Psych: Context-Dependent Memory
Tech: Photographic GPS Waypoints
Colloquially known as “retracing your steps,” context-dependent memory assists recall by recreating the environment in which the memory was formed. An example of this is when you walk into a different room and forget what you were going to do — if you walk back to the room you were in before, you immediately remember what it was.
One of the key pieces of metadata that Rememorate collects is the GPS coordinate of where you met the person and added them to the app. Having the location that you met will both help solidify the memory, as well as make it easier to recall the person if you are returning to the same venue.
Psych: Spaced Repetition
Tech: Chronological Push Notifications
First explored in the book Psychology of Study by Prof. C. A. Mace, and later confirmed by H. F. Spitzer in 1939, spaced repetition is a technique to improve learning and memory retention.
The concept is to remind you of what you learned at set intervals, with an expanding duration. Rememorate implements spaced repetition via a series of notifications — sending your phone alerts to remind you of the people you added to the app.
Psych: The Testing Effect
Tech: Memory Games!
Another way to help solidify something in your long-term memory is by practicing active recall — making a conscious effort to retrieve a memory. An age-old technique for learning, by testing yourself on the material instead of simply reviewing it, you actually reinforce the memory in the process.
Rememorate implements the testing effect via a memory game — Guess Who. The app will show you the photo of a contact that you added, and then will present you with 6 different names. Every time you see that photo and guess a correct name, the memory of that person gets reinforced in your brain.
