Less L. Memorization Method (2012 Invention)

General Memory Chat
1

I first posted my method on another forum and I was informed I should post it here as well.

Explanation of Less L. method.

Less L. stands for less links. No association is the fundamental difference between my method and most other methods commonly used. Here is how it works: (I have simplified for clarity these explanations, as I prefer to use two sets of 50 per locations as opposed to what I will mention here)

  1. Have 52 locations filled with 52 images each. (yes, that is a lot of work)
    Make each of these 52 images represent a card so that in total, you have 52 different images for each card of a deck.

  2. Let’s say your first card is 2 of spade, you go to your first location and once there, you visualize and name, if practical, the image that you see that represents the 2 of spade. Next, you move to your second location and do the same for the second card. If it is a 7 of hearts focus on the image for that card, name it. Do not link any card together!

  3. Once you have finished the pack, just go back through your locations and the image that you focused on will often just stand out, giving you the card. If no image stands out, just run through the images of that location through your mind. When you reach the image that you focused on during the memorization that image will likely feel different from the others. There will be a sense of “deja vu” attached to it and no such thing for the other cards. So that image will give you the right card.

Obviously, with 100 images per locations this method is also effective at memorizing numbers. I can memorize 100 numbers in 3 minutes with this method.

I have chosen the name “Less L.” for this method in honor of my home town of “LaSalle” (Quebec, Canada.) for the phonetic similarity in case you missed it! Furthermore, this name contains my initials SL. Unfortunately, the name Simon method has already been taken!

Here, I responded to a question about the rest needed in between memorization sessions.

You bring up a good point. Given the number of pegs I have, I can do only 2 packs a day using the method outlined and I’m too busy to even do that. I practice it only once a week.
Now, if I were intereted in developping my speed, I would obviously try to do it at least twice a day. Furthermore, I have experienced with “kill or maim” or twist or exagerate" This is to say, that if I want to practice more often, I would concentrate on the image and kill or maim it at every stop for one journey whereas another journey, I would do the twisting or exaggerating. This added work would take a little more time but my speed would likely increase faster in the long run.

I can’t say however that this added action is effective for sure because I haven’t really worked on it.

Thanks for your comments.

Here, I answer another question asking for clarification of the method.

Thanks for your question. I will attempt to explain Less L. another way which may be clearer.

First, in my opinion, the closest thing that existed previously to my new and original system (to my knowledge) was not the loci system but a card trick which I read about in one of Harry Lorayne’s book. The trick is about guessing a card that someone has removed from the pack. He says to simply simply slash all you image-cards as you go through the pack that has the missing card and when finished, you just review your mental images of the cards in your mind and the one that isn’t slashed represents the one that is missing.

Now, what I have done to this trick is that I have turned it inside out, increased its size by a factor of 52 and applied it to a different purpose, namely to memorize a whole deck of card.

Let me explain,
A)turning it inside out: Harry finds the card that was not slashed. In my system, I find the card that was slashed (By the way, I find that slashing is not necessary. If you concentrate on a card you will know latter on upon reviewing it that you saw it recently)
B) Harry does his trick with only one pack. I have to do it 52 times and that means 52 sets of 52 different mental images. (yes, it’s a lot of work)
C) I’m not using this trick to find one missing card of a pack but to recall 52 cards in order.

I hope this helps and I hope you can see that Less L. is original.

1 Like
How to create Acronyms quickly?
2

Don’t really understand the difference between this and the journey method…

3

I don’t really understand this method. I think what you are trying to explain is that you don’t chain/link cards directly together for example if your 2 of spades is a drum at your first location and the 6 of clubs is a lightbulb at your second location you wouldn’t link the 2 cards in any way? (I don’t know any mnemonist that does this anyway!)
If you have 52 locations already on a journey, why the need to have a permanent image there as well? Maybe you can give some examples of how you would use your method?

4

How do you memorize 100 images in one location without any association between them?

How do you know the order of the images?

Hey Simon your method is intriguing but is it a normal journey method, just without association between the images or am I missing something here?

5

I think what you’re describing is the journey method but only placing each card image in each location. Boris Konrad does this very well and can memorize a deck of cards sub-30 seconds using 52 loci and 52 different images. It’s basically PAO but without the Action or Object. A person or single image goes on each loci. Is that right? If that’s the case, that’s just a stripped down version of PAO. This was how decks of cards were first memorized, the PA and PAO were advancements made so that you wouldn’t have to remember 52 different images, instead 26, or 17/18.

6

Personally, I do not think a memory system can exist without any kind of link … During the period of recall, you must repeat a path or use some kind of mental pegs in a set order in order to recall items stored. No link, no memory.

