Free Course · 6 Lessons
Build a Mind Palace
The method of loci — used since ancient Greece — is the most powerful encoding technique in memory science. This course teaches you to build and use a memory palace from scratch, with evidence from Nobel Prize-winning neuroscience and the World Memory Championships.
The Method of Loci — Ancient Origins, Modern Proof
From Simonides to the World Memory Championships
The Neuroscience — Why Your Brain Remembers Places
Hippocampus, place cells, and spatial indexing
Choosing Your Palace — What Makes a Location Work
Your home beats the Eiffel Tower. Here is why.
Before and After — The Transformation of Plain Facts Into Palace Images
Why bizarre, sensory, animated images stick when plain text does not
Placing Your Memories — The Complete Walk-Through
Encoding, testing, and troubleshooting your palace
Practice and Mastery — Building Your Memory Palace System
Multiple palaces, spaced review, and the long game
Practice tool
Mind Palace Builder
Search famous landmarks, upload your own photo, add stations, and download your annotated palace as a PDF. 100% private — no images leave your browser.
Frequently asked questions
What is a mind palace?
A mind palace (formally the method of loci) is an ancient memory technique that places information at specific locations along a familiar mental route. To recall the information, you mentally walk the route and see the items at each location. The technique exploits spatial memory, which is significantly more robust than verbal memory — the same neural system used to navigate physical spaces.
Do I need to use a real location I have actually visited?
A space you know personally — your home, school, or a regular walking route — produces the strongest results because the spatial memory is already richly detailed. Famous landmarks you have never visited work less well because you lack the experiential depth that makes spatial cues vivid enough to reliably anchor new memories.
Does the method of loci actually work?
Yes. Dresler et al. (2017, Neuron) trained 51 participants in the method of loci for six weeks. Their average recall improved from 26 words to 62 words on a 72-item memory test. Even untrained people using the technique on their first session significantly outperform rote repetition.
How many loci should I add to my palace?
Start with 5–10 loci in a single room or along a short route. Quality of visualisation matters far more than quantity — a vivid, specific image at each location encodes far more reliably than a vague one. Once you can reliably recall 10 items from your first palace, expand with more loci or create a second palace for a different subject.