The Supermemo Model

How do you go about remembering all the information you get and want to keep … and how do you keep it in memory for a long time?

Long term memory has two components: retrievability and stability. In other words, how close is the memory to our consciousness and how deeply engrained is the information from that memory.

Here is an example of retrievability:
Look at this number 2,348,129 now look away and try to remember the number in order. Not too difficult, especially if you cheat a little.
Now try to remember the room number of the hotel you stayed at last year … go on, it’s a much shorter number … not so memorable? If it is, try the year before that, and before that, and so on.

As far as stability is concerned:
Remember of something personal. Anything you can remember from your childhood is stable information. What are the first four digits of Ï€? If you’re not a mathematician, what does a cookie remind you of? Cookie monster? It’s deeply anchored in your mind.

The Supermemo Model is concerned with transforming retrievable memories into stable memories by tracking how often you forget a memory you want to remember. Every time you forget the memory, remind yourself – the intervals of forgetting will become farther apart, and you will exercise your brain to remember something longer!

It’s not what you know, it’s what you remember ~ Jan Cox”

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