I have basically stacked mental pictures along routes inside my childhood home, although I ran out of space around day 20. A downside to this technique is that accessing the day number of a particular set of events requires accurate counting of the events in the pathway prior. Perhaps I should consider encoding the numerical information (days since fertilization) as letters, then convert these as an extra picture in the scene, but I am worried about overcrowding.
As an extra note about Anatomy, we have finally reached the section on the face and skull, and I am surprised that I have retained so many structures from before medical school. This is confirmation that the technique works, even for longer terms, so I am prepared to go forward with the technique of planting the images directly onto Netter's plates or live bodies.
I tried to put the brachial plexus together as a linear pathway inside a memory palace, however because the memory palace was so detached from the images of real bodies, I had trouble converting that knowledge on the Anatomy practical exam. I think this time, if I stick to real bodies for storing names of nerves and blood vessels, I will have a little more luck in retention of the names.
I don't think there is need to encode obvious or logical information. Anatomical names that simply make sense based on the word roots probably are not as important to encode as others. However the process of encoding itself helps me retain information, so if I do have time after learning the logical decution method, I will follow the method on a second pass through.
As far as Biochemistry or Histology, I have not yet tried the memory palace technique. I am running into a problem of too few palaces now, so I am reluctant to waste space on subjects that are not as linear or spatial,and thus, are harder to encode into visual/spatial information.
I will work to get a basic grasp of the layout of my school's hospital because the large size of the building would make it an ideal memory palace. In fact, because the school is situated in a mini metropolis of hospitals, there are many memory palaces available to me. By learning more possible routes, I will gain more avilable loci for encoding purposes.
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ReplyDeleteI recently heard about the memory palace as a memory technique and have been curious about exploring its potential to help memorize in medical school (which I will be starting in August). Having finished the first year can you speak to its efficacy as a tool for the rest of the year? Also from your blog it isn't clear if you were already familiar with the technique before you began trying to learn the anatomy plates or if you were already experienced in the idea behind it. Do you think one month is enough time to practice using the memory palace as a technique such that it will be useful during school?
ReplyDeleteNo, this was pretty much my first time ever using the memory palace technique.
DeleteI didn't really keep up with posts throughout the year (I got overwhelmed, in a very typical first-year way). Honestly I never found the palaces were terribly effective for anatomy, though a friend of mine swears by his brachial plexus palace. Another friend of mine found the palaces were amazingly effective for microbiology - basically a palace for each pathogen.
My personal favorite ended up being using the palaces for biochemistry. I could map out physical paths, and add stops for each enzyme and product.
Mostly I found that mixing different techniques was nice. I used rote learning, word mnemonics, and memory palaces for just about every subject.
I probably suffered from two major problems - lack of palaces and lack of practice. More places would have given me confidence to not OVERFILL the palaces, which hurts memorization. Also, practice would have helped me encode more info into memory palaces.
Yes, a month is enough time, if you practice about an hour a day. You don't really need more (your brain slows down each session) and you won't want to come in to school mentally tired. But most importantly, make note of the houses you visit, friends places, etc. Get more palaces ready in your mind. You will need them.
Great post bro.
ReplyDeleteAny book u can recommend for building memory palace..