I’ve been using mnemonic devices for a while, mostly loci technique. My visualization skills have improved, but I wish I had hyperphantasia. Most mnemonic devices rely on vivid visualization, and the more vivid, the better.
Some techniques I’ve found involve looking at an object, closing your eyes, and trying to recreate it in your mind. I tried this, but it didn’t help much. I’m looking for proven, scientific techniques.
Is your visualization vivid? Have you ever found ways to make it more vivid?
Not scientific, but practical for me personally—maybe it will help you:
I find that visualized images are vivid when (and only when) I’m doing something with them. If they’re actively being created and manipulated within my working memory, they feel quite real.
For example, when using the method of loci to memorize a sequence of images, and have to place a horse on the stairs, it looks clear. I feel the details are there. If I then want to change the direction of the horse, or its colour, or what it’s doing etc., then that also feels vivid.
But if I just have to focus on that image of a horse on the stairs (or whatever), the harder I “look”, the more obvious it feels that the image isn’t real—I’m not looking at stairs or a horse—I’m looking at my laptop and a wall.
To make images “vivid”, I make them dramatic and surreal and meaningful—not by focusing on them more.
I like that exercise. Does it improve vividness? No idea, but I do find myself having more accurate mental representations of things by doing that, and you can break it out at any time. Literally takes 1 minute to do.
If it does improve vividness, it’s going to be really hard to measure past a certain point. You can’t pull up a mental image from a month ago and compare it to something after training.
I can’t find any studies for you, but there are plenty on improving cognition. The simple stuff comes down to having a diet rich in choline and omega 3, avoiding excess sugar and seed oils, ample hydration, proper sleep, and exercise.
There’s also a lot about antioxidant rich berries and teas, but I’ve spent less time looking there. Rooibos is interesting though, it’s shown to protect rats from alzheimers. Whether or not that translates to humans is unknown, but it does offer antioxidants.
It was dreams for me. I was always obsessive over my imagination. And I wanted to know what my limits are, how much details i can see with my mental eye. So I began to experiment. I discovered that when i sleep early(around 6-7pm) i wake up around 2-4am and if i force myself to sleep again, i would be tottaly conscious but paralysed. And I could see dreams, imagine things. I tried to remember some moments from past, wanted to see the details. It was so vivid that I can’t differantiate it from the reality. I tried it with faces, writings, they were just so clear. Sometimes I was thinking I am tottaly awake.
So after those I realized that my visualization skill is improved a lot. I was better at blindfolded chess and imagining 3d shapes.
I used to have a very vague imagination for years, I did some exercises for it and found them to help:
I look to an interesting photo (painting, pleasing wallpaper… etc) for a few seconds then I close my eyes and try to keep it in memory until it fades away then I open my eyes again and repeat the process multiple times. When it feels vivid enough for a good length of time I move to another photo and repeat. I do this for 5-10 mins daily.
Whenever I feel bored waiting for the bus or train or in a queue, I look at an interesting object nearby (preferably not another human), close my eyes, then try to remember every piece of detail about it for as long as possible.
While navigating in home at night I scan the room then close my eyes and try to navigate based on spatial memory only.
Deep sleep helps
I found some medications I take for another health conditions make my dreams, imagination, visual, and spatial memory feel too vivid
Also, you may prefer using other memory techniques like using songs, rhymed words/phrases, acronyms, making emotionally engaging stories and contexts… etc and find what works best with you.