记忆宫殿：使你拥有完美记忆力

2014-04-22 曼谷 /brain/2014/04/22/memory-palace.html brain

The Memory Palace is one of the most powerful memory techniques I know. It’s not only effective, but also fun to use — and not hard to learn at all.

记忆宫殿是我所知的最强大的记忆方法之一，它不但高效，使用起来还是一种乐趣，而且学习起来又不难。

The Memory Palace has been used since ancient Rome, and is responsible for some quite incredible memory feats. Eight-time world memory champion Dominic O’Brien, for instance, was able to memorize 54 decks of cards in sequence (that’s 2808 cards), viewing each card only once. And there are countless other similar achievements attributed to people using the Memory Palace technique or variations of it. Even in fiction, there are several references to the technique. In Thomas Harris’ novel Hannibal, for example, serial killer Hannibal Lecter uses Memory Palaces to store amazingly vivid memories of years of intricate patient records (sadly, it was left off the movie).

从古罗马时期，便有人使用记忆宫殿，它是一些非凡记忆技巧的起源。如，世界记忆大赛的八连冠多米尼克·奥布瑞恩能够看一次就记住 54 副（除去大小鬼）扑克牌的顺序（那是 2808 张牌）。还有无数类似的人们利用记忆宫殿或相似记忆方法做到超强记忆的事迹，而且在不少小说里也引用过这种技巧。例如，在汤玛斯·哈里斯的小说《汉尼拔》中，连环杀手汉尼拔·莱克特使用记忆宫殿“鲜活地”储存着多年来各种复杂的病人档案(可惜，电影里面没有出现)。

Of course, most of us are not in Dominic’s memory championship line of business (or in Hannibal’s line of business for that matter). But still, the Memory Palace technique is amazingly effective in all kinds of endeavors, such as learning a foreign language, memorizing a presentation you’re about to deliver, preparing for exams and many others — even if all you want is to jog your memory.

当然，我们大部分人都不是多米尼克这样的记忆力冠军（或是与汉尼拔）。然而，记忆宫殿对于各种艰辛的脑力劳动出奇地有效，例如外语的学习，要记住一篇将要发表的演说，为各种考试和其他事情作准备，或者你只是想锻炼你的记忆力。

The Memory Palace

The Memory Palace technique is based on the fact that we’re extremely good at remembering places we know. A ‘Memory Palace’ is a metaphor for any well-known place that you’re able to easily visualize. It can be the inside of your home, or maybe the route you take every day to work. That familiar place will be your guide to store and recall any kind of information. Let’s see how it works.

记忆宫殿法是基于人们擅长记忆那些熟悉的地方。“记忆宫殿”是一个比喻，它是任何一处你熟悉的并能够轻易地把它视觉化的地方。它可以是家里，或是每天上班的路线。那个熟悉的地方将会成为你储存和回忆所有信息的向导。让我们来揭开它的运作原理。

5 Steps to Use the Memory Palace Technique

1) Choose Your Palace

First and foremost, you’ll need to pick a place that you’re very familiar with. The effectiveness of the technique relies on your ability to mentally see and walk around in that place with ease. You should be able to ‘be there’ at will using your mind’s eye only.

1) 选择你的宫殿

首先，你要选一个你非常熟悉的地方。这个方法的有效性便取决于你能否毫不费力地在脑海中重现并走入这个空间。你需要做到能随时随地随心所欲地“进入”这个地方。

A good first choice could be your own home, for example. Remember that the more vividly you can visualize that place’s details, the more effective your memorization will be.

例如，一个好的选择——你的家。记住，你对这个地方的视觉化越是真实细致，那么你的记忆效力越高。

Also, try to define a specific route in your palace instead of just visualize a static scene. So, instead of simply picturing your home, imagine a specific walkthrough in your home. This makes the technique much more powerful, as you’ll be able to recall items in a specific order, as we’ll see in the next step.

并且，尝试在宫殿内确定一条具体的线路，而不是单纯地想象一个静态的画面。因此，与其简单地描画你的家，不如想象出一条详细的行走路线。这能使记忆宫殿更加有效，因为你需要按着特定的顺序来回忆一些物件，这将在接下来谈到。

Here are some additional suggestions that work well as Memory Palaces, along with possible routes:

这里附加一些有助于记忆宫殿路线选择的建议：

• Familiar streets in your city. Possible routes could be your drive to work, or any other sequence of streets you’re familiar with.
  城市里熟悉的街道。那可能是你开车上班经过的道路，或是一连串你熟悉的街道。
• A current or former school. You can imagine the pathway from the classroom to the library (or to the bar on the other side of the street, if that’s the route imprinted on your mind).
  现在或以前的学校。你可以想象从教室到图书馆的路线（或者从街道的另一边走到酒吧，如果这条路线印在你脑海中。）
• Place of work. Imagine the path from your cubicle to the coffee machine or to your boss’s office (it shouldn’t be hard to choose).
  办公的地方。想象从你工作的隔间走到咖啡机，或走到上司的办公室（这应该不难选）。
• Scenery. Imagine walking on your neighborhood or the track you use when jogging in a local park.
  自然环境。想象你走在社区或是附近公园慢跑的小径上。

2) List Distinctive Features

Now you need to pay attention to specific features in the place you chose. If you picked a walkthrough in your home, for example, the first noticeable feature would probably be the front door.

