Old Getting Started

New Version#

This page is archived. To see updated information, visit the new Getting Started Guide.

This page contains two older versions of the getting started guide. For newer information on getting started, please see the newer Getting Started Guide and our free ebook, Learn the Art of Memory. Be sure to also create an account in the Art of Memory Forum so you can ask questions! You can also read the Free Self-Study Memory Course page.

What Is the Art of Memory?#

The Art of Memory is a collection of techniques and systems that help people retain more information in memory.

Humans are bad at remembering random, abstract data like lists of words, numbers, and cards, but we are excellent at remembering images and spatial information. Memory techniques take full advantage of humans’ ability to remember spaces, stories, and images.

All you need to get started is a little imagination.

Linking Method#

Linking is the simplest technique, upon which all others are based. You combine objects/images into stories, making them easier to remember.

A simple way to begin is to take a list of objects that you would like to memorize and chain them together into a story.

For example, if you want to memorize a list of grocery items on your shopping list, you can create a story that links them together. Here is a sample list:

1. carrots
2. bread
3. apples
4. grapes
5. lettuce
6. beans

They can be chained together with a story like this:

1. Imagine taking some carrots (the first item on the list) and poking holes in a loaf of bread (the second item on the list).
2. Then imagine using the bread (the second item on the list) to smash an apple (the third item on the list).
3. Imagine the apples (the third item on the list) rolling across a table and smashing into some grapes (the fourth item on the list) like a bowling ball, knocking the grapes off a table.
4. Imagine the grapes (the fourth item on the list) using lettuce (the fifth item on the list) as a parachute to safely descend from the edge of the table to the floor.
5. Then imagine the lettuce (the fifth item on the list) parachute falling down into a pile of beans (the sixth item on the list) on the floor.

Review the story once more:

Imagine taking carrots and using them to poke holes in a loaf of bread. Then imagine using the bread to smash an apple. The apple then rolls across the table to hit some grapes as if they were bowling pins. The grapes fall off the edge of the table, using lettuce leaves as a parachute to descend safely to the floor. The lettuce falls down and lands on a pile of beans.

Now, turn away from this page and try to recall the story/list from memory beginning with the carrot. If you miss any items, mentally walk through the story above one more time.

You can check out another example of a linking story.

Practice#

Here are some random words to practice with:

You can also visit the free memory training games page and click Random Words to generate some random word lists. Try memorizing 10 or 20 words using this method. Create and visualize a story, the more silly/random/loud/bizarre it is, the more memorable it will be. Go over it twice, then turn the tab and try to write down the 10 or 20 words. You will likely not have remembered all of them(depending on how much time you took), but you probably remembered a lot of them. Normally we can remember only up to 7 things using our normal memory.

You can continue trying to memorize 20 words as fast as you can and time yourself using a timer such as this one. After a bit of practice, the process of converting words to images should become much faster.

I recommend printing out a couple pages of random words(don’t re-use the same ones). Make sure to pick a start location, such as your bed (change it every time).

More info about linking:#

• Linking techniques comparison — a comparison of different ways of linking things
• r30’s Transformation Method — an explanation of the transformation method where instead of interacting objects you transform them into each other.
• Mnemonic Link System

Memory Journeys#

A Memory Journey is a way to store large amounts of information in your brain. Other terms for memory journeys are: Memory Palaces, Mind Palaces, Memory Spaces, Roman Rooms and the Method of Loci. They generally refer to the same technique, sometimes with minor variations.

What is a Locus?#

A locus is a location where you store information you want to remember. It can be anything that changes the background of the image you will be storing there. So if you have a phone laying on an open notebook, you can store an image mentally zooming in onto the phone, and also by zooming onto the lined pages of the notebook, since they look completely different. Be careful about using things that look too similar, like always using corners or columns. Any change in the background is sufficient.

An example 10-loci journey: Mailbox, driveway, front door, lamp, table, fridge, sink, couch, desk, computer.

See also: How to Create a Memory Palace

To use journeys, you do the same thing as you did using the linking technique; connect images together. For most people, its best(fastest and least forgetting of images) to link between two and four images per locus. Higher number chains(multiple linked images) tend to break very easily, causing you to forget the latter images of a chain. Just make sure to connect the first image of each chain of linked images to the locus(for example, a banana smashing into the mailbox)

You can test how many images would be optimal for you by trying to store random words in loci. Create 3 journeys that are 10 loci(locations) long. Go over the journeys in your imagination a couple times in order, to make sure you know where each locus is. Using this list of random words, print out a couple pages(or just read it off the screen) and memorize random words, first two per locus in the first journey(check how many you got right), then three per locus in the second journey(check again) and finally four per locus in the last journey(and check).

