"If you want to use a memory palace for permanent storage, you have to take periodic time-consuming mental strolls through it to keep your images from fading."
— Foer, Joshua
Author
Date
February 15, 2011
Metaphor
"If you want to use a memory palace for permanent storage, you have to take periodic time-consuming mental strolls through it to keep your images from fading."
Metaphor in Context
Attention, of course, is a prerequisite to remembering. Part of the reason that techniques like visual imagery and the memory palace work so well is that they enforce a degree of mindfulness that is normally lacking. If you want to use a memory palace for permanent storage, you have to take periodic time-consuming mental strolls through it to keep your images from fading. Mostly, nobody bothers. In fact, mnemonists deliberately empty their palaces after competitions, so they can reuse them again and again.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Joshua Foer, "Secrets of a Mind Gamer" New York Times Magazine. February 15, 2011. <Link to NYTimes.com>
Theme
Memory Palace
Date of Entry
02/21/2011
