3 ms·

The thing I've never understood about memory palaces or location reminders is: do you reuse the same locations all the time? If so, how do you mentally distingu

The thing I've never understood about memory palaces or location reminders is: do you reuse the same locations all the time? If so, how do you mentally distinguish between your current memorized set, and the set you remembered a dozen times ago with the same palace?

throwanem 5y ago
I don't know about memory palaces, but the technique I describe involves no memorization; the association isn't that strong. Once it's served its purpose and I no longer need to remember it, I quickly cease to do so, and I haven't noticed problems with overhang from past uses of the same objects. For the same reason, I wouldn't expect this kind of - I dunno, "mnestic nudge?" - to last very reliably over significant spans of time. I can do it over spans of a few hours to a morning-and-afternoon day, but I don't recall having tried it overnight and I wouldn't want to rely solely on it if I did. I don't really know whether or how well it parallelizes, either; if I've tried that before now, I no longer recall how it went. What I'm describing really isn't like a "memory palace" at all, even if I mentioned it in a thread about those. That concept claims quite a general and systematic sort of utility, while this is just one among a set of tools that for me also includes a pocket notebook, phone reminders, a diary, and so on. When circumstances preclude immediate access to any of the others, I use this one instead, and also by choice because without at least a bit of practice it might not work when I do need it. (Also because it's really convenient, with less friction even than pen and paper - and besides, my phone can't "remind me of something the next time I pick up my diary".)
nestorD 5y ago
The memorized set goes away fairly easily. However, profesional mnemotechnicians who do several demonstrations a day will sometime take the time to 'destroy' the pictures in between demonstrations (setting them mentally on fire for example) in order to reduce the risk of confusion.

throwanem 5y ago

I don't know about memory palaces, but the technique I describe involves no memorization; the association isn't that strong. Once it's served its purpose and I no longer need to remember it, I quickly cease to do so, and I haven't noticed problems with overhang from past uses of the same objects. For the same reason, I wouldn't expect this kind of - I dunno, "mnestic nudge?" - to last very reliably over significant spans of time. I can do it over spans of a few hours to a morning-and-afternoon day, but I don't recall having tried it overnight and I wouldn't want to rely solely on it if I did. I don't really know whether or how well it parallelizes, either; if I've tried that before now, I no longer recall how it went. What I'm describing really isn't like a "memory palace" at all, even if I mentioned it in a thread about those. That concept claims quite a general and systematic sort of utility, while this is just one among a set of tools that for me also includes a pocket notebook, phone reminders, a diary, and so on. When circumstances preclude immediate access to any of the others, I use this one instead, and also by choice because without at least a bit of practice it might not work when I do need it. (Also because it's really convenient, with less friction even than pen and paper - and besides, my phone can't "remind me of something the next time I pick up my diary".)

nestorD 5y ago

The memorized set goes away fairly easily. However, profesional mnemotechnicians who do several demonstrations a day will sometime take the time to 'destroy' the pictures in between demonstrations (setting them mentally on fire for example) in order to reduce the risk of confusion.