Method of Loci—location-based association#

The method of loci—also known as the memory palace, loci method, or Roman Rooms system—is a spatial mnemonic technique that dates back to ancient Greek times. Orators, philosophers and others had to rely on memory for memorizing speeches and knowledge in general, as the printed book only came into use roughly two thousand years later. They devised various memory techniques, and this is one of the most powerful. It is the same method world memory champions still use today.

The method of loci involves associating information you want to remember with specific locations, or loci (Latin for “places”). These locations may be points along a journey or objects in a room. Usually the journey or room would be one familiar to you, however sometimes you might create the journey or room for a topic. Indeed, the ancient users of this technique didn’t create just rooms, but entire palaces and cities to remember much information.

In this section I first look at why the technique works, then the general principles, and then the two common techniques: the mental journey or story technique, and the Roman Rooms technique. Along the way you’ll find several worked examples and a short FAQ.

Why the method of loci works#

Three properties of human memory make this technique so effective:

• Spatial memory is ancient. The brain evolved to remember places—where water was, where danger lurked, which path led home. Route and landmark memory is strong, durable and easy to recall. The method of loci taps straight into that system.

• Association multiplies recall. Linking new information to a familiar image or place creates a second retrieval cue. When either the place or the item comes to mind, the other follows. See the general association principles for the wider pattern.

• Order is built in. Walking a route in sequence gives you a natural ordering. That makes the method particularly well-suited to lists, speech points, procedures, and historical timelines—any case where order matters.

Research on memory champions has shown that elite performers using the method of loci show unusually strong activity in the brain regions responsible for spatial navigation—the same regions used when planning a physical journey through a familiar place.

General principles#

The principles for associating objects to locations are essentially the same as the general association principles. The term location refers to a placeholder. It may be a stop in a journey or an object in a room. There are a few guidelines for selecting locations:

• Each location is specific and distinctive, not easily confused with other locations.

• Don’t use a single room for more than one topic.

• Locations should be of intermediate or similar size.

• Locations should be bright and well-lit.

• Keep distracting detail to a minimum.

• Try to make the locations active. Have an item interact with the location in some way. An example may be to pick up an object in the room and see something about it that triggers the association.

The information you memorize should already be familiar to you, for example through the explore step of the Memletic Process. If, for example, you are associating names of famous painters through history, you should have already explored those painters otherwise the location may not trigger the association.

Mental journey or story#

The mental journey or story technique involves associating information with locations along a specific path. As a result, this technique is good for recalling information in a certain order.

The path may be a journey that is familiar to you. For example, the stops along a particular train route or the towns along a particular drive. You could also invent a path, however this needs some extra mental effort.

Here are the steps:

6. 1. Select the path you wish to use. It should have about the same number of locations as the number of chunks in the information you wish to memorize.

   2. Go through the path in your mind. Make sure each location follows the general principles above. You should be able to recall the specific order of the locations without trouble.

   3. Associate. Link the new information with each location using association.

   4. Test your associations. Run through the locations and ensure they trigger the association clearly in your mind.

Here’s an example of how to use this technique. You want to memorize the key points in a sales presentation on your particular product. The key points are:

• It delivers significant savings to their business.

• It improves their product quality.

• It addresses staff concerns.

• It reduces wastage.

• It only takes four weeks to install.

Let’s go through each step of the process together:

7. 1. Select a path. For this example, consider the rooms you go through as you get ready for work in the morning. These may be bedroom (getting out of bed), bathroom (shower), bedroom (getting dressed), kitchen (eating breakfast), and bathroom (brushing teeth). You then walk out the front door.

   2. Check the locations. Yes, these locations should be familiar and the order is easy to remember

   3. Associate the new information. The table below outlines some possible associations:

4. Test your associations. Try running through the example and see how well you remember the points.

Second example: memorize a shopping list#

Lists are the easiest place to start with the method of loci. Say you need to pick up milk, bread, eggs, coffee, bananas and a birthday card. Walk the route from your front door to your kitchen and drop one item at each location:

• Front door: a milk carton the size of the door, with milk leaking under it.
• Hallway mirror: a loaf of bread is looking back at you, wearing sunglasses.
• Living room couch: the couch is filled with eggs instead of cushions—they crunch as you sit down.
• Coffee table: an enormous coffee bean in place of the table, steaming.
• Kitchen counter: a bunch of bananas has grown out of the counter like a tree.
• Fridge: a giant birthday card is stuck to the fridge, singing “Happy Birthday” when you open it.

