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Method of loci

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Re: Method of loci

#21

Post by schoen »

edanm wrote: post #14
Moshe_Silnorin wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I can say that it's extremely useful for remembering lists of things, but I haven't had a lot of success in using it to retain or organize abstract information. I think the fact that these techniques have died out is some evidence that they are not actually very useful.

Just as a counterpoint, in the book "Moonwalking with Einstein", the author talks quite a bit about the fact that many of these methods survived for a long long time, and people in the past considered memory an incredibly important proof of someone being educated. The methods seem to have been "lost" mostly when better options for external memory (e.g. writing and printing) became more universal. (iirc - i'm probably…

Yeah, it might be harder to convince people that classic memory techniques are important when they carry smartphones. But the classic memory techniques may still work just as well as they ever did!

Re: Method of loci

#22

Post by schoen »

gohrt wrote: post #19
pixelHD wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is a great read. I heard about the "Memory Palace" on BBC's Sherlock. Holmes says that you can theoretically remember everything (I think this was in the episode The Hounds of Baskerville). I then happened upon this book via gatesnotes[0], and picked it up. The author is quite successful in learning and putting this technique to use. He reaches the finals of the USA Memory Championship. However, he says this…

I can't find a reference now, but I read about a women who had a debilitating mental illness -- she could remember very many of the mundane details of her days, and it crowded out her ability to perform other mental tasks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperthymesia#Cases

The person you heard about might have been

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Price

These cases remind me very strongly of the Borges story "Funes the Memorious" ("Funes el Memorioso").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funes_the_Memorious

Edit: It was interesting to hear that Price rejected the interpretation of her condition that was given in the Wired story about her (which was how I'd heard about her).

Re: Method of loci

#24

Post by hacker_9 »

archagon wrote: post #17

Are most people able to just "picture a room" as required by this technique? I've never been good at that. Whenever I try to picture a location, I just see objects and landmarks with no real sense of place, kind of just floating in an impressionistic aether.

If I think of the word 'mansion' it does bring up a picture in my head, but as I move around it everything is kinda hazy and I kinda make stuff up as I go along. Like I look at the floor and set it's colour, but then a different view-angle changes it again. With practise though you can make details more permanent.

Try closing your eyes and walking around your own house/room. As you've seen it so many times it is far easier to do.

Re: Method of loci

#25

Post by hacker_9 »

fatratchet wrote: post #6

I'm really curious about building a virtual memory palace for VR. Seems there would be many possibilities to make memorizing more effective. Some common techniques like following a predetermined path through a palace and imagining diffrent unique objects and scenes at fixed locations along that path could be really nicely visualized. I would think you could benefit a lot from actually beeing able to explore and fully…

No doubt this would be useful, but the great thing about a memory palace is it is only limited by your mind - any object you've ever seen can be added to it effortlessly in nano seconds. Plus you can conjure it up anywhere anytime. A VR Palace on the other hand wouldn't be so portable, and would require you to design a lot of 3d models / textures / animation / sounds by hand.

Re: Method of loci

#27

Post by tedmiston »

archagon wrote: post #17

Are most people able to just "picture a room" as required by this technique? I've never been good at that. Whenever I try to picture a location, I just see objects and landmarks with no real sense of place, kind of just floating in an impressionistic aether.

For me it's not really about picturing a room, but coming up with the vivid transitions between objects.

Ex. For wolf, orange, hail; I might picture: The wolf sitting on top of a house, and when he opens his mouth it violently rains an infinite stream of oranges, then when gravity kicks in the oranges start falling from the sky turning into huge balls of hail.

The imagery like hundreds of oranges pouring out of a wolves' mouth, and oranges falling from the sky like hail are what do it for me. I've used this technique for lists of 20-30 somewhat unrelated items effectively.

Re: Method of loci

#28

Post by pcote »

walterbell wrote: post #15

There's an active memory-improvement community at http://artofmemory.com including forums and a wiki of techniques. Why bother? Because these techniques increase the capacity of "cache" that is closer (low latency) to human "computation". This can lead to faster traversal of the OODA loop, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop , which is relevant to lean startups, business competition, combat and more. See the HN…

I can vouch for spaced-repetition being an excellent training tool. It isn't just for words though. My uses for it range from individual terms to small training exercises. When I find a new solution to a problem I have, I often make a spaced-repetition card for it. You can learn a lot by making a daily habit of it.

Re: Method of loci

#29

Post by pcote »

archagon wrote: post #17

Are most people able to just "picture a room" as required by this technique? I've never been good at that. Whenever I try to picture a location, I just see objects and landmarks with no real sense of place, kind of just floating in an impressionistic aether.

It's not so hard. The easiest way to start is with the place you live. You just pick out the most notable aspects of different parts of the rooms and start matching items to them. Like anything else, it takes practice. Over time, that aether should clear right up.

Re: Method of loci

#30

Post by drivers99 »

pcote wrote: post #28
walterbell wrote: post #15

There's an active memory-improvement community at http://artofmemory.com including forums and a wiki of techniques. Why bother? Because these techniques increase the capacity of "cache" that is closer (low latency) to human "computation". This can lead to faster traversal of the OODA loop, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop , which is relevant to lean startups, business competition, combat and more. See the HN…

I can vouch for spaced-repetition being an excellent training tool. It isn't just for words though. My uses for it range from individual terms to small training exercises. When I find a new solution to a problem I have, I often make a spaced-repetition card for it. You can learn a lot by making a daily habit of it.

(Adding to what you wrote.) Since you mention that it's not just for vocab, here's an extensive article on how to formulate knowledge in general that goes into a spaced repetition system. (There is also a summary at the bottom.) http://www.supermemo.com/articles/20rules.htm

It's part of a site for a closed-source client, but Anki[1] is a good open-source one.

[1] http://ankisrs.net/

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