5 Resources That Will Help You Remember Virtually Anything
There is established science that tells us how to learn faster, and remember for longer.
At Cerego, we’re committed to helping people learn faster, and retain that information for longer, so that it becomes useful, available knowledge. But we’re not the only ones who are working to solve the memory problem.
Two of the key factors in learning and retaining anything are distributed learning (sometimes called ‘spaced repetition’), and retrieval practice (also known as ‘the testing effect’).
These approaches help build and strengthen memory in much the same way as an athlete trains and strengthens her muscles: consistent training helps to maintain her fitness, while testing her limits at the right time helps build strength.
Below is a list of some of our favorite resources on learning and memory.
How to Remember Anything Forever-ish
This interactive course/comic is one of the best resources online in terms of outlining the science of memory, going back to Hermann Ebbinghaus and his famous ‘forgetting curve,’ and offering a strategy for retention that is entertaining and interactive.
Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm
This piece from Wired (2008) echoes the inspiration behind the Cerego platform. For one thing, it debunks the notion that knowledge can be ‘outsourced,’ and that memorization is pointless:
The people who criticize memorization — how happy would they be to spell out every letter of every word they read?” asks Robert Bjork, chair of UCLA’s psychology department and one of the most eminent memory researchers.
How can we develop transformative tools for thought?
Published in October of 2019, this is a fascinating essay on learning, memory, and what they refer to as a ‘mnemonic medium.’
As an experiment, we have developed a website, Quantum Country, which explores a new approach to explaining quantum computing and quantum mechanics. Ostensibly, Quantum Country appears to be a conventional essay introduction to these subjects. There is text, explanations, and equations, much as in any other technical essay.
But it’s not a conventional essay. Rather, Quantum Country is a prototype for a new type of mnemonic medium. Aspirationally, the mnemonic medium makes it almost effortless for users to remember what they read. That may sound like an impossible aspiration. What makes it plausible is that cognitive scientists know a considerable amount about how human beings store long-term memories. Indeed, what they know can almost be distilled to an actionable recipe: follow these steps, and you can remember whatever you choose.
Come for the quantum mechanics, stay for the essay structured intentionally as a medium for memory building and long-term retention.
How to Train Your Brain to Remember Almost Anything
This piece touches on one of the most common corporate pain points we encounter: That is, “Research shows that within just one hour, if nothing is done with new information, most people will have forgotten about 50% of what they learned.”
Interestingly, the above includes a suggestion called ‘the 50/50 rule,’ which says you should spend 50% of your time studying, and 50% of your time explaining or sharing new concepts with others—in fact, that is just another form of retrieval practice, since you are leveraging your memory to recall and reconstruct what you have just learned.
How to Study for Exams: Evidence-based Revision Tips
These videos from Cambridge University graduate Ali Abdaal touch on a lot of the same themes as the items above, but he offers a nice, video summary of a lot of the research behind what he calls ‘active recall’ (another term for the testing effect), and the follow up video (below) discusses spaced repetition.
You can follow Abdaal on Instagram here.
While the principles of distributed learning and retrieval practice are well known, where it gets tricky is determining the best timing and level of difficulty for each individual. And that’s where Cerego comes in.
The Cerego adaptive learning platform leverages machine learning to personalize the user experience at scale. Using Cerego, learners can study and review information, and immediately get a sense for their strengths and weaknesses, even as the platform’s powerful learning engine determines the best timing for review (and level of difficulty) based on each learner’s previous performance.
You can try Cerego for free, and see for yourself.
Have a resource you think we should add? Let us know.
Thanks,
-The Cerego Team
