Bernard O'Shea: This is my simple hack to improve your memory - I've tried it and it works

This technique has been a life changer for me when I travel

Bernard O'Shea. Photograph Moya Nolan.

Have you ever found yourself standing in the middle of a room, scratching your head, trying to remember why you went there in the first place?

If you nodded in agreement, welcome to the club! With all its remarkable capabilities, the human brain can be a scatterbrain sometimes.

This brings me to my new personal fascination: the ancient and almost magical technique, the Memory Palace.

The Memory Palace, sometimes referred to as “The Method of Loci,” feels like discovering a cheat code for the brain. But what is it, really?

Is it as mystical as it sounds, or is there science behind it?

The Method of Loci is a well-researched and validated memory technique.

It involves visualising a familiar place and placing the items you want to remember at specific locations within this mental space. 

To recall the information, you mentally stroll through your “palace” and retrieve each item from its designated spot.

The roots of the Memory Palace can be traced back to ancient Greece, specifically to Simonides of Ceos, around 556 BCE. 

Legend has it that Simonides was the sole survivor of a building collapse, and he could identify the bodies of his fellow diners based on where they had been sitting. 

This gruesome experience inspired him to develop a system where he associated information with specific physical locations. 

Many scientific studies support the effectiveness of the Memory Palace technique. A specific review examined 13 randomised controlled trials and found that the Method of Loci significantly improved memory performance in various tasks and populations.

Creating your own Memory Palace is easy. It’s not about constructing an ornate mental mansion but about utilising familiar spaces in your daily life. Here’s how you can build your own Memory Palace.

• Choose your palace: Start with a familiar place—your home, office, or even a favourite walking route. The key is familiarity.
• Plan your path: Map out a specific route through this space. For example, in your home, you might start at the front door, move to the living room, then the kitchen, and so on. Make sure your path is linear to avoid confusion.
• Identify your loci: Pick distinct locations along your route. These can be furniture pieces, a room’s corners, or even decorative items. Number these loci to help with order.
• Create vivid associations: This is where your imagination comes into play. Create a vivid, often bizarre image for each item you want to remember. The more unusual and humorous the image, the better it will stick in your memory.
• Take a mental walk: Practice walking through your Memory Palace, visualising each locus and its associated image. Repeat this walk multiple times until the associations are firmly planted in your mind.

As a stand-up comedian who took a break from gigging for a few years, getting back on stage was both exhilarating and nerve-wracking. The flood of ideas for jokes and stories was endless, but recalling them in the heat of the moment? Not so much. That’s when the Memory Palace technique became my secret weapon.

Preparing for a set, I’d imagine walking through my house, each room holding a different joke or punchline. The living room sofa? That’s where I’d drop my bit about the absurdity of how we use ‘throws” to cover stains. The kitchen counter? Perfect spot for my rant on the horrors of making three different dinners each day. Visualising and associating each item with a specific joke, I could mentally walk through my set before stepping on stage.

But where the Memory Palace has become a bit of a life changer for me is travel. I’m an extremely anxious traveller and coupled with having little to no sense of direction is a disaster waiting to happen. I’ve found using this technique along with Google maps allows me to create a little story for myself especially in places I’m not familiar with. I’ve even used it recently in Disneyland with the kids to remind me where the toilets are and how to get back to the group without getting lost.

The Memory Palace technique helps everyone, not just memory champions. It’s great for presentations, exams, and daily tasks, making memorisation fun and learning an enjoyable adventure.

Now, to remember 90 minutes of standup by September—starting at the dishwasher!