Faster encoding - when did it happen for you?

General Memory Chat
1

I’ve been memorizing things for long-term, personal, non-competitive purposes for the past 3 months. I am thrilled with my new skill, and I find tremendous real-world utility in the things I have already memorized. I love this. But I am a little sad that it takes me so long to encode new material.

Of course I’ve googled how to improve my speed. Searching for “speed” or “faster” combined with “mnemonics” or “memory palace” has proven futile, the results are always the same. The results are of people teaching you the basics of mnemonics, and saying “learn faster with these techniques!” Not what I am looking for.

I found an old artofmemory post on the topic, from which I’ve pulled a few small tips:

In forum chats here on artofmemory, several folks have said you get faster with practice. I expect to be using mnemonics for the rest of my life, I’ll get plenty of practice. For those of you who have been doing this for a while, what was the turning point for you? What triggered speed improvements?

For example, the few lines of US History below took me about an hour to memorize in my “What Remains of Edith Finch” memory palace - a huge computer game palace that should contain enough loci for thousands of images. My entire list of US historical events I intend to memorize is huge. At this speed, I’ll finish memorizing it in about 6 months.

I am willing to spend 6 months working on this. Mnemonics is my hobby. But, I’d rather finish this in a few months so I can move on to other topics. Perhaps while working on this huge list of historical events I will finally start to improve my speed naturally, maybe it will provide the practice I need to reach the next level. Or not.

I spent a little over an hour memorizing this:

1492
Columbus landed Bahamas
1565
Saint Augustine, Florida, settled by Spanish, first permanent European colony
1607
Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement

boulderKC

3 Likes
2

when I started using the first image coming to mind

2 Likes
3

I usually do 1 review, thats when I would change images or morph them to a better version, but my goal for first look is to zap through certain amounts before review.

3 Likes
4

I am a novice at mnemonics, i wouldn’t be answering to your post but the last bit of your post compelled me to reply.
if you are onto historical events, you don’t have to link all the numbers(i am just abt average in english bt i will try to explain)

Suppose you want to memorize the year of WW1 & WW2.
the code would be “PeTRol PuMP”
Mnemonic sentence would be "ww1 & ww2 took place in a “petrol pump”
PeTRol = 914 ; PuMP = 939 (Using Major system here)
1st world war in 1914 & 2n in 1939.

As you can see in this instance there is no Alphabet used to represent number “1” because it’s almost a given number(a certainty for more than 97% of the historical events)

1- Arrange all of your historical events in descending/Ascending order.
2- Use a location for each Century.
3- Now you only need to ascociate the year with the corresponding century.

(It so happens that most of the major historical events for India took place in 15th century so it has been quite easy bcause it required only the year to memorize.)

Hope this is helpful, regardless, i want some one with expertise to give some inputs.

5

so what is a novice mnemonist? anyone?

6

For me personally, it was the combination of memory training for speed (Memory League) and the use of memory techniques to learn for work/study which helped the most. Both aspects were important since I would have never memorized random words if it weren’t as training for my goal of efficiently memorizing for work/study. On the other hand I would’ve never gotten as fast at using memory techniques if it weren’t for the speed-memorization on Memory League. Other than that I guess it was just training on a regular basis that helped me (at least 15 minutes per day).

4 Likes
8

Oscar:

Argh! Oscar, that is the opposite of what I’ve learned. You said:

“when I started using the first image coming to mind”

I understand that you’ll revise during review. However, everything I’ve read about mnemonics suggests that you want to make your images really memorable and as crazy/sexy/violent/interesting as possible. That’s why it takes me so long. I’ll cycle through half a dozen possible images, rejecting most until I think of one that is “interesting”. And then I’ll attempt to add additional detail to the image that makes it even crazier, which can be quite time consuming.

Working with the first image that comes to mind would be a huge time saver. But, does that work long term? When you review, do you find yourself spicing up almost all of your initial images? Or only a few?

Mnemovice:

The numbers are the easiest part for me, I use pre-memorized major system 00-99 numbers. So, “1865” is just two images for me, and I already have them memorized, so I don’t need to invent them.

