I know that the memory palace works (insanely well) but i struggle to explain this to other people because it legitimately sounds like pseudo science. I’m not sure that I could even convince the past version of myself to try it.
So I have to ask:
Can you guys think of an easy scenario/object I can use as an example to show that it works?
and
How do you explain this to people in real life without sounding crazy?
I’m careful not to oversell the utility of mnemonic devices in real life since they’re not appropriate for every task. For example even though I’ve used them many times in the past to learn vocabulary, in retrospect I think doing it like this is a bit gimmicky and doesn’t help with fluency (I’m starting to buy into Stephen Krashen’s “comprehensible input” hypothesis which also somewhat looks down on the idea of learning grammar rules first), but it could be handy for learning difficult new words or terminology.
Instead of presenting it to people as a general solution for all learning, I use them in “heavy data” situations that seem clearly appropriate, like memorising a number plate, phone number, chemical equations or just memory games like remembering a deck of cards, or a sequence of moves when doing a blindfolded Rubik’s cube solve.
When I undersell the tools, people tend to view them with less “what’s his angle” skepticism and might be more likely to try them on similar problems. That’s just my take though, and I’m open to being wrong about it.
Let us start with another question,
why would you want to explain it to other people?
When I started out, I felt like this was a revelation that people had to know about, and I used it for everything. Grocery lists, phone numbers, names, to do lists, you name it and I have probably memorized it at some point. Why? I was enthusiastic.
Now I use mnemonics relatively little. I use my phone to memorize phone numbers for me, I returned to my old to-do notebook, all because it works better. I enjoy building memory palaces, I enjoy memorizing information, but if I also appreciate external mnemonic devices like pen and paper.
The drive to tell people about it is also gone. People don’t want to start mnemonics like we do, they just want to live in a certain way:
Happy.
When people ask, I can tell them. But I mainly stick to “oh you know, when I hear something I focus on listening in and see it happening in my mind, it makes it easier to remember.” The memory palaces, pegs and whatnot is never mentioned, they don’t care to hear it. And if they do care to hear it, they will continue asking. I open the door a little, give them a peek, and as they want to know more, I will slowly open the door further.
The only time I will right away explain how it is done is during my presentations on how different approaches are not by definition worse. After I let the audience shuffle a deck of cards and I show that I can memorize them in 40-something seconds (I let them time it too). Even then I don’t just mention all the cards, I mention a few, and then mix it up. Allowing them to split the deck or pull a card out of the middle, where I use only my memory of the deck to call out cards in a creative way. Then, and only then, do I explain how I do it right away.
Stephen Krashen published his theory in 1983 and in the intervening 39 years a lot of linguists have shot a lot of holes in all of his theories. However, his theories are popular on the internet. But I would advise people to do some research before taking an almost 40-year-old paper as gospel.
I don’t bother trying. Effective as mnemonics are, they still require work, practice and training and most people are not up for it. If they were, a simple Google search would have brought them here.
I am in my 70s and many people that I know complain about their declining memories. I used to show people how to memorize a shopping list just by linking images. It would take only a few minutes for people to do this successfully. Despite this, no one I have done this with has ever wanted to follow up.
Hi Rick, I always do a bit of research and don’t take anything “as gospel”, but thanks for sharing your take on Krashen’s work.
HI Grimba,
You mention a movie to them…and relay the MP like a movie scene where you place facts, numbers or names in by associating the scene to the fact, number or name and then summarize all the scenes under the movie name/title…very basic, I know.
Stefos