The method of loci is a memory technique where you picture the things you want to remember at set spots along a route you know well. To recall them, you walk the route in your mind and collect each item in order.
“Loci” is Latin for “places”. The same technique is often called the memory palace or the Roman room method. It is more than 2,000 years old, and most top memory competitors still use it. This guide covers what it is, where it came from, what the research says, and how to use it.
Method of loci vs memory palace
They are the same technique. “Method of loci” is the older name, used in psychology papers. “Memory palace” is the popular name. “Roman room” is another version of it, where the stops are the objects in one room rather than a route. All three mean placing images at familiar locations and recalling them by moving through those locations. To try it with a free online builder, go to the memory palace page.
Method of loci in psychology
Where it comes from
The best-known origin story is told by Cicero in “De Oratore” (55 BCE). The poet Simonides of Ceos left a banquet just before the hall’s roof collapsed. The bodies could not be recognized, but Simonides could name each guest by remembering where they had been sitting. In Cicero’s telling, this showed Simonides that memory holds on to places, and that a fixed order of places can hold a fixed order of things.
Roman teachers of public speaking made it a formal method. The anonymous “Rhetorica ad Herennium”, written around 80 BCE, sets out rules for choosing places and making images. Orators used it to deliver long speeches without notes.
Why spatial memory helps
People are good at remembering places. You can picture the layout of your home without trying: which door leads where, and what sits on each counter. The method of loci uses that layout as a set of numbered slots. A bare list has no structure. A walk through your home does, and each stop prompts you for the next one.
What studies show
- Memory champions use it. In a 2003 study in Nature Neuroscience, Eleanor Maguire and colleagues compared top memory performers with ordinary people. They found no difference in general intelligence or brain structure. Most of the champions said they used the method of loci. Their brain scans showed more activity in regions linked to spatial memory, including the hippocampus.
- Ordinary people can learn it. In a 2017 study in Neuron, Martin Dresler and colleagues trained people who had never used a memory technique. After six weeks of method of loci practice, they more than doubled the number of words they recalled from a list. Most of the gain was still there four months later. Control groups who trained without the technique, or did not train, barely changed.
- The effect holds across studies. A 2021 meta-analysis by Twomey and Kroneisen in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology pooled 13 randomized trials, mostly with university students. It found a medium-sized benefit. The authors noted that many of the trials did not report how they guarded against bias.
How to use the method of loci, step by step
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Choose a route you know well. Your home is the usual choice. Fix one path through it, such as front door, hallway, kitchen, sofa. Walk it in the same order every time.
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Pick your stops (loci). Choose specific spots along the route. Start with about eight to ten. Front door, coat hook, kitchen sink, fridge.
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Turn each item into a vivid image. To remember “milk”, don’t picture a carton. Picture milk flooding down your hallway. Strange, exaggerated, moving images stick. Plain ones fade.
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Place one image at each stop. Walk the route in your mind and leave each image at its stop. Make it interact with the spot: milk soaking the doormat, the next item jammed on the coat hook.
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Walk the route to recall. When you need the list, take the walk again. Each stop gives back its image, in order.
Example of the method of loci
Say you need to buy eggs, batteries, a birthday card, bread and dish soap. Your route is your home.
| Stop | Item | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Front door | Eggs | A giant egg cracks open as you step in. Yolk covers the mat. |
| Coat hook | Batteries | Batteries hang off the hook like heavy fruit and pull it from the wall. |
| Kitchen sink | Birthday card | A huge card floats in the sink, singing “Happy Birthday”. |
| Fridge | Bread | The fridge door is a slice of toast. You have to bite it to open it. |
| Sofa | Dish soap | The cushions ooze bubbles when you sit down. |
At the shop, walk through your home in your mind. Door, hook, sink, fridge, sofa. Each picture brings back one item. The images are absurd on purpose, and you are likely to still remember them the next day.
The same method works for a speech. Put the opening point at the front door, the second at the coat hook, and so on. During the talk, walk the route and you have your next point.
Practice and measure
Start with a short list and one route. Once that feels easy, build a second route for a different topic so the images don’t mix. To check whether it helps, take the sequence memory test or the visual memory test before and after a few weeks of practice. Compare your result with the average sequence memory score. For other techniques, see mnemonic devices. To understand the spatial memory this relies on, read types of memory.
Frequently asked questions
What is the method of loci in simple terms?
It is a way to remember a list by picturing each item at a spot along a route you know, such as your home. To recall the list, you walk the route in your mind and see each item where you left it. “Loci” means “places” in Latin.
Is the method of loci the same as a memory palace?
Yes. They are two names for the same technique. “Method of loci” is the older name used in psychology. “Memory palace” is the popular name. The Roman room method is the same idea, using the objects in one room as the stops.
What is the method of loci in psychology?
In psychology, the method of loci is a mnemonic, a memory aid, that uses spatial memory to organize information. Studies of memory champions show they rely on it. Training studies show that ordinary people can learn it in a few weeks and recall far more words as a result.
How long does it take to learn the method of loci?
You can memorize a short list on your first try. It feels natural after a few practice sessions over a week or two. The participants in the 2017 Dresler study trained for six weeks. Memory competitors spend months building and refining many routes.
What should I use as my memory palace?
Any place you know well enough to picture without effort. Your home is the usual start. A commute, your old school or a familiar shop also work. You need a fixed route with clear stops in a set order. Once one route is full, build another for a different topic.
Does the method of loci work for numbers and studying?
Yes, with an extra step. For numbers, first turn digits into images with a system such as the major system, then place those images on your route. For studying, turn key facts into scenes and place them in order. It works for anything you can picture.