But your thoughts on organizing by centuries are interesting. Sadly, I don’t think I can do that with this computer game memory palace. The palace follows a very long, pre-determined route, I can’t really add rooms unless I teleport somewhere else (like, a different game, or a real-world place). Hmm… actually, that might not be a bad idea.

boulderKC (oops, I just saw that user_7e replied too - I’m still pondering his comments, but must get back to work, lunch break is over)

9

user_7e, that only took you a minute or two to memorize? Even if I improve dramatically, I don’t aspire to be that fast. To me, that is amazing. To serious mnemonists, that is probably normal? If I could remember just that small bit of historical information in 10 minutes, I’d be ecstatic. That means in an hour I could remember 6 times that information, which would be plenty for me. That would mean I could remember my entire US History list in a few weeks.

So, okay, I am going to work on:

  • Common images, which can only come over time. Right now, every concept needs a new image, but that will change as I build up a mental library of common images. I can do that! That is very encouraging.
  • Try to work with the first thing that comes to mind, rather than spending a lot of time laboring over the perfect, memorable image.
  • Memory League. I have not used the artofmemory software until just now (tried it a few times for random words before typing this reply). Speed practice, that is what I need. I like it. I will use it.

Quick question about Memory League: do you use valuable real-world memory palaces/journeys for this? I have limited real world palaces in my head, I am fearful of using them up on quick, repetitive practice material. I think this is a unreasonable fear I need to get over, I need to just go for it.

boulderKC

10

yeah I started this way too and still am. u just get better with practice as ur mind become more creative and acceptance to newly made up concepts in the form of ur own mental imagery.

11

I was like that too, so I just reuse palaces over and over each day, but then I tried hour numbers in memo camp, thats when I push myself to extend my palace. And it gave me a weird and wonderful sensation, as if my brain is morphing around inside the skull (we have no touch sensory in our brain tho, so definitely dont think its cos of that, but perhaps brain rewiring). Love it ever since, I would just play music when I feel discouraged and chill and make new palaces slowly :slight_smile:

1 Like
13

Would you be kind enough to expand on how you make imaginary locations? I find this absolutely fascinating. I am somewhat burned out with using movies, or places in real life, video game palaces, etc. I have never tried completely imagining a palace from scratch.

Thanks!

17

Thank you for the quick reply.

There are a few tricks to get it working properly though

Would you be kind enough to share a couple of these tricks?

I sit here in anticipation.

For me, the problem with permanent, long-term memory palaces is the reviewing of the palaces. Although, trying to review my palaces throughout the day does increase my ability to focus. I tend to rely on SuperMemo for long term learning as it is at least trying to predict exactly when I need to review one specific, particular piece of knowledge.

18

I too use the Dominic System and love it. The Dominic System certainly makes it very fast to memorize dates.

20

My speed improved when I stopped looking for detail. So for a palace location, I chose a single feature as the identifier - a letter box giving me horizontal as the key, a shop window with buttons in it - buttons became the key. I could expand later to use more features of the location, but a single detail fixed the location better than trying to imagine the whole house / shop / location in a park. I can’t use imaginary locations. My brain won’t recall them well enough.

Taking the first image your imagination makes is critical. Trying to think out the best mnemonic is more logical than my brain will accept. Some of the instant images are weird, but I run with them and those are the ones that stick best!

Like some above, I use the Dominic System for dates and find it very fast. I had the very good fortune of Dominic advising me personally on using it. [This is called name-dropping and boasting!] That’s why I started the minimalist approach to locations - because he said to do that with the people who represent 00-99 in his system. For each I have a key feature. Trump has funny hair, so hair is my theme for any 97 links (I don’t use the same letter assignments as Dominic - I went with the first letter that the number suggested to me.) 15 is JS Bach. I tried to keep an image of him in my head, but I couldn’t. I am really weak at visualisation. But the concept of a guy conducting an orchestra worked and so that is all I use.

Hope that makes sense!

6 Likes
21

Hi Lynne.

First of all, congrats on the North American publication of Memory Craft.

I’m a little unclear on what you mean by “I stopped looking for detail”. Does that mean when mentally walk into a bedroom, you might only use the bed as an anchor for a mnemonic image, rather than using a dozen (or dozens) of less prominent landmarks in that room? Because the bed is the big, obvious thing that draws your eyes in that room?

If that is indeed what you mean, how do you create journeys for large amounts of data? If I only have one or two anchors in the bedroom, that implies the entire house might only have 10-20 anchors. Too few!

