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Spaced repetition is how we truly learn everything when dealing with it a little bit every day. A really great, fun game on this is from Nicki Case called "How

Spaced repetition is how we truly learn everything when dealing with it a little bit every day. A really great, fun game on this is from Nicki Case called "How To Remember Anything Forever-ish" [1] Additionally, the site has some other amazing games that really should be part of everyone's education and are Oregon Trail like in their impact. One of my favorites is the "Evolution of Trust" about game theory. [2] Probably the best game theory game out there. As an aside, you can program yourself and people with spaced repetition. Lots of propaganda uses it heavily but it can be used for good and bad. If you hear small facts everyday or small bits of promotion/propaganda everyday, it can over time evoke an pavlovian like response to the information, either good or bad. Using it can also bump up things you want to know about, and be aware when external information is being pumped. Basically spaced repetition mimics how you'd naturally come across something repetitively and the learning becomes automatic, it is iterative. Educational games like Nicky Case makes are awesome and really do help simplify and solidify certain topics so check them out. [3] [1] https://ncase.me/remember/ https://ncase.me/remember/ [2] https://ncase.me/trust/ https://ncase.me/trust/ [3] https://ncase.me/ https://ncase.me/

kqr 3y ago
I would argue most of the things you are mentioning are plain repetition, and not spaced repetition, which has an element of optimal spacing to minimise reviewing time while keeping retention high. Similarly, propaganda and the like builds on the recency/frequency heuristic in System 1 which makes things you commonly hear seem true, and it's triggered by repetition -- perhaps even more efficiently than by spaced repetition.
- drawkbox 3y ago
  Yeah agreed. Spaced repetition is just a formal procedure of testing + time that taps into already prevalent repetition function to promote information to a higher place in your mind. The brain thinks if it hears about something frequently, it is more important. If those are spaced out you can stretch that but it is also naturally how we learn. Spaced repetition is based on iterative learning, small bits compounding to refine skills/memory. The point is to get it into a higher point in memory by regularly revisiting. Spaced repetition tunes into the natural repetition/learning cycle at a point that becomes muscle memory almost. Once it is in there, the spacing can grow and it can bring that all back up. In usability for instance three or less items feels simple, over seven feels complex. When you repeat something about seven times, whether that is immediate or over time, it moves to a higher importance in your mind/memory. When you stretch these out you can train your brain via spaced repetition but it all comes back to that it is a regular iterative practice and doesn't have to be the exact specs of spaced repetition. We are habitual creatures so if you can get a pattern going of regular learning of a topic, it becomes easier to process in small chunks over time. You can also use this to program or promote ideas and products as people when they hear things over a certain amount of times, as you mention, it moves up the importance in their thought process. When working on a side project for instance, if you work on it just a little bit everyday, or a medium amount every week, it will keep rolling. If you take large breaks you have to work to reload that information and it starts to stagnate. Small, repetitive and many times, spaced iterations, compound into shipping products if you set it up right. That can be used for almost anything from education to career to hobbies and more. At the core of spaced repetition is the spacing (time + testing) but really the small bits that are easy to repeat. Small bits of info regularly is almost more important than the spacing, "testing" size almost more important than the "time". The spaced repetition index cards techniques are all about this, small bits of info tested over time, stretching the time to make it last longer. This is why cramming doesn't work very long, you have to revisit regularly and over a certain amount of times with space in between and they have to be smaller chunks of information to remember, you can't really do that when the thing is due tomorrow. Our current work environments look more like cramming projects rather than open/closed spaced repetition and that is a problem.

kqr 3y ago

I would argue most of the things you are mentioning are plain repetition, and not spaced repetition, which has an element of optimal spacing to minimise reviewing time while keeping retention high. Similarly, propaganda and the like builds on the recency/frequency heuristic in System 1 which makes things you commonly hear seem true, and it's triggered by repetition -- perhaps even more efficiently than by spaced repetition.

drawkbox 3y ago
Yeah agreed. Spaced repetition is just a formal procedure of testing + time that taps into already prevalent repetition function to promote information to a higher place in your mind. The brain thinks if it hears about something frequently, it is more important. If those are spaced out you can stretch that but it is also naturally how we learn. Spaced repetition is based on iterative learning, small bits compounding to refine skills/memory. The point is to get it into a higher point in memory by regularly revisiting. Spaced repetition tunes into the natural repetition/learning cycle at a point that becomes muscle memory almost. Once it is in there, the spacing can grow and it can bring that all back up. In usability for instance three or less items feels simple, over seven feels complex. When you repeat something about seven times, whether that is immediate or over time, it moves to a higher importance in your mind/memory. When you stretch these out you can train your brain via spaced repetition but it all comes back to that it is a regular iterative practice and doesn't have to be the exact specs of spaced repetition. We are habitual creatures so if you can get a pattern going of regular learning of a topic, it becomes easier to process in small chunks over time. You can also use this to program or promote ideas and products as people when they hear things over a certain amount of times, as you mention, it moves up the importance in their thought process. When working on a side project for instance, if you work on it just a little bit everyday, or a medium amount every week, it will keep rolling. If you take large breaks you have to work to reload that information and it starts to stagnate. Small, repetitive and many times, spaced iterations, compound into shipping products if you set it up right. That can be used for almost anything from education to career to hobbies and more. At the core of spaced repetition is the spacing (time + testing) but really the small bits that are easy to repeat. Small bits of info regularly is almost more important than the spacing, "testing" size almost more important than the "time". The spaced repetition index cards techniques are all about this, small bits of info tested over time, stretching the time to make it last longer. This is why cramming doesn't work very long, you have to revisit regularly and over a certain amount of times with space in between and they have to be smaller chunks of information to remember, you can't really do that when the thing is due tomorrow. Our current work environments look more like cramming projects rather than open/closed spaced repetition and that is a problem.