Who developed the Mind Palace technique of memorization?
Method of loci
The designation is not used with strict consistency. In some cases it refers broadly to what is otherwise known as the art of memory, the origins of which are related, according to tradition, in the story of Simonides of Ceos and the collapsing banquet hall.[20] For example, after relating the story of how Simonides relied on remembered seating arrangements to call to mind the faces of recently deceased guests, Stephen M. Kosslyn remarks "[t]his insight led to the development of a technique the Greeks called the method of loci, which is a systematic way of improving one's memory by using imagery."[21] Skoyles and Sagan indicate that "an ancient technique of memorization called Method of Loci, by which memories are referenced directly onto spatial maps" originated with the story of Simonides.[22] Referring to mnemonic methods, Verlee Williams mentions, "One such strategy is the 'loci' method, which was developed by Simonides, a Greek poet of the fifth and sixth centuries BC."[23] Loftus cites the foundation story of Simonides (more or less taken from Frances Yates) and describes some of the most basic aspects of the use of space in the art of memory. She states, "This particular mnemonic technique has come to be called the "method of loci".[24] While place or position certainly figured prominently in ancient mnemonic techniques, no designation equivalent to "method of loci" was used exclusively to refer to mnemonic schemes relying upon space for organization.[25]
Andy Clark
In a critique of Clark's "Supersizing the Mind", Lawrence Shapiro and Shannon Spaulding, of The University of Wisconsin-Madison, touch upon this criticism from scholars who challenge extended cognition. They describe the argument against Clark being that "...cognitive routines involving biological memory and those involving external stores of information are importantly different." Essentially they are claiming that the way someone stores memory externally is separate from their biological cognition. For example, if Inga were to use a notepad, it would function as an extension of her compression as her thought process would follow Clark's description of dynamic loops that return to the mind in a cycle. However, when Otto uses the notepad has a way to retain his memory, whatever thoughts he records will not follow back and will become disconnected from his biological mind. In this respect, parts of Otto's mind would essentially "exist outside his brain," meaning that the comparison between Inga and Otto may not be reliant as they appear to function differently in Clark's own theory.