HowTo: Unlock Node Locations

This Loci Memory Palace VR how-to video will demonstrate how to unlock the nodes of a mind map graph and preform a forced layout of the graph.  The voice command “unlock nodes” is used.  You can also focus the pointer on a node and say “unpin node” to do an individual node.

Method of Loci

Cicero Denounces Catiline by Maccari

The method of loci is a memory technique used in ancient Greece and Rome where you imagine a building, and mentally place the items you must remember at locations in the building. Then later you recall these items as you mentally walk through the building and view them in the locations you pass. As this New York Times article on the method of loci describes, the first known published description of this method was in Rhetorica ad Herennium in 80 B.C.  Cicero also describes this method in his work De Oratore.

A study of the method of loci published in March 2017 by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, the Donders Institute, and Stanford University on the effectiveness of the method of loci showed this technique results in significant recall improvement across time periods of twenty minutes, one day, and four months. Even after four months, the group using the method of loci had more than a 20% level of improvement in recall over the active and passive control groups.

The study included using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the subjects, and then comparing their before and after MRIs with memory athletes. They found the method of loci subject’s connections across brain centers came to resemble the memory athlete’s. In their study they show with a figure of the brain’s MRI connections the noticeable difference in connections between memory athletes and controls and indicate this improvement from using the method of loci may result from improved connections (links) across brain areas.

Our Loci app is available now for Windows Mixed Reality on the Microsoft Store here.  Using Loci, you link in your mind. You place nodes with camera or file images, web links, or text at locations in your home and office. You can link them to form mind map graphs or you can leave them unattached as a form of pinned note. In either case you have placed them in a location, reinforcing your memory of them for recall at any time, even when not using the Loci application. Furthermore, you can share your mind map graphs with others, taking the method of loci from one person’s internal thoughts to an external visualization that can be communicated digitally with other contributors.

AWE 2017 Notes

From 31 May to 2 June the Augmented World Expo was held at the Santa Clara Convention center.  There were a lot of interesting things there, and we are providing some notes here.

Videos of AWE 2017 talks are available on the AWE page on Youtube.

Of course, we think one interesting thing was our booth 359 showing off our new product, Loci, available for HoloLens now in the windows store.   We showed visitors how their notes, ideas, and analysis can be placed in the real world, to increase understanding and recall as they solve their problems.

Congratulations to Microsoft HoloLens for winning the Best Headworn Device award, as selected by the IEEE Standards Association!

I liked the talk by Tony Parisi of Unity.  Tony worked in the early days of VR, on the VRML standard.  Two billion devices have unity player installed.  He gives a good survey of what is going on across companies in mixed reality.  Mentioned WebAR, with the world as your QR code.

https://youtu.be/NaPY_9l6JGs

There are some good ideas for interaction from Meta, which makes the Meta 2 headset

Stefano Baldassi on Meta interaction https://youtu.be/b2PgbMs2UVA

We will add more to this blog post as we assess the talks…