my current memory goals are (still) the Major system as well as the method of loci. But it’s not going well… I constantly forget which picture I assigned to which number or I miss a “station” in my journey.
So… my first question is: How did you actually learn the techniques?
And how often to do practice? How long?
Do you regularily revise the methods, i.e. go through your major system pictures (1-99) or “walk” your journeys?
I also would like to know how you “maintain” your knowledge. Once I mastered the major system and the method of loci, my plan is to use them to store information. How often do you go through the things you have memorized? Do you have a system as to how often to revise, e.g. every day, every week,… or one day, next day, 4 days after, 8 days after etc?
I am a bit worried that I will still forget things- even though I mastered the tools for memorization- just because I don’t have a good system to revise my knowledge.
If you type “spaced repetition” into the search box when you’re logged in there are some discussions about it. Also check out Anki flashcards – it’s a program that will remind you when it’s a good time to review.
I recently starting learning major system and i memorise words preety fast, i made a course in memrise site and for every number i added a word in my language, i tryed to add objects i can see clearly in my mind, and then i added pictures for every number that represent, the more crazy are the picture the more easy is to remember, and i try to find an asociation with the number, for example for me number 13 is Tom from tom and jerry, 13 remember be me of bad day or 13 friday, then i just find a picture of tom having a bad day screaming and jerry follow him kick his ass :)), i use photoshop to add number on pictures, for example for 35 i have an microphone (mic.) i just put 35 on microphone and looks like chanel 35 tv or something, now when i see microphone i see the number on it. For 60 i have a bug, i found an image of lady bug, and removed all black dots and put on back number 60 its like a racing bug now its hard to forget :)). Now just i repeat every day to build speed so come instantly in my mind. Good luck
But I think a lot depends on exactly what it is that you’ve memorized.
Also, I think it’s not so well-understood that rehearsing your memorized material is good only in so far as you use it to ease the material into long term memory. Again, this depends on the material that you’re memorizing, so each information set can and should have a different level of recall priority. You can quickly become overwhelmed if you treat all kinds of information the same.
For example, I have a deck permanently memorized for the purposes of magic tricks. If I don’t review it at least once a month, it begins to fade. That’s just the way it is with mnemonics. Unlike foreign language vocabulary, I don’t “speak” or “read” or “write” or “hear” the memorized deck, so my rehearsal of the material based on the mnemonic framework I’ve used to memorize it never goes into long term memory as completely as it could.
But why bother getting the deck into long term memory?
A) I can easily memorize a new deck fresh and use that in a magic routine.
B) I have a written record should I need it in order to reconstruct my favorite randomized deck (yes, there is one particular pattern of which I’m fond).
C) It’s fun revisiting the four-part virtual/real-hybrid Memory Palace I built for this semi-permanent deck and trying to reconstruct it without referring to the written record. Because what does remain usually helps “resurrect” the rest and it’s really good mental exercise too.
Whilst I’m learning a technique (and associated images), I’ll typically spend 30 minutes dedicated every day, and also periodically think/work through them whilst I’m doing other stuff throughout the day (just quick mental reviews/tests).
I’ve not bothered to use them for "ongoing’ information yet, only short term stuff like speeches, etc. If I were however going for long term, I’d be doing spaced repitition as mentioned above.
I constantly forget which picture I assigned to which number or I miss a “station” in my journey.
I noticed this in your comment.
An important part of getting good at memory is to have stable memory palaces. You need to revise your memory palaces before you memorize stuff.
If you want to remember digits you’re going to have to reuse certain memory palaces (or else your whole world would just fill up too fast). So what you want to do is to take your own house or room for example and you’ll need 20 or 50 standard places (you can also use a college or a workplace or your route from work).
Remember those 20 or 50 loci (or stations as you called them) and make sure you always know which one follows which.
That’s a start. The rest of the people also made some valid points.
I don’t generally bother to revise my techniques unless something doesn’t work. I’ve got body files, city files, house files, images for the alphabet as well as the letters of the major system. Not to mention memory palaces, staring, initialisms, acronyms and just visualization.
I tend to add new techniques more than I revise the ones I have. But, with the list that I’ve just given you, that tends to cover the majority of my needs and I’m mostly working to strengthen them through practice rather than revise them.
Mnemonics is a bit of a tradeoff, you greatly increase the likelihood of information making it into long term memory at the expense of reliability. This is why you wind up having to rehearse and practice. It’s definitely a tradeoff worth making as in most cases the amount of time and energy you would spend getting it to stick in the first place makes up for the amount of time you wind up rehearsing and probably with time to spare.
And now, I realize that revise might not mean what I think it means in this context. If you mean revisions as in the British meaning, that’s a different matter and likely mandatory for many types of information that you might want to be memorizing.