2) 列出特征物件

现在你需要把注意力集放到所选地方的具体物件上。例如，假设你选的是你的家，那么前门可能是你首先注意的事物。

Now go on and mentally walk around your Memory Palace. After you go through the door, what’s in the first room?

那么接着，你穿过那扇门后，想象你走在记忆宫殿里，第一间房间里有什么？

Analyze the room methodically (you may define a standard procedure, such as always looking from left to right, for example). What is the next feature that catches your attention? It may be the central table in the dining room, or a picture on the wall.

有条理地观察这个房间（你可以定下一个程序，如，总是先从左向右等）。下一个吸引你注意的是什么？或许是客厅中央的桌子，又或许是墙上的一幅画。

Continue making mental notes of those features as you go. Each one of them will be a “memory slot” that you’ll later use to store a single piece of information.

当你“走”过时，不断地标记下那些物件。它们每个都将会是你稍后储存信息的“记忆插口”。

3) Imprint the Palace on Your Mind

For the technique to work, the most important thing is to have the place or route 100% imprinted on your mind. Do whatever is necessary to really commit it to memory. If you’re a visual kind of person, you probably won’t have trouble with this. Otherwise, here are some tips that help:

3) 把宫殿牢记于心

要让记忆宫殿运转起来，最重要的是百分之百地把这个地方和路线刻进大脑中，用尽一切必要的办法把它记住。如果你是个视觉化的人，那么这个对于你来说并不困难。如果不是，这些小技巧能帮助你：

• Physically walk through the route repeating out loud the distinctive features as you see them.
  实地去走走这些线路，大声地重复你所见到的每样特征物件。
• Write down the selected features on a piece of paper and mentally walk through them, repeating them out loud.
  把你所选的物件写到一张纸上，在脑海中再现它们，并而大声重复。
• Always look at the features from the same point of view.
  总是以相同的视角去看这些物件。
• Be aware that visualization is a just a skill. If you’re still having trouble doing this, you may want to develop your visualization skills first.
  记住视觉化只是一种技巧，如果你仍然觉得做起来有困难的话，你或许需要先建立起你的视觉思维。
• When you believe you’re done, go over it one more time. It’s really important to “overlearn” your way in your Memory Palace.
  当你相信自己能够做到时，再重复一遍，把记忆宫殿的路线熟记于心是非常关键的。
• Once you’re confident that the route is stamped on your mind, you’re set. Now you have your Palace, which can be used over and over again to memorize just about anything you want.
  一旦你确信这些线路已经烙在脑海里，你就准备好了。现在你有一座能够不断重复运用的记忆宫殿了。

4) Associate!

Now that you’re the master of your palace, it’s time to put it to good use.

4) 联想

如今，你已经是宫殿的主人，是时候让它发挥作用。

Like most memory enhancement systems, the Memory Palace technique works with the use of visual associations. The process is simple: you take a known image — called the memory peg — and combine with the element you want to memorize. For us, each memory peg is a distinctive feature of our Memory Palace.

就如大多数记忆增强体系，记忆宫殿也需要运用视觉联想。方法很简单：你用一幅熟悉的图像，称作“记忆挂钩”，然后联系你想要记忆的东西。对于我们，“记忆挂钩”便是我们记忆宫殿的特征物件。

The memory pegging technique is the same one described in the article ‘Improve Your Memory by Speaking Your Mind’s Language’, so if you haven’t read it yet, I highly advise you to do so.

《说大脑的语言有助记忆力提高》一文中，所谈的“记忆挂钩”法正是我们这里谈及的概念，所以如果你还没读过，我强烈建议你读一下。

As described in that article, there’s a ‘right way’ of doing visual associations:

文章里描述视觉联想的“正确方法”是：

Make it crazy, ridiculous, offensive, unusual, extraordinary, animated, nonsensical — after all, these are the things that get remembered, aren’t they? Make the scene so unique that it could never happen in real life. The only rule is: if it’s boring, it’s wrong.
“联想要疯狂些，荒谬些，甚至有些冒犯也可以，总之要与众不同，独一无二，要荒唐却又形象生动的。毕竟，它们是你要记住的东西，不是吗？想象一些独特的，生活中不可能发生的场面。唯一的规则就是：无趣即错误。”

Although we can use the technique to memorize tons of information, let’s start with something very simple: using our ‘Home’ Memory Palace to memorize a groceries list. Let’s suppose the first item in that list is ‘bacon’:

我们可以用记忆宫殿记住海量信息，但先让我们从基本开始：以“家”作为记忆宫殿去记住一份购物清单。假设清单上第一样是培根：

Mentally transport yourself to your Memory Palace. The first feature you see in your mind is your home’s front door. Now, in a ludicrous way, visually combine ‘bacon’ with the sight of your front door. How about giant fried bacon strips flowing out from underneath the door reaching for your legs, just like zombies in those B-movies? Feel the touch of the “bacon hands” on your legs. Feel the smell of darn evil bacon. Is that remarkable enough?

