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Building Your Memory Palace

Develop an elephant memory with the Ancient Greeks

Elephants never forget and neither will you using the ‘method of loci’ memory technique which was first developed by the Ancient Greeks. Memory champions have used it to recall lists of numbers in record time, of course there are more practical everyday uses for it, for example a shopping list or presentation ideas.

methods origin

500 BC Method of Loci map

The technique first came about in Ancient Greece. Legend has it that the lyric poet Simonides of Creos developed it after he performed at a banquet. Unfortunately after he left the palace, it collapsed and Simonides was called back to help identify the guests. He did this by walking around the rubble and recalling the seating positions (or loci) of the audience.

The technique first came about in Ancient Greece. Legend has it that the lyric poet Simonides of Creos developed it after he performed at a banquet. Unfortunately after he left the palace, it collapsed and Simonides was called back to help identify the guests. He did this by walking around the rubble and recalling the seating positions (or loci) of the audience.

how to create a memory palace - 1) Place: Choose a familiar building, route or space. For example: your home, the walk to the train station or your kitchen. 2) Path: Define a set route. You will need to stop along the route so if it’s your home use different rooms, for a walk use landmarks and for the kitchen use cupboards and drawers. 3) Location : At each stop, pick areas to ‘store’ presentation ideas or shopping list items. 4) Placing: Place the ideas or objects you need to remember along the stopping points in the order that they need to be memorised. 5) Drawing: To commit it to your memory draw the palace by hand with symbols for your ideas or list in their respective locations. Or else write it out in a list form.

be sense-itive and use symbols to remember the idea or object

Bolder & Brighter is easier to remember - Elephant. To really tether an idea, add some fun by making the image absurd. Oxymorons work really well, as a symbol placed in an out of context location makes it memorable.

8 seconds is all you need to commit something to your long term memory

IN SCANS THE "METHOD OF LOCI" TECHNIQUE HAS BEEN FOUND TO USE THE AREAS OF THE BRAIN RELATED TO SPATIAL AND NAVIGATIONAL AWARENESS.

left brain defines the "memory palace" right brain creates the symbols along the way

Leonardo Da Vinci

AN AMBIDEXTROUS MIND

Using whole mind thinking has long been associated with genius. Leonardo Da Vinci is a great example of an ambidextrous mind, as he was both a painter and a mathematician amongst his many pursuits. Da Vinci's memory was probably pretty strong too.

mathematician vs painter

To go some way to make your memory as powerful as Da Vinci's; you could enhance your lifestyle...

Memory Boost Methods Venn Diagram

Memory Champions - Ben Pridmore (UK) Has memorised a record 28 Decks of Cards which is 1456 Cards and 4140 digits of Binary numbers in 1hour. Johannes Mallow(DE) Has managed to remember 364 spoken numbers, 132 dates in 5 minutes and 492 abstract pictures in sequence in 5 minutes.

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