This is truly an enthusiastic and fantastic forum. Currently, I have a few questions:
Firstly, how many loci do you typically choose for a memory palace? My Memory Palace is quite large, so I initially chose 100 loci. However, I feel that 100 might be too many. What is your usual number of loci for a memory palace?
Secondly, how do you remember the sequence of loci? Do you write it down or draw it? My approach involves writing down 10 loci, then mentally rehearsing them. After that, I add another 10 loci, rehearse the first 10 and the new 10, and so on. However, this method is time-consuming. Do you have a more efficient way to quickly memorize the sequence of loci? I would appreciate it if you could share your insights.
For the periodic table of the elements, 100 loci may not be enough since there are 118 elements.
For practicing speed runs for a deck of cards you may want 52 loci if you want 1 to 1 card image to loci scene structure, or 18 loci if you use a PAO, or 26 if you use a PO, PA, or 2-card system.
Whatever your usage, you should try whenever possible to cater the structure to the information so that it is easy to navigate and recall later on and fits nicely.
For lists or topics that will eventually expand, like the Presidents Of The USA, or the winners of the Best Picture Oscar, it’s good to have an open ended structure that you can add loci to easily.
Either way, I think 100 loci is a lot if its contained within a single area. If it’s structured like 10 unique and clearly distinguishable rooms in a house or departments in a large store, or consecutive buildings along a street, each containing 10 loci to total 100 across several connected areas that form a “meta-palace” that seems to work well, at least for me.
Yes and sometimes yes. I have an excel doc in google drive and on my phone with tabs for each memory project I work on. Each contains a list of loci in order for the palace(s) that I’ll use for that topic. I’ll occasionally do a quick paper sketch of a birds eye blueprint style layout of my palace with minimalist pictures of a key identifiable feature of each loci, especially if the palace I’m using is fictional or completely self-imagined. This helps me lock in both the path and some of those important focal points.
Example here with picture included:
I’m not sure there’s any real trick to QUICKLY memorizing a loci sequence to the point of making it second nature. It really is all about practice and visualizing the areas enough to develop a natural recall of them.
In the beginning I thought it would be good idea to have reserves of memory palaces at my disposal, just in case, and I spend way too much time preparing them. Most of the time, when I came to use a prepared memory palace, I always had to change the journey a little bit, or change the number of stations in this or that section, to adapt it to the things I wanted to learn.
So I concluded that preparing memory palaces in detail in advance is a waste of time. I do have folders with videos/pictures of places that are potential memory palaces. But it’s only when I actually have things to put in it that I plan it in detail. Then, once I organized the information to be learnt, I make a sketch, and choose a definitive journey and stations. This and actually using the memory palace for a real purpose means it is automatically learnt.
If sketching the memory palace and stations and filling it is not enough and I still have to “learn the memory palace”, I feel I did something wrong.
I have a general list of probably 100+ areas that I could pull from for palaces, but none of those have very specific loci planned until I actually need them. I’ll add to this list as I come across cool palace options in my day to day experience, but it’s just to note the area. Usually thats enough for a general reminder and specific loci can get filled in later when needed.
I have several 26-loci journeys at the ready for running card decks and can use those in a pinch if I need random list storage, but beyond that, any palaces I’ve needed for long-term or long form memory projects were purpose built for those projects.
It’s like choosing to live in a prefabricated bungalow or an custom-built home.
If you want quick and short term (memory competition, grocery list, etc.), prefabricated is more practical. But if it’s a forever home, you’ll be ready to take it slow to put everything in place just so.
The biggest problem is creating fictitious places in a hurry, since these places are not fixed in memory and they need to be able to be displayed internally as is done with the most reliable places.
You are a person who speaks from experience and coherence.
Although real places can be multiplied, it is almost the same as a fictional place in a real place, but it is a little easier to memorize as it is laid out from the perception of a real one.
I hope to be able to explain this later, but I think you get the idea. And perhaps, it can also explain the memory of words (verborum). The only thing that is not as exaggerated as I observed in a post, over more than 1 million words, hahahaha.
100-150 is pretty standard. I also have sub-50 ones and 1000-plus ones. It all depends on what you need, what the palace allows, and the effort you want to put in.
Sometimes when starting out I give myself a memory aid for the loci, but I do aim to know the order. Order allows you to structurize, which helps to memorize.
Create a structure and use the palace. When I am trying to learn a sequence I use my memory palace to learn a string of numbers. Aim for vivid memorization, not fast memorization. A structure can be as simple as left wall - far wall - right wall - close wall - center. As with anything, practice makes perfect.