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BLOKES System |
Imagine that you need to remember 3 items in order - for example, on your walk, you want to handle some chores:
doctor's prescription
buy a train ticket
buy wrapping paper
Pause a moment to imagine each of those items: this is a visual memory lesson - so focus on images more than written words!
The BLOKES system is a way for you to use images of parts of your home or other familiar places as a mental storage place for items which you need to recall. If you need to recall 5 exam facts in order then you imagine each fact's image at the first 5 places of your home. Various names exist for this type of system:
Roman Room System
Memory Palace
System of Loci
Peg System
but, in this context, all these labels mean that you think of a familiar place and recall the object which you needed to memorise.
Here is an example system but you can decide for yourself which visual objects to use and in which order they occur; for instance, the order in which your eyes notice the items in your living room might dictate the order in which you list the items here:
The BLOKES system uses 60 familiar places arranged into 6 'rooms' which each contain 10 items:
Bathroom
Living room
Office
Kitchen
Entrance
Sleeping quarters
Note: Their first letters spell the acronym: 'BLOKES'.
Bathroom [B room]:
bath
wall tiles
shower partition
mirror cabinet
electric light
toilet
bin
mat
radiator
sink
Living Room [L Room]:
sofa
tv
hi-fi
loud speaker
coffee table
rug
pot plant
wooden chair
book shelf
painting / poster
Office [O Room]:
keyboard
monitor
filing cabinet
brown wooden cupboard
electric fan
leather armchair
wall clock
calendar chart
fire exit sign
line of lever arch files
Kitchen [K Room]:
washing machine
draining board
electric / gas hob
wash basket
mop
kettle
saucepan
food-mixer
kitchen table / dining work surface
smoke alarm
Entrance hall [E Room]:
Coat rack
Door mat
Umbrella rack
Shoe rack
Hat / Cap hanging up
Key hook
Powerpoint
Letter box
Phone / Phone entry system
Briefcase
Sleeping quarters [S Room]:
dressing table
chest of drawers
cuddly toy
pillow
laundry basket
wardrobe rail
portable tv
wall poster
slippers
toy / figurine / jewellery box
For your list of things to do on your walk, associate each chore with one of the places in sequence:
bath: in the bath tub, imagine your doctor's prescription
tiles: on the tiles, imagine the train ticket
shower partition: on the shower partition, imagine the wrapping paper
So, by visiting your well-known imaginary bathroom in its well known sequence of places, you can recall your chores in sequence!
Later, if you have a list of exam prompts to learn, you can imagine each exam image at one of the room places. You will revisit the room places in your well-learned sequence and thus recall your exam images in their correct sequence too.
As an exercise, you could extend the system to 100 items by inventing 4 other groups of 10 places. eg. 1. 10 places in your neighbourhood (even just a small area along a road), 2. 10 shops or 10 parts of local shops, 3. 10 places in your town or city, 4. 10 places in your local park or natural space.