We’d like you to try to memorize a 10-item shopping list using a variation of the “memory palace” technique. It works like this:
Imagine waking up and getting ready for the day. We’ll show you an item you need to buy, and we’ll pair it with a common location in a home.
Try to visualize the pairs together in your home.
In a few seconds, we’ll ask you to recall your list. Focus on your memory palace, associating your items with places in your home.
Test begins in
Let's go shopping. What are the items you need to buy today?
Thanks for playing! You correctly remembered out of 10 items, better than about of all Times readers.
Here’s what you missed, along with what you were supposed to associate it with in your memory palace: .
One note: This game is not a perfect adaptation of the memory palace technique. The most effective approach involves places you know by heart, which is why visualizing the items in your home or along a familiar route might help you recall them more effectively.
A second imperfection here is that we are asking you to choose among hundreds of items rather than having you type them in directly. As our colleague Austin Frakt notes, our brains are excellent at recalling things we’ve seen before – even one image among thousands. (That’s one reason the memory palace technique works so well.) But that also means it might have been easier for some readers to select words in this quiz rather than typing them in from scratch – you might have recognized the words.
Still, the “memory palace” is a proven way to improve your memory. One study found that the method doubled the proportion of people who could remember at least 11 of 12 grocery list items.
Also, feel free to try this game again! The puzzle is different every time you try it.
