Clench for the memory - Telegraph If you want to memorise something, scientists have suddenly discovered, clench your right fist. Then, to recall it, clench your left. This could make you look a bit aggressive at a drinks party, when trying to remember the names of fellow guests, but it may be worth it. The new theory might explain the ability of taxi drivers to retain their knowledge of street patterns, since they must clench and unclench their hands at the wheel constantly in the infuriating traffic. Boxers, too, should be masterminds, unless the loss of brain cells counteracts the mnemonic effect of all that clenching. In former ages, parents did the clenching and the children felt the benefit, as in the celebrated story of the young Benvenuto Cellini, thwacked by his father to make him remember the marvellous sight of a salamander in the fire. But perhaps it was the salamander that made the clip on the ear memorable.