Memory

It’s hard to argue against the numerous benefits that come with a better memory. It helps with the day-to-day, whether that be remembering something in a packed schedule, something you promised to do, or even with school, assignments and tests, if applicable.

Yet, many of the conventional methods used to study information, such as: lectures, cramming, and re-reading information, are wholly ineffective when it comes to actually committing the information to long-term memory.

The video above might not be the most challenging example, but the fact remains… trying to memorize a number of things on the spot isn’t the effective at all. Honestly, the memory of even having watched this video will likely leave your mind in the next few hours. That is… if you don’t do something about it, which is where the philosophy behind Spaced Repetition might come in handy.

No matter how thoroughly a person may have learned the Greek alphabet, he will never be in a condition to repeat it backwards without further training.
Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885)

In 1885, the father of modern memory, Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted a groundbreaking experiment in which he attempted to memorize thousands of nonsense words, culminating in his discovery of “The Forgetting Curve“.

A standard forgetting curve shows the rate of decay after first taking in information. As you can see, people typically forget most of what they learn in the first 24 hours without recall.

Yet, each time that information is actively recalled, the rate of decay is slowed exponentially, refreshing the memory. The key here, though, is that this is active recall, meaning that for it to have the desired effect, one must be engaged in this recall rather than simply passively re-reading a paragraph, for example. Of course, this might mean something different for everyone, but basically it’s important to have your attention or your interest focused well on the information that you’re trying to remember here.

In this image, the smaller dotted red lines that trail off after each repetition show how the memory would decay with no other recall thereafter. Yet, as can be seen at each red circle, repeating the information refreshes the memory entirely and effectively slows the rate of decay altogether, as well. While the difference between the standard black line and the fourth repetition is incredible, it is still evident that a number of recalls are necessary to truly remember something over a long period of time.

Although, it is important to note when these recalls are most effective. The image above shows that each repetition is performed at around 70% decay, when a decent amount of the memory is forgotten but there is still a solid foundation to build it back up again. But, as each repetition slows the rate of decay, this time interval broadens each time, too. This is a central tenet of employing this method; each repetition must be spaced further and further apart for optimal results.

The brain, just as any muscle in one’s body, must be trained to perform well. Ebbinghaus’ model proves that it is all about consistency over increasing periods of time. As such, you can keep any number of things in your long-term memory forever with this method. But, in this same vein, it is important to keep reasonable expectations and not overload oneself with information. Everyone has different limits.

Later duplication of Ebbinghaus’ experiments and research has shown that his method works best with small and significant pieces of information. Meaning, it works best with information that is broken up into units that can be clearly connected and are meaningful to whoever is trying to memorize them.

So, if you don’t care at all – if the information doesn’t mean anything to you – maybe save the spaced repetition for another day, another subject.