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This hack was used to deliver long speeches from memory in ancient Greece, was referenced in the fictional tales of Sherlo ...
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- Identify a familiar place and key locations in it.
Use a familiar place with m ...
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The Method of Loci definitely works as a memory hack to remember specific lists or sets of information as the technique has been repeatedly born out in numerous studies. Along with Spaced Retrieval, the Method of Loci is considered to be highly evidence-based approach. One of its limitations then is, 'so what?'
Do you really need to remember an order of a pack of playing cards or the numbers in pi to the nth degree? Sure, that’s all useful if you want to compete in Memory Championships, but how transferable is it beyond that? Need to remember a grocery list? Why not write it down or capture it on your phone? The point is, in today's digital world, one might argue that there is less need to simply remember lists of information.
Beyond that, another limitation is that the Method of Loci is the effort it involves and the limited transferability it offers when it is not being specifically and deliberately applied. So yes, memory champions can quickly memorise a pack of cards if they invest the effort into it, but will still forget to buy the milk or misplace their car keys as this is not a broader cognitive fix.
Remembering Moby Dick.
This Vox reporter who admits to having a terrible memory applied the Memory Palace to memorise an entire chapter of Moby Dick.
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According to stories, the origins of the Method of Loci can be traced back to a truly disastrous party in ancient Greece. The legend tells of Simonides of Ceos, a poet, attending a banquet around 500 BC. Simonides left the banquet, stepping outside to meet someone, only to see the building collapse behind him killing everyone inside. The remains of the dead were unidentifiable, but Simonides was able to remember who had attended the banquet by remembering where they were sitting in the hall.
The story goes on to say that Simonides translated this experience into the Method of Loci, realising that he didn’t just have to place the guests around the banquet hall but could replace them with lines of his poetry, or every Greek dramatist seated in order of birth, or anything. The memory hack caught on and was commonly used by ancient Greek and Roman orators to memorise and deliver long speeches without requiring notes. The concept and associated techniques were later captured in the textbook Rhetorica ad Herennium, which has been attributed to Cicero.
The approach fell out of vogue with the development of the printing press and the rise of alternative ways to capture and recall information. Indeed, historians such as Robert Darnton have pointed out that before the printing press reading was an intense activity — with limited books often read and reread and a greater need to memorise the contents because of the limited availability of such treasured texts. However, with the proliferation of books, reading expanded to be more of an ‘extensive’ experience, using them as ongoing references.
In terms of the research behind the approach, the study exploring the impact of mnemonic and Method of Loci training at Rabound University can be found here. This additional study showed that most people with superior memory do not have structural differences in their brain, but instead use spatial forms of memory.
My Notes
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