Scientists compete to find the best way to remember

The findings could help competitors at the World Memory Championships
The findings could help competitors at the World Memory Championships
MATT LLOYD/THE TIMES

What is the best way to learn foreign vocabulary? Should you create a mnemonic? Should you start with the easy words, then work your way up? Or maybe you should just kick things off by staring at a nice calming waterfall.

Well, we are about to find out. An international competition between some of the finest memory scientists in the world is set to find out the ultimate memory techniques, and they are looking for volunteers to help them.

The online contest is run by Ed Cooke, a British memory grandmaster, who has offered $10,000 to the team that comes up with the best online method of teaching volunteers 80 foreign words in an hour, so that they are able to recall them a week