Memory Palace

A Memory Palace is a location in your mind where you can store mnemonic images. The most common type of memory palace involves making a journey through a place you know well, like a building or town. Along that journey there are specific locations that you always visit in the same order. 

Step 1: For your first memory palace, try choosing a place that you know well, like your home or office.

Step 2: Plan out the whole route — for example: front door, shoe rack, bathroom, kitchen, living room, etc. Some people find that going clockwise is helpful, but it isn’t necessary. Eventually, you will have many memory palaces. You will also be able to revise the memory palace after you test it a few times, so don’t worry if it’s not perfect on the first try. Here’s an example which might be as you approach the front door of your holiday home:

Step 3: Now take a list of something that you want to memorize — a shopping list of 20 items is a good place to start: carrots, bread, milk, tea, oats, apples, etc. As an example, we’ll try memorising the periodic table and later you can try a list of key words in the piece you are trying to memorise!

Step 4: Take one item at a time and place a mental image of it (or something that will remind you of it) in each location of your memory palace. Try to exaggerate the images of the items and have them interact with the location. For example, if the first item is “carrots” and the first location in your memory palace is the front door, picture some giant carrots opening up your front door. Make the mnemonic images come alive with your senses. Exaggeration of the images and humour certainly helps!

Example: “Memorising the Periodic Table”

The first location in our memory palace is at the top of the stairs on the left.
The first element in the periodic table is hydrogen. We need a mnemonic image to represent hydrogen. It could be the Sun (which is mostly hydrogen), or maybe water (H20). It doesn’t matter at all, as long as the link is obvious and immediate to you!
The process of creating mnemonic images becomes much easier with practice, so don’t be discouraged if it takes you a little effort in the beginning to think of something memorable.
I would imagine a picture of the Sun at location #1.
The second location is the ledge next to the stairs. The second element is helium. Imagine a helium balloon tied to the stone at position #2.
The third location is on the stairs next to the ledge. The third element is lithium. An image for lithium could be a lithium battery. You could picture a battery rolling down the stairs.
The fourth location is on the sloping base of the wall. In this place, we will store a memory that represents beryllium. The word “beryllium” reminds me of a berry. I would picture a blueberry being squashed against the wall.
At the fifth location (the step), we will place an image to represent boron. “Boron” sounds like “boar”, so place an image of a boar there.
The sixth location element is carbon. A good mnemonic image for “carbon” is “car”. Imagine a car racing along the ledge.
The seventh location element is nitrogen. An image that sounds like “nitrogen” is “knight”. Imagine a jousting knight racing across the step on a horse.
The eighth location element is oxygen. When I think of oxygen, I imagine a guy in a space suit. I would picture an astronaut with an oxygen tank floating at position #8.
the ninth location element is fluorine. For me, “Fluorine” associates with “fluoride”. I would imagine cleaning the windows with a toothbrush and toothpaste.
The tenth location element is neon. Picture a neon sign at the foot of the door. Maybe the neon sign says something pertinent?
The eleventh location element is sodium. You could picture a salt shaker embedded in the wall or being pushed out of the window.
The twelfth location element is magnesium. I would imagine a magnesium flare in the darkened doorway.
The thirteenth location element is aluminium. Perhaps imagine aluminium foil wrapped around the plant?
The fourteenth location element is silicon. Picture silicon computer chips at position #14.
The fifteenth location element is phosphorous. All that a mnemonic image needs to do is get you past the tip of the tongue effect. “Phosphorous” has a similar beginning as “Fozzie Bear”. Picturing Fozzie Bear should be enough to help you recall phosphorous, at least after mentally walking through the memory palace a few times.

Don’t forget, it’s far easier to memorise memory prompts when you use links which YOU have made up.

Have fun and ‘Good luck’.