A 20-year-old student from Puducherry, Vishvaa Rajakumar, has made waves in the world of competitive memorisation by winning the Memory League World Championship. The intense online competition tests participants’ abilities in rapid memorisation challenges.
He outshines competitors with a remarkable feat, memorising 80 random digits in just 13.50 seconds, nearly six digits per second. Rajakumar, a student at Manakula Vinayagar Institute of Technology, surprised the memory community with his speed and accuracy.
The Memory League World Championship challenges participants to recall various pieces of information, including numbers, words, and images. One of them includes memorising and recalling 80 random numbers as quickly as possible, a challenge he completed at record speed.
He also excelled in other rounds, including memorising 30 images in a remarkable 8.40 seconds.
Currently ranked one in the Memory League with a score of 5000, Rajakumar has built a reputation for himself not only in India but also on the international memory competition circuit.
His LinkedIn profile showcases a series of notable achievements in both national and international competitions, cementing his position as one of India’s top mental athletes.
He credits much of his success to the memory palace technique, an ancient method originating from Roman times. This technique involves associating pieces of information with specific locations, such as rooms in a house and mentally walking through them to recall details in sequence.
He also places numbers and words into short stories and stores them in different “rooms” of his memory palace, a strategy that allows for rapid and accurate recall.
In an interview, he shared insights into his mental training, emphasising the role of hydration in memory performance. He explained that staying well-hydrated enhances internal vocalisation, which, in turn, accelerates recall.
He said, “When you memorise things, you usually sub-vocalise, and it helps to have a clear throat. Let’s say you’re reading a book. You’re not reading it out loud, but you are vocalizing within yourself.”
Looking ahead, he is determined to make memory training more accessible. He plans to start a memory training institute in India to teach others these advanced memorisation techniques. His vision is to help students and professionals alike enhance their cognitive abilities and unlock the full potential of their memory.
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