Conscious recollection consists of mental reconstructions involving any of the senses. But for most people, the most powerful aid to memory is a visual image – which is why many mnemonic techniques are based on creating pictures and places in the mind.
The underlying principle of any memory method is to impose a structure on disorganized material that we want to remember. There are two sorts of structure – structure in time and structure in space – but each of these readily transforms into the other. We can arrange a collection of objects spatially by placing them in a straight line, but when we look at each object in turn along the line, we see them in a temporal sequence. One of the best-known and most used mnemonic techniques, the method of places, or ‘ loci,’ makes use of this space and time structure. The ancient Greek poet Simonides was the first person to give an explicit account of how to use the method of loci (which means ‘ places’ in Latin). However, underpinning this method is an organizational system that we all use intuitively. We make use of a simple version of the method of loci in much of our remembering. To demonstrate this for yourself, try answering the following questions:
- Where do the three most helpful people at your place of work sit?
- Which is further north – New York or Tokyo?
- How many of your neighbors have you spoken to in the last month?
- Are all the doors in your house hinged on the same side?
You probably used systematic scanning of a visual image in memory to answer at least some, if not all, of these questions. What Simonides did was to point out that by making deliberate use of this natural tendency, we can choose to remember information that we need to. All subsequent developments have been to do with fine-tuning his method of loci, but the basic principles remain unchanged.
Picking your places
The method of loci requires that you choose a number of locations along a route or in a layout that you know well. The places you use should be visually distinctive and sufficiently far apart from one another so as not to become confused in your mind. They should be without people or objects that are not always in the same place because change weakens the visual images. Classical authors also advised against using places that are dark or too bright because that might make it difficult to find images when you want to retrieve them.
You might, for example, choose a series of places along the route you walk from your home to work every morning: 1 – your front gate; 2 – the bridge over the river; 3 – the pedestrian crossing; 4 – the plant stall; 5 – the church; 6 – the station platform; 7 – the newsagent with an awning; 8 – the car showroom; 9 – the supermarket; 10 – the entrance lobby or security gate at your work Or you could use the rooms in your home, provided you have enough of them and you can imagine walking around them in a fixed order. Alternatively, your locations might be aspects of a scene in a well-loved picture that you can readily visualize. The important point is that you must be able to visit your locations mentally in a fixed order.
Adding visual images
The next step is to turn the material you are trying to remember into visual images that can be positioned at these fixed points along the route. Imagine you are reviewing the things you need to do during the day as you prepare your breakfast – you want to get a birthday card for your niece and stamps so you can post it; your partner has yet again reminded you to contact the plumber, and the car insurance has to be renewed.
While you eat your breakfast, picture your niece standing at the front gate (place 1), holding the string of a birthday balloon and fixing you with a look of reproach. Then imagine a huge postage staglued to the tarmac of the bridge (place 2), a plumber fitting a tap to the Belish a beacon by the crossing (place 3), and your car plowing into the racks of plants on the flower stall (place 4). Once you have created these images, run through them again from the start to ensure they are firmly fixed in mind. You do this simply by imagining yourself setting out from the home to work. Later in the day, repeat the imaginary jo u rn ey whenever you want to check if you have any remaining chores to fulfill.
The important thing about memory images is that they should be as vivid and interactive as possible, and you should be clear about what they mean to you. For example, if you need to buy strawberries, place a huge red strawberry along your route, or imagine a room full of them in your home. If cheese is on your list, you could visualize your sofa as a huge, smelly wedge and imagine how it would feel to sit on it.
Incorporating extra tasks
If you want to memorize more actions than you have locations, simply associate more than a single action with each one. To do this effectively, you need to combine the different actions into a single image. For example, calling the plumber and insuring the car could be linked to the crossing location by visualizing the car in flood on the crossing while the plumber struggles to turn off a tap on the Belisha beacon.
Combining Playing Cards and Places
Depending on your ambitions, you can use the playing card memory method described on page 283 to remember a short sequence of cards in a game or to learn the random order of a whole pack. If you want to try the latter, you need to take time to plan a route with 52 places and run through it regularly to make sure it is firmly set in your mind. Once you have assigned personalities to your cards, practice them regularly, too, so they come to mind instantly. As you go through the pack, place your cast of characters along your route, giving them props and making them interact with their surroundings. For example, if your sixth card is the nine of clubs, imagine Nadia Comaneci in place 6, the station, performing a gymnastic routine.
How to Remember Your Password
Modern life is increasingly about passwords. If you use e-mail or access any personal accounts by phone, you may have several passwords to remember. However, it can take only a few minutes to memorize all your passwords.
- First of all, create an image that links each password to its use. For example, if you use the name of your dog Art here for entry to your company’s financial records, imagine your pet guarding a security box with bared teeth.
- Once you have created your images, deposit them sequentially in the rooms of your house or along your route, and then walk your route whenever you need a password. You should never again have difficulty recalling them.
Choosing your route
To create a route to use for the method of loci, pick distinct locations that do not change from day to today. The first six places might be:
- your front gate
- the bridge over the river
- the pedestrian crossing
- 4. the plant stall
- the church
- the station platform.
You must settle on an exact number of locations and practice thinking about them until they are entrenched in your memory. Once your route is second nature to you, you will find it surprisingly easy to place visual images along with it for things to be remembered.
A memory house
Your own home can provide a framework for recalling items on a shopping list of things to do. Choose some key spots in the rooms of your house and imagine yourself walking from one place to the next in a definite order. Make exaggerated images for the things to be remembered – for example, a giant cotton reel on a kitchen stool for a jacket that needs to be mended, and your neighbor’s keys blocking the stairs to remind you to go next door to feed their cat.
