4 ms·

I can attest to what you're saying. I've taken adderall with a prescription for years. I would be very interested to know what the retention rate is for knowl

by devin 17y ago

I can attest to what you're saying. I've taken adderall with a prescription for years. I would be very interested to know what the retention rate is for knowledge gained while taking amphetamines vs stone cold sober. I feel like I have a much better command of the material when I use both methods. It's like an automatic mode of reinforcement. For instance, it helps to imagine each chinese character is some sort of animal, so you remember how to draw it by thinking of a duck with horns, and so on. Adderall, Ritalin, etc. force you to perceive the things you're studying in a different way, and add to your ability to retain them. The mixture of the two methods can take you a lot further than one or the other in my experience. However, as I commented below, I am skeptical as to how concrete the amphetamine driven associations persist 3-6 months down the line.

jerf 17y ago
I'd love to see a study that examined six month+ retention on amphetamines. Part of the reason I'd love to see that study is that it would have to examine six month+ retention in a control group, too. I suspect we'd all be pretty disappointed by the results. We all "ha ha" about people cramming for the test and then immediately forgetting it all, but I think that we all know that that is actually the normal thing for most people. Putting numbers to that would probably be pretty sobering. (We've talked a lot on HN about whether it's worth it to go to college. That wouldn't be a half-bad metric to use as part of that decision; do you actually recall stuff from more than three months ago in school? If not, don't spend money on college. Obviously, this is not necessary to live a good life because most people seem to manage without it.)
- kragen 17y ago
  I have to admit I don't remember a lot of the organic chemistry textbook and AD&D Player's Handbook I inhaled when I was 9 and on Ritalin, but I apparently remembered enough of the book on phone switches that digital logic was always a cinch. But that was 23 years ago. I think even five or ten years later, I remembered quite a lot of it.

by devin 17y ago

jerf 17y ago

I'd love to see a study that examined six month+ retention on amphetamines. Part of the reason I'd love to see that study is that it would have to examine six month+ retention in a control group, too. I suspect we'd all be pretty disappointed by the results. We all "ha ha" about people cramming for the test and then immediately forgetting it all, but I think that we all know that that is actually the normal thing for most people. Putting numbers to that would probably be pretty sobering. (We've talked a lot on HN about whether it's worth it to go to college. That wouldn't be a half-bad metric to use as part of that decision; do you actually recall stuff from more than three months ago in school? If not, don't spend money on college. Obviously, this is not necessary to live a good life because most people seem to manage without it.)

kragen 17y ago
I have to admit I don't remember a lot of the organic chemistry textbook and AD&D Player's Handbook I inhaled when I was 9 and on Ritalin, but I apparently remembered enough of the book on phone switches that digital logic was always a cinch. But that was 23 years ago. I think even five or ten years later, I remembered quite a lot of it.