Memory Training: 7 Proven Techniques to Improve Recall Fast

If you’re seeking memory training due to forgetfulness, or you’re just tired of struggling with information overload, you’re not alone.

Not only have I been there. I’ve spend decades practicing a variety of memory systems and enjoying substantial results.

Thanks to the success of my work on this website, I’ve also been helping others do the same.

All based on how how I used the ancient art of mnemonics to pass my PhD at York University, learn languages and deliver one of the most-viewed TEDx Talks on the topic of memory.

I don’t share these accomplishments to brag.

Rather, it’s to show you that memory training is not a gimmick.

It’s a timeless art and science that anyone can master. I’ve been teaching people around the world exactly how to recall large amounts of information for more than fifteen years.

And now I’m going to show you how you can do the same.

The trick to it all is that you have techniques to train with. The comprehensive list of techniques on this page gives you the best training tools in existence and shows you examples of how to use them.

Ready?

Let’s dive in!

Proof that Memory Training Works

As we go through the list of memory techniques you can start practicing with today, keep in mind that there’s no particular order of importance.

They all matter and each one is well-worth spending time learning.

But you might like to have some assurance that scientists have actually studied these memory tools.

In addition to reading my full profile of the state of memory science, you’ll be delighted to know that many of my memory champion friends have participated in memory studies.

For example, Katie Kermode recently posted on LinkedIn about her participation in this University of Cambridge Study.

This study follows many others, including a major analysis of how proper memory training leads to superior memory skills.

I’ll share a few more scientific references as we go, but for now, keep in mind that we are talking about training.

This means that your time does need to be spent on learning and applying the various memory techniques we’re about to explore together.

But every moment will be worth it once you see the results of better memory flowing into your life.

One: Mnemonic Linking

Mnemonic linking is where most people start training their memory. It’s a simple technique where you create vivid, strange or emotional association between information you already know and something new you want to retain.

For example, let’s say you need to remember a list of words like “apple,” “book” and “dog.”

The linking technique suggests that you mentally link the apple with something specifically familiar to you. I would personally forge a link with an Apple computer.

For the next word in the list, I would imagine the Apple computer interacting with a specific book. Since the final word is “dog,” that book could be the Bible in the jaws of a specific dog.

The key is to make every association specific. So in this case, the list will be easiest to remember if there’s a kind of mnemonic story playing out:

“An Apple computer flies down from the sky to try and wrestle the family Bible from the jaw of Superman’s dog.”

Silly, right?

Yes, and that’s what makes it so memorable.

In case you’re interested, one of the reasons why so many people start with linking isn’t because it’s the best place to start.

It’s largely because that’s where the dominant memory improvement authors like Harry Lorayne and Tony Buzan talked about starting. They were largely repeating the instructions given by Bruno Furst in his correspondence memory courses.

Linking is definitely worth learning. I use it frequently and found it especially helpful for learning the articles and other aspects of learning German.

Two: Peg Systems

Peg systems are the foundation of how I learned to memorize playing cards.

Please be aware that memory teachers use the general term “peg” in quite a variety of ways.

I generally call it the pegword method and separate pegs into at least four different kinds of mnemonic images:

• Number Rhymes
• Number objects (or number shapes)
• Major System
• PAO System

To give you an example of the simplest peg system, here’s how the number rhyme technique works through the association of rhymed images:

• 1 = sun
• 2 = shoe
• 3 = bee
• 4 = door
• 5 = hive
• 6 = sticks
• 7 = heaven
• 8 = gate
• 9 = wine
• 10 = hen

Once you’re set up with these rhymes (or variations of your own choosing), associating information using this technique will be a breeze.

To give you an example, let’s refer back to our previous list.

Using number rhyme pegs, you could imagine the apple growing as large and as bright as the sun. The book could be shaped like a shoe, and smell just as bad. And the dog could be chasing bees.

The advantage to number rhymes is that you not only remember the items. You also remember the numbered order of each item in the list.

