The loci method (mind palace) and other memory techniques

[noname223]

I am friend with someone in college who is extremely savvy. I would like to know whether he considers me somewhat intelligent but I rather doubt it. I rather think he pities me due to the fact I am a complete mental wreck. For example he sees how extremely obsessive I am concerning some topics. I try to hide it with some irony but I am just very ill. He knows that I am mentally ill.

Yeah this dude uses the loci method. When I see his notes I am often quite impressed. He uses specail visualization in order to memories stuff. I envy that. I think I am too stupid for such savvy techniques. On the other hand I never tried it. My memory is very mediocre. I repeat the stuff extremely often in order to memorize it. If other people knew how much time I spend I would be kind of embarassed. I feel pathetic.

Though we differ in some ways how we study. I think he has this epistemological goal to expand his knowledge in the best possible way. In contrast to me: I just try to do everything in order to achieve good grades. I think sometimes he is a little bit inefficient becaue he always wants the perfect knowledge. I have a speculation: I think he wants to show the professors that he is smarter as them. And maybe this really is the case. But in my opinion it is not such an helpful behavior. I think professors don't like it to get lectured by a student. But maybe he is that smart that he can ignore the fact that the lectures dislike such behavior.

Yeah I wanted to get feedback from some of you. Have you ever tried such memory methods. I kind of envy that and I admire it. I think it would be barely impossible for me to learn them. I have problems with visualizing things in my mind.
Maybe someone in this forum has similar methods or some other tricks for me?

 

[Smart No More]

Interesting topic. I used to be quite into tbis stuff. There a real easy way to remember some things. Not sure exactly what the loki method is. Maybe it's similar. Basically you link them together by creating a story involving all elements. The most important thing is to make it as rediculous as possible. Tie them to each other with said ridiculousness and then you'll be amazed at how easily you recite it. I was tempted to write out an example but I'm a bit tied up atm. Honestly though, I'm sure you're plenty intelligent to do it. You'll get it right first time! Maybe find an example of youtube or something. Derren Brown does it I think. If you search "derren brown memory techniques" you'll find it.

 

[BruhXDDDDD]

I think once you try it, the method of Loci isn't as difficult or sophisticated as you think it is. Just use the layout of your house as a mental palace, and associate whatever you want to remember with a distinct place. That's all there is to it, and with practice it becomes easier. It's not the best for remembering information for years to come (you have to clear out the palace when it gets too full). However, it's great for if you have information you want to reinforce but you don't have a book/the internet with you to help. It's also great if you want to pass a test in school/remember your grocery list but don't care to remember the information forever.

Also, don't be too daunted by people who can do things like remember 60,000 digits of pi. For memorizing long numbers, the method experts usually resort to is having a list of nouns, actions, and places/objects for numbers 0-999. Using this, they can chunk 9 numbers into a single, memorable piece of information. It's definitely more impressive than a simple parlor trick, but this skill doesn't translate to everything else. The same people who have mastered learning long numbers can still struggle with memorizing passages of text. Likewise, you can be a master at memorizing piano pieces but barely able to remember what you just ate for breakfast. There are a lot of different categories of memory ability.

Don't worry about all the fancy details, though: If you want to remember something and really have it stick, just use a couple straightforward tricks:
Contextualize the information. For example, if you're learning about an event in history, it's actually very useful to know information like dates, related events, anything else that happened around the same time, etc. The more you know, the richer your contextualization becomes and the more easily you're able to remember new information.
Make it fun: Actually try to give a shit about what you want to learn about. At the very least have a motivation like wanting to impress people. Also, relate everything to sex and perversion as much as possible and it'll become very easy to remember.
Reinforce the information: Make sure you actually know it. My trick is to always sleep on it once or twice and see if I still remember.

 

[BruhXDDDDD]

Forgot to mention, I remember reading a popular book on the topic called Moonwalking With Einstein. Journalist documents himself training to become a memory champion in a relatively short period of time without having had a particularly good memory

 

[noname223]

I think once you try it, the method of Loci isn't as difficult or sophisticated as you think it is. Just use the layout of your house as a mental palace, and associate whatever you want to remember with a distinct place. That's all there is to it, and with practice it becomes easier. It's not the best for remembering information for years to come (you have to clear out the palace when it gets too full). However, it's great for if you have information you want to reinforce but you don't have a book/the internet with you to help. It's also great if you want to pass a test in school/remember your grocery list but don't care to remember the information forever.

Also, don't be too daunted by people who can do things like remember 60,000 digits of pi. For memorizing long numbers, the method experts usually resort to is having a list of nouns, actions, and places/objects for numbers 0-999. Using this, they can chunk 9 numbers into a single, memorable piece of information. It's definitely more impressive than a simple parlor trick, but this skill doesn't translate to everything else. The same people who have mastered learning long numbers can still struggle with memorizing passages of text. Likewise, you can be a master at memorizing piano pieces but barely able to remember what you just ate for breakfast. There are a lot of different categories of memory ability.

Don't worry about all the fancy details, though: If you want to remember something and really have it stick, just use a couple straightforward tricks:
Contextualize the information. For example, if you're learning about an event in history, it's actually very useful to know information like dates, related events, anything else that happened around the same time, etc. The more you know, the richer your contextualization becomes and the more easily you're able to remember new information.
Make it fun: Actually try to give a shit about what you want to learn about. At the very least have a motivation like wanting to impress people. Also, relate everything to sex and perversion as much as possible and it'll become very easy to remember.
Reinforce the information: Make sure you actually know it. My trick is to always sleep on it once or twice and see if I still remember.

Very interesting posts. Thank you very much for the information!