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The Memory Palace: A home for all your knowledge

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The Memory Palace: A home for all your knowledge

In the modern world, we are all exposed to an enormous flood of information. The knowledge of mankind is expanding more and more, which is a great thing! This knowledge spreads rapidly thanks to various types of media and especially the Internet.

But storing all this information is becoming increasingly difficult due to this large amount. Children in particular can quickly become overwhelmed. So how great would it be if there were a way to store all these facts in an orderly system in the brain?

This actually exists! It's called a memory palace. And yes, it is exactly what it sounds like. We'll show you exactly what it is and how to build it.

Memory palace: what is it?

Does the term "memory palace" sound familiar to you? Then you seem to be a true Sherlock Holmes fan, because he uses this memory technique in the British BBC series of the same name. But it's not the inventor of this fictional character who is behind the memory palace. This technique comes from the ancient Greeks. It is based on creative visualization, which is supposed to help store knowledge firmly and retrieve it when needed.

The memory palace is a further development of the loci method. But you really haven't heard anything about it yet? No problem, we'll enlighten you. When you use the Loci Method, you create a place in your mind where you mentally store all the things you want to remember. When you want to recall them later, you follow the corresponding route through this place and find the stored information exactly where you put it before.

From the route to the space

The memory palace works similarly. Here, too, you link information to a place. But here you don't follow a route when you want to retrieve the facts. You go to a different room for each fact or topic group. So you create different rooms in your head and build a palace.

How many rooms this palace will have is entirely up to you. You can expand it infinitely. The only important thing is that you don't lose track. It only depends on your memory and imagination.

memory palace instruction

5 advantages of a memory palace for the brain

If you build a memory palace, you can benefit from many advantages. We have compiled 5 of them for you here.

1. memory with system

With the Memory Palace you sort out all the facts that are floating around in your brain. You put them into an organized system and can recall them much faster. This way you finally put an end to the eternal back and forth thinking about what exactly the information you once picked up ages ago was.

2. expansion of the ability to remember

Each of us has it, that one drawer into which we just throw everything and which is always full. But when we finally clean it out and put everything that has ended up in it in order, it suddenly appears almost empty. But there are still just as many objects in it as before. This is exactly how it works in your brain.

If it's full of unorganized facts, it will seem incredibly full and you'll have a hard time digging out the information you need right now. But if you have all the facts organized in your memory palace, you will not only find them again faster, but also create space for even more knowledge.

3. easy memorization of dry facts

There are those facts that are simply incredibly difficult to remember because they are so "dry," as the saying goes. This includes, above all, information that is difficult to visualize or link with other facts. Prime examples of this are year numbers, formulas, number sequences or even vocabulary. With the memory palace you create such a link and the facts move permanently into one of the rooms.

4. memory enhancement for visual types

There are countless studies that deal with the extent to which memory performance changes when using the memory palace. The broad study base also proves that people can remember pictures particularly well. Who then still to the visual Learning type and can memorize images much better, can bring his memory performance to a whole new level with the memory palace.

5. more pronounced long-term memory

The long-term memory works particularly well with pictures. Since the Memory Palace is aimed precisely at this, you also train it. And that's exactly what makes this method so effective: Information is much more easily transferred to your long-term memory and remains there permanently.

How to create your own memory palace: a step-by-step guide

Building a memory palace is not witchcraft. Basically, there are only 4 steps that you have to complete and the helpful building is already up and running. And this is how it works!

1. create the spatial structure for your palace

The first step is to think about what rooms you want to create. Studies from Alberta University in Canada proved that known rooms work just as well for this as freely invented ones. The only important thing is that the rooms can be easily distinguished from one another so that there is no confusion.

2. connect the rooms with themes

Each room stands for a specific subject area. So that you can recognize this directly from the outside without having to enter it first, you mark the doors. This can be done, for example, with a matching picture on the door. The interior design should also match the theme.

3. fill the room with knowledge

The first premises are now ready for occupancy. So now it's time to classify the information. Illustrate the facts and let them move into the corresponding rooms. This works especially well if you think up a story to go with it.

4. orient yourself

Your palace is ready, now you just have to find your way around it. Go through the individual rooms a few times in your mind and internalize which information you will find where.

7 tips to optimize your memory palace for better results

So that you can work especially effectively with the memory palace, we have a few Tips for you on how to build it in a particularly stable way. If you follow them, you will be able to remember new information even better and assign it to a room or build a new one for it in no time.

  1. Add fun elements to the fact you want to include in your memory palace to make it special.
  2. Alternatively, add strange elements that will increase your brain's attention level.
  3. Do not fill the rooms too much, but rather build more with less information in each.
  4. Work with visual objects of various kinds and, for example, hang important people on your imaginary walls in the form of paintings.
  5. Display all the information in color, increasing the visual differences between the individual objects.
  6. Work with color schemes for each room to better separate them.
  7. Mentally hang pictures on the doors that capture the themes of each room or number them like you would in a hotel.

How children can benefit from a memory palace: Tips for parents and educators

Especially for Children the memory palace is a great way to help them remember newly learned things. They are usually much more creative than adults and especially have a lot of fun thinking up rooms and stories. Their memory palace belongs to them alone and they can design it as they please. Where else do they have the opportunity to let off steam as they do in their own thoughts?

As a parent, you should motivate your child to use all his creativity in building the memory palace. Don't restrict them in any way, but simply let their thoughts run free. After all, as the saying goes, "Thoughts are free!"

What you can do, however, is to help your child with the building process. At first, it will need some support, because maybe it can not yet really imagine what is actually meant. So start building together and then encourage your child to fill the spaces and build more and more.

Conclusion: A memory palace can improve learning and memory - try it!

The Memory Palace finally offers a home for all the knowledge that restlessly wanders through your brain. You put it in order in different rooms and thus bring a system into your world of thoughts. This way you can not only recall knowledge faster, but also remember much more! You even train your long-term memory intensively in this way. So just give it a try! Grab the imaginary bricks and let's go!

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Reviewed by Dr. med. Stefan Frädrich

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