Remembering More of Everything: The Memory Palace

The memory palace technique is about changing your memories into images placed in a familiar mental location. The idea is that you can mentally walk through ... SkiptomaincontentSkiptoheaderrightnavigationSkiptositefooterTweet0Facebook0LinkedIn0Print0Thinking|ReadingTime:5minutesRememberingMoreofEverything:TheMemoryPalace “Wheninformationgoes‘inoneearandouttheother,’ it’softenbecauseitdoesn’thaveanythingtostickto.” —JoshuaFoer *** That’saquotefromthebookMoonwalkingwithEinstein, thefascinatingaccountofJoshuaFoer’sjourneyinvestigatingmemory. WhatstartsasaroutinepieceofwritingendswithhisparticipationintheUSAMemoryChampionships.Whileinterviewingcontestantsforthearticlehewastoldthatanyonecouldhaveamemorylikethesechampionsiftheytrainedproperly.Intrigued,Foerdecidedtogiveitatry. Thejourneystarted byresearchingmemoryandits physicaleffectsonthebrain.Scientistshadrecentlydiscoveredthatyourbrainismuchlikeamuscle,andthatmakingitworkcouldmakeitgrowbycreatingnewpathwaysatacellularlevel.Did thatmakethebrainsofthese “mentalathletes”physicallydifferent from yoursormine? Foer foundresearchwhereMRIwasusedtocompare thememoryspecialists’brainstothoseofacontrolgroup.Therewas nodifferencebetweenthebrainstructureofthetwo.However,duringtheactofmemorizing,theregionsofthebrainwhich“litup”werecompletelydifferent.  Surprisingly,whenthementalathleteswerelearningnewinformation,theywereengagingregionsofthebrainknowntobeinvolvedintwospecifictasks:visualmemoryandspatialnavigation. Itturnsoutthe mentalathleteswerepurposefullyconvertingtheinformationtheywerememorizingintoimages,andthenplacingtheseimagesintoamentallyconstructed“palace”—thustheinvolvementofvisualmemoryandspatialnavigation. Foer goesintogreat(andfascinating)detailregardingthescienceofmemory(whichwe’vecoveredsomebefore).However,let’sexplorethespecifictechniquesthatFoerlearnedwhile studyingthememoryathletes. TheMemoryPalace TheMemoryPalaceisadevicethathasbeenusedsincethetimeoftheancientGreeks,tohelpencodetheirmemoriesforeasyretrieval.Thiswasatimebeforesmartdevices;ifyouwantedinformationatyourfingertipsyouhadtoputthatinformationinyourhead.You’ddoitthrough aprocess themodernmemoryathletes callelaborativeencoding. Thegeneralideawithmostmemorytechniquesistochangewhateverboringthingisbeinginputtedintoyourmemoryintosomethingthatissocolorful,soexciting,andsodifferentfromanythingyou’veseenbeforethatyoucan’tpossiblyforgetit. The memorypalacetechniqueisaboutchangingyourmemoriesintoimages placedinafamiliarmentallocation.TheideaisthatyoucanmentallywalkthroughyourPalacelookingatyourmemoriestorecallthem. Theycanbebigorsmall,indoorsoroutdoors,realorimaginary,solongasthere’ssomesemblanceoforderthatlinksonelocustothenext,andsolongastheyareintimatelyfamiliar. Theideaistogive yourmemoriessomethingtohangonto.Weareprettyterribleatrememberingthings,especiallywhenthesememoriesfloatfreelyinourhead.Butour spatialmemoryisactuallyprettydecentandwhenwegiveour memoriessomeneeded structure,we providethatmissingorderandcontext.Creatingamulti-sensory experienceinyourheadistheotherpartofthetrick. ‘Now,it’sveryimportanttotrytorememberthisimagemultisensorily.’Themoreassociativehooksanewpieceofinformationhas,themoresecurelyitgetsembeddedintothenetworkofthingsyoualreadyknow,andthemorelikelyitistoremaininmemory. Trytoanimateyourimagesothatyouwatchitmove.Trytothinkofwhatitmightsmelllikeorfeellikeandmakeitasvividaspossible.Thisisyouprocessingyourimage.Let’slookataspecificexampletoillustratewhythisworks. *** Sayyourmemorypalaceisyourchildhoodhome.Takeamomenttoconjureimagesandmemoriesofthatplace.Wearegoingtosticktotheoutsideofthehouse.Mentallywalkfromtheroadtoyourfrontporch,trytorememberasmanydetailsaspossible. Let’simaginethatyourspousehasaskedyoutopickupafewsteaksfromthegrocerystorefordinner.Nowputthesteaks,exactlyhowtheylookinthegrocerystore,onyourfrontporch. Gotit? Okay,nowletstrytomakethesteaksintosomethingmorememorable.Howaboutacowsittingonyourfrontporch,notlikeacowwould,likeapersonwould.Let’smakethemexaggeratedlychewing,butwe’llmakeitbubbleguminsteadofgrass.Nowthecowisperiodicallyblowinggiganticbubbles,sobigthatyou’reworriedthey