However, we can either reduce the number of links required or increase the link making speed. Both solutions would reduce the time necessary to memorize (a deck of cards). Ben’s or Hannes’ systems are effective because they decrease the number of links required by compressing data. The PA-system (O) is itself effective because it creates links quickly on a structure that is familiar and approximates the language. The last (and I believe the most effective) way to increase link making speed is simple and proven: practice. Wang Feng uses a simple system. Boris also. I think the ultimate way to increase its speed would be to pre-establish links (mental scenes) between the object and locus. In a pinch, it might look like a Ben system where the combinations are not defined between two cards, but between a card and a locus. By practicing a lot a simple system with familiar journeys, you can arrive to this result.

From what I understand from the “Less L.” system it is a bit like the latter idea. Several rooms with predefined options for each card. If I understand correctly, for example, one could say that every time that Santa finds himself in a bathroom, it would take a bath, while Bart Simpson would brush his teeth.It also reminds me about the system put forward by Ulrich Voigt for memorizing Pi (Mike Mechtnon system) or the wardrobe system.

What might be interesting (I already spend a few minutes thinking about this some time ago) would be to repeat on the same route certain types of loci with predefined actions for each object or person. For example, with 26 different rooms (including two bathrooms, two kitchens), we would only have to determine 1352 combinaisons rather than 2652… But finding different images is not easy.

7

Dale has asked me if I had 52 different images for each card. Here was my reply:

What I mean is that in theory, I should have 52 different images for each card. However, my own system is composed of two sets of fifty images per location. It’s more complex because I have to deal with two missing cards every time I memorize a pack (the queen and king of Spade) but after much thought have found an adequate solution to deal with these two jokers. I do use 52 cards per pack.

I can’t really give you a very usefull or clear answer to naming my images for any chosen card at ten different successive places in the pack. The reason for that is that I actually have 104 sets of 50 images and I can take whatever route I wish when memorizing. I may alternate between my two sets per locations (26 locations) or I can go straight through my 52 locations using only the first or second set.

Which route would you like me to use when I answer your question? Dale simply answered the 2 of Spades.

My images for the 2 of Spades are:
If it’s the first card coming up, my image is of rain falling down.
If it is the second card, it would be a drain, outside the house going down from the eves.
If it is the 3rd card, its a running neuron. (This one started out as “neuron” only but adding “running” has helped me differentiate it from a nearby image. All that I picture here, in my mind, is a neuron)
4th card, submarine. (the military type)
5th card, ruin remains. (There was an massive office tower foundation in Toronto that they lacked the funds to finish and it stood there in the city’s core for years.)
6th card, long runway, an airport strip.
7th card, this is the attachement to a journalist’s mike with its CBC or whatever logo appearing on it.
8th card, a horizontal crane on top of a building being built.
9th card, a fern plant.
10th card, a prune.

As far as your second question is concerned I’m not sure if I understand it well. In my mind, a loci is a location. I use for first location Sky Dome, home of the Blue Jays (there is a new name for that stadium but I keep using the former name SkyDome). I sit right between SkyDome and the CN Tower looking north and my images for that location is what is there at that location. I visualize all my first 100 pegs from that view point. For instance, the rain falling down (2 of Spades) would be right behind me on top of outdoors stairs going down. I post everything in sets of 10 in a virtual grid #, that gives me 9 spots and I superimpose the 0 image on top giving me 10 images per #. So the image of the rain would be on that virtual grid behind me in the middle top position.

Is this clear? I think you are asking excellent questions. It took me a couple of years of struggling with pegs before I devised this system that works, at least for me. It’s important for me to give good instructions on peg building because a lack of pegs is a major obstacle to using my Less L. system.

I much prefer to store 100 pegs per location for simplicity. Now when I want to use cards to practice my pegs, I find it much more convenient to assign them to only 50 cards because this way I can store 2 cards per location.
I should also mention at this point that in my very first posting about Less L. I mentioned that I was using a slightly different system myself then the one I was going to explain.
Also, I do use 52 cards per pack when I memorize them. This has proven to be an interesting challenge which I believe that I have solved effectively (after many months of errors) and in an intersting way. What do you think I do when I get to my 36th card and get the king of Spade? Anybody?

I have now finished to repost the most interesting from the other forum. Sorry about doing this in two steps. Next I will try to address your specific questions.

SL

8

Hi Nelson,

Maybe a scaled down version of my system would better show how it differs from the journey method. Scaling down means that instead of memorizing 2 digits at a time, let’s go for one digit at a time. This way, you only need 100 image numbers to memorize a 10 digit number and most memorists do have that many image numbers. Never mind about placing them in any location or journey.

