memorization aid

[KD Jones]

I hope it's OK for me to post this... someone tell me QUICKLY if not...

Recently, I remember someone asking "how does Coach Sonnon remember the Hindi names of all these asanas?" More recently, while going through and entire bookshelf looking for specific information on a particular pose, I've found that it's really frustrating NOT to be able to remember them.

About a week ago, after searching for about a year (no kidding) I found what I think is the best memorization aid available. It seriously speeds up the process of memorization of this kind of stuff or anything else. Its most common use appears to be vocabulary acquisition in language study.

It's called "VTrain." It's well-written (German engineering...), straightforward, and less expensive than a number of inferior products.

As I said, I hope it's OK to do this... you can find it HERE (http://www.paul-raedle.de/vtrain/).

[Charlie]

KD I'm confused: back on 9-13-2006 you made reference to the SuperMemo website, so presumably you know about that product -- I wonder why you would recommend this Vtrain over Supermemo? Have you used them both?

SuperMemo 6 is free, there are cutting-edge versions, and versions for PDAs (both Palm or Windows Mobile) and it has been developed for a long, long time by very clever people. There is a huge library of flashcards allready created, many free, about more than only vocab. Supermemo's design is way more sophisticated, i think, as it dynamically changes according to whether or not you answer correctly. In contrast, Vtrain's spaced-repetition formula seems very simplistic, "the first repetition comes 1 week later, the second repetition comes 2 weeks later, the third repetition 4 weeks later, etc"

Anyway, I'll repost what I wrote about it here awhile back.

"It is based on the idea that memory is based on repetition. Some things we learn easily with only a few reps, but others take more reps, and everyone is different.

What you do with this program is enter in 'questions and answers' (and some versions let you use pictures, sound files, html, etc) and then drill yourself with them daily. The clever bit is that the program is studying you, detecting which items you've learned -- and if you answer the question correctly, then it won't bother asking you for awhile. If you answer the question wrong, then it will ask you more frequently, until it recognizes you are remembering, and won't bother you with it so much.

You can easily create your own sets of knowledge to learn, or buy ready-made ones others have made (there are lots). This program is extremely popular with language learners (created by some Polish computer-programmers who were trying to learn English, iirc), but also used by medical students (anatomy, disease symptoms etc), programmers, musicians etc etc -- good for pretty much everything.

anyway here is the website, its really well laid out to learn about this: www.supermemo.com

* SuperMemo accelerates learning by optimizing the timing of review (i.e. by computing optimum intervals between repetitions).

* SuperMemo makes it easy to keep 95% of the learned material in memory. It practically eliminates the problem of forgetting!

* SuperMemo has received many awards, was positively reviewed in popular press in a number of countries, and is highly praised by its users (in 1999 their number has passed one million mark)

* Apart from spaced repetition, SuperMemo uses a number of technologies that assist you in building rock-solid knowledge related to your professional field or personal life

* SuperMemo is based on scientific research on memory and learning .SuperMemo software line has been in constant development since 1987

* in the beginner mode, you can learn to use SuperMemo in 3 minutes

[peterng25]

thanks Charlie!
Supermemo 98 is also free, runs in Windows. I am gonna give it a try

[wildman]

i don't suppose any of these things come for mac

[Charlie]

Studycard Studio from www.digitalmeadow.com is a similar sort of program for Macs, for $30.

Or you can use the online Supermemo for free, if being online is convenient for you www.supermemo.com/articles/soft/smnet.htm

[KD Jones]

Charlie -

Well, yes, I do like VTrain better. To my mind the interface is cleaner, more pleasant to use, more direct. Personally, I use and would recommend VTrain over Supermemo now,

BUT, they'll both work. Though Supermemo appears not to be "strictly" Leitner (the algorithms vary), it functions - as far as I can tell - almost identically to the Leitner system.

Anything Leitner will do, really. A bunch of paper index cards used according to the method will do.

For reviews of all kinds of other software solutions you could check HERE (http://www.quingle.com/softarea/flash-wi.htm). They're big on VTrain as well, of course, that does NOT mean that I (or they) am right in any clinical sense.

[Charlie]

Hey great website, ta! Personally, I think using these programs on a PDA is the best way -- gives you a productive way to spend your time in a traffic jam, standing in a lineup, or wherever.

