[[🪤Human behavior as automatons]] #psychology --- **What is the generation effect?** #flashcard Information is better remembered when it was actively created (rewriting the note, calculating the sum), then if the answer was supplied, or (made to be) copied. --- This is remarkable, as in schools answers are often supplied, and then students are supposed to memorize them, copy them from the board etc. - See also [[How to write good prompts- using spaced repetition to create understanding]] ### Theories - Some think *creating your own material* based on what you want to learn may [[memory|activate your semantic memory]], which is the general world knowledge that we have accumulated throughout our lives, such as facts, ideas, and concepts. - Others think that the process of *generating content* may initiate some *particular encoding processes* that do not happen when simply reading. - Another theory is that actively manipulating new information may *create relationships* between each item, facilitating the retrieval of information when it’s needed. ## (Primary) Sources **Definition generation effect:** the phenomenon where information ==is better remembered if it is actively created== from one’s own mind rather than simply read in a passive way. — [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation%20effect) ![[@jacoby_1978#^lpz2lm7p]] ![[@jacoby_1978#^j6fjzxjw]] ![[@jacoby_1978#^t3hgbnt2]] > The reason seems to be that ==making the cards is itself an important act of understanding==, and ==helps with committing material to memory==. When users work with cards made by others, they lose those benefits. ![[How can we develop transformative tools for thought#^a48093b6]] Older sources: - [The generation effect - Ness Labs](https://nesslabs.com/generation-effect-3) - [On interpreting the effects of repetition: Solving a problem versus remembering a solution - ScienceDirect](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022537178903936) - When a problem is repeated, the later presentation of the problem sometimes results in the subject responding by remembering the solution rather than by going through the operations that would otherwise be necessary to solve the problem. ==The means of obtaining the solution is shown to influence subsequent retention performance==; retention of the solution suffers if it has been obtained by remembering rather than by solving the problem. The distinction between solving a problem and remembering a solution is used in an account of the effect of spacing repetitions and other standard memory phenomena. The relevance of the distinction to tasks such as word perception is also discussed. [[spaced repetition as a productivity tool]] ## See also - opposite opinion >_Quantum Country_ violates this principle, since users are not making the cards. This violation was a major concern when we began working on _Quantum Country_. However, preliminary user feedback suggests it has worked out adequately. A possible explanation is that, as noted above, **making good cards is a difficult** skill to master, and so **what users lose by not making their own cards is made up by using what are likely to be much higher-quality cards** than they could have made on their own. In future, it’s worth digging deeper into this issue, both to understand it beyond informal models, and to explore ways of getting the benefits of active card making. >- [[How can we develop transformative tools for thought]]