> I find memorization very difficult (poor passive recall), yet my comprehension is superior (aiding deduction.) So, the [learner's paradox](https://fs.blog/th

> I find memorization very difficult (poor passive recall), yet my comprehension is superior (aiding deduction.) So, the [learner's paradox](https://fs.blog/the-learning-paradox/ https://fs.blog/the-learning-paradox/) is that students do things that are easy and gratifying but have no lasting impact. Baseball players practicing batting should be practicing a random mix of pitch types but vastly prefer 'massed practice' sessions. I.e. 20 fastballs then 20 curveballs then 20 changeups or whatever. Yes, you can do very well on that 20th pitch, and perfecting it will be gratifying, but you come in tomorrow closer to pitch 1 than the person who mixed it up does. It's worth pointing out that "Photographic memory" isn't durable (typically), and may in some ways impair a person -- like a guitarist who's so good at listening and replicating a song they never bothered to learn sheet music, they may end up using short term memory as a crutch and commit fewer things to long term memory in a way that impairs them in later life, especially versus someone who had studied other similar networks of concept in the past.