11 memorization techniques to boost your memory

Use these verbal and visual memory techniques to help you retain and recall
information.


Despite taking piano lessons and music composition classes for nearly a decade, I
remember very little about how to actually play the piano or how to transpose a
song. What I do remember—with very little effort—are the notes on the lines and
spaces of a treble clef staff. How? With the help of a mnemonic device (a fancy
term for a technique used to boost your ability to retain and recall information).

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That's the neat thing about memorization tools: they can help you remember things
you haven't thought about for years—decades, even. And these techniques go beyond
boosting just your long-term memory. They can also help improve your working and
short-term memory.

No matter what you're trying to memorize—a video script, the periodic table of
elements, your grocery list—here are 11 memorization techniques you can use to
strengthen your memory for any period of time.

If you want to first geek out on how memory works, keep reading. To jump straight
to the memorization techniques, click on any of the links below.

Acronyms and acrostics

Music mnemonics
Rhyming mnemonics
Chunking
Build a memory palace
Write it down
Use spaced repetition
Make visual connections
Share what you're learning
Get more sleep
Move your body
How does memory work?
In order to truly appreciate the magic—I mean, science—behind memorization
techniques, it's important to understand the basics of how memory works. Since the
intricacies of the human brain are well beyond the scope of this article and this
writer's degree in French literature, let's break it down with a heavy assist from
some very smart people.

As neuroscientist Daphna Shohamy explains, "our memory is basically a record in our

brain of something that happened in the past." And according to How Memory Works,
published by Harvard University, there are "three main processes that characterize
how memory works: encoding, storage, and retrieval."

Encoding refers to how you learn and understand information. When you attach
emotions and meaning to this information—referred to as semantic encoding—you're
more likely to remember it and recall it later on.

Storage refers to how much information is saved in your brain, where, and for how
long. There are two commonly highlighted memory stores: short-term memory (STM) and
long-term memory (LTM).

Retrieval refers to how you access your memories.

How does memory retrieval work?

Think of your short-term memory as your brain's scratchpad. It's where your brain
temporarily stores information (about 15 to 30 seconds) before either dismissing it
or transferring it to your long-term memory.

In terms of accessing your long-term memories, your brain has four ways of doing
this: recall, collection, recognition, and relearning. How your brain retrieves
information depends on the availability of external clues or prompts or the lack
thereof.

Now that you understand the basics of how memory works, you can use that
information to improve your memory.

Start with mnemonic devices

Mnemonic devices are learning strategies used to boost your memory. Whether or not
you realize it, you probably use mnemonics in your daily life to help you retain
and recall information. I'll start with some of the most common mnemonic devices
before moving on to other memorization tactics.

1. Acronyms and acrostics

You may already be familiar with acronyms and acrostics as a mnemonic device. This
method requires you to create a new word or group of words by taking the first
letter of each word and putting them together.

For example, to remember the names of the planets in our solar system, you might
use this acrostic mnemonic: my very educated mother just served us noodles. In this
example, the first letter of each word corresponds with the first letter of each
planet, respectively.

2. Music mnemonics
My partner knows all the words to House of Pain's Jump Around—yet he can't remember
what I asked him to pick up from the grocery store an hour ago. Why? Because it's
easier to remember a catchy song than it is to remember a long string of
meaningless words or letters, such as a grocery list yelled to you while you're
halfway out the door.

The next time you need to remember something, try pairing that information with a
tune you're already familiar with. And if you just so happen to need help
memorizing the periodic table of elements, look no further than the periodic table
song.

3. Rhyming mnemonics
Similar to music mnemonics, rhyming mnemonics take advantage of catchy beats and
patterns created by ending each line with a rhyme to help you retain information.
Here's a rhyming mnemonic I still use to this day to help avoid spelling errors: "I
before E except after C."

Sadly, clever rhymes don't come naturally to me. If you're in the same boat, here's
a little trick: let AI-powered tools like ChatGPT do the heavy lifting for you.


4. Chunking
Have you ever repeated a phone number out loud by grouping numbers together? For
example, "six, four, seven, triple five, eleven, twenty-one" (instead of "6-4-7-5-
5-5-1-1-2-1"). This is chunking. It's another mnemonic device that involves
grouping individual pieces of information—like long strings of numbers—into larger,
more memorable groups.

And chunking isn't just limited to aiding the memorization of numbers. Another
practical application of chunking would be grouping items on your grocery list by
aisle. Or if you're learning a new language, grouping new vocabulary words together
by category.

5. Create a memory palace

The memory palace technique, also known as the Method of Loci, is another popular
mnemonic device. This technique involves mentally mapping out a physical space
you're familiar with (a memory palace) and "placing" images representing the
information you're memorizing in various spots or loci. (Loci is the plural form of
locus, which means "place" or "location.") When you need to recall that
information, simply visualize your memory palace and retrieve it.

