WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS

Remember a list
by walking through your home.

Memory champions are not born with special brains, researchers say. They train.

Their favourite tool is the method of loci, or memory palace, used by Greek and Roman orators. You picture each item at a spot along a route you know well, then walk the route in your mind to get them back.

16.6 → 42.3 words in 5 minutes, after 6 weeks

Pick a trick

A sunlit hallway in a family home leading past a coat stand, a staircase and an open kitchen door, the kind of familiar route used for a memory palace — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

Picture it in a place
Make it your own
Understand, not just recall
Memory you can train

THE SHORT ANSWER

Tie new things
to places you know.

Mnemonics are strategies for remembering information.
The best-tested one turns a list into a walk.

METHOD OF LOCI

A walk through your house

Memorise a few distinct spots along a familiar route, then imagine each item at one spot. To recall, walk the route in your mind.

Pick a trick

PEGWORDS AND STORIES

Rhymes and silly scenes

Pegwords link numbers to rhyming objects, bun for one, shoe for two. Stories string items into a scene you can replay in order.

Build one

THE LIMITS

Not a study shortcut

A major review rated the keyword mnemonic low for learning in general: it helps for a limited range of material and over short spells.

Where they fall short

A QUICK TECHNIQUE CHECK

Which trick
fits the job?

Pick a memory technique to see what it is good for. The bar shows how strongly the research behind this page backs it for memories that last.

Technique check

Choose a techniqueMemory palaceTesting yourselfPegwordsKeyword mnemonicRereading and highlighting

Memory palaceLists in order, lasting

Six weeks of method of loci training improved word recall, and a follow-up study found it built more durable memories, with brain changes partly linked to better performance 4 months later.

Testing yourselfFacts for exams

Not a mnemonic, but a 2013 review gave practice testing a high utility rating because it helps learners of many ages and abilities.

PegwordsShort numbered lists

Link each number to a rhyming object, then each object to an item. A study-skills favourite, but the research here did not rate it separately.

Keyword mnemonicSome vocabulary, short term

The 2013 review rated it low utility: it is hard to use in some contexts and helps for limited materials and short retention spells.

Rereading and highlightingFeels useful, often is not

The same review rated both low utility, because they do not consistently boost performance. It suggests practice testing instead.

Source: Dunlosky et al. (2013), Psychological Science in the Public Interest; Dresler et al. (2017), Neuron; Wagner et al. (2021), Science Advances; University of Auckland, Memory techniques.

Ratings from Dunlosky et al. (2013) and the memory palace training studies of Dresler et al. (2017) and Wagner et al. (2021).

TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING

Champions recall almost everything,
and novices can catch up a lot.

One figure from memory athletes,
one from ordinary people after six weeks.

70.8 of 72

Words recalled out of 72, twenty minutes after learning them

Seventeen of the world's leading memory athletes averaged 70.8 of 72 words, against 39.9 for matched controls with no mnemonic training.

MEMORY ATHLETES · NEURON 2017

16.6 → 42.3 words

Random words memorised in 5 minutes, start to end of training

Novices practised the method of loci in 40 sessions of 30 minutes over six weeks. Their best scores rose steadily throughout the training.

SIX WEEKS OF TRAINING · NEURON 2017

Both studies trained adults who had no previous experience of mnemonic strategies; the 2017 study's 51 trainees and controls were all young men.

BUILD A MEMORY PALACE

Five spots,
one walk.

This is the University of Auckland's study-skills exercise for the method of loci, set out step by step.

Choose a familiar place
Your house or local area works well, because you already know it without effort.
Fix five distinct spots
Walk the route and memorise distinct locations along it, such as the front door, the stairs and the kitchen table.
Place one item at each spot
Picture each thing to remember at one location: balloons at the door, a cake on the stairs. Your own images work best.
Walk it back
To recall, take the same walk in your mind and look at what is waiting at each spot.

A person, seen from behind, sitting at a desk with notebooks, looking out of a window while recalling a list — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

A handwritten shopping list on a kitchen table next to balloons, a cake and party hats waiting to be remembered — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

WHERE MNEMONICS FALL SHORT

Remembering
is not understanding.

The University of Auckland's guide warns against overusing mnemonics, because they can get confusing, and reminds students that it is important to understand material, not just remember it.

Dunlosky and colleagues found the keyword mnemonic and imagery for text learning gave limited benefits, while practice testing and spacing study out over time had high utility. Mnemonics shine for lists and order; for understanding, test yourself.

Questions

Questions people ask

What is a mnemonic?

A strategy for remembering information. Common types include the method of loci, pegwords, stories, acronyms and acrostics, where the first letters of words form a word or a memorable sentence.

What is a memory palace?

Another name for the method of loci. You imagine items placed at distinct spots along a route you know well, then mentally walk the route to recall them in order.

Do memory champions have special brains?

Researchers say superior memory seems to come from deliberate training in mnemonic strategies rather than extraordinary brain anatomy or general cognitive superiority.

How long does it take to get better?

In a 2017 study, novices who trained in the method of loci for 40 sessions of 30 minutes over six weeks rose from 16.6 to 42.3 random words memorised in 5 minutes.

Are mnemonics good for revising?

For lists and sequences, they can help. A 2013 review rated the keyword mnemonic low utility overall and gave its highest ratings to practice testing and spacing study sessions out.

Remember a list
by walking through your home.