Master of Memory: Accelerated learning, education, memorization - MMem 0406: Define “memory palace”…

Episode Date: September 28, 2015

JJ is working on a memory project that involves a three-part palace, used over and over again. Is this really a memory palace, is there any way he can improve his memorization method, and what is the definition of a memory palace anyway? What do you want to learn? Leave your question at http://MasterOfMemory.com/. Music credit: Maurice Ravel’s […]

Master of Memory 406. Welcome to Master of Memory. I'm Timothy, and I'm here to answer your accelerated learning questions every day and to inspire and empower you to learn anything you want to learn faster than ever. Jean-Jacques submitted a written question at masterofmemory.com slash question. Now this question is fairly lengthy, but it's very interesting, so I'm going to read the whole thing. JJ says, I'd like to share something I've done and ask your opinion on it, whether it would be practical to use the same locations repeatedly for other information.

An example, I wanted to memorize the name, capital, currency, and official languages of countries in the world. I saw absolutely no point in creating a giant memory palace to host hundreds of pieces of information. I'm really lazy when it comes to memorization prep, so instead I created a single three-stage palace that was really just three locations. Each location hosted the capital, currency, and language,

and to remember which country it was, I would simply attach an image related to the country. So how I remember that the official language of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is English, I simply link my image of the country with the language at the location which I know always hosts official languages. So my image for the country is someone I know named Vincent wearing white robes and a halo, a saint outfit, getting ready to throw sardine grenades, getting the grenadine sound. So by placing my Vincent image by a grape vine, which is my location for languages, with Johnny English, English, holding a gun to his

head, saying in a theatrical accent, put the sardine grenade down. I've got the country's language memorized. This has actually worked very well for me so far. Not all countries are that complex. I've got all the sovereign states of the Americas, about 35 countries, with their currencies, capitals, and languages pegged. I might try other palaces though for other continents not to overburden my three little locations. My thinking behind this method was that I wouldn't need so much memory palace real estate for all the information, so I repeatedly used the same locations, just with different country

related images so I wouldn't get confused. Since I don't have a location for each country, I can't simply list all the information in my head, so I rather have a spreadsheet with all the information which I revise occasionally so I don't forget about a country. But knowing the list of information was never the point, rather being able to bring all the details of a country when its name is mentioned. And I can extend the details to my heart's content, for example adding a location for population. Now I've been thinking about applying this to other things like vocabulary or phone numbers.

Instead of a location or locations for each person's number, like your example in podcast 141, rather a few locations for each segment of the phone number and then simply reusing those locations for a number of people who each have their own image. I was wondering what your thoughts are about that. I've only tentatively tried it for phone numbers and unfortunately I made the mistake of confusing my friends, their images weren't very unique or memorable, but now I know it can work because of my experience with the countries. Okay so again that was a long question but I really think this is interesting and it brings up some great points. My first point, JJ, is there's

nothing wrong with something that works. So based on your experience, it sounds like this technique is more or less working for you. However, I would argue that what you're creating here isn't really a palace because it's just three locations used dozens and dozens of times. Instead, it's sort of a peg method where your real reference point is not the locations, but rather the images. So your image character for Saint Vincent of the Grenadines is the peg on which you're storing the information about that country. You are using a few locations to aid you, but it's not really a memory palace unless you're actually referencing your information by location, meaning when you want to learn about X, you go to the location that corresponds

to X. The advantage of a real palace is that you have things stored by location just like they are in the real world because in the world around us we understand things by location when we think of a particular city we remember what's there when we think of a friend's house we can remember the details of what furniture is where and so the advantage of a genuine memory palace is that you can just simply go to the location where you need the information and look it's right there. So in answer to your question, you can continue to use this technique for various things, although I do think that it will get crowded and you'll end up not being able to write a whole lot more information

after a certain point. For example, with the phone numbers, you can keep reusing the same peg locations. This isn't exactly a palace, but peg locations to learn numbers. For example, every time you hear a number, you could use a chair, and you could use for the area code, the back of the chair, for the next three numbers, the seat of the chair, and then for the next four numbers, under the chair. And you can learn a phone number really quickly that way, quite consistently. But if you want to store those numbers long-term without having to remember them a different way long term, like by rote or just by

having used them several times, if you actually want to store them in bulk, then you're going to have to use separate locations because those numbers will get all confused with each other after a while. So I think the bottom line here is you can continue to do what works for you, but I really recommend exploring using larger memory palaces. You seem to be interested in identifying yourself as a lazy person, which I don't really understand because in the first place, if you want to identify yourself that way, that's very limiting. And in the second place, using memory palaces is not really a lot of work. You can just think about one of the houses that you've lived in, and there you go. Those locations are already

built for you. You don't have to create something of your own. It's already there. So I would recommend playing around and experimenting with storing things in unique locations so that you can always find them when you need them. For everyone listening, I'd love to hear your questions about memory palaces. The world's knowledge can be yours. Leave your question at masterofmemory.com slash question and I'll talk to you again soon.