Wildman, I see it lists some other options for Mac, at the bottom of this page: www.quingle.com/softarea/flash-os.htm

[LEO4HIM]

Charlie,

I have to say this, especially being a LEO. I sure hope you aren't standing in too many lineups!:D

Take care and stay safe.

[KD Jones]

"Yes, officer... he was definitely holding a WINDOWS based handheld... the guy with the palm just seemed like he was along for the ride..."

[Charlie]

thanks guys, I will stay out of the lineups, or at least hide the PDA!

BTW, KDJONES: thanks, that's a fair & balanced explanation of why you prefer Vtrain; I can dig it. Personally, I'm going with a non-Supermemo solution for my Palm, because the SM version for Palm is slow in being developed -- it lacks support for images & sound (in contrast 'Twinkle' is being actively developed, images are ready, and sound not far off). However for desktop use, IMO, SuperMemo is the superior product. Aside from the program itself, just the staggering amount of 'superlearning' resources they've assembled on their website points to what a serious class-act they are. I dit a bit of searching, and see in fact they've also commented on the comparison between the two products:

SuperMemo vs. VTrain (#28312)
(Achab, Sep 25, 2004, 16:50:17)

Question:

I found a website that has reviewed many applications similar to SuperMemo and issued a list of the best ones: www.quingle.com/softarea/flash-wi.htm. SuperMemo is placed second along with other programs. Actually, reading the reviews you can see that it somehow rises a bit above the other runners-up. Anyway, the software which is placed first is one called VTrain. According to the criteria of the reviews, the reason why VTrain outsmarts SuperMemo is that you can’t group items by difficulty or priority with SuperMemo, while you can do that with VTrain (using some Leitner Study File system). Do you regard as accurate information the fact that using VTrain you can group items by priority or difficulty while with SuperMemo you can’t do that, or you can do that in a less fine way? If so, do you think you will add this Leitner thing to improve your software?

Answer:
We are certain that SuperMemo algorithms are superior in comparison with other applications using spaced repetition. Moreover, we believe that no better repetition spacing theory currently exists. At least we are not aware of it. The Leitner system is a rudimentary spacing algorithm that preceded SuperMemo. It is not targeted at any particular level of knowledge retention, and as such cannot be a viable substitute for SuperMemo. Nevertheless, do not take our word as final. You could best write to SuperMemo Forum at Yahoo eGroups. There you will find many users of SuperMemo who tried VTrain. Many of these will agree with the verdict favoring VTrain. SuperMemo loses ground for its being overly complex and poorly optimized to satisfy a novice user. Many people give up SuperMemo early for the mere dislike of its "repelling" interface.

[a bit harsh, considering there is now a 'beginners' skin option]

See also: http://www.antimoon.com rich in discussions about the best software for learning vocabulary, incl. VTrain (note that Antimoon promotes SuperMemo)

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Sebastian Leitner publishes "So lernt man lernen" in which he describes his Leitner cardbox. The Leitner cardfile technique can be considered a precursor of spaced repetition. Although the timing of repetition in Leitner box is only loosely related to retention levels and is highly affected by the intensity of learning, the technique points to the benefits of expanding rehearsal in which successive repetitions occur in increasing intervals. Expanded rehearsal appears ineffective in cases when it produces intervals substantially different than those that result in the desired level of knowledge retention; however, it appeared very popular in dozens of flashcard programs. Most appreciably, the Leitner technique does not include the stress factor associated with strictly timed repetition used in classical SuperMemo

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explanation of the knowledge retention issue mentioned above:

'forgetting index' - proportion of elements that are not remembered at repetitions (usually expressed as percentage). The forgetting index can be programmed to fall between 3% and 20%. This way, the speed vs. retention trade-off in learning can be controlled by the student.

[KD Jones]

Charlie -

Agreed on all points. IF one has the time and energy (which I kinda had when I suggested SuperMemo), SuperMemo allows all kinds of crazy modifications and tweaks and incredible stuff. However, in the end, I found that I was too busy dealing with what I actually needed to learn to dig into the depth of the guts of SuperMemo. If someone were to put out a concise, accurate and multi-targeted DVD of "how to use SuperMemo in amazing and useful ways," I'd buy it. But I'd still suggest VTrain in general for meat-and-potatoes folks, which I, both by force and gradual acceptance of bits of my actual nature, am beoming in a number of aspects of my little personal universe...

Very cool to have you here, willing to dig into things, sir.

Blessings.