Hi - I thought this may be of use to some of you guys.

Short version
Using imagination and association to place mnemonics at learned stages of an SSX run, you can easily memorise enormous lists of information. Take 5 minutes to try this out, and you could have a skill for life.

Long version
Your precise knowledge of SSX tracks could give you access to impressive memory techniques which can help you learn anything, easily.
I started learning about memory last year and have been amazed at what can be accomplished. I’ve memorised card decks, 100 digits of pi, all the US presidents / dates of office, and even some information which is actually useful Before I read into it, my memory was awful.

THE TECHNIQUE
It all hinges on a technique called the journey method, where you associate information with landmarks on a journey you know. It's an extremely effective way of remembering long lists of information.

If you can remember, in sequence, a number of checkpoints on a journey (e.g. a kicker, a pylon, a tree, a buddha head), then you can use this journey to store otherwise hard-to remember information. I think SSX players are extremely skilled at memorising journeys, as it helps to have remembered what to avoid / hit for big points or the fastest run.

HOW TO DO IT
You can try it out today. Take any SSX track which you know well, and run through the journey a few times in your head, picking out some key checkpoints (stages). Once you're familiar with the sequence, you should be able to run through it backwards or forwards quite easily. You could try writing down the stages on a piece of paper to make sure you remember them.
Now you can link the information you want to remember with your stages.

---Tips on linking information---
There are 2 techniques you can use to really lock information in.

• Imagination
  At each stage, really let your imagination run wild and engage as many senses as you can. The crazier, the better, as your mind remembers the unusual. For some tips, there's a method called SMASHIN SCOPE.
• Association
  Once you've conjured up a vivid image for what you want to recall, you want to really bind it to the stage of the journey - have it interact with the scenery in as many ways as possible. E.g. if you want to remember an elephant at a kicker, the elephant can be crapping on that kicker, then slipping over, then spinning around and landing in the snow, blowing snow out of its trunk.

EXAMPLE
Here's an example, using a simple shopping list to be memorised.

---Shopping list---
1) Beer | 2) Playstation 3 | 3) a doughnut | 4) A pizza oven | 5) Milk | 6) A watch | 7) A picture frame | 8) Teddy bear | 9) Skull Candy earphones | 10) A deck of cards.

---Journey: JT2 race track.---

1. In the helicopter, waiting to drop
2. First kicker when you come out of the helicopter. There are 2 grind trees by it, one either side. | Click for image
3. The metal bridge just after the second kicker. | Click for image
4. The entrance to the underground tunnel/caves just round the corner from the second kicker, on the left hand side. | Click for image (tunnel is bottom left)
5. The set of 2 red railings after the tunnels. There's another railway bridge above these 2 rails. | Click for image
6. The set of about 3 parallel jumps immediately after the red railings from stage 5) | Click for image
7. The entrance to the next tunnel, lined with flares | Click for image
8. That tiny door you have to go through after the tunnel, before a big jump. | Click for image
9. That long red rail which you DON'T want to hit in race mode, which leads into a train tunnel. | Click for image
10. The train tracks / tunnel which you come into from stage 9)

---Creating a story, remembering everything---
Using a simple story, here’s how the list can be remembered