Did you do all that?

You noticed that using more objects per locus you obviously could store more information in less locations. You could store 20 words in half as many loci if you stored them 4 per locus as opposed to 2 per locus. But, you probably also noticed that you forgot a lot more words when you stored 4/locus.

And that’s it#

Memory palaces are simply locations in your mind where you store images to remember information. They can be real or you can use video games, images, or even completely make them up. Someone on this forum once said:

Real Places > Places with a visual aid > Imaginary locations#

The forum user gavino wrote a forum post about stacking memory palaces, having a palace to hold other palaces, as a way of organizing information here (and here’s part 2 of that).

Memorizing numbers#

Here are some tutorials that will help you get started:

• Learn how to memorize the order of black & red in a deck of playing cards
• How to memorize pi
• An introduction to memorizing numbers

Remember when we memorized bunch of digits of pi in the beginning? I didn’t come up with those images on the spot, I already had a complete list for all numbers 00 through 99. If you are ready and willing, you should create a list of 100 objects for yourself. It’s best to come up with your own images, as they are most personal and therefore most memorable for you, but you can also use some images from other people.

You will be using the major system, which we had seen earlier. It works on sounds. For example: 6 is the sound “CH”, which can be made by several different spelling of letters. Here are some examples: John, DRiver,CHeetah, Shot, Gel, etc. Visit the major system page to learn it. It’ll become automatic to you very quickly. For our 100 object list, we will be using two major system sounds per every number, like this: 32 is the sounds M and N. We fill in the gap with vowels, we can also add vowels before or after the consonants. MooN, MaNe, MaN, MaNa, et cetera. We can also add consonants that aren’t used in the major system(and therefore have no value), for example h and w: huMaN, woMaN.

Creating your list#

Open up an Excel Spreadsheet, or a Google Doc, or even a notepad and do this for every single number between 00 and 99. You can use words that have more than 2 consonants, you’ll just be using the first two. For example, CeNtipede can be 02, even though the whole word would be 02191 in the major system.

Just start with 00, think about it for a couple seconds, sound it out, sooos, ceeeseee, CeaSar! SauCe! If you think of a couple, pick whichever one you like best. If you can’t think of anything after 15-20 seconds, move on to the next one. By your first pass, you’ll have anywhere from 40-75 of the objects(depending on how much time you spent on each one). You can rest a couple minutes, or just keep going. Start from the first number that isn’t filled out, and try again. You’ll probably have 70-90 of the objects filled out by this second pass. Then just…

Fill in the blanks#

You should always come up with your own words, personal objects work best, but if you find it difficult to come up with some numbers, you can look at what words others have come up with. This list contains objects for every number from 0 to 9, from 00 to 99, and from 000 to 999. This means that if you look at that list, you will have 11 options for every single number that you are missing. Just click here to see it.

For example, if you are missing the number 22, you can look at that list and look at 220 through 229, and you have 10 options: NuNs, NeaNderthal, NaNny NeoN, NiNe Iron, NuN Chucks, NiNja, NuNlet, hoNeyaNths, and NaNobot. You pick whichever one you can imagine best, for example NeoN, you imagine a neon sign. Or a nanobot, you imagine a tiny robot. A Ninja, dressed all in black with a sword. Pick whichever works best and you can use it to fill in whatever gaps you may have in your list. One weird quirk: that list has 5 and 7 flipped. That means, if you are looking for the number 54, you will have to look in the 740’s. If you are looking for 75, look at 570’s.

There are also a couple other complete PAO lists on the PAO System Examples page.

Congratulations, you should now have a complete 100 object list for every number from 00 to 99.

I recommend putting the list in a journey(or separate it into a couple journeys) so you can review it whenever you want to. It’ll take a while before the translation from number to object is automatic, but practice will make it second nature.

Practice#

Try it out, memorize 100 random numbers(from the memory training page). You can have the list in front of you as you have just created it. Make a ~20 loci journey; for example your route to work, or just inside your home. Look at the first two numbers, remember what the sounds are, then look at your list, and connect the first object to the first locus. Look at the second two numbers, and link that object to the first one. Connect the third object to the second. Then move on to the second locus. It will take you 17 loci to complete 100 numbers.