To recall the list, walk the route in your mind. Each location fires the association in turn. For longer lists, extend the route further into the house, or reuse the same route for a different list the next day—the old associations fade quickly once they’re no longer rehearsed.

Roman Rooms#

The Roman Rooms technique is similar to the mental journey or story technique. The difference is the locations are objects in a room. The name comes from the Romans using this technique nearly two thousand years ago.

You can use this technique for both ordered and unordered lists. For an ordered list, follow a specific path around the room. Even for unordered lists, still follow a specific path to ensure you recall each item.

The “room” does not need to be a single room. It may be a series of rooms within a house or building. As I mentioned above in the mental journey technique, the original users of these techniques built palaces and cities to remember the information they wanted. You may choose to use your own house, work building, school, or other familiar buildings. Each room represents a topic, and the items in that room represent individual pieces of information.

You normally choose rooms and buildings you are already familiar with. However, you may choose to create your own. This takes added effort to first create and then fix the locations in your mind, before you start associating your content to those locations. This does have the benefit though that you can create the locations based on the content you wish to memorize. You can make the links more obvious, and you can expand your rooms and buildings without limits!

Another variation on this technique is to create your own learning campus. Create a place in your mind that you go to when doing any form of mental work. Create different buildings and rooms for each topic, and then associate specific information with items in those rooms. You can also create an entranceway with which you associate the elements of Memletic State. The entranceway reminds you of those elements as you begin each learning session.

Use the same steps for Roman Rooms as for the mental journey technique above. Select the room or building, create and fix the locations, associate the content, and test the results.

Method of loci vs. other mnemonic techniques#

The method of loci is one of several association-based memory techniques. Each has its sweet spot:

• Peg words . A number-to-word system where you hook items to pre-memorized pegs (one—bun, two—shoe, and so on). Better for short, fixed-number lists than long sequences.

• Linked lists . Chain each item to the next via a vivid image. Good for lists where you don’t need random access—you step through the chain.

• Acrostic and acronym mnemonics . Use first letters to form a word or sentence. Compact but limited to around seven items.

• Chunking . Group items into meaningful units to reduce what you have to remember in the first place. Often works well combined with the method of loci—chunk first, then place each chunk at a locus.

The method of loci wins when you need ordered recall of many items, long-term retention, or the ability to jump to any item by its place. For a sales pitch, a speech, a study list of key dates or the points of an exam answer, it is hard to beat.

Frequently asked questions#

What is the method of loci?#

The method of loci is a memory technique where you associate each item you want to remember with a specific location along a familiar route or inside a familiar place. To recall the items, you mentally walk the route and “see” each association in turn.

Is the method of loci the same as a memory palace?#

Yes. Memory palace is the modern, popular name for the method of loci. The Roman Rooms technique described above is another name for the same idea—items placed at locations inside one or more rooms. All three refer to the same underlying spatial mnemonic.

Who invented the method of loci?#

The technique is usually credited to the ancient Greek poet Simonides of Ceos (c. 556—468 BCE). Roman orators including Cicero and Quintilian later codified it in their rhetoric manuals, where it is sometimes called the ars memoriae or “art of memory.”

Does the method of loci actually work?#

Yes. It is the dominant technique used by competitors at the World Memory Championships and has been studied extensively. It exploits the brain’s strong spatial and visual memory systems, and the ordered, cue-rich nature of a mental walk gives each item two or three independent retrieval paths.

What can I memorize with the method of loci?#

Anything that can be turned into a vivid image, including: speech points, shopping lists, vocabulary, historical dates, playing-card orders, formulas, exam answers, names and faces, and the steps of a procedure. It is particularly good when order matters.

How many items can I fit in one memory palace?#

There is no hard limit. Ten to twenty locations is comfortable for a single route; experienced practitioners routinely build palaces with hundreds of loci. If you need more, link several palaces together—for example, one palace per topic.

Can I reuse the same memory palace for different lists?#

Yes, but wait for the old associations to fade before overwriting them, or use different palaces for content you need to keep long-term. A simple rule: use throwaway palaces (like your morning routine) for short-term lists, and dedicated palaces for material you want to retain.

Method of loci vs. peg words: which is better?#

Peg words are faster to set up and great for lists of up to about ten items in a fixed order. The method of loci scales much further, works better for long speeches and structured content, and is easier to extend with sub-locations. Many people learn both and pick the tool to match the job.

The underlying lesson for good association is to use your imagination. It may take you some time to allow your mind to create the creative, illogical and absurd associations that help you remember more. It comes with practice. And there are some good side effects from letting loose your imagination, such as higher creativity and problem solving skills. All this comes from thinking like a child again.