I am currently memorizing Bible verses. My loci is the outside of my house. From rooftop on around all sides from right to left. I wish I had used my church since it relates to the Bible. I probably could go back and change this without too much problem but haven’t. I have only memorized 9 verses so far. As far as loci goes, I have used the same loci for all 9 verses just with a different scene for each verse. I memorize a phrase of the verse instead of a certain number of words in each scene then go around the next side of the house and memorize the next phrase of the verse, etc. As far as numbers go, (example: Genesis 1:1). I encode my image for Genesis and my image for number 1 on the road in front of my house, then I move the image for Genesis up my gravel driveway and encode it on the driveway with the same image for number 1 again. My image for number 1 is hut. This has actually helped with this verse as I picture my image for Genesis (a friend named Geneva) actually being in the hut in this scene as the first word in this verse is “In”. Then I go around the outside of my house memorizing and at the last verse at the end of it I encode in the image of the number of the verse again in the scene. “Earth” is the last word in this verse so I encoded a hut sitting on the globe/earth. This helps jog my memory as to which verse in Genesis we are on in case I want to remember that for whatever reason. Hasn’t seemed to mix me up yet. As for loci, I have used the same loci for all verses just with a different scene. Probably wrong but it has worked for me. Hope this helps.
Memorization always relies on natural / organic memory, but that’s something that can be trained to work more efficiently with practice even without memory techniques.
Mnemonotechnique (all memory systems and more advanced memorization methods) takes that natural memory and provides it with structure: scaffolds, pegs, hooks, encryption, chunking, association, imagery, acronyms, acrostics, knowledge of forgetting curves, interval training, the Pomodoro method, Australian Aboriginal storytelling and landscape journey method (often confused with the method of loci usu “Memory Palace” – similar but not the same), rhyming, the Major System, the Dominic System, etc.
There is a solid payoff though - and, like learning a musical instrument, juggling, a new language – or any skill, it takes time and effort. If all you’re relying on most or exclusively is memory palaces, then you’re not yet getting the full benefits of mnemonics. Keep going! Many people give up on a lot of things in life.
You now are exercising your memory so it’s better than if you never used it. You’re using memory palaces and association. You still need to rehearse occasionally. SOME things will sink in fast and be incredibly strong and easy to recall with virtually or literally zero effort, but not everything.
HOWEVER stick with it, increase the understanding of and number of systems you use, you’ll gain a whole lot. Keep going.
Here are some tips: create indexes; you can create a dictionary for information in alphabetical order, which will make it easier; you can create lists of characters in certain orders such as AA, AB, AC…ZV, ZW…ZZ… Use this to place them in locations and know what to look for by their initials. You can also do this by creating categories. In mathematics, there can be arithmetic, geometry, etc. For arithmetic, use a calculator. so I see a mathematician with a calculator in the center of the scene, in another place with a pyramid figure, etc. If you place information randomly about something you have no idea what it is, it will really be complex if you have a lot of information.
If you decide to create an alphabetical index, remember not to overwhelm yourself with the 676 images to be created; simply create it as you need it.
Another point you mention can be really simple: create questions about what you memorize. Remember to memorize fragments using visual metaphors. You will create metaphors if you have an idea of what you are talking about.
A simple example is that with goals in general, I can see a bow because with a bow you aim at something and shoot to get the result of catching it… Then I can create a theater for these scenes where I place information about planning methods such as GTD, PDCA, etc., with a centaur carrying a bow in the center, and from there I make connections. I also create connections between similar things using visual metaphors.
When you learn something naturally, the triggers to recall it are also natural (that is, they are the most useful contexts in which the idea would be useful). For instance, if I see a problem dealing with the existence of something really large or small in mathematics, zorn’s lemma comes to mind.
When you learn something artificially, the triggers to recall it are instead artificial (there is no logical connection between a bizarre detailed image and an idea). The natural associations still have to be built up.
When you memorize using mnemonics, you aren’t really memorizing the idea but a label which you then translate into the idea according to some rules. For instance, if I memorize a number using mnemonics I don’t memorize the number itself but instead a strange image which I can then translate back into numbers using major system rules. Therefore our ideas memorized with mnemonics are hidden from us when accessed unless we apply reason, so sifting through many labels to find something takes a lot of time.
This problem doesn’t come up in memory competitions afaik since every piece of information memorized has to be recalled, instead of a particular piece with certain characteristics.
Our natural memory has means of searching that are very effective, allowing us to quickly narrow down based on properties the idea might have or vague similarities to other ideas.
In a memory palace, our means of organizing images isn’t nearly as effective: any layout is locked into one organizational scheme (if there even is such a scheme), that usually isn’t very developed beyond having certain areas for certain topics. I have never seen one more advanced than the alphabetical scheme. This isn’t even close as effective to searching through by property or vague similarity our natural mind is capable of.
In fact, in memory palaces, a similar issue comes up to that of taking many notes: there is a storage problem where you can’t remember what you already said or wrote NOT because it’s not accessible but because it would take too much time or effort to sift through all the previous material, which just gets larger and larger with time. In other words, we forget what it is we actually have wrote/memorized. Don’t get me wrong, we still remember the labels and how to translate them, but what we have actually memorized is forgotten, just as we might have forgotten what a note says but still be able to read it.
I’d say there are still short-term benefits to memory palaces. For instance, if you encode info in a memory palace, then you can train that info into your head anywhere, anytime (unlike notes). As a ladder on which to climb memory palaces are very useful. Taking the artificial images off of the idea is like taking the training wheels off the bicycle.
Memory palaces can also be useful for working memory management in the moment. For instance, keeping track of a lecture with many ideas. But notes are also useful for this as well.
Finally, it’s useful for info that you don’t need for hard problems, that is that you don’t need the natural mind’s search ability for. If the only situation in which I’m recalling a series of numbers is when someone asks me to recall them, then mnemonics is useful. But so is notetaking.
More thought needs to be put into the limits of mnemonics for learning, and where it thrives as well. Ultimately we want to use the right tools for the job.
It’s not really a problem, my memory palace is alphabetical, the order is determined by the characters I place there, and if I need certain information, I just go to a certain letter. I also label certain places so I know what I have there, that is, a central image in the middle of the place that functions as a super index. In addition, my characters dress according to the information. If it’s mathematics, I see a mathematician; if it’s history, they are dressed in period clothing, etc. There are too many ways to organize, and the problem is that no one wants to work on it. You also have to adapt the methods to yourself, which is achieved through trial and error that you must identify.
Said by one of my teachers, Pietro da Ravenna, translated from Spanish to English, which is why the words begin with A:
The letter A is now proposed to me, with the great participation of learned men, and to begin with the law, I will immediately pronounce a thousand more arguments on food, alienation, absence, arbitrators, appeals, and other similar topics of our law that begin with the letter A; then, in Holy Scripture, on the Antichrist, on flattery, and so many other topics that begin with that letter, nor will I omit poems by Ovid, authorities by Cicero and Valerius, on the donkey, the eagle, the lamb [agnus], or the hawk [accipitre], the boar [aper], the ram [aries]; and I will be able to say everything again from back to front […]".
Another way is to place the letter in the middle of the location and surround it with information, create more locations in this way and place information there. The central character can move around the entire location, remembering that to add more information you must create more locations. Use the internet for this task… Each place can be connected to another using association, meaning that the character in one room interacts with another in another room. This way, you have a memory palace that covers the topic you want, and each topic is fragmented, separate, and connected at the same time.