The method of loci is a useful little trick to remember and structure arbitrary sets of things. I liken it to mental programming. The first step, which is often the most time consuming, is to decide what you're going to remember. Next, pick a setting - any scene that you know reasonably well will do. Or you could invent a new scene, perhaps even a memory mansion. Then, take an element you wish to remember, and symbolize it. How you do this is up to you. If it is abstract, or otherwise hard to symbolize, you could ponder it for a while and then, with a flash of insight, come up with a corresponding icon, or you could simply pick an icon with a phonetically similar name. Next place the icon somewhere in the scene. Visualize it being in that place from as many different angles as you can. And then, repeat for the remaining elements of your set.
As the scene becomes populated, it might be useful to partition it semantically. Things in category X get placed in neighborhood Y. This top down approach aides in later recall, and is also gives a unique spatio-semantic viewpoint on your set. So in summary, take a set and give it some structure.
The method of loci is a mnemonic device used to improve the ability to recall information from memory, most often in cases where long lists of either related or independent items must be remembered in order.
The method of loci remains of particular interest to students, who continue to utilize it in the learning of specific facts.
For example, a student may use the method of loci to help them to recall the key ideas and phrases of a particuar subject to help them learn throughout a term, or to reduce mental load during an examination.
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