The LOCI method is very useful when we have to learn large amounts of material, for example, when preparing for exams. What is the LOCI method?
It seems that the first references to the LOCI method or palace of memory are attributed to Saint Augustine, although others say that the Romans used it to give speeches in the Senate without the need to read. Be that as it may, the LOCI method is very ancient and very useful, but not as well known as other study techniques; perhaps because it requires a certain level of preparation. If we study in advance (as we should if we want to pass our
eTítulo without any surprises), then the palace of memory will be a great ally to memorize extensive study material. This technique consists of dividing what we want to learn into sections and associating it with a mental place, which will make it easier for us to retrieve what we need to remember later on.
Building a palace
The ideal time to create the palace of memory is when we are alone, relaxed, and have some free time without distractions. Before going to sleep, for example. We don't have to be too fancy with the palace because who needs something so excessive in the 21st century? The ideal is to create a mental space that is more accessible and with less dusty glassware. If we want to organize our thoughts well, it's best to create something more like a Swedish style or even use a construction that is familiar to us, like our own house. If we want to get creative and make a spaceship or an underwater dwelling, that's fine too, the important thing is to spend a good amount of time creating that place with our imagination (that's why the LOCI method is not suitable when we're in a hurry). We have to imagine each of the rooms that our palace of memory will have and decorate them to our liking. Know what furniture occupies each of the rooms, what colors the walls and upholstery are, what lighting there is, the temperature... Put our personal touch in each room and create something unique. It may sound difficult and impossible to remember, but surprisingly it is not. When we create our mental palace, we will remember it forever. And it will be a place where we can relax, meditate, and think calmly when we need to.
The LOCI method
Once we have created a mental palace, the LOCI method allows us to use it to memorize, and that's when it becomes a "palace of memory". The spaces we have created will serve us to "store" the information we want to remember, and the order in which we go through the rooms will also give us the order in which we will retrieve the information. Therefore, the first step after creating the palace is to visualize the entire route we will take through it (the typical: I open the door, there is a hallway, a room on the right, a living room on the left…). It is important that we know our imagined place perfectly, even associating different smells with each room or characteristic sounds so that our memory becomes sharper, for example:
on the left, there is an interior garden that smells like flowers and moss, and if you enter through the glass door, there is a bathroom with a broken cistern where you can constantly hear the dripping of water. The next thing we have to do is transform what we are studying into images and store each image in a place in the order in which we need to remember them. At first, it is good to write or draw where each thing is, but later on, we will be able to see everything just by thinking about it.
Practice makes perfect
If we take this system seriously and work on it, the LOCI method will open up a world of possibilities when it comes to studying. Over time, we may even have rooms filled with filing cabinets, expand the palace to create a planet of information, and be able to remember anything we have stored there at any time, not just during exams. But as we said, the LOCI method is not easy; we have to make an effort and always be scrupulously organized with what we store in our palace. In addition, it is good to leave clues from one room to the next so that we know what we should find there, for example:
In the kitchen, where it always smells like cookies, Jane Austen is eating a soup with bread crumbs Jane Austen, when I approach her, she gives me a key that opens the pantry with her favorite things. When I open the door, I see three shelves full of figurines and various objects. On the first one, there is a sign that says "work", on the second one, "personal life", and on the third one, "era and society". In the shelf where her work is, there are six novels that I can pick up and open. Each one has the title and the year it was published written down, as well as some interesting curiosities. Also, some doodles made by me to remind me of something. In that shelf, instead of the novels, there may be a sign that says: SSOPMPE+NAP 11-13-14-15+18-18 When we have gone through this route several times, opened all the books or read the sign, and even asked Austen why she puts so much bread in the soup, when we get to the exam, we will go back there and in a few seconds, we will be able to say:
Sense and Sensibility (1811),
Pride and Prejudice (1813),
Mansfield Park (1814),
Emma (1815),
Northanger Abbey (1818), and
Persuasion (1818), and that these last two works are posthumous. It may seem confusing, but having an organized mind and knowing how to easily retrieve memories is a wonderful tool for any student. We encourage you to try it.
