showed enhanced electrical signaling in the retrosplenial cortex, extrastriate visual cortex, and dorsal frontal cortex—regions associated with navigation, visual processing, and working memory. Interestingly, Dellis emphasized that rote memorization is not his preferred technique. “Rote memorization is often ineffective, yet it’s widely known,” he notes.

Dellis undertook another task unique to him, memorizing the order of a shuffled deck of cards while undergoing brain scans. He utilized the loci method, also recognized as the memory palace technique, which involves linking information to specific locations in one’s environment to facilitate recall. “This shift from abstract concepts to visual-spatial associations forms the core of almost all mnemonic strategies I employ,” Dellis shares.

This task stimulated activity in the same three cortices but altered activity in the hippocampus, a critical brain region for memory. Dellis exhibited higher hippocampal activity during the encoding phase in the first task than during recall. In contrast, the opposite was found during the second task, which activated the caudate nucleus—a brain structure involved in learning and memory. Although the researchers chose not to comment further, they speculated that the caudate’s involvement might indicate memory is an integrated skill.

Moreover, researchers compared Dellis’s brain activity to that of 887 participants in the Human Connectome Project. Their findings revealed that memory champions demonstrate significantly enhanced functional connectivity, illustrating efficient collaboration among different brain areas.

Dellis and his colleagues advocate for the wider application of the loci method. “Considering its clear behavioral benefits, it’s surprising that techniques like this are not more commonly integrated into educational and clinical practices,” he observes. Martin Dresler from Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands concurs.

Dresler states that this technique can be extremely effective. It utilizes our inherent strengths. “The triumph of trajectory methods likely arises because they transform abstract data into visual-spatial concepts,” he explains. “Our brains did not evolve to remember abstract details like numbers or dates; rather, they evolved to navigate our environment for food and safety, honing our spatial awareness.”

However, Craig Stark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, emphasizes that it’s uncertain how much of Dellis’s exceptional memory results from training versus innate ability. “We can’t discern which elements are trained skills versus inherent capabilities,” he states.

If you find traditional memory training daunting, Dellis also attributes his abilities to a healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise. “To enhance your everyday memory, heed your mother’s advice: be mindful, maintain a healthy diet, get adequate sleep, and exercise,” he emphasizes, referencing Morris Moscovich from the University of Toronto, Canada.