Wow, what a coincidence! I was just going to make a thread about SuperMemo.
I read a Wired article about it, and it's been around for 2 decades. It's $45 so if you'd like a free open-source alternative you should check out
Mnemosyne
Most learning experts agree that spaced learning is exponentially better for long term memory keep and memory retrieval. SuperMemo is the pioneer, but the interface is just awful. Option after option after option. Way too much clutter. Mnemosyne is great in that it's got a simple interface but a powerful engine. I'm using it to learn Mandarin and I can honestly say it's the best thing I've discovered this year (I'm not lying).
For those that don't know, spaced learning is based on the understanding that our brains forget different things at different times, and the best way to retain information is to recall it just before we forget it. If you use typical flash cards, you'll be recalling items that you already know, which is a waste of time, and recalling things that you don't know too often. The software will quiz you on your deck of flash cards and with each one you tell it on a scale of 0-5 if you knew it perfectly right down to if you don't even remember learning it. For those items you know perfectly it will space them out and quiz you on them as much as 6 days later. For those ones you rated a 0 it could quiz you on them within a few minutes later.
Using the system every day will yield the best results. The inventor of the engine, Piotr Wozniak, is certain that those who keep up the schedule of using the software can unlock potential genius.
Anyways, it's interesting. I always hated cramming for a test in University just to forget it a week later. Frustrating!
EDIT:
Here's a paragraph from the SuperMemo website (
http://www.supermemo.com):
Quote: "Spacing effect
The little problem remains of how the brain can prevent events that are not likely to be encountered in the future from being permanently transferred to memory as a result of a great number of repetitions? The answer was found in applying the so-called spacing effect, which says that the longer the interval between repetitions, the better the memory effect. This way a large number of repetitions in short intervals has very little impact on memory. Simply speaking, memory uses the spacing effect and the principle of increasing intervals to most effectively fix relevant information in the brain. Upon encountering an event it is temporarily transferred to long-term memory and forgotten in the matter of days. However, if the event is reencountered, the memory assumes increased probability of the event in the future and increases the retention period. Initially, in the retention period, memory is not sensitive to more encounters of the same event. Only at later stages does memory become sensitive again and a new encounter will act as a repetition that will increase the retention period and make memory temporarily insensitive to further encounters.
If anybody doubts the importance of the spacing effect, Wozniak proposed to consider the following example: Could the reader provide the name of the infamous lady that alleged having slept with the majority of Polish parliamentarians? If the reaction is: Sure, yes, wait a second, I am sure I remember it but ... aha! then this can be taken as an example of spacing effect. Despite the fact that the lady has dominated Polish political life for a short period of time, many of us might find it hard to recall her name. The reason is simple, hundreds of repetitions concerning the name of the lady were cramped in a very short period of time. Because of the spacing effect, memory reacted to the phenomenon more like to a single repetition rather than a volley of memory stimulations. The biological value of such a property of the brain may be explained by the fact that events occurring densely in a short period of time may be unworthy of the precious memory storage. Otherwise, a great number of repetitions in a week could leave a useless memory trace for lifetime. Do we really need to remember the name of the promiscuous lady? We don't ... unless we are members of Polish parliament at breeding age, naturally. Using again the computer metaphor, the problem of choosing the least relevant pieces of knowledge in the process of forgetting is analogous to the problem of paging in virtual memory. In paging, the question is which memory blocks should be discarded to maximize the probability that the next memory reference will concern a block that is already placed in memory. Unlike in operating systems, the LRU algorithm (Least Recently Used) would not work fine for human memory. If LRU were used, first to forget would come the rusty primitives mastered in the primary school. It would be enough to use a calculator for a few months to have all the multiplication table discarded in priority behind the morning breakfast. The grandmother that has passed away a decade ago would serve as another early victim. Definitely, LRU would deprive the brain of flexibility and us ... of humanity."
