The Romans understood this connection between memory and place long before modern scientists began to test it. In De Oratore, a dialogue on the art of speechmaking, Cicero discussed the “method of loci.” When memorizing a speech, imagine walking through a familiar building, for example, assigning parts of the speech to different locations on an imaginary walk around it. The first sentence of your speech might belong by a coat hook, the anecdote about your childhood in the hallway closet.
