There are a handful of people in the world that are able to remember more than the average person. People who are called memory champions. Some can remember multiple decks of cards, some can memorise thousands of digits of pi, others can remember whole books. They can remember so many things, yet the one thing that a large majority of them have in common is that they claim to have ordinary memories like you and me. It's only through a memory technique that allows them to memorise huge amounts of things.
This memory technique is known as the 'memory palace' or 'method of loci'. It takes time to learn but is an incredibly effective tool for memorisation. The method relies on an individual creating a palace in their mind, with rooms and corridors where information will be stored.
Strictly speaking, it need not be a palace; it might be a theatre or temple; or house; or outside environment. It depends upon what helps you to memorise things better.
The technique works because it trains your mind to use regions of your brain that have to do with spatial learning. This isn't just a modern technique but has actually been around for thousands of years, known of by the Greeks and Romans.
Each room or place in your memory palace will represent a topic, and so when travelling through your memory palace, these will make themselves manifest as you journey through your imaginary place. Many memory champions have more than one memory palace but have dozens, some stretching as far as memory cities full of memory palaces and buildings.
It's quite amazing to think that certain individuals actually have memory cities in their minds.
Some people even have memory palaces for the things that they want to forget, so they can place them in an area of their mind that is out of the way.
Here's an example of how you could remember a short shopping list of things. Lets say that you're shopping list contains:
- sausages
- washing up liquid
- bread
- milk
- ham
It's a very small shopping list but you'll get the idea when I explain. Now in your imaginary building, link each of these objects to a location in your building. Don't just link the words to that place but actually visualise the image, and make it something that really stands-out. The reason for this is that our minds are much better at remembering things that stand-out as opposed to things that don't. So if you were to remember milk, you may decide to remember a large dairy cow lounging on your sofa. For washing up liquid, you may choose to have a kitchen overflowing with soap bubbles. It depends on the best way you feel you could memorise them.
Also, a location in your memory palace doesn't need to be an entire room, for example the kitchen, it could be broken down into smaller locations. So for the kitchen you may have some locations to be the: sink, washing machine, taps, kettle, cupboards, fridge, etc. This way you can remember longer lists of things rather than having to come-up with a building that has hundreds of rooms.
There is also another trick to remember particular items on your list rather than having to go through your whole link system until you come across the one you're looking for. And that is to, at every five items, place something reminding you of its number on your list. So at the fifth item you may decide to place a watch pointing to five o'clock. At the tenth item, you may decide to remember a birthday cake with the number ten on. This will save you time for when wanting to locate an item that is number 43 on your list for example.
If you are thinking about starting to use this memory technique, then I would advise starting small before taking on more demanding tasks. So if you're someone who wants to memorise over 70,000 digits of pi, it would be better to build up to that.
Joshua Foer and contemporary use
When talking about the memory palaces modern contemporary use, Joshua Foer is often cited. He was a journalist who went to the U.S memory championships wanting to find out how the people who competed in this competition were able to perform these amazing feats of memory. He was surprised to find out that these people weren't blessed with eidetic memories but in fact used an effective memory system that allowed them to seem as though they had this almost superhuman memory.
After reporting on this event, Foer decided to train himself for the event under the tutelage of Ed Cooke (grandmaster of memory). Foer upon return to the U.S memory championships in 2006 actually won the event, surprising not only himself but others involved. He has written a book named MoonWalking with Einstein
which was a success, explaining about the journey through the mind, from ancient 'memory palace' techniques to neuroscience, from the man who can recall nine thousand books to another who constantly forgets who he is. In doing so, Foer shows how we can all improve our memories.
which was a success, explaining about the journey through the mind, from ancient 'memory palace' techniques to neuroscience, from the man who can recall nine thousand books to another who constantly forgets who he is. In doing so, Foer shows how we can all improve our memories.[I would have posted sooner, however I've been busy and not had enough time. As well as this I've also been ill. Sorry about the wait. :)]