Since it’s your first time, you’ll need to review after you finish the fifth locus, so go back and try to remember the three objects for each locus. If you can’t, look at the numbers and figure out what the objects were. Reinforce those images. Review at 10 loci, and then at 15. Once you are done with all 17, get a sheet of paper and write down what the 100 numbers were. There will be mistakes, but with practice those will disappear, and you will become much faster very quickly.

For those hungry for information#

This is a collection of posts that contain tons of information and you can check them out for more information about memory techniques.

This is a post detailing an private message exchange between the forum user Bateman and a new user. The new user asks a multitude of questions, the answers to which might be useful to some.

This post(and it’s follow up) detail a system for maximizing the amount of loci you have, and shows how you can use tiny memory palaces like movie scenes to exponentially expand your available loci.

This is a post wherein a certified memory champion answers random questions from new and experienced memory athletes alike.

See also how to memorize a book or textbook.

Archived Getting Started Guide #2#

Please see the new Beginner’s Portal.

This is the old getting started guide. It’s moved here as opposed to being deleted in case it will be reinstated as the official guide, or if parts of it are going to be used in other posts.

This page offers a collaboratively-written overview of how to get started with memory techniques. After you read through this page, see also, the wiki homepage and the memory techniques forum for additional reading. The search box at the top of every page in the forum is a great place to find what you are looking for.

Feel free to jump in and help edit this page!

Quickstart#

If you just want to jump right it, here is a quick list of things that you can do:

1. Learn the basics of mnemonic images and the method of loci with this tutorial on memorizing the order of red and black in a deck of cards
2. Watch the video, An Introduction to Memorizing Numbers
3. Read about Memory Palaces
4. Then read the rest of this page, which explains some basic methods and links to many other resources.

Please also read the FAQs page.

Introduction#

Many people come to the world of memory with a lot of enthusiasm. Although, the world of memory is a big place and it’s very easy to get lost. We here at mnemotechnics.org hope to make this journey into the world of memory a lot easier for you.

There are many different techniques and systems to memorisation, these all vary in complexity and function. The theoretical and philosophical frameworks encompassing these techniques have a long history dating back to Ancient Greece, and for thousands of years people have tried, tested and experimented with memory. This, however, is not what we hope to explain to you today. The aforementioned frameworks will be explained elsewhere in this wiki [links to come soon]. We are approaching this introduction with the same philosophy of that of sport: you can know as much about physiology and exercise as you like, but that isn’t going to improve your skills or attributes. We hope to help introduce you to using the techniques and training your memory by guiding you through a set of practical exercises: allowing you to experience how the techniques work first-hand and improving your competence in using these techniques as you go along.

For those of you who already have a vague knowledge of the art of memory, it may be tempting to dive into a more complex system to try to replicate the feats of memory you have read about. Unfortunately, just like in sport, you have to get off the couch and start walking before you can sprint the 100m. This guide will aim to start you off using a single-digit Major system to remember the order of a single suit of cards, or to quickly memorise a phone number; and then building you up to more complex systems such as the two-digit Major System or second degree PAO system - accomplishing such a feat will equip you with the skills and flexibility to use any system you wish.

Disclaimer: The training regime described here is by no means building up to the “best” system. No such system exists. You may find that you prefer a two-digit Major system to a third degree PAO system, you may think the second degree PAO system is superior to the Ben system. The system you use is not the main limiting factor in how well you can accomplish feats of memory. The limiting factor is yourself and how hard you are willing to work. This is evident by looking at the results achieved in the memory championships across the world: the champions use a variety of different systems, from current world champion Wang Feng using a system unique to the Chinese, US national champion Nelson Dellis using the PAO, former German national champion Boris Konrad using the Major system, and former world champion and current UK national champion Ben Pridmore using his own created Ben System.

What can I expect? Why should I work on mnemonic technique?#

Practicing memory techniques can have many benefits:

• increasing creativity
• remembering names & faces
• memorizing schoolwork quickly
• learning foreign languages
• memorizing poetry
• competing in memory competitions
• and much more

There are two principles that can greatly increase your memory in about an hour:

1. The Method of Loci
2. Encoding mnemonic images (e.g., associating the things to be memorized with things that you already know)

Here is a tutorial that you can complete in an hour or two that will teach both of those concepts: Learn How to Memorize the Order of Black & Red in a Deck of Playing Cards. By the end of the tutorial, you should be able to memorize about 60 random binary digits, as well as use the same memory palace technique to quickly memorize something like a shopping list with as many as 30 to 50 items.

