# What is your focus on when you encode with mnemonics **URL:** \ **Category:** General Memory Chat\ **Tags:** mnemonic-images, visualization\ **Created:** [April 24, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/what-is-your-focus-on-when-you-encode-with-mnemonics/101982 "2025-04-24T15:55:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GKMemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/848f3c/32.png) [@GKMemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/GKMemory)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/what-is-your-focus-on-when-you-encode-with-mnemonics/101982/1 "2025-04-24T15:55:57Z")
Hi everyone, I’ve been practicing memory palaces for about two years now, mainly for general knowledge and competitions, and I’ve read a few books on the subject. Sometimes, I still struggle with knowing where to put the focus when encoding an image into memory, so I’m curious about what works best for you. What I mean is, when you encode, do you focus on: – making the image as absurd as possible? – making the image move as much as possible? – giving the image vivid colors? – really anchoring the image into the memory palace? Or have you practiced enough to create almost perfect images every time? Thanks for sharing! ---
**Author:** ![turducken](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/turducken/32/22507_2.png) [@turducken](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/turducken)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/what-is-your-focus-on-when-you-encode-with-mnemonics/101982/2 "2025-04-24T18:27:34Z")
I don’t have a formalized strategy, but reflecting on my practice I’d rank your questions as follows: > really anchoring the image into the memory palace? It is important that your images interact with the location in some way. Make the floor crack when something heavy falls on it, let a door rattle when something is pushed against it, let things splatter. If you can recall what effect an action had, that can be the first step to recalling the action (and subsequently the rest of the image) in case you can’t immediately recall the image itself. > making the image move as much as possible I find that too much movement can be diminishing if the movements themselves carry information. I generally like to limit it to, say, 0.5-1.5 second, or the length of a short gif. I then try to move _myself_ around the action, viewing it from different angles. > making the image as absurd as possible Quite important, but it is equally important that you can actually tell what you meant when decoding. Sometimes first associations are better than the more ludicrous ones. > giving the image vivid colors? That depends, because some parts will just naturally have dark or dull colors (imagine Neo from the Matrix movies in a bright costume - I think I’d get confused trying to figure out why he’s not wearing his usual black all of a sudden. Kind of like a high school student in english lit class). ---
**Author:** ![Nospheuxeus](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/nospheuxeus/32/19414_2.png) [@Nospheuxeus](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Nospheuxeus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 3:59am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/what-is-your-focus-on-when-you-encode-with-mnemonics/101982/3 "2025-05-06T03:59:53Z")
I don’t usually exaggerate so much in my mnemonic images, I almost always use a memory palace, when I memorize words I focus more on transforming the word, sound and meaning into images and I try to link these images by placing them in a specific place, I almost always make them interact with the space around them doing things that are not very normal, and I also try to put sensual things whenever possible, and if after a while I see that the images I created were not very strong I try to do more ridiculous things and I use my alphabet PAO to link all the loci that I put the images to memorize words, and usually that has been enough for me to remember most of them. And I do the same when I memorize numbers, but with numbers I always use the alphabet PAO to try to ensure that I will remember most of the numbers I put in the loci, I usually forget numbers faster than words when I try to memorize, so I try harder to try to make my numerical PAO interact as much as possible between the other loci and its environment together with my alphabet PAO. ---
**Author:** ![Finwing](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/finwing/32/11008_2.png) [@Finwing](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Finwing)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 12:06pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/what-is-your-focus-on-when-you-encode-with-mnemonics/101982/4 "2025-05-06T12:06:48Z")
That’s an interesting question! I think what works best for me is actually **feelings**. When I put a person or an animal on a location, I try to find some memorable thoughts that beeing may have. For instance let’s assume there is a lion on a table. Maybe he is waiting there for some food. He waits for someone to put spare ribs on the table. Next location is a closet with Spider-Man. Maybe Spider-Man wants to get out of the closet, but the door is locked. He feels imprisoned. And so on. Inanimate objects are a bit trickier. Either I anthropomorphize them. For instance instead of a cup you could use Cuphead from the video game. Or I think about feelings that I (or someone else) have when using that object. For example there is a camera on the chair. How would it feel like to take a picture of the chair? What will my friends/familiy think of that picture? Will they like it? Vivid colors and exact shapes aren’t that important. Usually my images are rather blurry. It’s enough to know _what_ it is. Movement, absurdity and interaction with the location can be great when they help support the feeling. But usually they are not the sole focus. Please keep in mind that people are different. What works best for me may be abysmal for you, and vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Hari-P](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/hari-p/32/20048_2.png) [@Hari-P](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Hari-P)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 2:09pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/what-is-your-focus-on-when-you-encode-with-mnemonics/101982/5 "2025-05-06T14:09:58Z")
I think you described it very well! For my part, I call it “internal logic” (there needs to be a story that make SOME sense, even if it’s absurd). Because it’s not enough to say “look there is a lion on the table!” (And hope that the oddity will suffice) I’ll remember that there was an dangerous animal, probably that it was a big cat, but maybe it was a tiger? The difference may or may not be important to recall what I should remember. But if I say “there’s a lion at my table! 😱 Wait it seems to be fine, because he’s waiting patiently and politely for food 😅” (because he’s the king of animals, so he has learnt good table manners since he was a little prince/cub)… Now there is a REASON why it’s a lion, and not another animal.