Loci method

The loci method ( Latin locus "place", "place") is a mnemonic learning method and association technique. It is easy to learn and because of its effectiveness it is used by virtually all memory athletes. It can also be used for extensive learning material, since images more into memory memorize as mere information such as text or numbers . It also benefits from the associative functioning of the human brain.

The technology

method

The loci technique is described as a method that requires relatively little effort. It is based on the assumption that it is difficult for many people to memorize a sequence of things without assistive technology. Therefore, in the Loci technique, learning content is “classified” in a fictitious structure or linked with one another with the help of this structure. To a certain extent, one defines mental “variables” such as B. points on a path or things in a room that can then be linked to different content. These variables are arranged in a superordinate structure, so that it is possible to adhere to an order when the content is displayed.

This structure can be a known route (e.g. the daily commute to work or school), but also a (real or also fictitious) room. The path or space in which the memory contents are to be stored must have a sufficient number of details so that there are enough anchor points as variables. With both variants, it is necessary to select unique places that are later linked to the individual content to be remembered. You can also assign numbers to these places.

Then you can put what you want to remember in the form of living pictures on the mentally prepared places. Traditionally, only one term / image is stored in one place / place.

Some newer representatives of the loci technique also consider it cheaper to first combine several things into a single association image and only then to store them mentally. This would save “space” (i.e. anchor points) and make it easier to remember content.

You can use the path or the room again and again, or “describe” it anew, if the old knowledge has been forgotten. Without repetition, the memorized images in the head (and thus the knowledge learned) become increasingly blurred until they are completely forgotten at some point.

Possible places

Apartment, houses
Public places
Streets
Daily commute
Museums
Level of computer games
Own body
Location from a movie
Invented place

Presumed origin

The idea of the loci method goes back to the ancient Greeks (it may have originated even earlier). Back then, scientists had to learn a lot more by heart , since books as manuscripts were expensive and rare. Speakers in ancient times also used this technique to memorize their speeches. Cicero mentally walked around the area around the forum in Rome . He describes the method in his work “De oratore” .

Alleged inventor is Simonides von Keos . He lived around 500 BC. Chr. , And was a famous poet and orator. It probably had nothing to do with later conceptions of a memorial palace. In antiquity, the loci method, which is legendarily ascribed to him, was so widespread that one simply spoke of "the method". According to legend, Simonides came up with the idea for the loci method when he briefly left Scopa's house at a party and the house collapsed while he was away. Nobody survived, an external assignment of the crushed bodies was no longer possible. Simonides, as the only survivor, had to identify the defaced. He visualized the scene before the collapse in order to visualize the respective whereabouts of the people and recognized from his success that it is easy for people to reproduce information inserted into a spatial link in an orderly manner.

Memorial palace

A so-called memory palace describes an extended and quite demanding application of the method: A magnificent, spacious building, usually like a castle, is used to anchor comprehensive information in all areas of knowledge. The idea of the palace exerts a great fascination on today's readers because of its inherent freedom and the impression of a completely self-sufficient, accessible world.

It must be made clear, however, that such a palace could only be used sensibly if the locations were given sufficient distinction. This is rather not the case with the popular idea of a Renaissance castle. On the other hand, the desired goal of a walkable world does not have to take place under the roof of a building; the mere, for example forest-like connection of several paths (routes) can achieve at least the same effectiveness. It should also be mentioned that in order to overcome the visualization threshold, from which entering an artificial world can be relaxed and unconscious without losing oneself in exertion, for most people a prior increase in spatial imagination, for example through mnemonic exercises (images on Places) is necessary. This initial hurdle should deter many interested parties.

Literary mentions

The idea of a memorial palace experienced a certain popularization through its depiction in Thomas Harris ' novel Hannibal .
The (somewhat misleading) fascination with the traditional idea of the palace on many, perhaps, in a place of Terry Pratchett -Buches Sourcery ( The magic hat ) are modeled: The Sourcerer Coin, with great power, runs, bored from the world, back into a universe he created himself, in which he can walk and work according to his ideas.
The loci method is also mentioned in literature in Nicholas Christopher's book “A Journey to the Stars”. The history of creation by Simonides is also described here.
The British TV series Sherlock also combines the loci method with two characters: the memory genius Sherlock Holmes and the brilliant but repulsive Charles Augustus Magnussen. The character of the two people is also evident in the representation of their memorial palaces.
In addition, Patrick Jane uses a memory palace in the US crime series The Mentalist , in which he can move quickly and efficiently, i.e. can quickly call up or save information. A memorial palace is mentioned several times by Jane in the series.