Prezi & Spatial Memory
Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 3:37PM
You can use Prezi to its full potential by tailoring its unique zooming capabilities to show spatial relationships and big picture overviews. Prezi allows presenters to create a visual metaphor that contextualizes the presentation content. Audience members are more likely to remember and follow an engaging narrative that moves through the space of a prezi versus down a list of basic bullet points.
Prezi can tap into our exceptional spatial memory, which is the part of memory that helps us remember our environment and spatial orientation. For example, if someone asked you to describe the path you need to take from home to work, you could easily close your eyes and visualize the exact road to describe the directions and the stores you pass along the way. You can simulate a very basic version of this concept by taking your audience on a visual journey with Prezi.
Eric Barker discusses memory champion Joshua Foer’s approach to this type of thinking, “Our hunter-gatherer ancestors didn’t need to recall phone numbers or word-for-word instructions from their bosses or the Advanced Placement U.S. history curriculum [...] What they did need to remember was where to find food and resources and the route home and which plants were edible and which were poisonous. Those are the sorts of vital memory skills that they depended on, which probably helps explain why we are comparatively good at remembering visually and spatially.”
Prezi also gives context to small details by allowing presenters to literally zoom in on the bigger picture to reveal subtle nuances. Some presenters show an overview up front and others wait until the end of the presentation to surprise the viewers with a final reveal that puts all of the presentation points in content.
Foer mentions, “What distinguishes a great mnemonist, I learned, is the ability to create lavish images on the fly, to paint in the mind a scene so unlike any other it cannot be forgotten. And to do it quickly. Many competitive mnemonists argue that their skills are less a feat of memory than of creativity.” Prezi provides you with this opportunity to create an image with impact.
via Barking Up the Wrong Tree and Wikipedia
Reader Comments (3)
Love this post. The big picture technique is something I train people on a lot. It takes people a while to master it, especially if they are stuck in the linear ppt way of thinking. Spacial memory, and everything mentioned here is a fantastic way of explaining the power of prezi.
I believe that Zooming is actually an art (;
You need to map the way you zoom to the way spacial views happen in the real world. They way the coginitive effect is maximized. Thus somethimes less can be more. I am looking forward to the day when we will have the possiblilty to change the zoom speed.
Love Prezi concept but rate of zoom makes me motion sick. Will wait to use in business until this changes. When?