从脑海中进入你的记忆宫殿，第一个出现在你眼前的是前门。那么，现在用一种与众不同的方式把培根和前门视觉化地联系起来。设想一块块巨大的炸培根条从门底下溢出来，就像那种B级丧尸电影一样，想要捉住你的腿。感受一下那些“培根触手”捕获你大腿的触感，再想象一下那些邪恶的培根散发出的味道。这样是否很难忘？

Now open the door and keep walking, following the exact same route you defined before. Look at the next distinctive feature, and associate it with the second item to be memorized. Suppose the next item is ‘eggs’ and the second feature is ‘picture of mother-in-law’. Well, at this point you already know what to do… The process is always the same, so just keep mentally associating images until there are no items left to memorize.

现在打开门，按照你设定的路线继续往前走，看到下一个标记的物品，然后与购物单里下一个物件联系起来。假设第二样东西是鸡蛋，而你看到的第二个物件是一张岳母的照片，接下来你已经知道该怎么做了……步骤都是一样的，然后在大脑中把这些场景都联系起来，直到记住所有东西。

5) Visit Your Palace

At this point, you are done memorizing the items. If you’re new to the technique, though, you’ll probably need to do a little rehearsal, repeating the journey at least once in your mind.

5) 回访你的宫殿

到此，你已经能够记忆信息了。如果你还是掌握得不熟悉，那么你需要做一些小的演练，在脑海里把过程重复一遍。

If you start from the same point and follow the same route, the memorized items will come to your mind instantly as you look at the journey’s selected features. Go from the beginning to the end of your route, paying attention to those features and replaying the scenes in your mind. When you get to the end of your route, turn around and walk in the opposite direction until you get to the starting point.

如果你都从同一个起点开始，而且每次都按照同样的路线，当你“看见”那些标记的物件时，你所记忆的事物都会一一重现。从头到尾把这条路线走一次，期间要注意那些特征物件，并在脑海把那些场景回放一遍。当你完成一次“巡视”，便再从终点往回走到起点处。

In the end, it’s all a matter of developing your visualization skills. The more relaxed you are, the easier it will be and the more effective your memorization will be.

最后，一切的关键在于发展你的视觉思维。过程中，你越是轻松，那么你越能轻易地记住东西而且记忆越有效。

Final Thoughts

What I like about the Memory Palace (and other pegging methods) is that it’s not only extremely effective, but also quite fun to learn and use.

结语

我喜欢记忆宫殿（还有其他记忆联系方法）的原因是它使用起来非常有效率，不但是运用的过程，而且在学习的过程中也充满乐趣。

With just a little bit of experience, the lists you memorize using the Memory Palace will stay fresh in your mind for many days, weeks or even more.

只要稍花时间运用记忆宫殿，你需要记住的东西便会在你的记忆里存活数日、数周，甚至更长的时间。

Also have in mind that you can create as many palaces as you want, and that they can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish to make them. Each of them is a “memory bank”, ready to be used to help you memorize anything, anytime.

而且要知道，你可以建造无数座宫殿，它们可以是简单的，或者极其复杂的，一切都在你掌握之中。每座宫殿都是一个“记忆银行”，随时都可以帮你记住任何东西。

Associating physical locations with mental concepts is the most powerful memory combination I know. Most other memory techniques (supposedly more sophisticated than the Memory Palace) are, at least in part, based on the concept of physical locations being used as memory pegs.

把思维概念与实体位置联系起来是我所知最有效的记忆联想法。许多其他记忆方法（或许比记忆宫殿更加复杂），都是以现实方位作记忆挂钩为运作原理的。

Have you already used Memory Palace or a similar technique? What do you think? Any opinions or testimonials to share?

你准备好使用记忆宫殿或者其他相似的记忆方法了吗？你觉得怎样？有什么意见或推荐要与我们分享吗？

译文来源：https://select.yeeyan.org/view/411237/394308/author
译文标题：记忆宫殿：使你拥有完美记忆力
译文作者：AllentheHolmes

原文来源：litemind.com
原文标题：Develop Perfect Memory With the Memory Palace Technique
原文地址：https://litemind.com/memory-palace