Recently I was thinking on ways to connect flashcards and memory palaces. I’m using both of them for different purposes plus I’ve started using flashcards for reviewing some of my Palaces which greatly increased my retention and practise.
Then I had interesting observation - to start using flashcards for some concept you don’t need to have the knowledge fully figured out. E.g. For learning periodic table I’ve started with basic layout of elements on the picture and even though I had just couple of them laid down I could already use flashcard to review what I currently have.
Taking it futher, it’s enough to have just a simple picture, layout, room with little to no information in it to anchor it with some concept. Then you can fill that picture in as you go with the concept, potentially extending it further as needed. You practically skip whole preparation phase from memory palace and jump right into the work. Then the spaced repetition fix everything in place. This is why I called it ‘ad hoc Loci’.
I don’t know if it’s quite the same but I do modify flashcards/loci to make the questions more advanced after a while.
Especially for science, when some concept has become so obvious that I wonder if it’s worth it to keep the card, I change the question to add a layer of data/complexity.
After all, if I can answer a more complex question about the concept, it means that the simple principles linked to it are automatically understood and reviewed at the same time.
That would be true for standard memory palace where familiarity with the location gives you leverage. Here I’m using the image/Loci with the flashcards so if don’t remember it I will have it displayed in the flashcard. You are using spatial repetition to solidify it.
Although it doesn’t need to be fully artificial, you could just paste a picture of the place you have been in and used that
