Memory
Related: Robert Fludd - brain - mind - meme
Ars Memoriae (1619) - Robert Fludd
Ars Memoriae: The Theatre (1619) - Robert Fludd
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Definition
Memory is the ability of the brain to store, retain, and subsequently recall information. Although traditional studies of memory began in the realms of philosophy, the late nineteenth and early twentieth century put memory within the paradigms of cognitive psychology. In the recent decades, it has become one of the principal pillars of a new branch of science that represents a marriage between cognitive psychology and neuroscience, called cognitive neuroscience. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory [Feb 2006]
Ars memoriae
The "Method of Loci" or Ars memoriae (art of memory) practised in the Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance periods relied on the capacity of the brain for recalling spatial detail. The principle was to initially memorise some large building, the more architectural elaboration of rooms, passages and niches it had the better — the so-called 'Memory Palace'. Mnemonic images could be placed about this palace to link to items that you wanted to remember, usually in symbolic form, with the images as striking as possible to enable recollection. To recall something, the practitioner mentally moved around the palace, reviewing the images in order. This was an essential technique of rhetoricians and preachers.
A reference to this technique survives to this day in the common English phrases "in the first place", "in the second place", and so forth.
It may be helpful to note that most of the best memorisers today use this technique to a greater or lesser degree. Eight World Memory Champion Dominic O'Brien advocates this technique, as does Andi Bell. --http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic#A_nyumonika_t.C3.B6rt.C3.A9nete [Feb 2006]
See also: building - space - place - architecture
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