Thread: Loci Induction Technique

This is a somewhat long post, but if you read it, and really research these terms, you'll come to find it quite effective. Here are terms to know and research:

"Method of Loci"
"Memory Palace"
"Memory Peg"

If you don't want to read through all this, then at least check out the link at the end of this post for information on how to create a "Memory Palace".

This is an experimental technique that I have been working with for a couple days now. It is based on "The Method of Loci" for remembering information. The idea will be to use the Loci Technique in order to remember to carry out a tasks that will help you remember that you are dreaming (Reality Checks).

Here is some brief information regarding the Loci Method, taken from Wikipedia:

O'Keefe and Nadel refer to "'the method of loci', an imaginal technique known to the ancient Greeks and Romans and described by Yates (1966) in her book The Art of Memory as well as by Luria (1969). In this technique the subject memorizes the layout of some building, or the arrangement of shops on a street, or any geographical entity which is composed of a number of discrete loci. When desiring to remember a set of items the subject literally 'walks' through these loci and commits an item to each one by forming an image between the item and any distinguishing feature of that locus. Retrieval of items is achieved by 'walking' through the loci, allowing the latter to activate the desired items. The efficacy of this technique has been well established (Ross and Lawrence 1968, Crovitz 1969, 1971, Briggs, Hawkins and Crovitz 1970, Lea 1975), as is the minimal interference seen with its use."


Some of you may know this as the "Memory Palace".

Think of a building, a street, or a route, or any location that you are able to conjure up on your mind vividly. Often times, this will end up being your own house. You want to take a virtual tour of your own house (or whichever location you choose) in your mind, and recall the most vivid objects that stand out, objects in your house that you don't have to strain to recognize in your mind.

For instance, your Couch, Television, Doors, Refrigerator, and things like that. Anything that really stands out to you, that you can easily recognize, and know its location. And what you do is, you link certain images that represent what you want to remember, to those areas in your mind, so that when you see that image, for instance, a couch, it will form a link to whatever it was you wanted to remember.

Here is a video that should help clarify what I'm talking about, since I'm not the best at verbalizing things:

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Imp...Skills-3480533


Hopefully after watching that video, you'll start to get an idea of how this technique works, and how you can apply it to Lucid Dreaming.

The idea here, will be to associate not so much Dream Signs, but rather, Reality Checks, with certain objects in your dream. For me, I use the "Nose Pinch" technique. In order to effectively remember to carry that out, I could just do random Reality checks through my day, and hope that the habit carries over into the dream. I could also try to keep an eye out for oddities in my dream.

Both of those are reliant on luck more than anything, and aren't very reliable. But using my Memory Palace, I can actively place those oddities in my dream, and do them in such a way so that when I see those objects, I remember to carry out my dream check.

With Practice, this technique can be used to remember much more additional information. This can be done by ANYONE, and requires only minimal effort to practice.

Within 2 minutes, I had used this technique to memorize a list of 20 completely random words, and I can still remember them. All I need to do, is take a virtual tour of my house, and while looking around, certain objects conjure up the images that represent the words I was to remember:

Flower
Pants
Laptop
Parrot
Whale
Nipple
Stadium
Tony Blair
Lavatory
Clipboard
Thumb
Buzzer
Shell
Wallet
Magnet
Thread
Monitor
Wheel Chair

Each of these words, is linked to a certain item in my house, and so In order to recall them, I simply take the tour of my house.

The effectiveness of this technique really relies on your ability to mentally visualize a building or area, and the objects within it. This would be most effective if you can take note of a common area you are in your dreams. For instance, if you are a student who often times finds himself in school in his dream, then you should use your School as your memory palace for Dream Signs, and place the reminders there.

Typically, after you place an item, or an "Image Peg" in your Loci, it will stay there for quite a while. Sometimes its difficult to even remove it. It can be very effective in that aspect.

Also, you can use as many "Memory Palaces" as you want, as long as each location you use, you are able to Vividly visit in your mind, and has objects that really stand out.

In time, you can learn to use places that don't even exist, just ones that you made up, or for a Video Game enthusiast, you can use locations from Video Games that you play.


So, while this method is still Experimental, it should prove to be quite effective if you are willing to spend a few days creating, and maintaining your Memory Palace, and committing it to memory.

For a bit more information on this:

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Memory-Palace