1. You're standing in the helicopter, waiting for your drop. Wizard is swooping the heli all over the place. You turn around and see the floor is littered with empty beer bottles, clinking and rolling on the floor. The air stinks of beer breath. Wizard belches and apologises, and you fall tumbling out of the back of the heli.
2. Trying to jump over the first kicker, your board sticks into something and you go flying, face-first into the snow. You turn back to retrieve your board and see that it has lodged in the disc slot of a PS3. You can see it wobbling up and down, going 'booing'. You turn and look at the jump, and see the X/O/^/sq symbols on the jump itself in bright colours.
3. As you complete the second jump, you see a line of delicious doughnuts hanging down from the bridge. You also see and hear a great waterfall of jam coming out under the bridge. You grab a doughnut and dip it into the jam as you go flying past. You eat it up. Mmmmm. Doughnut.
4. As you fly down towards the mouth of the cave, something's not right. The snow is melting everywhere and there's a suspicious looking red glow coming up from under the ground. You smell delicious melting cheese, and suddenly mario the plumber leaps up from the cave, with a pizza in each hand. He frisbees a pizza to you as you go flying past. You have to take a bite.
5. As you're about to hit the first red rail, a crazed cow comes flying down the rail towards you. It's grinding the rail with the udders and is squirting out some milk. You watch the milk come flying out and are delighted to see that it's turning into ice creams. As you go past, you hear a bellowing 'super-moooober' from the cow, which is clapping you on.
6. As you approach the 3 large parallel jumps, you look at the timer and hear a loud ticking noise. You look down and see an enormous, gold wristwatch, which could only belong to a giant, has been dropped onto the course. You grind the circular edge of the watch with glee, sending bright sparks flying in all directions.
7. As you head through the opening of the tunnel, you notice that something has changed. There's a huge painting over the tunnel entrance. As you go smashing through the canvas, you take a look at the enormous, wooden picture frame.
8. As you're about to head through that tiny door, on the perfect line, some idiot dressed in a teddy bear suit stages out, right in the middle of the doorway. You scream and shout at him, but that idiot won't budge. So, you power through, and give him a nice slap to the head as you go past. You hear a squeak as you bop him on the nose. Looking back, he's head over heels in the snow.
9. Much to your displeasure, you hit that long, snaking rail, and can't get off. As your board starts to grind it, you hear a strange noise, like a xylophone. You can feel your board going 'bump bump bump' as this is not a normal rail. You look down and see row upon row of skulls which have been stuck together to make the rail. Towards the end, you see a giant skull, wearing a pair of over-the-ear headphones. The headphones are bouncing and shaking on his head from all the bass. Even his mouth is bumping up and down, which you notice as you go flying through his gaping jaw.
10. Moving onto the train tracks, you're suddenly caught in the middle of a snowstorm. White things are fluttering everywhere, and you wave your arms to try to clear your vision. You catch one of the snowflakes and are surprised to discover that it's a playing card - the Ace of Spades. Looking around you, you suddenly realise that the whole tunnel is full of playing cards. They start to cut into your arms and face with evil papercuts.

That's the end of your journey. Now, all you have to do is play the journey back in your head from the start (the helicopter), and see if you can remember what's at every stage. Try it! If it works, see if you can remember the list backwards, too.


The above example is a very short, simple journey. To remember more elaborate lists / topics, you just need to add more stops to your journey, or even combine multiple tracks to make a single, long journey.

I think this may be the holy grail of videogaming - a good argument that playing games can be used to improve work/study/development.

I really hope I have done the techniques justice above, and that this can be useful for someone.

Cheers!

Links
The journey method 1 | 2
Ways to encode numbers

• Number shape system
• Number rhyme system

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My memory is so bad that I think my journey needs to be about 3 "Stages" long and my shopping list 2 items long, lol.

I honestly visually remember stuff, that is, I can't recall alot about the streets of pittsburgh, a city in which I have lived all over. Pittsburgh is very spread out, well over 200 diffferent suburbs. Its crazy huge, because of all the hills and valleys, the amt of livable space is actually a very small % of the actual space. Anyways, I can come across a street I haven't been on in 5 years and remember exactly what I was wearing, who I was driving with, and what my destination was, in a flash, when I recognize somewhere I have been, even if its been years and was just a random drive (which I do). So I would buy into all that.

But my mind is selective. I can barely remember snippets of ssx3. I couldn't draw a complete track in that game to save me life. Then again that was like 6+ years ago so I guess I deserve a pass.

Interesting stuff, I will have to dig into it once the ssx 2012 faq is done, cause that would be a brilliant skill to have, I envy those with photographic memories.

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Very interesting. I read about this techinque years ago. I remember I tried it using my home as the basis. I would put something in the kitchen sink, and then dot other things around the house.

