Memory Palaces
Whether it is cramming for a final exam, recalling a client’s name, or simply remembering your bank account number, these mundane examples all stress the importance of memorization. However, what would it be like to be able to perform unbelievable feats of memory? Is it possible to recall the names and faces of 100 people you just saw today? Remember the order of a randomly shuffled deck of cards in the matter of seconds? Narrate an entire book line by line? While these tasks seem magical, memory palaces or the “method of loci” can help accomplish these seemingly impossible tasks.
The Memory Palace or the “method of loci” originated in ancient Rome around 500 BC. It was said to be developed by Simonides of Ceos, the sole survivor of a building collapse during a dinner he attended. Despite the fact that the dead were crushed beyond recognition, Simonides was able to identify the dead based on their seating arrangements. From this experience, he realized that it was “possible to remember anything by associating it with a mental image of a location” (Mohs). Thus, the method of loci is a mnemonic strategy based on imagining oneself placed in a specific loci or location and linking to the object you are trying to memorize. Another way to describe this strategy is by creating a “memory palace.” This involves imagining ourselves placing items around a specific location or room in the palace. The items that we mentally place are the pieces of information that one is trying to remember. In order to recall the item, we would visualize ourselves walking through the room and passing by the item/idea we placed there.
So what are the steps to use this memory palace technique? First, it is important to pick a loci we are familiar with as the effectiveness of the technique relies on our ability to visualize and walk around that particular place. Some great loci include our house, a current or former school, a local park, a workplace, or simply familiar streets in our city. The next step is to memorize a distinctive feature of the place that was chosen. It could be the front door of our house or simply the swings in the park. Lastly, the final step is to associate the list we are trying to memorize with our memory palace. It is also helpful to make the associations as animated and exaggerated as possible. For example, if we are asked to buy steak for groceries, we can imagine a cow sitting on top of our roof blowing bubble gum (Farnam Street). That exaggerated imagery would be more memorable than just recalling a packaged steak. To add on more things to memorize (in this case eggs and carrots), you can walk through your memory palace and place zombie chickens pecking at your front door or a carrot monster smashing your kitchen sink.
So what is the science behind these memory palaces and memory techniques? When memories are recalled, a series of neurons sends signals throughout the brain, which creates a sequence that represents the memory. The more consistent and stronger use of the synapses (the junction between two nerve cells), the greater the chance that a memory can be recalled (Lee). Joshua Foer found research where MRI was used to compare memory specialists’ brains to those of a control group. While there was no difference between the brain structure of the groups, during memorization, the regions that the brain “lit up” were different. When memory athletes were learning new information, they were engaging in the regions of the brain involved in visual memory and spatial navigation. This suggests that mental athletes were converting the information they memorized into images and placing them in a memory palace, which involves both visual memory and spatial navigation.
There are more specific “method of loci” techniques that mental athletes use. For example, there is the PAO system (Person-Action-Object). This system involves every “two digit” number (00 to 99) to be processed into an image of a person performing an action on an object. For example, the number 17 might be Michael Jordan throwing a basketball. The number 87 might be Superman flying with a cape. The number 34 might be Lady Gaga singing to an audience. Thus, if you create a six digit number like 34-17-87, it can be turned into a image by combining the person from the first number with the action of the second, and the object of the last number. Hence, this would be Lady Gaga throwing a cape. What makes this technique so powerful is that one is able to create and memorize a unique image for every number between 0 and 999,999.
This also reminds us to perhaps be more mindful and pay attention to life. As stated before, memorization plays a huge integral to our lives even for simple mundane tasks. “We are a culmination of our experiences, how we process this information and encode it into something meaningful is intrinsically tied to our memory” (Farnam Street). Instead of having information flow from one ear and out the other, it might be better to stick that information in a beautiful palace.
References:
https://litemind.com/memory-palace/
https://fs.blog/2016/11/the-memory-palace/
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/illusion-chasers/memory-palace/
https://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/how-to-improve-your-memory7.htm
https://www.verywellhealth.com/will-the-method-of-loci-mnemonic-improve-your-memory-98411