Another advantage when you develop your skills will all four peg systems is that you have pre-learned mental associations.

You don’t have to invent new links on the fly. You have mental “pegs” to hang new information on.

Please train with all of these peg systems in the bulleted list above because having multiple tactics offers tremendous flexibility when you want to remember things quickly.

Three: Keyword Mnemonics

When preparing for my TEDx Talk, I didn’t memorize every word.

Instead, I pulled out only the most important words. This is generally the best approach to to memorizing a speech.

By compressing the speech into a smaller set of memory triggers laid out along a Memory Palace journey, I was able to convey the main points without having to memorize the entire speech verbatim.

As a result, you can memorize two or three words and still recall entire sentences.

For example, my TEDx begins with the line, “How would you like to completely silence your mind?”

The images are simple Howie Mandel with a stick of wood hitting a like button on a YouTube video. Since I know the topic of my talk, I didn’t need to encode the rest of the phrase.

Verbatim Memorization By Making Every Word a Keyword

Now, if you’ve seen my TEDx Talk, you might have noticed that I recite a few quotes and Sanskrit phrases.

This is verbatim memorization, but it’s essentially the same process.

Instead of extracting keywords, every word is memorized as if it were a keyword. To practice this, I suggest you complete my tutorial on how to commit poetry to memory.

As an additional resource, please consult my detailed tutorial on how to memorize a paragraph.

Four: Alphanumeric Mnemonics

I mentioned the Major System above.

Let’s dig deeper into how this technique works so you can easily remember important phone numbers, credit cards, historical dates and even matters related to programming on demand.

What is it?

The Major System is called an “alphanumeric” technique because it helps you transform numbers into consonant sounds.

You then turn these into memorable words by inserting vowels between the consonants.

The Major System is a foundational technique and merely learning to use it will provide you with outstanding memory training.

Here’s the exact alphanumeric pattern I’ve used for decades:

Once you’ve committed this set of associations to memory, here’s how it works:

If you have to memorize the number 34, you note that 3 = M and 4 = R.

You then insert a vowel and come up with a word like “mare” or a person like “Mary.”

Personally, I use “mare” as my word for 34, but make it more specific by thinking of a specific horse: the one pictured on the cover of Piers Anthony’s Xanth novel, Nightmare.

Although this technique is primarily used for remembering numbers, you can actually use it to remember many other things.

For example, often when I learn new words in different languages, I observe the consonants and work out what numbers they would be in the Major System.

This makes it fast and easy to come up with associations.

For example, in German, “blacksmith” is der Schmeid.

In the major, the “sch” sound can be represented by 6, which also covers J sounds. D is linked with 1.

61 makes words like “Jedi” and Judd. So I can imagine the actor Judd Nelson “smushing” his Jedi uniform into a suitcase shaped like an E.

Although that’s not 100% direct, it doesn’t have to be. With a small amount of spaced repetition, the target information will enter long-term memory.

A Brief History of Alphanumeric Mnemonics

Although it can be a bit tough to learn in the beginning, rest assured that people have been using mnemonic tools like the Major System for thousands of years.

For more background, check out Lynne Kelly’s The Memory Code.

In my own research, I’ve found the katapayadi system, which goes back to at least 869 CE.

I find the length of time this particular type of tool for establishing memories has been around inspiring. Hopefully it will continue to survive for both practical uses and fun projects like memorizing pi.

Five: The First Letter Mnemonic Technique

This next technique is great for training with poetry, song lyrics and quotes.

To use it, all you do is take the first letter of each word and write it on a piece of paper.

Here’s what I mean using the opening of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 59:

“If there be nothing new, but that which is hath been before…”

Once you’ve written out the letters, you look at the list and practice recalling all the words in full.

It is literally an exercise in mentally filling in the blanks.

As a learning technique, this approach is related to the Cloze test. In this laboratory study of using what the scientists called the “first Initial mnemonic,” students who used it as part of their studies showed significantly better recall.

