I have tried visualization mnemonic techniques (not the palace one. I don’t like palaces.), and they work decentish for biology-like stuff. They don’t work as well for mathematics/CS, because there either it is easier to “understand” the equations/rules, or it is very hard to visualize them. Of course, I do use visualization in trying to understand some math stuff, but it’s a thinking tool then, not a mnemonic. All in all, the big bug is that studying with visualization takes time, and it also can lower comprehension, as the visualization is an overhead in some contexts.
Beware that mnemonic-enhanced memories get forgotten, too. It’s slower, but still happens. If something is really needed in your longterm memory, spaced repetition is essential. Note that most everything are not needed in your longterm memory and you can sustain only a limited amount of spaced repetition. My heuristic is that anything that needs Anki most probably doesn’t belong in the longterm memory in the first place. Things that we really need, we use, and so we remember them.
I suggest memorization via ”upgrading.” That is, you learn A (for example, the concept of a 2D line). Then you and learn B that uses A internally (e.g., the concept of an ellipsis). This pushes A into your subconscious expertise, and grows your knowledge. Vanilla Anki-style repetition will not add anything to you, and you’ll start to hate that you need to grind just to stay the same.
I found the peg technique useful for chemistry. You decide on an image for numbers and elements, memorize them (e.g., via anki), and now you can visualize a lot of stuff easily.
I have tried visualization mnemonic techniques (not the palace one. I don’t like palaces.), and they work decentish for biology-like stuff. They don’t work as well for mathematics/CS, because there either it is easier to “understand” the equations/rules, or it is very hard to visualize them. Of course, I do use visualization in trying to understand some math stuff, but it’s a thinking tool then, not a mnemonic. All in all, the big bug is that studying with visualization takes time, and it also can lower comprehension, as the visualization is an overhead in some contexts.
Beware that mnemonic-enhanced memories get forgotten, too. It’s slower, but still happens. If something is really needed in your longterm memory, spaced repetition is essential. Note that most everything are not needed in your longterm memory and you can sustain only a limited amount of spaced repetition. My heuristic is that anything that needs Anki most probably doesn’t belong in the longterm memory in the first place. Things that we really need, we use, and so we remember them.
I suggest memorization via ”upgrading.” That is, you learn A (for example, the concept of a 2D line). Then you and learn B that uses A internally (e.g., the concept of an ellipsis). This pushes A into your subconscious expertise, and grows your knowledge. Vanilla Anki-style repetition will not add anything to you, and you’ll start to hate that you need to grind just to stay the same.
I found the peg technique useful for chemistry. You decide on an image for numbers and elements, memorize them (e.g., via anki), and now you can visualize a lot of stuff easily.