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Most people are really good at remembering locations. Apparently it's because the majority of our evolution has been as hunter gatherers, so our brains are outstanding at remembering spaces - so we know where the good crops / hunting / shelter are.

Using a house (like Morf suggested) is a take on the Roman Room method, which was used by Roman megadudes like Cicero. I use a few buildings like my house, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, to fix in work-related memories.

Since SSX tracks are so very joyous to recall, I believe they are great candidates for storing data. I'm looking forward to fusing otherwise dull information with big airs and boosted rails

Did either of you have any luck with the example in the first post?

Thanks for the replies, I hope it comes in useful someday!

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I'm going to give this a try. I need to get to know a single SSX map better. I tend to do Tricky, and the only track I've played a lot doing tricky is bulldog. I think I might try out a smaller map to start with.

What do you suggest I try to remember, what did you start with? How does remembering pi work? Do you just place numbers at certain locations, and when you image the location, you see the number? Or do you use your imagination and have the number do something?

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Awesome! I think I started with some basic, boring stuff, like the shopping list example above. Since you mentioned pi, go for it!

There's an additional step needed to 'peg' i.e. encode numbers, so they make more of an impression on your brain. I'd suggest looking at either number shapes or number rhymes. E.g. 6 = Elephant (because 6 looks a little like a coiled up elephant's trunk). You can also keep a reference list handy until you've got them by heart.

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105
Taking the first 10 digits of pi, and using the number shape system, here's an example of how it could work on Bulldog. When you create your own images and stages, they will be personal to you and therefore more memorable.

• Stage 1: Helicopter: That thumping bass you hear isn't the music or the helicopter blades but your pounding heart juddering in your chest. You look down and see your chest heaving like a cartoon.
• Stage 2: Jutting-out-rock: See candle wax dripping down the rock - look up and see the enormous flame burning away, and hear the fizzing of the wick as it burns.
• Stage 3: Caves with rails running through: You can smell salty sea air as you go flying through, and have to duck on the rail as the boom of a yacht comes swooping over, narrowly missing your head.
• Stage 4: Set of lovely big kickers which follow the rail/caves: This time some idiot ski-er comes flying past you just as you're about to go off the kicker. You notice he's using a pair of candles instead of ski poles. Annoyed, you kick into the poles and watch them shatter into pieces.
• Stage 5: Entrance to the icy valley, just after #4: As you enter the icy valley, reach down with your right hand and scrape a razor-sharp, shiny hook into the ice. Hear the hook slicing through that stuff and feel all the chips of ice come flying up from the surface.
• Stage 6: The enormous jump before you reach the section of oversized pipes: As you sail down this enormous air, you realise you have wings you can flap to slow your descent. Flap away, and hear the swishing noise. Looking more closely you realise that your wings are just tennis rackets - at which point you go plummeting down as they cut through the air.
• Stage 7: The set of grindable large pipes: Rushing out of the pipes is a flood of water, which settles into a small pond in front of the pipes. Look at the lake and see a small group of swans swimming their way around it. Throw some bread to them!
• Stage 8: The lower half of these pipes, on the downhill.: You land perfectly on these grindable pipes. Looking down, you notice the pipe has started moving around, and seems to have a few wrinkles. Suddenly you get hurled up in the air at top speed. Whilst flying up, you look down and realise you were grinding a long, giant elephant's trunk.
• Stage 9: The 'ice rink' landing after the pipes. For some unknown reason, you decide it's time to lose your boarding jacket. Feel the icy wind as you do this, reach up and put your coat on a conveniently placed coathook which has been mounted onto the side of the rink.
• Stage 10: Landing pad / finish.Bowled over by your score, Kaori approaches you at the finish and gives you an enormous hug... followed by a valentines card 'to her sweetheart'. You look at the card and cringe at the huge, red, glittered heart staring at you.

Links above are to pictures of the track.

Once you've created a journey similar to the one above, replay it in your head and see how you get on. To remember more digits, add in more locations / images.

