5 Sensory Memory Exercises For Better Memory Palace Success

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As someone who is not very visual, I’m glad I learned how to tap into various aspects of my sensory memory to help me use memory techniques better.

At first, I resisted sense memory exercises related to visual experience. I preferred any other sensory modes other than trying to work with visual images.

In hindsight, that was silly. But it was really hard coming to grips with the fact that I don’t see pictures in my mind.

After all, how is a “Memory Palace” and other mnemonic techniques supposed to improve retention and recall if you can’t “see” images in your imagination?

Well, whether you’re low on the visual scale, like me, or experience full-blown aphantasia, there are solutions.

And to help you explore them, I’ve got 5 simple sense memory exercises.

Each will help extend your abilities with memory techniques thanks to the full range of sensory practice they provide.

You’ll get visual memory practice too when you dive right into the video guide I’ve created for you:

To extend your understanding and give you more context before providing the exercises in written form below, let’s talk about how and why these sensory memory activities are useful.

How to Improve Sensory Memory Using These Exercises

To improve sensory memory, you need to practice deliberately recalling specific sensations from real experiences. This means thinking back to sounds, textures, aromas, even the “feel” of certain logical connections.

That way, you can use these sensory memories while practicing memory techniques like the Memory Palace.

In other words, sensory memory training and mnemonics aren’t separate activities. You improve both by doing both together.

Does this approach hold up under pressure?

Yes. I’ve tested it in public more times than I can count: a TEDx talk, demonstrations reciting thousands of words of Sanskrit across dozens of mantras, univocalic poetry that’s difficult by design.

And most recently, I delivered an oral law school examination and passed with an A+.

The protocol is simple: work through the five exercises below deliberately, alongside your regular Memory Palace practice. Not one or the other. Both.

Sensory Memory Techniques Defined

Our ancestors noted that we tend to remember better when tapping into our senses. Aristotle discusses the role of mental imagery in De Memoria and later mnemonists like Peter of Ravenna and Jacobus Plublicius turned this approach into exercises.

Ravenna, for example, describes a specific memory improvement game in The Phoenix. To win it, you need to follow his instructions for memorizing information better than other players by adding imagined sensations. It’s based on the same processes he used to excel as a jurist, learn languages and recite memorized scripture.

And that’s the technique: Adding as many imaginary layers of sensation as you can while using mnemonics.

Now let’s get started with the first exercise.

#1: The Auditory Sensory Memory Palace Trick

Think about a familiar place and recall what it sounded like. Or connect some aspect of the location with sound.

Take your school, for example.

When I think purely about sound in combination with one of the high schools I attended, I hear the voice of Mr. Andrews:

“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”.

He used to say this every time we were supposed to hand in our homework.

I still have an idea of what the classroom looked like and where it was in the school.

And since Mr. Andrews was a big fellow, I have a general sense of his physical presence. But it’s his voice that really stands out.

Likewise, I think of my various band teachers and can even place where different sections of the orchestra were in the different rooms without needing to render a visual picture.

Zero Visualization Needed

There is a way to turn this into a picture that requires zero visualization, but we’ll get to that soon.

For now, is this a cool memory trick or what?

The more you focus just on sounds, the more you’ll explore powerful dimensions of your memory.

This auditory focus will make a huge difference.

Especially in connection with the tutorial I’ve created for you on mining your autobiographical memory for more Memory Palaces. It works nicely in combination with these episodic memory exercises.

#2: The “What do you feel?” Exercise

Let’s go for something soft with this next exercise.

When I first completed this routine, I thought of my stuffed Cheshire cat.

I’ve had two in my life – one from when I visited Disneyland around age 10 and one my mom sent me just a few years ago to replace it.

(I had to get rid of the old one during one of my epic moves around the globe. Thanks for getting me a new one, mom!)

In terms of the Memory Palace this plush animal brings to mind, it’s not Disneyland.

Although I have used this famous theme park as a source of Memory Palaces before, in this case, I thought of the plane ride home from visiting Anaheim, California.

Now, you might think that an airplane is not great Memory Palace material.

Au contraire. Airplanes can be quite fantastic. They’re simple and can be divided in multiple ways.

