Day 28 of 150 Memory Difficulty 3/10
The memory palace technique dates to ancient orators
Quick answer
The memory palace technique dates to ancient orators. Today's question (Method of loci) asks about a finding from Yates, F. A. in 1966. The correct option is Ancient Greco-Roman orators — full explanation, primary source, and glossary cross-links below.
Today's question
The "memory palace" technique — placing items along a familiar mental route — was first systematized by:
Reveal the answer and explanation
Correct: B — Ancient Greco-Roman orators
The method of loci dates to roughly 500 BCE, attributed to the Greek poet Simonides and codified in Roman rhetorical manuals (Cicero's De Oratore, the anonymous Rhetorica ad Herennium). Frances Yates's The Art of Memory (1966) is the canonical scholarly history. Modern memory athletes still use the technique unchanged — the World Memory Championships are won by people walking through imagined buildings.
About the source
Yates, F. A. (1966). The Art of Memory. University of Chicago Press.
Every Cognition Bible question cites a primary source — a paper, book chapter, or monograph that exists, that we can point to on Google Scholar, and whose finding the question accurately summarizes. No fabricated authority strings, no name-drops without paper-level grounding.
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