Question Regarding Giordano Bruno's PAO

General Memory Chat
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Hello fellow mnemonists,
I hope you’re all well and jubilant.

I was a little rusty so I dove back into Bruno’s work to get the engine running:
Have you guys used an alphabetical PAO (memory wheel: AAA, BBB, CCC,…) for memoria verborum? If so, how effective was it? Was it more effective than simply imaginatively visualising the words?

I can imagine, if the system becomes second-nature, how rapidly one can memorise using it, but my only problem is the apparent extra cognitive “effort”, which leads me back to simply visualising the words (which is fastest for any beginner, no doubt).

I was thinking of having this alphabetical PAO, with 200-300 distinct memory objects of the most common words, which would make this relatively faster if one wants to read and memorise on the fly.

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The method is fast, but it is only good to use it when the words are not easily displayed with the other methods.

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Part of the point of ars combinatoria is to reduce cognitive load, even if for a short period in the beginning it might feel like it’s being increased.

Bruno has other tools beyond the wheels and Thirty Statues is well worth looking at. The setup is minor if you’re already on the road with ars combinatoria.

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