The following section gives an introduction to memory improvement techniques, flashcards and the discoveries of Leitner and Ebbinghaus. MemoryLifter has been developed using this background.

Memory improvement techniques are called mnemonics. All mnemonic devices depend upon two basic principles discussed earlier - first recoding of information into forms that are easy to remember, and second supplying oneself with excellent retrieval cues to recall the information when it is needed. For example, many schoolchildren learn the colors of the visible spectrum by learning the imaginary name ROY G. BIV, which stands for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. This example illustrates the principle of recoding. Several bits of information are repackaged into an acronym that is easier to remember. The letters of the acronym serve as retrieval cues that enable recall of the desired information.

The principles of encoding, recoding, and retrieval discussed elsewhere suggest other ways that memory can be improved. For example, encoding information in an elaborate, meaningful way helps in retention. There are many ways to encode information meaningfully.

• When possible, try to convert verbal information into mental images.
• When learning about events and facts, try to focus on their meaning rather than their superficial characteristics.
• Relating new information to your personal experiences or to what you already know also makes it easier to retain the information.

These techniques can be added to the MemoryLifter Flashcards to increase the effectiveness of learning. Adding the right image or short video clip or spoken phrase can provide the mnemonic content that makes even complex memorization tasks easy.

• Spacing out study sessions is another way to improve your memory. That is, if you are going to read a chapter twice before a test, retention is better if you allow some time to pass between readings, instead of reading the chapter twice in one sitting. Overall, spaced learning or spaced practice (learning opportunities that are spread out in time) are better than massed practice (back-to-back practice, in immediate succession) for retaining facts over longer intervals.

Regular use of MemoryLifter provides both the spacing of learning in time and the correct spacing of presentation of memorization elements.

If you are having difficulties retrieving facts from your memory, try to remember the setting in which you originally learned them. This advice capitalizes on the encoding specificity principle. The more similar the retrieval environment is to the learning environment, the easier it will be to retrieve the information learned. Again if you use MemoryLifter on a regular basis you are returning to the same familiar environment where you learned yesterday. Over time the satisfaction provided by this learning experience is a great motivator to future learning.

The concept of FlashCards is so simple that it is intuitively obvious to most folks what they are. They are cards that hold a question, word, image, phrase or idea on the front of the card with the corresponding answer, word, image, phrase or idea on the reverse of the card. MemoryLifter is based upon virtual FlashCards that are presented in controlled sequences spacing the repetition based upon what you are learning.

MemoryLifter offers many advanced and easy-to-use features that can improve your memory, enhance your learning experience, or just make it more fun.

Hermann Ebbinghaus was a European psychologist who brought learning and memory into the laboratory where he very carefully devised various experiments to measure, codify and quantify various aspects about how we remember. This pioneering work was done with the memorization of nonsense syllables to remove various cultural biases in remembering and evolved into very specific formula describing retention of the data learned.

At the risk of oversimplifying the results Ebbinghaus found that without repetition or other encoding methods that the MEMORY decayed at rather an exponential rate. We tend to forget about 75% of what we learn after only 48 hours without special encoding.

Our brain is constantly flooded with information from our senses, so it develops the ability to dispense with most of this information that it does not need. Ebbinghaus’ work clearly showed a value in trying to encode the information into long term memory via repetition and rehearsal. It took a smaller and smaller amount of effort to memorize things so that the recalling ability would remain at higher levels for longer times.

About 65 years later another European psychologist named Sebastian Leitner devised a ‘cardbox’ methodology for learning with flashcards. His ‘cardbox’ methodology is based on very simple rules of operation. The cardbox is divided into multiple sections with succeeding sections being geometrically larger than preceding sections. Starting with an unlimited number of cards in a card pool ten cards are picked for learning and presented one at a time for learning. If the card is known then it is put into the second box. If the card is not known then it is put into the first section of the box. As each flashcard is learned it is promoted to the back of the next box. If the flashcard is unknown it is put in back of the deck in the first section.

With this rotation things that are driven into Long Term Memory are repeated seldom and those things that are difficult to learn are presented more often for memorization. This simple system removes the biases associated with counting and makes record keeping automatically by card positions within the CardBox.

Ebbinghaus developed an ingenious way to measure forgetting. In order to avoid the influence of familiar material, he created dozens of lists of nonsense syllables, which consisted of pronounceable but meaningless three-letter combinations such as XAK or CUV. He would learn a list by repeating the items in it over and over, until he could recite the list once without error. He would note how many trials or how long it took him to learn the list. He then tested his memory of the list after an interval ranging from 20 minutes to 31 days. He measured how much he had forgotten by the amount of time or the number of trials it took him to relearn the list.

By conducting this experiment with many lists, Ebbinghaus found that the rate of forgetting was relatively consistent. Forgetting occurred relatively rapidly at first and then seemed to level off over time. Tests show that also the Short Term Memory follows the same general pattern as the Long Term Memory with sharp forgetting at first and then a declining rate.

The oldest idea about forgetting is that it is simply caused by decay. That is, memory traces are formed in the brain when we learn information, and they gradually disintegrate over time.

Another possible cause of forgetting resides in the concept of repression, which refers to forgetting an unpleasant event or piece of information due to its threatening quality. The idea of repression was introduced in the late 19th century by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud, a founder of psychoanalysis. According to Freudian theory, people banish unpleasant events into their unconscious mind. However, repressed memories may continue to unconsciously influence people’s attitudes and behaviors and may result in unpleasant side effects, such as unusual physical symptoms and slips of speech. A simple example of repression might be forgetting a dentist appointment or some other unpleasant daily activity.

MemoryLifter does not take any specific recognition of why we forget just that we do. The MemoryLifter Algorithm is optimized to control the spacing interval of information presentation so that those items that are known are repeated less often at ever longer intervals while things that have not been learned are presented more frequently with shorter intervals between presentation. If the user simply uses MemoryLifter on a regular basis, the presentation frequency and spacing intervals will be controlled to provide the maximum MEMORY performance.