mightpop.Maybe thinkaboutwhatthatbubblegumwouldsmelllikeorthestrangesmellofamixtureofbubblegumandcow.Whatwouldthecow’sskinfeellike?Whatwoulditfeelliketohavetopickbubblegumoffofthecow’sface? Fourhoursfromnowwhenyouleaveworktoheadhomeyou’llrememberyouhadtopicksomethingupfromthegrocerystore.Whenyoutakeatriptoyourmemorypalace,walkupthedriveandgazeatyourfrontporch.Whatdoyouthinkyouaremorelikelytoremember?Thepackagedsteaks,thatyouseeallthetime?Orthegumchewingcowwecreated? Aprofessionalmemoryathletewillputobjectsinmultipleplaceswithintheirpalacesandhavemorethanonepalaceintheirrepertoire.Somewillevendesigntheirownfictionalpalacesingreatdetail,designedspecificallyasaplacetohangmemories. TheMemoryPalaceisagreatwaytorecallavarietyofthings,butyouwillstillhitahardceiling,andthatceiling conflictswiththeHerculeanamountofnumberssomememorycompetitorscanremember. What’sthetrick? Itturnsoutthatthereisawholedifferenttooljustforrecallingnumbers. PAO:Person–Action–Object Inthissystemeverytwo-digitnumberfrom00to99isprocessedintoasingleimageofapersonperforminganactiononanobject. Thenumber34mightbeFrankSinatra(aperson)crooning(anaction)intoamicrophone(anobject).Likewise,13mightbeDavidBeckhamkickingasoccerball.Thenumber79couldbeSupermanflyingwithacape.Anysix-digitnumber,likesay34-13-79,canthenbeturnedintoasingleimagebycombiningthepersonfromthefirstnumberwiththeactionfromthesecondandtheobjectforthethird–inthiscase,itwouldbeFrankSinatrakickingacape. Asyoucanseethisisstillaboutstoringveryvividandmemorableimages.Idon’tknowaboutyou,butI’veneverthoughtaboutFrankSinatrakickingacapebefore.Itbecomesaverypowerfultoolwhenyourealizethatyoucanuseyour‘stockimages’asasortofalgorithmtogenerateauniqueimageforeverynumberbetween0and999,999. YoumaylookatPAOandthinkthatit’saverycleverwaytomemorizenumbers,apartytrick,butnotnecessarilyusefulformostofusfromdaytoday.Maybetrue,butFoersharesa greatinsightintotheresidualeffectsoftrainingyourmemory. I’mconvincedthatrememberingmoreisonlythemostobviousbenefitofthemanymonthsIspenttrainingmymemory.WhatIhadreallytrainedmybraintodo,asmuchastomemorize,wastobemoremindful,andtopayattentiontotheworldaroundme.Rememberingcanonlyhappenifyoudecidetotakenotice. Thisremindsusoftheimportanceofbeingmindfulandpayingattentiontolife.Foertakesitfurther,arguingthatwhenwelookatitcritically,memoryisahugecomponentofalmosteveryaspectofourlife. Howweperceivetheworldandhowweactinitareproductsofhowandwhatweremember.We’realljustabundleofhabitsshapedbyourmemories.Andtotheextentthatwecontrolourlives,wedosobygraduallyalteringthosehabits,whichistosaythenetworksofourmemory…Ourabilitytofindhumorintheworld,tomakeconnectionsbetweenpreviouslyunconnectednotions,tocreatenewideas,toshareinacommonculture:Alltheseessentiallyhumanactsdependonmemory.Nowmorethanever,astheroleofmemoryinourcultureerodesatafasterpacethaneverbefore,weneedtocultivateourabilitytoremember.Ourmemoriesmakeuswhoweare. Weareaculminationofourexperiences,howweprocessthisinformationandencodeitintosomethingmeaningfulisintrinsicallytiedtoourmemory.Understandinghowitworksandhowtousetoolsortrickstomakeitbetterisaworthyendeavour. Foer’spersonalaccountinMoonwalkingwithEinsteinisagreatstartingpointforyourownmentaljourney.Whileyou’rewaitingforthattoarrive, startreadingourfourpartseriesonourmemory’sadvantagesandweakness,startinghere.  ReadNextNextPost:FrozenAccidents:WhytheFutureIsSoUnpredictable “Eachofushumanbeings,forexample,istheproductofanenormouslylongsequenceofaccidents,anyofwhichcouldhaveturnedout…