Here's how to create and use your own memory palace:

Choose your memory palace. Select a space that you're incredibly familiar with
(e.g., your childhood home or the route you take to work), and create a mental map
of it.

Identify distinct loci throughout your palace. Mentally walk through your palace,
and pick different locations where you can "place" unique images (more on that in
step 3). For example, the door to your coat closet, the lamp in your living room,
and the dog bed in your guest room.

Assign images to specific locations. Let's say you're trying to remember this
grocery list: milk, chocolate chip cookies, and bananas. Place images of each of
those items at your chosen locations. Or, to make it more memorable, create vivid
images representing each item and place those at different locations. The more
animated and outrageous, the better. For example, you could picture a waterfall of
milk pouring over your closet door, your living room lamp teetering on top of a
mountain of chocolate chip cookies, and a dog juggling bananas while standing on
its bed.

While this technique may sound absurd, it does work. Just take it from five-time
USA Memory Champion Nelson Dellis, who uses the memory palace technique to help him
quickly remember a full deck of cards, in sequence.

6. Write it down
While typing your notes might be faster and more convenient, especially if you have
to take in a lot of information, there are advantages to doing things the old-
fashioned way (i.e., taking pen to paper).

In a 2014 study, researchers Pam A. Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer examined the
effects on learning and retention when students took notes by hand versus on a
laptop. In terms of generative note taking (e.g., "summarizing, paraphrasing,
concept mapping"), students who took notes by hand had better retention and
understanding of the material compared to those who took notes on a laptop.

Why? The researchers suggest two possible reasons. First, there are fewer possible
distractions, such as checking emails or social media, when writing notes. Second,
generative note taking encourages students to reframe the information into their
own words, which aids in encoding.

7. Use spaced repetition

Spaced repetition is a memorization technique that involves reviewing the same
information at increasing intervals until that information is embedded into your
long-term memory. If you've ever tried to learn a new language using apps like
Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, you've used spaced repetition.

Here's a simple way to apply this technique. Let's say you're learning another
language and you need help remembering new vocabulary. Write the word in your
native tongue on a flashcard. Or, to make it more fun, sketch an image of the word.
Then review the flashcards daily. As you become more consistent recalling your new
vocabulary words, you can increase the time between reviews from daily to weekly to
monthly.

If you need to create a lot of flashcards, you can also use apps, like Quizlet, to
do the heavy lifting for you.

8. Make visual connections

The use of visual stimuli is a common method used to learn and recall information.
Here are some strategies you can use to enhance your visual memory.

Turn the sound of names into images. If you have difficulty remembering people's
names, try connecting their names with an image. For example, if a stranger
introduces himself as Mike, you might picture him holding a microphone.

Animate the images. Similar to creating visuals for your memory palace, the more
animated and vivid you can make your images, the better. Doing this creates
stronger connections in your brain between the word and the image. Continuing with
the name train, let's take the name Melanie. For this, you might visualize the
person dressed in a gi, crushing a melon against their knee. (I bet you won't
forget that visual anytime soon.)

9. Share what you're learning

Let's say you're going to a dog training seminar. Your best friend has a dog, and
they want you to share some of your key takeaways after. So you furiously scribble
down notes, ask questions, and scribble some more. This goes to the heart of the
Protégé Effect, which suggests that people put in more effort to learn information
when they know they're going to teach it to someone else.

Then when you share your key takeaways, you're likely to explain the concepts you
learned in your own words. You'll probably even demonstrate a few of these lessons
while explaining the concepts, which will make it more meaningful. And these acts—
paraphrasing and adding meaning to information—all help with encoding.

10. Get more sleep

As a shock to no one, there's a direct relationship between sleep and productivity—
and that productivity extends to our ability to take in new information.

As much as possible, try to get your recommended six to eight hours of deep sleep—
the knocked-out-cold kind—every night. This will help "reset" your brain, allowing
you to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world—or, at least, more
information.

11. Move your body

Just as sleep is important for both your physical and mental health, so, too, is
that other pillar of health: exercise.

Moving your body regularly at moderate intensity—whatever that looks like to you—
can directly and indirectly boost your memory. Indirectly, it can reduce anxiety
and stress, and improve the quality of your sleep. Oftentimes, problems in these
areas contribute to cognitive impairment. Directly, it improves the flow of oxygen-
rich blood to your brain. This blood flow keeps your brain functioning properly,
which includes processing and storing information.

Bonus: offload the stuff you don't need to memorize

Adult human brains can store the equivalent of 2.5 million gigabytes of memory. So,
in theory, you have the capacity to memorize…everything. But just because you can,
doesn't mean you have to.
Instead, use the memorization techniques listed in this article to help you recall
the information that you might need at the drop of a hat, like your emergency
contact's phone number. Or the password to your password manager. Everything else?
Use a note-taking app to take a cognitive load off.