Basic Concepts#

There are two main concepts of memory that most of the techniques are based on:

1. Association
2. Location

To easily remember something, we can relate it to something that we already know. This usually involves converting the information into a mnemonic image. If you want to remember that someone’s name is Bob, picture him bobbing for apples. If you want to remember that the German word for window is fenster, you could picture a window in a fence. The image of the “fence” will help you recall the word “fenster”. The associations that are used in some of the mnemonic techniques can get much more sophisticated than that, but that is the basic idea.

Besides association, another important concept to be familiar with is location. It is easy for humans to remember journeys and what happened along the routes of those journeys. You can use this natural ability to trick your mind into believing that it traveled along a journey and experienced certain things along the way. Those certain things can be mnemonic images that represent the information that you memorized. This technique of creating imaginary journeys is called the Method of Loci. The imaginary journeys are often referred to as memory palaces.

Step 1 - Keep it simple#

Words#

Try to remember a list of random words. Get yourself a timer like this or this. And you’ll need a journey. The journey method (also called the memory palace technique or the Method of Loci) is technique using a set of loci, the Latin word for “locations”, where you put your memories. This is by far the most powerful way to memorize. The journey is typically a place you know well and can walk through in your mind; it must have various distinct spots where you can place the images which will represent your memories. An example of a journey would be your morning wake-up routine. You wake up in your bed (location 1) and look over at the clock on your bedside cabinet (location 2) stand up and put your clothes on from your cabinet (location 3) and then once you’re ready, leave out the front door to head to work (location 50, perhaps?) and into your car (location 51).

For the following task, you will need a journey with 30 loci, so you’ll have to come up with your own first! it can be any place that you know well. A journey throughout your own home, the route that you walked to school as a teenager, the way to your office in the building that you work. Anywhere you know well and can pick out 30 distinct spots.

Words are easier to memorize than numbers because they represent a physical object that we can easily visualise. The key to memorising words are to make the images as strong as possible. By this they can be bizarre, crazy, sensual, sexual or emotive. Instead of imagining a hamburger and placing that in the second location, think of the best hamburger you’ve ever tasted. Pick it up at the location, bite into it and taste it, feel it in your hands, perhaps you had it at a good friend’s barbecue many years ago, remember what a great time that was? This is what makes the images especially memorable, and this is what you have to do to the words you want to memorize. After training, you won’t have to put as much detail into your images as you become better at recalling them - the best thing you want to do is to make them optimally memorable with minimal effort, and this skill will come with practice!

Let us take the following list of 30 words. Your aim is to memorize as many as you can in 5 minutes using the techniques described above. Don’t worry if you can’t get them all; this is what you’re aiming to be able to do, if you can’t, get another random list of words then try again! (I got 16/30 my first try, practice makes perfect)

See the Memory Training Tools page for more random word generators.

If you can accomplish this task you should now have no problem memorising daily to-do lists, shopping lists, etc. We actively encourage that you do memorize things like the aforementioned as it’s a great way to flex your memory muscles!

1 digit system#

For your first memory challenges involving numbers and cards, you will be using a single digit Major system. The Major System focuses on turning digits into consonants, which you can make words from by inserting vowels. For example, the short digit sequence 84147 translates into the consonants FRTRK which can become FiReTRuCK (the ck gives the “k” phonetic sound, so we don’t count them as separate digits). More can be learned about how the Major system works by following the link to our separate wiki page dedicated to that.

Below you will find a list of objects that have been created using the Major system for single digits that you can visualise to represent any single digit between 0 and 9. You will have to remember these 10 digit to image conversions to successfully accomplish the challenges.

The memorisation is accomplished not by remembering the numbers themselves, but by memorising the images of these objects. And to make these objects especially memorable we are going to place them at specific loci in a journey that you know well. By placing these objects in a place that we know, we can easily recall that object, and thus the number, by mentally revisiting that place in our mind.

Here is a list of 10 objects which will represent the numbers 0 - 9 for you. Numbers are an indirectly observed concept without physical form, hence why we find it so difficult to remember a phone number.

