Associations in general. I think the main reason why memory techniques work, is because they hijack our ability to associate thing a with widget b, whether or not that association truly exists.
If you learn someone’s name easy, you probably instinctively associate that name to the person, and your brain considers that worth keeping. Mine doesn’t, it’s very hard to remember someone’s name. And yet with a few mental images one’s name could be learned the first or second time!
Reminds me of this old Tony Robbins video on the topic. Think the video was still pretty new when I watched it, and I almost had tutunga. Missed that first ‘t’.
