{"id":375178,"date":"2026-08-14T15:27:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/?p=375178"},"modified":"2026-08-14T15:27:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:27:04","slug":"grasping-spaced-repetition-and-darwins-golden-principle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/?p=375178","title":{"rendered":"“Grasping Spaced Repetition and Darwin\u2019s Golden Principle”"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Spaced repetition serves as a memory enhancement tool. It is established that spreading out your study sessions proves more beneficial than cramming, and with an application, you can customize your own spaced repetition plan, enabling the efficient formation of dependable memories for any content you wish.<\/p>\n

Michael Nielsen<\/a> has an interesting discussion about his use of spaced repetition on Twitter:<\/p>\n

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Utilizing spaced repetition memory systems has significantly transformed my life over the past few years. Here are a few insights I’ve found useful:<\/p>\n

\u2014 Michael Nielsen (@michael_nielsen) January 28, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

He discusses how he selects items for his review system, the appropriate amount of information for each entry, and what memory alone lacks (insight into the process that employs the memorized information). Nielsen expresses great enthusiasm about the advantages:<\/p>\n

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The most significant shift is that memory is no longer a random occurrence, left to probability. Instead, I can ensure I will recall something, with minimal effort: this turns memory into a choice<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There are numerous applications\/programs available to facilitate a spaced repetition system, but Nielsen utilized Anki (ankiweb.net<\/a>), which is open-source and offers both desktop and mobile versions (syncing across devices, which is handy if you wish to input information on a computer and then revise it on your mobile while you are queueing for coffee or similar).<\/p>\n

Exploring Anki, it appears quite impressive, and I\u2019ve come to realize it can help me combat a cognitive bias we all experience: the inclination to forget facts that clash with our beliefs.<\/p>\n

Charles Darwin addresses this in his autobiography:<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor many years, I adhered to a golden rule, specifically, that whenever I came across a published fact, a new observation, or an idea that contradicted my overall conclusions, I would make a note of it immediately and without fail; for I had learned from experience that such facts and ideas were much more likely to slip from memory than those that were favorable. Because of this practice, very few objections were raised against my perspectives that I hadn\u2019t at least acknowledged and attempted to address.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

(Darwin, 1856\/1958, p123).<\/p>\n

I maintain notebooks, and I share Darwin\u2019s tendency to forget “unfavorable” facts, but I ponder whether my reasoning might be enhanced not just by recording these facts but by retaining them in memory \u2013 through a spaced repetition system. I plan to give it a try.<\/p>\n

Links & Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anki application (ankiweb.net<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Wikipedia on spaced repetition systems<\/a><\/p>\n

The Autobiography of Charles Darwin<\/a>, 1809\u20131882, edited by Nora Barlow. London: Collins<\/p>\n

For further information on the science, refer to this recent review for educators: Weinstein, Y., Madan, C. R., & Sumeracki, M. A. (2018). Teaching the science of learning<\/a>. Cognitive research: principles and implications<\/i>, 3<\/i>(1), 2.<\/p>\n

I observe that Anki-based spaced repetition also incorporates elements of retrieval practice and interleaving (other effective learning strategies).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spaced repetition serves as a memory enhancement tool. It is established that spreading out your study sessions proves more beneficial than cramming, and with an application, you can customize your own spaced repetition plan, enabling the efficient formation of dependable memories for any content you wish. Michael Nielsen has an interesting discussion about his use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":375179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[176],"class_list":["post-375178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-source-mindhacks-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=375178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/375179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=375178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=375178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=375178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}