Is It Possible to Improve your Memory?

The method that the researchers used on the strategic memory training group was something called “method of loci” training. It’s the brain training mechanism used by most participants in memory competitions and tournaments, and has been used for centuries—even by the ancient Greeks and Romans. It’s essentially a type of mnemonic device that trains your brain to memorize words by placing them in a location that is familiar to you (loci means place in Latin). This familiar place is often a specific route you know well, like the walk you take from home to work or school, or a specific room in your house. It becomes what’s known as your “memory palace”.

About 90% of all the brain’s neurons are located in the cerebral cortex, mainly in the "grey matter", which makes up the surface regions of the cerebral cortex, while the inner "white matter" consists mainly of myelinated axons, over 170,000 km of them. As many as five times that number of glial cells exist to support the active nerve cells.