I’m probably misunderstanding your explanation…

Also, what do you do with the features? So, if you have buttons on the shop window (are those imaginary buttons? I don’t usually see buttons on real windows…), how do those buttons interact with your images or journey?

boulderKC

22

I don’t think there is such a thing as a turning point where things suddenly start making sense. It’s more like practicing your handwriting when you initially learnt how to write; or getting fast at touch typing. So it’s just a matter of persistency really… no silver bullet.

That said, some people make better progress by tracking their progress… so if you want to keep a chart of how long it takes you to memorize 100 random digits or whatever you’d like to use as a benchmark… that could be one option to help you improve.

1 Like
23

Hi boulderKC,

Great questions! I should have been clearer.

Thank you for the comment on Memory Craft. Obviously, I am delighted that it is finally available over there.

You are right in the interpretation of the way I set up a memory palace. I only note one detail. I stop looking for anything else until that location is firmly fixed and anchored. So the shop which happened to have buttons in the window when I established the journey will always have buttons in my mind even though it is no longer a nick-nacks shop and there are no buttons. Lovely coincidence, it represents the country Bhutan. Even lovelier is the fact that the capital is Thimphu.

If I now want to add Thimbu to that location, I add it to the story / image in which buttons are the anchor and I now have the urgent need to do sewing and they have “thimbles there. Phew!” Hence Thimphu. The shop has actually changed to something non-buttony, but that doesn’t matter. The location is established and anchored with the theme of buttons.

In each room, I have two major anchors (every fifth location) and then four in between. My main memory palace (I have five sets of data stacked in it) starts in my studio (where I sit writing this) which has the first 10 locations. It then goes around the garden, into the house (at location 70) and around the house (to location 120) and heads off down the street. I have only one location per house / street / shop. It is 242 locations long.

I had terrible trouble remembering that the capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. There is a guy who lives there. His name is (for me) now Bill. No idea what his real name is, but he will always be Bill to me. I have a whole backstory to Bill - none of which is true but it is amusing me. So I mix imagination and reality, as is the way with memory systems.

I now teach to only put five locations in a room. The ten has too little detail for each location for me to find good points to add more data. I always use real palaces. My newest memory palace is another walk around town and has only one location per house because I have found bigger locations work better for me. I review my palaces on my walks around town. If I have them too close together then I have to walk too slowly to get exercise. Not everyone’s priority!

My latest memory palace is for the 200 or so Chinese radicals to index the characters. It is 5 km long. But I will want to attach all sorts of things to each location. I don’t need them specifically in order, just their general position in the palace because that gives me the approximate number of strokes in the character. I can add stories to the houses.

For each of those houses I have a key feature. The house which represents the radical for water has a pattern on the fence which I can make look like the character, and I imagine water flowing down it. So that fence pattern is the focus. I then notice more and more about the house when I want to add more data. At this moment, I can tell you almost nothing about the house, but I know that fence well and any mention of water will conjure it up immediately. Houses can look alike, but finding a distinctive detail stops that issue.

If I am doing things like the images on Memory League, then I look only for the one detail and associate it with the image, rather than trying to put the image into the location. So when I get an image to associate with the button shop, I look for anything that reminds me of a button and then move on. I don’t have to conjure up an image of the location in that situation.

Does that make sense?

4 Likes
24

I think I read that you list your palaces. Do you sketch them as well or do you find listing them sufficient?

25

Building on this it should be mentioned that the practice needs to be deliberate. People write their entire lives so you would expect older people to have god tier handwriting since they have been doing it for so long but in my experience that ends up not being the case.

2 Likes
26

When I first started, I would photograph them. I don’t do that any more, just list them. But I also walk them repeatedly. Part of that is because I walk every morning for exercise and would rather do something with my brain as well than just walk. So this morning I went to part of my Pi (1,000 digits) palace and revised that. Part of that is playing around, chatting with my characters. It isn’t hard core speed memorising. It is fun!

So, the answer to your question is that I just list them. I often name the locations in my list according to their primary purpose. A hotel in the town is Jamaica. I don’t know the actual name of the hotel, to me it is Jamaica. That often happens.

One house is the wedding house. The encoded image for Pi involves a wedding, so that’s what I called the house.

I don’t hurry encoding when I want it to be permanent. I enjoy interacting with the story the encoding creates. But I have aphantasia (no visual imagery), so my ability to use images is pathetic, with a strong preference for stories. That will not apply to everyone.

Lynne

3 Likes