Although I would never use this approach to memorize something mission critical like a speech, it is a good training exercise. I use it a couple of times a year just for practice.

Six: Story-Telling For Better Memory

I mentioned the power of crafting mnemonic stories above. Let’s go deeper.

As we know from the story of Simonides of Ceos, the brain loves stories because it finds them instantly memorable.

That’s one reason why the Renaissance memory master Robert Fludd talked about using theatre plays in your associations.

I personally use this approach often, and have a full Story Method tutorial that will help you use it in a highly targeted way for both training your memory and as a learning tool.

Seven: The Memory Palace Technique (The Gold Standard)

The Memory Palace technique changed my life.

Also known as the method of loci, it’s powerful because it lets you use one of our most powerful types of memory and mental faculties:

Spatial memory.

In other words, you place associations paired with your target information along a familiar route or location in your imagination.

Then, using spaced repetition and one of the association techniques discussed above, you revisit the images you placed along the journey. Soon, you’ll have the information you want to remember in long-term memory.

That’s exactly what I did to memorize my TEDx Talk using keywords after making a quick sketch of a familiar location:

And like all memory techniques, the Memory Palace has been thoroughly vetted by researchers.

According to a Nature article prepared by Eleanor Maguire and her team, anyone can reshape their brain’s networks by using this technique.

As the scientist’s revealed when sharing the brain scans of memory champions who use the technique, their success in remembering vast amounts of information quickly came from using this spatial memory technique.

The researchers then put non-memory athletes through a memory training program and observed how their brains changed with exercise.

The more the newcomers practiced the memory training techniques, the more their brain activity started to resemble the brains of memory athletes.

That means you can expect similar memory boosts, even if you’re a beginner with this particular mnemonic device.

Beyond Training with Techniques: Daily Memory Exercises

Developing stronger memory skills is generally best approached using the techniques I just shared with you.

However, there are other smaller actions you can take to create remarkable results over time.

Here are some recommended daily memory-boosting exercises I personally use and recommend:

One: Brain Games and Puzzles

You can stimulate multiple aspects of your cognition by playing a variety of brain games.

In addition to the classics like Sudoko and matching games, you can get involved with my Memory Detective game. We usually play a round every Halloween in the Magnetic Memory Method community.

Two: Regular Mindfulness and Meditation

Even just ten minutes a day of sitting meditation can improve your focus and working memory.

As this study shows, less is definitely more.

Not only did they find that brand-new meditators enjoyed better memory. They also experience mood boosts and greater levels of emotional regulation.

Three: Physical Exercise for Brain Health

Although I don’t always feel like it, I work hard to get myself to the gym three times a week. Or I will do a calisthenic routine at home.

I also take walks almost every day, including walking backwards. As this study showed, even just imagining that you’re walking backwards produced a memory boosting effect.

Personally, I prefer the real thing, even though it gets strange glances when I do it at the local outdoor gym.

Four: Learn Something New Every Day

Whether it’s studying a new language, a musical instrument or practicing a hobby like writing, continually learning new topics and skills keeps your brain engaged.

It also helps with neuroplastic change, literally rewiring your brain for better processing speed and memory.

You might also consider exploring a variety of ways to learn. If you typically take notes in a top-down fashion, for example, you can spend a few months on Tony-Buzan style mind mapping for a change.

Final Thoughts: You Don’t Need a “Photographic Memory”

Many people ask me to teach them to have a photographic memory.

I always turn them down because most of what we need to memorize is in language, not pictures.

Plus, photographic memory is widely considered to be pseudoscience.

Ultimately, if you want a trained memory, or even just to learn faster, every technique you’ve discovered on this page is very learnable.

If you’d like more help, especially with the Memory Palace technique, please complete my free course:

It will gives you the ultimate memory improvement exercise by focusing on spatial memory through four free videos and three powerful worksheets.

And if you’d like more information on additional mnemonic tools, this list of memory techniques goes deeper.

The important point is to get started and keep going.

The absolute best years of your learning and remembering life await!