Loci

The story-teller's hack

The technique of loci, also known as the memory palace method, is a powerful mnemonic device that dates back over two millennia. This ancient technique involves visualizing a familiar place, like your home, and associating specific information with different locations within that space. By mentally walking through these locations, you can effectively recall the information tied to each spot. It's a remarkable tool for enhancing memory and retention, making it a favorite among scholars and memory champions alike.

Activity

Now you've learned about the technique, try putting it to use yourself! Make sure you use new places and journeys each time so that the information doesn't get confused (memory researchers call this "interference").

To avoid this confusion, it's good to make the location relevant to what you're learning, so why not use your science lab as the place where you're adding information from Biology, as a starting point. Here's an example:

Here are the main topics of AQA GCSE Combined Science Biology:

1. Cell biology
2. Organisation
3. Infection and Response
4. Bioenergetics
5. Homeostasis
6. Inheritance, variation and evolution
7. Ecology

Visualise this story:

The door to the science lab feels like jelly - as it's made of lots of tiny cells (plant, animal and bacterial - Cell Biology). You push through it, then slip on blood and guts on the floor (circulatory and digestive systems - Organisation). Next you sneeze (Infection & Response) and walk to the corner of the room where a plant is running on a treadmill (photosynthesis & respiration - Bioenergetics). Next, walk to the teacher's desk where someone has left a spinal cord, some sugar and a condom (reflex arc, blood sugar and fertility cycle - Homeostasis). You look across the classroom and see Charles Darwin sitting in your seat (Inheritance, Variation and Evolution). To leave, you ride out on a polar bear (adaptations) chewing a pencil (carbon cycle - Ecology).

Can you now remember each of the topic areas by decoding the images around the room?
Could you add other rooms or places to this, to build your memory palace? Remember to choose a location related to what subject you're learning. A nearby church for history? Your local park for geography? The library for English?