7845312209
Ok, so the first number is seven. Take your number 07. For me, that would be a Cow. Then there is number 8, take your number 18. For me, that would be tofu. Then there is number 4, take your number 24, nowhere island for me. Next is a 5, take your 35th image, a mule for me and so on. Just focus on your images as they come. Don’t link them. After you have gone that way through the 10 digit number, it’s time to recall it. If you don’t remember what the first number was instantly, just run through your first 0-9 images in your mind’s eye and what I’m saying is that when you get to your image number 7, you are very much likely to remember or feel that you did refreshed that image a moment earlier and this is how you know that the 7 is your first number. For the next number, think about your set of 10-19 images. Which image is the one that you have just refreshed in your mind? Maybe, you won’t even need to look at all your images 10-19 in your mind’s eye as it may just pop up in your mind right away. That is your second number. etc.

This scaled down version of Less L. does not require any journey or location. I do think that my system does require a journey as a crutch to help the memory due to the huge amount of mental images it normally requires. (2600 image numbers for a single pack of cards is the ideal in my opinion.)

Hope this helps.

SL

9

Hi Jimbo1,

I have given some new examples of my method in my last 2 posts and I hope this helps. I have indeed 52 locations on a journey but I must first say that my journey is not a exactly like what you might think. What I have is a series of locations and at each of these locations there is not a permanent image there but 100 of them waiting for me. When I’m at any location, I’m generally imagining myself looking north, but not always. 0-9 is always behind me and so is 40-49 but a little farther or a little more to my right (when I’m turning around to look at it). To my left is 10-19 and 50-59 similarly installed. In front of me is 20-29 and 60-69 and on my right is 30-39 and 70-79, 80-89 on the ceiling and 90-99 on the floor. All my images are installed on grids # which I lay on what ever there is at that location. I read the grid from left to right top to bottom, as I would read a page (I have exceptions to this general rule however). So, I put all numbers from 1 to 9 in order on it and I think of the zero as being bigger and covering all the grid or hiding behind it.

So, when I get to a location, I figure that the 2 of spade is 42 low (or 92 high). The six of clubs would be a 36 or 86. So if if I get these two cards at my first location, I may very well focus on my permanent image at spot 42, behind me and then look up to the sky for my 86th image and then I’m on my way to my next location. This way I make full use of a location but this is not necessary as I have 52 of them and can chose to use only the low numbers or high numbers. From a practical perspective, I think doing 2 cards per location is slightly quicker. The less I move, the easier it seems to be.

SL

10

Hi Yan,

I think that in my last reply to Jumbo1, I have answered your question, at least in part. I want to say, first of all, that I really like your question because it strikes at the heart of a problem that has given me much trouble until I found its solution, after 2 years of struggling. What I have discovered is the audiovisual peg. At first, I built up my 1000 and even 2000 pegs the conventional way with the Major system I think it is called. Using consonants MeLoN would become 352 etc.
However, I seemed to always hit a memory blank sooner or latter. Now, by putting my images in locations systematically, as I have outlined in my reply to Jumbo1, I found that my blanks no longer came to haunt me. My first location, SkyDome, starts with an s and this is the zero for the hundreds. SkyDome, like most stadiums, is also shaped in the form of a big “0.” So, for example, 069 becomes a ChoP Stick and it is located at SkyDome. Even if this is not the proper order, I find that it helps anyway.

As far as your other question is concerned, about this system being a normal journey method, I suggest that you read my reply to Nelson. It should give you a good idea as to how it differs. Thanks for your question.

SL

11

Hi Simon,
Thanks for your explanations - do you use your system just for fun or maybe you are thinking of competing in a memory competition? What sort of times are you achieving in card memorisation using your method?

12

Hi jcvinet,

So, you personally think that a memory system cannnot exist without any kind of link… But repeating some kind of path, as you mention, is not in my opinion “linking” and the use of pegs in a set order does not in my opinion necessarily mean linking the pegs. So, we must agree to disagree on this point as we seem to be giving a different meaning to the word linking.
I’m now going to use what is perhaps my last strong argument showing how different my system is. Let’s say you have 10 coins in each of ten boxes. On each of these 100 coins, there is a different date. Let’s say in the first box you pick a coin with the date 1978 on it. Now, instead of memorizing the number, you just toy with the coin until it gets slightly heated up with your body heat. Now, you do this with one coin in each of the ten boxes. Once finished you can go back to your first box and touch all your coins. The one that is slightly warmer than the others is the coin you have memorized. Less L. works very much with the same principle. Except that the heating of the “coin” (now a peg or an image) is made simply through focusing on it. The more you practice at it the better you get.