Plus, some of my favorite students have been pilots, as you can see on the Magnetic Memory Method Testimonials page.

A Smiling Sensory Memory Example

Anyhow, I have this vague memory of being a 10 year old hugging the Cheshire cat.

He joins me here in this video summary of today’s exercises:

To make this feeling-based brain exercise work, I really dig into what hugging my toy felt like in my memory.

Then I dig further.

If you’re new to this kind of exercise, it can feel like a stretch at first.

But keep exploring.

If you follow along with me and find a plane trip of your own to explore, you can indeed find other physical sensations related to flying that come to mind.

Try accessing these different levels of sensation-based memory for yourself:

• The softness (or hardness) of the seat beneath you
• The temperature of the glass when you touch the window
• The feeling of anticipation as the plane accelerates down the runway

Suddenly, all kinds of sensations emerge when you complete this simple memory exercise.

Now It’s Your Turn

Think about flights you’ve taken. (Or train trips, road trips, etc.)

When I completed this exercise, all kinds of flights I’d forgotten emerged.

Write the ideas that come up into a Memory Journal and include all the sensations you can think of.

Think of it as a kind of personal, private sensory memory test.

Bang presto!

When I completed this exercise, I found myself with oodles of airplane and airport Memory Palaces to work with along with a wide variety of sensations.

Memory exercises like these are the closest thing to real magic that exists, don’t you think? Especially when used in the context of these additional recovered memory exercises.

Give them all a try!


#3: The Concepts Are King Exercise

In a nutshell, this exercise helps you explore what you think and remember conceptually.

Now, this one is a bit of a stretch, I’ll admit. But stretching is good.

Start with one of the most basic concepts: Truth.

What comes to mind when you think of the truth?

I think of libraries.

And when I think of libraries, a ton of them come to mind. In fact, I’ve worked in three of them, and studied in dozens more. Each library makes for a great Memory Palace.

Next, think of a concept like justice.

It’s true:

During high school I once wound up in the drunk tank. It sucked back then, but makes for an interesting Memory Palace now.

I took law in high school and observed a few court cases too. I had a friend who was a lawyer before he went to the great Memory Palace in the sky and he comes to mind too – all from thinking about the concept of justice.

The concepts of math, chemistry, weather all bring multiple associations – and not a single one of them can be seen visually, strictly speaking.

They’re just concepts.

And thinking about Einstein for math, Breaking Bad for chemistry and a meteorologist I know named Dave don’t require me to make mental images either.

Remember: lowering the cognitive load always helps you learn faster and remember more.

#4: The Delicious Aroma Exercise

I’ll bet at least one person in your family has some kind of secret recipe.

And even if it isn’t secret, there’s a dish they make really well that you adore. Maybe even something based around foods that improve memory.

Now, although I can’t eat a large number of things I used to love, my mom’s zucchini bread comes to mind.

My dad also makes a mean spaghetti. And since we moved around a lot, quite a few kitchens come to mind for use as Memory Palaces.

Then I think of a few romantic meals I’ve had over the years. These took place in buildings ranging from the CN Tower in Toronto to the Pizzeria Monte Carlo in Rome.

Even as someone who isn’t a foodie, there are oodles of tastes and aromas that come to mind all over the world.

Fruit juices and dates in Cairo, Lingonberry jam in Sweden, dumplings in Beijing… all wonderful Memory Palaces just waiting to be unlocked from memory.

I’ll bet you have dozens of options.

#5. The “Un-Visualization” Memory Palace Exercise

What? How can you “un-visualize” something?

Let me answer that question for you:

All you have to do is draw your Memory Palaces. On paper.

Instead of trying to juggle space in your mind, make it simple.

Rather than trying to imagine the rooms and hallways and garages and driveways and all kinds of things that you might not be able to see clearly in your mind, break it down into simple squares.

Rest assured, multiple stages of memory will get exercised as you do this.

Now, sometimes people email me with the concern that they aren’t able to draw. If that’s you, please watch this tutorial for alternatives:

Regardless of whether I draw my Memory Palaces or think about them purely in my mind, here’s an important consideration:

When I first encountered memory techniques and the Memory Palace, I couldn’t fathom how on earth I was supposed to see myself moving through a building I wasn’t in.

