What are they?

Memory palaces are mental visualizations of physical locations that help you memorize large amounts of information using association.

How do they work?

Association is a key feature of memorization.

The more associations your brain can make between what you already know and what you’re learning, the faster and longer you’ll remember it. One way to do this is to associate new nodes of information with ones that are already embedded in your long-term memory.

Whether you realize it or not, your brain is quite good at remembering the layout of locations you’ve been to and experienced throughout your life. These locations can include homes where you grew up, buildings, workplaces, outdoor areas, parks, and virtually any “space” in your memory. A memory palace makes use of this by turning your memory of physical locations into organizational frameworks you can use to create novel associations.

Since physical locations are already embedded in your long-term memory without any effort, creating a memory palace is simply “placing” a list of concepts, ideas, or topics throughout that location in your mind. When you do, remembering is simply a matter of “walking through” your memory palace.

How to use them

1. Make a list of the concepts or ideas you need to remember
2. Go through your list and pick a physical object to represent each one (the more bizarre, funny, or outrageous the object is, the better)
3. Pick a physical location you have in your memory — the layout should be a place you can mentally visualize without any effort
4. In your imagination, walk through the location you picked; at different points throughout, imagine yourself “placing” each item on your list, either in a particular order or in whatever sequence makes sense to you
5. After you’ve “placed” all your items, review your memory palace regularly by walking through it in your imagination, encountering each item, and using forced retrieval to recall what the object represents