---A few tips / reminders---

• Write down your journey before you add the images in. Test yourself a few times, forwards and backwards.
• Test yourself before you use the system above, see how many you can remember on pure memory.
• You can store more than one number at each location, as long as you have a system to keep the correct order. E.g. in the helicopter - you see your heart, then reach down to pick up a candle, then slide out of the helicopter on the sail of a yacht.
• Be realistic for the first couple of times - after a little practice it will become easy.

Let me know if anything isn't clear and good luck, chief!

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[quote="Don"]
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105
Taking the first 10 digits of pi, and using the number shape system, here's an example of how it could work on Bulldog. When you create your own images and stages, they will be personal to you and therefore more memorable.

• Stage 1: Helicopter: That thumping bass you hear isn't the music or the helicopter blades but your pounding heart juddering in your chest. You look down and see your chest heaving like a cartoon.
• Stage 2: Jutting-out-rock: See candle wax dripping down the rock - look up and see the enormous flame burning away, and hear the fizzing of the wick as it burns.
• Stage 3: Caves with rails running through: You can smell salty sea air as you go flying through, and have to duck on the rail as the boom of a yacht comes swooping over, narrowly missing your head.
• Stage 4: Set of lovely big kickers which follow the rail/caves: This time some idiot ski-er comes flying past you just as you're about to go off the kicker. You notice he's using a pair of candles instead of ski poles. Annoyed, you kick into the poles and watch them shatter into pieces.
• Stage 5: Entrance to the icy valley, just after #4: As you enter the icy valley, reach down with your right hand and scrape a razor-sharp, shiny hook into the ice. Hear the hook slicing through that stuff and feel all the chips of ice come flying up from the surface.
• Stage 6: The enormous jump before you reach the section of oversized pipes: As you sail down this enormous air, you realise you have wings you can flap to slow your descent. Flap away, and hear the swishing noise. Looking more closely you realise that your wings are just tennis rackets - at which point you go plummeting down as they cut through the air.
• Stage 7: The set of grindable large pipes: Rushing out of the pipes is a flood of water, which settles into a small pond in front of the pipes. Look at the lake and see a small group of swans swimming their way around it. Throw some bread to them!
• Stage 8: The lower half of these pipes, on the downhill.: You land perfectly on these grindable pipes. Looking down, you notice the pipe has started moving around, and seems to have a few wrinkles. Suddenly you get hurled up in the air at top speed. Whilst flying up, you look down and realise you were grinding a long, giant elephant's trunk.
• Stage 9: The 'ice rink' landing after the pipes. For some unknown reason, you decide it's time to lose your boarding jacket. Feel the icy wind as you do this, reach up and put your coat on a conveniently placed coathook which has been mounted onto the side of the rink.
• Stage 10: Landing pad / finish.Bowled over by your score, Kaori approaches you at the finish and gives you an enormous hug... followed by a valentines card 'to her sweetheart'. You look at the card and cringe at the huge, red, glittered heart staring at you.

Links above are to pictures of the track.

sounds like an acid dream.

Lol.

Yep, just needs a few more lizard people and we're good

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Woah Don, this is a remarkable amount of work and explanation, thanks for posting! Unfortunately for me I don't even have bulldog memorized yet but maybe I could try this with Snow Jam or something, who knows.
Going off the theory of Learning Styles, this seems to be a way for visual learners (although I guess 'memorizers' in this case) can easily remember written or auditory messages. I'm curious if the difference between those who find success with this and those who don't is due to this.
All in all, a very interesting topic, and I'm looking forward to trying it out

Thanks a lot! I'm passionate about this subject, mainly because it was a revelation to me to realise how much could be done with these simple techniques.

Regarding your point about learning styles - in theory, all learning styles should benefit from spatial memory, and incorporate associations using their preferred sense. However, it would be very interesting to hear feedback. Like I say, the more senses that can be engaged in creating associations at each stage, the more memorable they are.

Thanks for the positive feedback and I hope it works for you.

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