Introduction

To remember newly learned information, we need new words to integrate into our long-term memory. Various mnemonic devices can help us remember things better. The Method of Loci is one that has stood out since Greek times. It's a technique that involves using visualizations to help us imagine ourselves walking through a familiar environment while placing vocabulary-related cues along the way. This creates a memory palace in the form of a storyline that is very unique and personal to us.

ImagiNense is a solution that supports the memory of my intended users by helping them create memory palace for the list of items they need to memorize using a mobile application . My idea extends the preliminary research done by the MIT media Lab’s NeverMind. I aim to reduce the efforts required to imagine a space vividly in our mind instead I propose using a walk around a familiar surrounding to create a memory palace.

The Scope & Problem Statement

Any information we receive in our memory are categorized under short term, long term and sensory memory. The long term memory receives information through the stimulation of senses (such as sight, touch etc). Our short term memory is our working memory , it retains small bits of information for a short period of time and if we wish to store information ( a series of words) we need to put that into our long term memory. To retain and recall the information easily we require converting short term memory to long term memory by consolidation.

Imprinting acquired information uses cognitive function of younger adults for categorizing and organizing knowledge about objects and events into groups based on features. After a few studies on category learning strategies, the Younger adults (age 20-25) with higher memory capacity use exemplar based strategies for categorizing information. Even the memory palace method can be a difficult and demanding cognitive task. It involves imagining a space vividly in your mind, which can be challenging for novices. It involves a lot of mental effort to imagine a location and associate symbols to it. I am highly inspired by MIT Media Lab’s ‘NeverMind’ that uses memory augmentation along with educational interfaces to support human memory, however it is still a study model.

How might we help in consolidation of memory and helping retain information in long term memory by using mnemonic device called memory palace?

I have been passionate about this project mostly because using mnemonic devices for memorizing things have been part of my school days growing up. I still remember one i used to memorize chemistry periodic table, so mnemonic devices helps us in retaining something in our long term memory.

[Reference : Foer, J. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. Penguin Books (2012)](http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Foer%2C+J.+Moonwalking+with+Einstein%3A+The+Art+and+Science+of+Remembering+Everything.+Penguin+Books+(2012).)