Spaced Repetition

Have you ever been on a swing? If you want to swing higher and higher you have to stretch and tuck in your legs just at the right moment. If you wait too long and stretch them at the highest point of your swing you don’t get any extra height. And if you stretch them well before the lowest point it does not work either. You have to time it right and do it just at the moment you are going through the lowest point.

Your memory works a bit like that. Memorizing something is like being on a swing. The first time you memorise something gives you a first push and you swing up, but only a little bit. Then it only takes a few moments until you are ready for your second push. For a swing you have to stretch your legs, for your memory, you need a repetition. If you get it right, you swing a bit higher and it takes a bit longer until the time is right for your third stretch. And then, it takes even longer until you need your fourth push. But even the hardest stretching and tuckinng in your legs don’t help if you get your timing wrong.

Unlike on a swing, you don’t really know when the time is right to repeat something to make your memory stronger. This is what the AI of The Hundred does: It looks at how your mind swings and then it places a quiz question just at the right moment to give you a push and make you fly higher.