Memory Training-maybe Oldest Brain Fitness Program

“The main din­ner course was just being served in the mas­sive, ancient Greek hall when the expan­sive ceil­ing col­lapsed, crush­ing every one of the many guests in their seats. Not a sin­gle attendee sur­vived, except for the poet Simonides, who had left the room just before the tragedy. In the days that fol­lowed, work­ers who lift­ed the heavy rub­ble found that the vic­tims were so hor­ri­bly dis­fig­ured that they were impos­si­ble to iden­ti­fy. But Simonides was able to help. By men­tal­ly walk­ing along­side the long table, he found he could recon­struct which guest had been sit­ting in which place. Based on where the bod­ies lay, he named each one of the deceased.”

You can read about a  very pow­er­ful mem­o­ry tech­nique, called loci method or mem­o­ry palace, that requires train­ing and has been used since clas­sic Greece. Maybe the Old­est Brain Fit­ness Program.

Great Wikipedia entry, too.