When you mention that my system is like having rooms with predefined options for each card, I would prefer to say that it’s more like predefined images for each deck card or number. I’m not sure whether you misunderstand my system or not but I’m not sure if I understand it correctly the way you describe it. Thanks for your comment.

SL

13

Hi Nelson,

I have responded earlier to your first comment and here is my response to your second comment: When I memorize cards or numbers with my system, I never “place” anything anywhere. What I do is simply to refresh an image in my mind in the position it already has. Everything is already placed in my locations. The placing has been done prior to the memorization of the pack.Therefore, I do not think that what I’m doing is what Boris Konrad does. Furthermore, I have demonstrated how my system can work without the use of any journey or location. So, simple logic prevents me from thinking that the description of my method as being the journey method is a correct description of Less L.

SL

14

Hey Simon,

What you described makes a lot more sense. I obviously wasn’t understanding what you were explaining before, but you made it clear in your last few posts.

It’s a clever concept, I like it a lot. Just don’t know how conducive it would be for developing speed, but then again it all comes down to practice anyways and whatever works for you, works for you.

Another problem I’d foresee is exactly what you said, that you might find yourself constantly having to cycle through all your images to “jog” your memory of what was in each slot, where as having a journey would help bring those images to life easier and with less need of “jogging” the memory by cycling through images. Without the journey, you’re kinda on your own in a way.

Either way, it seems to be working for you so keep at it! Best of luck with it.

15

Hi L, I have to say, in my opinion you are using loci aka a journey and you are using association to remember what card is in each position. “Refreshing” is another word for association. Your system is unique in having a 2704 grid of images, but it doesn’t contradict the laws of memory. At each loci you know it’s the corresponding image in that position, but you don’t know until you see it which of 52 cards it is, just like any other system of memorizing cards. Cool on you for trying something different, but it is different within limits.

Dale

16

Hi Jimbo,

I use my Less L. system for many reasons. One of them is that I find it a great way to rehearse a bunch of pegs quickly. My main goal at the moment is in getting 10000 well memorized pegs. Memory competitions in Canada are non-existent and I’m not planning on traveling for this purpose. My times are posted in Post your times forum. I’ve been working on this for over 5 years now so I’m more determined than talented. However, I do have a feeling that my times will reach the one minute mark by the end of the year for a pack of card, but I could be wrong of course.

SL

17

Hi Nelson,

Thank you so much for your comments. They mean much to me.
You are right on about the recall times being slower with my method. However, with practice, I seem to be narrowing this gap. Thanks for your good wishes and I would like to wish you well for the US Championship next week. I wish you set the US record well below the one minute mark!

SL

18

Hi Dale,

Now, for the benefit of those who do not know, I want to thank you again for your suggestion to get my own thread for my Less L. invention.
I also want to say that I agree with you over the fact that I am using locations or loci. This is obvious as I have described my locations in detail in previous posts. As far as using a journey is concerned, I must admit that I hadn’t given this much thought before exposing my method. Am I using a journey? Is a series of locations not tied visually together a journey? Do I journey in between my locations? What I’m doing is more like being at a master world map and there are numbers pinpointing locations on that map and I zoom in and out of successive locations. Maybe it is a journey, maybe it isn’t. As I mentioned I haven’t given this much thought. But perhaps that’s another thing I have invented?

As far as refreshing being another word for association, I would have to ask you which dictionary are you referring to? Also, if it is the same, why is it that the word refreshing is not used interchangeably with the word association in books of mnemonics?

You mention that my system is unique in having a 2704 grid of image. I can agree that I have this many images and even much more on grids of 10s set in various locations that contain 10 of these grids each and that this is likely unique as you suggest.

As far as having to be careful not to contradict the laws of memory, I must say that I believe to have read from Scott Hagwood (former US Memory Champ ) in his book Memory Power (I could be wrong about the author for I have read this somewhere long ago) say something like this about the laws of memory: if you remember what you wanted to remember, then you have followed the laws of memory. If you fail to remember what you wanted to remember, then you have committed a transgression against the laws of memory. I can assure that I do my very best every day not to transgress the laws of memory.

As far as lumping my system along with all the others, I believe that I must disagree on that point. What I have invented, in my opinion, compares to the invention of the digital system of communication in electronics as opposed to the analogue system.

Yes, I understand that this is boasting a lot but if, as the inventor of something new, I fail to appreciate its importance, please tell me, who will? Now, I do not know what future is in store for my system but I do believe that this is very special.

When the Spanish first arrived in Peru, the Incas had already invented the wheel but only installed it on child’s toys and did not use it for transportation. It’s thus very important to consider the full potential of any invention and this is why I think you gave me a great idea when you suggested to create a thread on this forum to discuss Less L.

