How memory works
10 flashcards
- What is the spacing effect?
- Information is remembered far better when study is spread across time rather than massed into one session.
- The forgetting curve, described by Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885, shows that memory decays exponentially without review.
- forgetting curve
- What is active recall?
- Retrieving an answer from memory (instead of re-reading it) — the retrieval attempt itself strengthens the memory.
- Each successful recall makes a memory more stable — the interval before the next review can grow longer.
- stable
- Why are reviews scheduled just before you'd forget?
- Harder retrievals strengthen memory more (desirable difficulty). Reviewing right before forgetting maximizes the benefit per review.
- Crammed schedules with FSRS, a modern algorithm that models each card's stability and difficulty from your review history.
- FSRS
- A card's retrievability is the probability you can recall it right now — the weakest cards always surface first.
- retrievability
- What happens when you miss a card in Crammed?
- It recycles to the front of the queue until you get it right, and moves to the top of tomorrow's schedule.
- How honest should your self-grading be?
- Brutally. Grading 'Got it' on a card you half-knew schedules it too far out — you're only cheating your future self.
- Ten minutes of review a day beats a three-hour cram the night before — consistency is the whole trick.
- three-hour