Mental athletes test memories in NYC

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NEW YORK, March 25 (UPI) -- Mental athletes gathered in New York City to participate in the 15th Annual USA Memory Championship, officials said.

The winner of Saturday's competition was mnemonist Nelson Dellis, 27, of Miami, who also won last year, the New York Daily News reported.

Dellis said he associates numbers with images, which helped him recall 303 consecutive digits Saturday.

"I have a system of converting a bunch of numbers into pictures," said Dellis, who teaches memory techniques for a living. "When I see numbers, I see people doing weird actions with objects."

Dellis and 50 other mental athletes were also challenged to recall names and faces, the sequence of cards in a deck and the exact wording, spelling and punctuation in a 50-line poem.

Competition founder Tony Dottino said eating foods rich in DHA and Omega-3, such as salmon, mackerel, tuna and eggs, can foster brain power.