You can replace the objects with whatever you like (in fact, we encourage you to. A system personal to you works the best and you may even find our created system difficult). The association should be personal to you; the purpose of a system like the Major system is to help you create images for digits when nothing immediately comes to mind (for example, maybe you see a snowman when you see the number 8, then go ahead and replace UFO with snowman!). Remember, it’s not about the system you use, it’s about how you practice!

• 0 ice
• 1 tie
• 2 knee
• 3 emu
• 4 arrow
• 5 oil
• 6 joey (baby kangaroo)
• 7 cow
• 8 UFO
• 9 pie

For your first challenge with numbers: you’ll need 15 loci to memorise a 15 digit number, and once again, a stopwatch. We want you to memorise a 15 digit number in 2 minutes. Here are 5 lines of 15 digits for you to try memorising, don’t feel pressured to read them all, we’re providing 5 for your practice.

735801428476123

611683362015013

981234378474591

522322788953831

526717731203881

If you can accomplish this, we suggest that you try memorising phone numbers. If you can do a 15 digit number, a phone number should be no problem! As you progress through the steps in this wiki, it will become easier to memorise digits. Single digit memorisation systems are very weak and limited, so we hope to move you on from there soon.

A suit of playing cards#

Another popular test of memory is the speed memorisation of the order of a shuffled deck of playing cards, the cards will be remembered in the same way as numbers in that there will be a card to image conversion for each different card. Below we have given you images for Spades, reusing our digits for 1 - 9 as our images for the Ace to the 9.

To memorise this suit of cards: apply the same technique that you used for digits. You will need a 13 loci journey. If you altered the digit list, apply the same change to the Ace - 9. You also have liberty to change the ten, jack, queen and king images if you wish. Here is a useful blog post on the topic of using the Major system to create objects which represent cards.

Now you just have to get a suit of cards, shuffle them, and memorise to your hearts content. Try to memorise all 13 cards as fast as you can.

AS - tie

2S - knee

3S - emu

4S - arrow

5S - oil

6S - joey

7S - cow

8S - ufo

9S - pie

For ten, jack, queen and king we’ll use some more images.

TS - toes

JS - jazz

QS - quartz (a crystal)

KS - keys

Memorising a deck of cards is a general technique to train your memory, it can also act as a great party trick and conversation starter.

A 13 step journey around your house#

(Under construction - see discussion page)

Create a journey around your house. Start with your bedroom,

1. Bed
2. Bookcase
3. Desk
4. Hallway
5. etc. (Expand this journey to 13. Back door)

Goals#

• Remember someone’s phone number, and still remember it after a week.
• Memorise 1 suit of cards in under 5 minutes.

Expected Time#

All this should only take you an hour or two.

Step 2 - A bit more interesting#

Now you’ve got the hang of that, we can move on to something a little more advanced.

• 1 deck of playing cards
• 52 step journey
• 2 digit numbers
• 100 step journey

Use the major system and create another 100 objects covering the numbers from 00 to 99. (You should not reuse your 1 digit objects, as we’re still going to need to use those.)

(Such lists already exist if you want to use someone elses.)

You can re-use some of these images for cards. So “suit (01)” is used for both 01 and the ace of spades.

Make some journeys, have one with 110 loci to help you learn your object list, and a few different 52 locus journeys for practicing cards.

Then keep practicing using those journeys/objects until you become intimately familiar with them.

Post on the forum whenever you have questions.

Goals#

• Be able to convert from a 2 digit number to an image within 5 seconds. (for all of your 110 objects)
• Memorise 1 deck of cards in under 10 minutes.

Expected Time#

This will probably take about a week.

Step 3 - The full PAO#

6 digit numbers#

More cards per locus#

More journeys#

Goals#

Expected Time#

Frequently Asked Questions#

(Some of these are technically statements.)

But I really wanted to use people

Use people

I tried to remember a phone number yesterday but I’ve forgotten it today

Use spaced repetition to store things in long term memory.

I keep getting confused by old images on my journeys

When storing short term information (like cards), don’t use the same journey more than once a day.

I’m not interested in all this numbers/card stuff I just want to be able to remember peoples names.

See the pages about remembering names.

I have a question that’s not listed here

Post on the forum, if you ask a specific question someone will help you.

Further Reading#

• List of Memory Techniques Books