In 40.65 seconds, most people can read a page of a book, heat up leftovers, or compose a quick email.
In 40.65 seconds, Nelson Dellis can memorize a deck of cards.
Dellis is the current and three-time USA Memory Champion and has placed 7th in the World Memory Championship. On Friday, Dellis and his co-presenter, Mary Pyc, drew a crowd of nearly 200 Hillsdale students who were curious about Pyc’s scientific findings and Dellis’ secrets.
Before a competition Dellis warms up with four to five hours memory exercises. Dellis can memorize a deck of cards in under a minute, recount a sequence of 310 digits between zero and nine in five minutes, and recite 193 names in 15 minutes. He holds the world record for each of these impressive feats.
Last Friday, he memorized 100 digits between zero and nine, which were recited to him at a digit-per-second pace. After a brief moment of “going over it” in his head, he was able to recite the list forwards with only one error and then backwards flawlessly.
“I’ve never had a good memory,” Dellis said. “The truth is I was always average — nothing special.”
Dellis’ journey to his career as a memory champion began shortly after he lost his grandmother to Alzheimer’s disease in 2009.
“Watching her deteriorate over the years was really tough,” Dellis said. “And it got me thinking about memory and what brain health is all about.”
Dellis said he didn’t want to see his own mind decline, and so he began to train his memory. After his grandmother’s death, he also took on the role as an activist to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.
In 2010, Dellis founded Climb For Memory: a non-profit organization that raises awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s disease research through organized mountain climbs around the world.
Dellis explained his method of success.
“Modern information is abstract,” Dellis said. “Our brains don’t memorize well when information doesn’t have meaning, so we need to give things that are abstract meaning.”
Dellis primarily uses the Method of Loci to memorize abstract information. First, he takes pre-memorized combinations of numbers and associates them with incredibly detailed images. He creates the images with elaborate detail that can activate all five senses.
Dellis makes the images funny, sad, erotic, or violent.
“Those things stick,” Dellis said. “Us memory champions go to dark places sometimes— but it works.”
During Friday’s presentation, Dellis used the examples of Albert Einstein riding an electric guitar like a skateboard, and Chewbacca slam-dunking a refrigerator.
Next, Dellis chooses a “memory palace”, a location he is familiar with, and places these images in the scene. When he recites the memorized information, he mentally walks around the memory palace, and turns the images back into the number combinations.
Dellis involved the audience, leading them through the memorization of 14 random words. Sophomore Bridget Delapp was excited to see that the methods helped her remember the list.
“It’s so great, literally anyone can do it,” Delapp said.
Dellis does not claim success just for himself. He believes that anyone can train to have a super memory.
“With memory you can start whenever, it’s just the matter of doing it everyday,” Dellis said.
“You have to be dedicated.”