And that’s a very good thing, because the strange explanations I was reading prompted me to solve this issue for myself through experimentation.

It also got me interested in studying far more than the books written by memory competitors. As a result, I wound up going deep into the history of these techniques, far deeper than Yates’ The Art of Memory, that’s for sure.

And reading between the lines of texts like the Rhetorica ad Herennium, I discovered that they weren’t really talking about visualizing their Memory Palaces.

And the notion of making them tactile and strategizing them before using them  gave me the idea to make them tactile in the simplest and easiest way you can:

With pencil and paper.

And as soon as I got results from doing this, I couldn’t stop exploring!

I am still amazed by just how many buildings I can visit in my mind. Making them visual simply by drawing squares on paper makes memory training so much easier.

So, whether you can sketch or not, this final exercise will help you find more Memory Palaces and use them. It’s powerful.

How Memory Athletes Experience Sensory Memory When Using Mnemonics

As mentioned, I don’t see pictures in my mind.

Although I can’t say that I see “nothing” at all, I find the murky visual sensations I experience to be useless, if not distracting.

When I tell my memory athlete friends about my experience, they either:

• Know exactly what I mean
• Use some of the same processes I’m about to share
• Rarely describe how they are purely “visual” in some sense I have yet to understand…

I say “some sense,” because even with our current technology, it’s not possible to peer into anyone else’s imagination, let alone understand the various types of memory involved in someone else’s process.

Anyhow, if you’ve followed the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard some of these conversations before.

If not, I recommend you listen to some of the interviews with memory athletes I’ve recorded over the years. I’ve learned a ton that have improved my practice and even re-listening to some of them will help your practice too.

Here are some of my favorite episodes that touch upon sensory memory and the true nature of mnemonic images as the real pros use them:

• Nelson Dellis on visual memory techniques
• Alex Mullen on building speed with mnemonics
• Mark
 Channon on memory and acting (very multisensory)
• Tansel Ali on gratitude in memory improvement
• John Graham on using memory training obstacles
• Idriz Zogaj on memory training apps

Of course, you need to listen to these episodes with yourself in mind.

Why?

Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what other people do in their minds. Each of us experiences only one mind. And that’s the mind we’ve been blessed with.

Plus, we each have our own experience of visual memory.

And what a blessing that there are so many differences when it comes to sensory learning.

But don’t get me wrong:

I do understand that some people currently have miserable experiences, and not being able to use the main memory techniques must be very miserable indeed.

But that doesn’t have to be you.

No More Excuses Along Your Memory Training Journey

Let’s face it:

People with no hands can draw Memory Palaces with their teeth, their feet or even ask for others to help.

I know this for a fact because I’ve had correspondence from people who can’t move anything but their mouths.

Yet, each have created and used Memory Palaces by drawing them nonetheless. Or by following some of the suggestions in the video above about what to do if you can’t develop your use of the method of loci through simple sketches.

In sum:

There really are no excuses.

Of course, if you don’t want to join the great memory tradition, no problem. I don’t want to learn how to pack a parachute and jump out of a plane. Some things just aren’t for everyone.

But if you do and you’ve ever struggled with the visual element, here’s a bold promise:

You really can rest assured that you can use memory techniques and they will work for you even without seeing pictures in your mind.

Here’s the best way I can show you how:

In fact, due to an interesting turn of events, I wound up competing once at a competition with mental athlete and memory expert Dave Farrow.

Based on that experience, I can tell you that there’s really no time to create pictures in your mind when the cameras are rolling and the clock is on.

The mnemonics I created in that short competition were almost purely conceptual and I was pleasantly surprised by just how well I did…

Especially as someone completely unprepared and with zero competition practice, history or particular interest in throwing down the gloves.

So even if you are hyper-visual, you’ll want to consider the advantages of adding these other senses to your memory practice.

What do you say?

Can you imagine yourself moving from a purely visual approach to using memory techniques to a multi-sensory approach?

I promise you’ll enjoy better results from memory techniques as a result. And if you need more, here are 5 Memory Palace Examples to improve your memory training practice.