Memory Techniques With Evidence Behind Them

Formal memory techniques are effective for specific purposes and are frequently oversold as general cognitive improvement.

The method of loci

Mentally placing items to be remembered at locations along a familiar route, then walking the route to retrieve them. It exploits strong spatial memory and forces distinctive elaborative encoding. It works — memory competitors use it, and imaging studies of trained users show altered activation patterns. Training studies in ordinary participants have produced substantial improvements in list recall.

Other effective techniques

Chunking groups items into meaningful units, effectively expanding capacity by increasing unit size. The major system converts digits to consonant sounds and then to memorable words, making numbers storable. Peg systems associate items with a pre-learned ordered list. Elaborative interrogation — asking why a fact is true — improves retention of factual material. Keyword mnemonics work well for vocabulary.

The limits

These improve memory for the material they are applied to; they do not improve general memory capacity. A trained memory athlete has ordinary memory for things they did not deliberately encode. They require effort at encoding, which is why people abandon them for everyday use. And they suit arbitrary material — lists, numbers, vocabulary — better than conceptual understanding, where elaboration and retrieval practice serve better.

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