How to create a memory palace
To create a memory palace, pick a place you know well, such as your home, and plan a fixed route through it with numbered stops. Turn each fact you need to learn into a vivid, odd image and place one image at each stop. To recall, walk the route in the same order and read the images back. Start with 10 to 12 stops and one list, like the 12 cranial nerves.
In more detail
A memory palace, also called the method of loci, works because you already remember places and pictures far better than lists of words. You borrow that memory and hang new facts on it. It suits ordered material: lists, sequences, steps and vocabulary. Researchers trained people with no memory experience in the method for six weeks, and they ended up recalling word lists nearly as well as memory experts. You will not need weeks for a first palace, but practice makes it faster.
The images do the work, so make them strong. Exaggerate them, make them move and make them touch the place where you put them: do not picture a small carrot on the door, picture giant carrots opening it. Use sound, smell and humor, and make the image personal to you. For an abstract term, use a sound-alike or a symbol, such as a pulley for the trochlear nerve. One image per fact, one fact per stop, and always the same route in the same direction.
A palace stores order, not understanding. Use it for the things you simply have to know in sequence, and learn concepts by explaining and testing yourself. Check the palace the same day by walking it forward and then backward, and again after a day and after a few days. If an image fades, make it stranger. You can reuse a palace for a new list once the old one is no longer needed, or build a second palace for each subject.
Example: the first 6 cranial nerves in a house
| Stop | Nerve | Image |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Front door | I Olfactory | Fresh bread smell pours out of the door |
| 2. Hallway mirror | II Optic | A giant eye stares back from the mirror |
| 3. Shoe rack | III Oculomotor | An eyeball rolls along the shoes like a ball |
| 4. Coat hooks | IV Trochlear | A pulley hangs from the hooks |
| 5. Kitchen | V Trigeminal | A three-pronged fork stands in the sink |
| 6. Living room | VI Abducens | A sofa pushes an eye sideways, away from the nose |
Step by step
- 1
Choose a place you know well, such as your home, your route to school or a campus building.
- 2
Plan a route through it and number 10 to 12 stops in the order you walk them, for example front door, hallway, kitchen.
- 3
Write the list you need to learn, one item per stop. Start with one list of 10 to 12 items.
- 4
Turn each item into one vivid, odd image, using a sound-alike for abstract words.
- 5
Place each image at its stop and make it touch or change the place, with sound, smell and humor.
- 6
Walk the route in your head in order and say each item. Then walk it backward to check that it holds.
- 7
Test yourself the next day and again after a few days, and make any fading image stranger.
How StudyPDF helps
A memory palace holds an order. StudyPDF holds the rest. Upload your notes or slides into a course and it builds flashcards and quizzes from them, so you can test every item you placed, in any order, and see per concept what you still miss. Use the palace for the sequence and StudyPDF to check you understand it. The free plan covers about 4 materials a week, no card needed.
See also
More questions
How many locations does a memory palace need?
One per item you want to remember. For a first palace, use 10 to 12 stops and one list. You can add more stops or build a second palace once the first feels easy.
Is a memory palace the same as the method of loci?
Yes. Memory palace, mind palace and journey method are other names for the method of loci, a technique that links items to places along a familiar route.
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