Scientific background of MindZip

The forgetting curve hypothesizes the decline of memory retention in time. This curve shows how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it.

From 1880 to 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus ran a study about the memorisation of nonsense syllables, such as "WID" and "ZOF" by repeatedly testing himself after various time periods and recording the results. He plotted these results on a graph creating what is now known as the "forgetting curve".

Murre and Dros present a successful replication of Ebbinghaus’ classic forgetting curve from 1880 based on the method of savings. The forgetting curve has indeed been replicated and that it is not completely smooth but most probably shows a jump upwards starting at the 24 hour data point.

The speed of forgetting depends on a number of factors such as the difficulty of the learned material (e.g. how meaningful it is), its representation and physiological factors such as stress and sleep. Furthermore higher original learning also reduces forgetting. The rate differs little between individuals.

Perhaps the most important discoveries are those which relate to the appropriate distribution of the periods of study...Acts of revision should be spaced in gradually increasing intervals, roughly intervals of one day, two days, four days, eight days, and so on.

Spitzer tested 1939 the effects of a type of spaced repetition with over 3600 students who were learning science facts and showed that spaced repetition was effective.

Spaced practice is a feasible and cost-effective way to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of learning, and has tremendous potential to improve educational outcomes.

Memory formation becomes more effective with longer inter-stimulus intervals between training sessions because of decreasing temporal overlap between successive, short-lived learning traces.