Is a memory palace actually useful? It helped me memorize the first 20 digits of pi

‘Invoking a memory palace involves picturing some structure or place in your mind, and linking items you want to remember with specific locations around that place.’ Illustration: Guardian Design; Source image by Emma Willard

There’s a scene from the 2010s series Sherlock that I think about a lot. Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) visits his “mind palace” to figure out how he and his friend/minion John Watson (Martin Freeman) got drugged. Words, phrases and images float around his head, and he moves them around with his hands.

“It’s a memory technique,” Watson explains to a confused onlooker. “You plot a map of a location – it doesn’t have to be a real place – and then you deposit memories there.” Theoretically, he says, you can never forget anything, he says: “All you have to do is find your way back to it.”