Space between loci/size of images

General Memory Chat
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Ok. I’m having a hell of a time getting images to stick. There are a number of reasons for this, so I want to do my best to identify as many as possible in order to come up with some strategies to mitigate their influence.

Here are a few specific questions that could possibly be very helpful to any reader if answered thoughtfully. I will include my own thoughts and reasons for asking:

  1. how far apart are your loci, and when they are close together, does it limit the size of your images?

For instance. 7 8 and 9 for me are microwave, stove, oven. These are stacked one upon another such that three loci are located within a 6 foot high, four foot wide rectangle. This severely limits the size of the images for two reasons:
a) the size of the microwave is limiting unless I allow for physically “impossible penetration,” and
b) even if I did allow for this penetration in order to make images larger (is there even a reason to do this?) the images themselves would overlap with one another, both together creating an incredible mess of overlap.
But…are smaller images even harder to remember anyway? What do you guys think? I understand one can only answer for himself about this.

Here’s something else that may be worth broaching, and this question is of particular importance to me:

As you move through your palace during memorization, there will inevitably be times where your view of the palace includes two or more loci. Does the image you just created on the couch vanish as you create one on the coffee table? On the one hand, this seems sloppy and amateurish - after all, if you created a realistic image, it should be just as real as every other ACTUAL, static piece of furniture in the room. And on the other hand, given that these images are new creations, thus housed in working memory rather than long-term memory, the limitations of working memory ( 7 +2 or -2 pieces of information at a given moment) seem to make it impossible to decode and create a detailed image while holding a nearby, recent creation in mind.

For the same reason, I am led to ask, when you are at a loci, are the nearby loci even present in your mind’s eye, or do you have a specific “snapshot” per loci, as if the rest of the room isn’t even there? I see the whole kitchen from enough distance away that 3 or 4 or 5 loci are all simultaneously visible. This may require valuable use of my long-term memory. Then again, maybe not. As I do this, the images I have recently created vanish in turn, as I have described. During review, they reappear (sometimes! :)), but vanish as I create another. So let me ask again clearly - Do you see only one loci at a time?

This one is also very important to me:

If you use PAO, Are your Persons aware of you watching them?

Thanks

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Hi,

I will answer some of the above from my experience:

  1. I know some people can cram lots of loci into a small space. I find that quite difficult, so generally don’t do this and have looked for other alternatives such as in my recent ‘massive memory palace’ post.

  2. One tip if you do persist with small areas would be focus in on the specific small locus and then ‘zoom in’ to create a much larger landscape. Then place your images. Don’t try to make the images small, but instead make the location bigger!

  3. If I review some of my best palaces, it is the created images that are the sharpest. In my mind’s eye the actual loci (e.g. Couch, bookshelf) are quite grey and indistinct. I tend to use objects as locations rather than having them interact with my created images.

  4. If I am going through the journey in sequence I am vaguely aware of the previous and next image, but there is no reason to widen my focus to the room. However, if I want to, then I can do it and I think it is good practise for your imagination to zoom in and out.

Gavino

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