How to Remember Lists of Words With the Roman Room Trick
Create and memorize a room in your head., Spend a little time each day revisiting your room., Test yourself by making a list of 10 words to remember tomorrow., Place each item on the list somewhere in the room., Visualize people’s and place names as...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Create and memorize a room in your head.
Make it as big and beautiful as you wish.
Smaller rooms are easier to remember, but big rooms work just as well.
This can be a temporary room, if you’re using it only for a specific list, or a permanent mental place you can return to any time you need.
Having a permanent room will make it easy for you to memorize the space and go into smaller details about its design.
You can use an existing room, like your bedroom or kitchen.
This will save you time and make it handier for you to return to it anytime you want to. -
Step 2: Spend a little time each day revisiting your room.
As you go back, don’t change details or move items: just memorize everything and familiarize with it as much as possible.
Each time you can get into smaller details about where things are located: for example, you can add furniture, objects, paintings on the wall or decorative plants.
This will give you more cues to link your memories to. , For example, consider the following random list: shoe dog desk the date 12/09/1990 cow your grandpa Billy Bob turkey $20 you owe your landlady computer eggs , This will create a link (association) with the elements that are already present in the room.
For example, you can add an ugly shoe-patterned wallpaper to the walls, have a barking dog on your couch, put an elaborate desk below the window, write the date in pink neon letters on the frame of a famous painting, put a fat cow in the doorway, have Grandpa Billy Bob eating sloppy Joes on your new carpet, picture a Thanksgiving turkey on the dining room table, have your landlady standing in the middle with a $20-bill in her hand, a broken computer on the floor, and eggs smashed into the door. , If your list is made up of proper nouns, like the main battles of the Civil War or writers’ names, replace them with words you can picture first, and then place these in your room.For example, if you have to memorize a list of modernist writers for your next exam, like Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and Ezra Pound, you can have: a wolf tearing off your wallpaper, a joystick on the table and a bunch of British pounds scattered on the floor. , Picture the room again and go through all the details to check how many you’ve memorized so far.
The more vivid the associations are, the easier it will be for you to remember the list.
For example, writing a date in big pink neon letters on the bottom of the Mona Lisa will give you a better chance of remembering it.
Try to have your items engage actively with something in the room, rather than just dropping them somewhere.
For example, placing the dog on the couch might not be enough: visualizing it while it gnaws on the couch cushions and smash them into pieces is much more effective. -
Step 3: Test yourself by making a list of 10 words to remember tomorrow.
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Step 4: Place each item on the list somewhere in the room.
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Step 5: Visualize people’s and place names as items.
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Step 6: Try to remember your whole list the next day.
Detailed Guide
Make it as big and beautiful as you wish.
Smaller rooms are easier to remember, but big rooms work just as well.
This can be a temporary room, if you’re using it only for a specific list, or a permanent mental place you can return to any time you need.
Having a permanent room will make it easy for you to memorize the space and go into smaller details about its design.
You can use an existing room, like your bedroom or kitchen.
This will save you time and make it handier for you to return to it anytime you want to.
As you go back, don’t change details or move items: just memorize everything and familiarize with it as much as possible.
Each time you can get into smaller details about where things are located: for example, you can add furniture, objects, paintings on the wall or decorative plants.
This will give you more cues to link your memories to. , For example, consider the following random list: shoe dog desk the date 12/09/1990 cow your grandpa Billy Bob turkey $20 you owe your landlady computer eggs , This will create a link (association) with the elements that are already present in the room.
For example, you can add an ugly shoe-patterned wallpaper to the walls, have a barking dog on your couch, put an elaborate desk below the window, write the date in pink neon letters on the frame of a famous painting, put a fat cow in the doorway, have Grandpa Billy Bob eating sloppy Joes on your new carpet, picture a Thanksgiving turkey on the dining room table, have your landlady standing in the middle with a $20-bill in her hand, a broken computer on the floor, and eggs smashed into the door. , If your list is made up of proper nouns, like the main battles of the Civil War or writers’ names, replace them with words you can picture first, and then place these in your room.For example, if you have to memorize a list of modernist writers for your next exam, like Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and Ezra Pound, you can have: a wolf tearing off your wallpaper, a joystick on the table and a bunch of British pounds scattered on the floor. , Picture the room again and go through all the details to check how many you’ve memorized so far.
The more vivid the associations are, the easier it will be for you to remember the list.
For example, writing a date in big pink neon letters on the bottom of the Mona Lisa will give you a better chance of remembering it.
Try to have your items engage actively with something in the room, rather than just dropping them somewhere.
For example, placing the dog on the couch might not be enough: visualizing it while it gnaws on the couch cushions and smash them into pieces is much more effective.
About the Author
Carolyn Graham
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow pet care tutorials.
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