Have you ever noticed that memories are often thought of as physical things that you can lose or find? Sometimes you can’t “place” someone. The name of that thing “escapes” you. Oh wait, you’ve “got” it.

There are a number of theories for why this is. The most prominent is the simple fact that memory and spatial awareness evolved at almost the same time. So much so that they are both located in the same place in the brain, the Hippocampus.

This accident of evolution can be used to remember things beyond the normal range of short term recall. In 1956, George Miller suggested that humans can remember 7 distinct bits of information – plus or minus two depending on context. This is called Miller’s law and is the reason that emails and adverts and speeches are all supposed to be punchy and concise.

Mnemonic sleight of hand

One technique to short circuit this weirdly specific law is known as a memory palace. Any fans of the venerable Sherlock Holmes will have heard of this technique before. While it application may not help you fight crime or deduce anything, it can help with speeches, shopping lists or people’s names in a meeting or at a party. This was explained very neatly in Sam Leith’s book “You Talking to Me?” which I’ve linked below. I’ve borrowed his explanation and it goes something like this:

Say you need to recall a list of famous buildings: the Eiffel tower, London Eye, The Grand Canyon, the Burj Khalifa, the Pyramids, the Amazon rainforest, Niagara Falls, Stonehenge, the Hollywood sign and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. That’s 10 slightly similar items. While closing your eyes and trying to remember them may be successful, it’s probably hard to remember every single one and harder still to remember them in order.

Now try again, except this time, imagine standing at your front door. Really picture it. Feel the keys in your hand as you turn the lock and walk in. Close the door, take the Eiffel tower and pop it down behind you. Next, imagine walking to where you hang up your coat and hang up the London Eye on a coat hook. Now walk to the kitchen. At the entrance to the kitchen, lay the grand canyon down, like a mat, and hop over it into the centre of the room. Go to the cupboard under the sink, and put the Burj Khalifa in there. You might need to move some stuff around to make sure it fits in amongst the kitchen cleaner and anti-bac. Next head to the fridge and take the pyramids. Place them in the shelf where you might normally put your eggs. Now head upstairs.

Towards the top of the stairs, roll the amazon rainforest out, like turf, over the landing up and up to the top floor, so that your stairs look like the rolling, misty hills of an Attenborough documentary. Go to the bathroom. Put Niagara falls in the sink. Wash your hands in the crisp foam. As you reach for the soap, put down Stonehenge in the soap dish. Now, finally go towards your bedroom. Before you open the door, hammer the Hollywood sign to the front. Step inside, go to your wardrobe where you keep your favourite tops and dinner wear. Prop the leaning tower of Pisa in there, tip leaning on the side to keep it from falling over. Close the wardrobe door and voila.

Can you remember those 10 locations?

If this worked, you can use it for any number of lists and applications. In ancient history, great speakers and orators didn’t have an autocue nor easily accessible paper to scribble down notes with. They had to remember their speech by heart or they might lose the argument; or worse the will of the people with often devastating outcomes.