Thanks again,

SL

19

Hi Dale,

For some reason, I realize today that I missed the point on one of your comments and I wish to say that I’m sorry for that. I now realize that when you say that when I refresh, I’m actually linking, you mean to say that when I see my image in my mind’s eye in one of my virtual grid’s slot at some location, my mind does not only do refreshing, but most importantly freshly linking the image to the position on the grid. Furthermore, you seem to believe that this linking is the critical factor in me being able to recall that image later on. I think this is a very good point and it is also a point that can hardly be denied as possible. However, I’m sceptical that this is what actually happens. I think that the refreshing of the image by itself drives my recall and that the position of the image on a grid is mainly a crutch to help me locate that image rapidly in my mind so that I can refresh it.
I strongly believe that my memory is more based on a common memory skill best illustrated by the following memory test: Say I’m being briefly shown 10 people’s photographs and then later on, I’m being given hundreds of people’s photographs and asked to find among those the ones I have seen earlier. It’s very likely that I would be able to identify easily the 10 people that I first observed. That skill to recognize freshly observed faces is much more common than is the ability to link a location to an object. For instance, if I recognize the people in the example given, it is unlikely going to be due to the association of the back ground to the face that I have seen. The way that I first understood your comments made me suggest stupid things and I apologize for that.

SL

20

I all,

I have made a number of substantial changes to my memory technique and this is just to explain those
changes.
To sum up, I have 1) realigned my image locations on a traditional journey. 2) I have created
images to represent groups of 100s 3) I have renamed numbers to facilitate the memorization process.
None of these changes modify the way that my system works as explain in the previous posts except
for the transition in between the locations of the images. These very recent changes have not yet
translated into any significant gain in memorization speed; however, I’m convinced that these changes
are for the better.

  1. In the technique outline in my previous posts, all my loci of 100 images are located at various
    random places. Because I felt that this system did nothing to help with the smooth traveling in-between
    loci I have decided to realign all my image locations on a very systematic journey. I’m now using the
    downtown core of my city, which has a grid like pattern. On one street, I post 10 of my image
    locations. On the next main street north of the first one, I post 10 more, etc. Since these streets are
    crossed by 3 main streets going north, I have decided do align all my image locations on a very grid like
    pattern with 3 image locations at each intersection and the 10th one hovering above the street.

  2. As a matter of principle, I never create an image to memorize anything but a number.
    Exceptionally, I have decided to create images to represent groups of 100 numbers, or each image
    location that I have. These images are useful in the realignment of my image locations on the
    straightened out journey as I can simply put the image representing a group of 100 at a street corner of
    my straightened journey and this will help to conjure up the loci of 100 objects represented by that
    images at that new location. I used a different method to construct these new images. Instead of using a
    Major system or vowel system, I used a rhyme system. For example, 23 becomes dwindling tree, a
    freshly cut tree to represent my pegs 2300 to 2399 To make sure that these new images stay fresh in
    min mind, I also use them regularly to memorize regular playing cards on regular journey of 52
    stops.(not the Less L. method)

  3. Renaming numbers. This change came about recently as I began to suspect that the English
    names given to numbers were for me a hindrance to a successful recall of memorized numbers. For
    instance, say I was in my location 41 where I successfully retrieved 2 memorized cards. Now, I should
    be going to my 42nd location but I found that I sometimes skipped it and leaped over to location 43
    instead and thus got the next card wrong. After analyzing this error, (and a series of similar mistakes) I
    began to suspect that the cause of the skip was that after retrieving the cards in my 41st location, I
    would say to my self, “I’m at forty-one. Let’s go to 43.” Apparently, the last “n” of “forty one” was the
    problem. Since a “n” means a 2 in the Major system, I would automatically head for the next number a
    3 and thus location 43. Now the only way I could conceive of to rectify this problem permanently was
    to start renaming numbers. I’m now using a systematic consonants and vowels system for all numbers
    10-99. (ta to too, 11, 41, 51 or na, nee, noo 12, 22, 52) For the numbers 0 to 9, I use consonants sounds
    only). I find this a very interesting development because up until now, when someone systematically
    translated numbers into letters, the purpose of this was to assist in the creation of images that would
    then represent the numbers. Now the reason behind the change I have done is that the sound of the
    word “forty-one” is out of tune with the sounds of the Major system. It might be argued that I should
    just be using the Major image word “rod” instead of forty-one when moving from location 41 to 42.
    But this would not really help because I do not want any other image to come to my mind other than
    the ones representing the cards that I am memorizing.

SL