I highly recommend "Moonwalking with Einstein" to anyone curious about what our memories can do and how we can make better use of them: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonwalking_with_Einstein" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonwalking_with_Einstein</a><p>The author won the US Memory Championship after just a single year of learning and practicing mnemonic techniques.
No mention of Anki? I use it every day for basically everything (foreign languages, life memories, trivia, world capitals, etc.) and it's unquestionably changed my life.
I recently read [1]: "There are three ways in which information may be learned or committed to memory: by rote, assimilation, or use of a mnemonic device.<p>By Rote. Material to be learned is repeated [...] It seems to be the least efficient way of remembering.<p>By Assimilation. Information is learned by assimilation when the structure or substance of the information fits into some memory schema already possessed by the learner. The new information is assimilated to or linked to the existing schema and can be retrieved readily by first accessing the existing schema and then reconstructing the new information. Assimilation involves learning by comprehension and is, therefore, a desirable method, but it can only be used to learn information that is somehow related to our previous experience.<p>By Using A Mnemonic Device. A mnemonic device is any means of organizing or encoding information for the purpose of making it easier to remember. [...] Any form of processing information in this manner is a more effective aid to retention than rote repetition.
"<p>Is this information (from 1980) outdated? Is "spaced repetition" a newer idea? Is it more effective than assimilation or mnemonic device?<p>[1] <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/psychology-of-intelligence-analysis/art6.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig...</a>
There is actually some really good ted talks on this:<p>* <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_foer_feats_of_memory_anyone_can_do" rel="nofollow">https://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_foer_feats_of_memory_anyone...</a><p>* <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ebJlcZMx3c" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ebJlcZMx3c</a><p>Make more connections to the things you need to remember. Make a tune out of the specifics or make a quick phonetic story out of it.<p>Good stuff.<p>I haven't been able to forget my ex's anniversary date because I remember it as "she's a 10/10" (oct 10).
>Forget cramming. It didn’t work in college, it doesn’t work now. Spaced repetition might be the best way. //<p>Cramming worked for me, it's just short-term, which can be a problem depending on your goals.
+1 for spaced repetition. I automated a schedule (1, 7, 17, 35 days) based on the SuperMemo algorithm for stuff that I read that I want to remember. Currently exists as a browser extension:<p>(Chrome) <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/harvest-grow-your-mind/dejecgndbecimagkaefkfdaedaimamji" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/harvest-grow-your-...</a><p>(Firefox) <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/addon/harvest-grow-your-mind" rel="nofollow">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/addon/harvest-gr...</a>
Read blogs from Piotr Wozniak, he did a lot of research on the subject and created supermemo.<p><a href="https://www.supermemo.com/english/company/wozniak.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.supermemo.com/english/company/wozniak.htm</a>
There were a couple parallel sub-discussions earlier this week, but no mention of spaced repetition:<p>Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say | <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15508714" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15508714</a> (Oct 2017, 138 comments)<p>>pdog: <i>Do you know the best exercise for your brain? Actual exercise</i><p>>JamesBarney: <i>I hit dual n back pretty hard trying to improve my IQ</i><p><a href="https://www.gwern.net/DNB-meta-analysis" rel="nofollow">https://www.gwern.net/DNB-meta-analysis</a>
I would love to increase my focus. Even if I force myself to sit tight, often times I catch myself reading paragraphs after paragraphs all the while thinking about something else. Meditation can help? What else?
I'm a big fan of spaced repetition. From a mathematical standpoint it's also a very interesting question: You have your forgetting curve and which gives you the probability that you still remember the association. I think there is still some rooms for improvements around there. For instance, I'm not sure if the big plays in the area adjust the forgetting curve for each individual user after they have enough data points.<p>Shameless plug:
I actually just developed a new spaced repetition platform the last few years. I'm not official launched but it's online and works. If anybody is interested in taking part of the beta testing, email is in my profile.