# Memorization using the Method of Loci **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 8, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorization-using-the-method-of-loci/727293 "2015-08-08T03:14:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorization-using-the-method-of-loci/727293/1 "2015-08-08T03:14:54Z")
I’ve just learned about this system of memorization in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=18571222) (thanks, **lynne-42** ). The relevant posts start with #24. I am first interested in learning all the Best Picture Oscar winners. Shouldn’t be too difficult as I already know perhaps 70% of them. So I’ve started with the 1930’s. Here is the story I’ve concocted and committed to memory for that decade: > [@](#): > > 1930s – I look out the window at Bob’s house. It’s all quiet. Then I see Lisa snorting cinnamon. I turn the TV on and it’s showing Grand Hotel. My pile of folded clothes cascade off of the dresser. I turn and remember the photos I hung on the wall one night. I cleaned the glass with Windex and Bounty. Out the back window I see a great zucchini in the garden being munched on by a bunny named Zola. I look up, thinking of heaven, and realize that I can’t take it with me. The ceiling fan is spinning wildly and creating a big wind. 1930 - All Quiet on the Western Front 1931 - Cimarron 1932 - Grand Hotel 1933 - Cavalcade 1934 - It Happened One Night 1935 - Mutiny on the Bounty 1936 - The Great Ziegfeld 1937 - The Life of Emile Zola 1938 - You Can’t Take It with You 1939 - Gone with the Wind The key is to place yourself in a familiar room and create a story that you can visualize as you move through the room. The above takes place in my bedroom. I’ve decided to designate a decade to each room, assigning two memory triggers to each wall, then two more to the ceiling. Once I have the master bedroom down (the 1930’s), I will go to a second bedroom for the 1940s. It’s pretty cool, and very effective. So…whattaya wanna memorize? mmm ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorization-using-the-method-of-loci/727293/2 "2015-08-08T11:26:21Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I’ve just learned about this system of memorization in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=18571222) (thanks, **lynne-42** ). The relevant posts start with #24. > > I am first interested in learning all the Best Picture Oscar winners. Shouldn’t be too difficult as I already know perhaps 70% of them. > > … > > It’s pretty cool, and very effective. > > So…whattaya wanna memorize? > mmm Thank you for this, **Mean Mr. Mustard**. I am fascinated by this method so really keen to hear if anyone is using it and how they go. I am currently working on the 242 countries and independent protectorates in the world in population order. I know the countries and and adding the capitals and lots of other information to the satires at each location - to the countries. ---
**Author:** ![SeniorCitizen007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@SeniorCitizen007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeniorCitizen007)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorization-using-the-method-of-loci/727293/3 "2015-08-08T11:59:22Z")
I memorised my mobile number (which I seldom use) by associating the 4th to 7th numbers with an historical period (not any particular event) then adding the next two numbers (as a two digit number) to the final two numbers (also as a two digit number) and adding the result to the historical number, resulting in a second historical number. If someone asks me my number my mind thinks of the two historical periods (as I’m saying “077 …”) then instantly works out the last 4 numbers. … but I’m notoriously bad at remembering people’s names. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorization-using-the-method-of-loci/727293/4 "2015-08-08T12:32:01Z")
Do any of you know where I left my keys? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorization-using-the-method-of-loci/727293/5 "2015-08-09T10:51:56Z")
As I posted in the thread that inspired this one, I used a variation on this method when I was child. A couple of notes from my experience: 1. Distinctive scents make very strong memory triggers. Incorporating scents along with imagery may help in building and maintaining your memory structure. For example, instead of someone snorting cinnamon, you might have them baking/eating fresh cinnamon rolls, accompanied by the distinctive scent of the rolls. 2. While it’s often easier, you don’t _have_ to start with a familiar location. You can build a completely novel location in your mind. It’s harder to maintain, but if you don’t have a good reference location ( **Ruken** , for example, mentioned moving around a lot), it might be more effective. It also allows you to use aspects of the location itself as triggers. The one I built as a kid was an indeterminately Greco-Roman temple. The number of stones in the path, the number of steps up to the entrance, and the number of columns in front all had information attached to them. (I mentally rehearsed the approach until I could count these things as I “walked” toward the entrance.) > [@TriPolar](#): > > Do any of you know where I left my keys? Check the shelf in the laundry room. (If you don’t have a laundry room, check the bathroom.) ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memorization-using-the-method-of-loci/727293/6 "2015-08-10T18:49:02Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > So…whattaya wanna memorize? I posted in the thread that prompted this: > [@What are you teaching yourself?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-teaching-yourself/726711/52): > > I too am very interested in mnemonics. I had been thinking about starting a thread about it. My difficulty is that I don’t have a good palace to start with. I left my first home when I was 10, and I’ve lived in over a dozen places since. There are probably two or three houses that I could use, but I think I need to practice the houses before I start placing memories in them. > > There are so many things I have trouble remembering. Names and numbers are the big ones that affect my work. I have more to say, but off kayaking for now.