PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Isabella C. Wagner
AU  - Boris N. Konrad
AU  - Philipp Schuster
AU  - Sarah Weisig
AU  - Dimitris Repantis
AU  - Kathrin Ohla
AU  - Simone Kühn
AU  - Guillén Fernández
AU  - Axel Steiger
AU  - Claus Lamm
AU  - Michael Czisch
AU  - Martin Dresler
TI  - Durable memories and efficient neural coding through mnemonic training using the method of loci
AID  - 10.1101/2020.04.29.067561
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.04.29.067561
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/04/30/2020.04.29.067561.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/04/30/2020.04.29.067561.full
AB  - Mnemonic techniques, such as the method of loci, can powerfully boost memory. Here, we compared memory athletes ranked among the world’s top 50 in memory sports to mnemonics-naïve controls. In a second study, participants completed a six-weeks memory training, working memory training, or no intervention. Behaviorally, memory training enhanced durable, longer-lasting memories. fMRI during encoding and recognition revealed task-based activation decreases in lateral prefrontal, as well as in parahippocampal and retrosplenial cortices in both memory athletes and participants after memory training, partly associated with better performance after four months. This was complemented by hippocampal-neocortical coupling during consolidation, which was stronger the more durable memories participants formed. Our findings are the first to demonstrate that mnemonic training boosts durable memory formation via decreased task-based activation and increased consolidation thereafter. This is in line with conceptual accounts of neural efficiency and highlights a complex interplay of neural processes critical for extraordinary memory.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.