Reading is not remembering
Questions from your lecture notes, sent back by email.
The lecture notes of the Chair of Privacy and Security in Information Systems (PSI) contain short self-test questions. psi-pulse sends these questions back to you by email over the following weeks, at growing intervals, so that what you read sticks.
Students of the chair find the questions in the notes of their courses.
The problem
While reading, everything seems clear. A week later, much of it is gone.
That is normal and not a sign of too little effort. Common study habits do little against it.
Forgetting is fast
Hermann Ebbinghaus measured it in 1885: most new material can no longer be recalled after a few days. This pattern, the forgetting curve, has been confirmed many times since.
Rereading is deceptive
When you read a text a second time, you recognise it and take that for knowing it. In a large review study, two other methods score best: testing yourself and spreading your study over weeks.
Flashcards take discipline
Flashcard apps like Anki test you and spread the reviews over weeks. But you have to write your own cards and remember to review every day. Many people do not keep that up for long.
The idea
The questions sit in the text and come back later.
The researchers Andy Matuschak and Michael Nielsen call texts with embedded review questions a mnemonic medium: a text that helps you remember. They tried out the principle in 2019 with Quantum Country, a free introduction to quantum computing with review questions built into the text.
- Teachers write the questions. You do not have to make flashcards.
- The questions sit next to the material. Right after the section you have just read, you test yourself. It takes a few seconds.
- Review comes to you. Instead of keeping track of dates yourself, you get the questions by email, at ever larger intervals.
psi-pulse brings this principle to the PSI chair’s teaching: into its lecture notes and course pages, with email reminders instead of a separate app.
“As a medium, books have no direct means of communicating with readers over time.”
How it works
Three steps, no password
Read and test yourself
The notes contain self-tests. You think, reveal the answer and say honestly whether you knew it. Without signing in, your answers are stored only in your browser.
Review by email
Below an answered question, choose “Keep it and review by email”, enter your address and type in the six-digit code from the email. Your earlier answers are carried over.
The questions come back
The interval grows with every answer you knew: 1, 2, 4, 7, then 14 days. If you did not know an answer, the question comes back sooner. At most one email a day with up to six questions, plus a selection on Wednesdays.
The link in the email lets you answer directly, without signing in. If you do not respond for a while, the emails pause for two weeks. You can unsubscribe via the link in every email. Your answers do not count towards any grade.
Try it
A real psi-pulse question about this page
This is what the self-tests in the lecture notes look like. Think for a moment, then reveal the answer.
As long as you do not sign in, nothing is sent to the psi-pulse server. Your answers stay in this browser. If you sign in, these three questions will come back by email as well.
At what intervals does a question come back if you know the answer every time?
Answer
At intervals of 1, 2, 4, 7 and 14 days. If you do not know the answer, the question comes back sooner.
What helps you remember more: reading the text again or testing yourself?
Answer
Testing yourself. What you retrieve from memory, you keep longer than what you merely reread (testing effect, Roediger and Karpicke 2006).
What do Andy Matuschak and Michael Nielsen call texts with embedded review questions?
Answer
The mnemonic medium. Their example is Quantum Country, an introduction to quantum computing.
Privacy
Only the data needed to remind you
What psi-pulse stores depends on whether you sign in.
Without signing in: nothing
Your answers stay in your browser’s storage and are not sent to us. You can delete them there yourself at any time.
Signed in: the bare minimum
Your email address, a name if you like, your questions and whether you knew the answers. No passwords, no ads, no trackers.
Run by the university
psi-pulse runs on the chair’s servers, and emails go through the university. We share nothing with third parties and do not keep access logs permanently.
Your data, your choice
In the settings you can export your data or delete your account. We use data for our research only if you explicitly agree.
FAQ
Short answers
What happens if I don’t know an answer?
Choose “I didn’t” honestly. It has no effect on grades; it only steers the review: the question then comes back after the same interval as last time instead of a longer one. If you still don’t know it then, the interval gets shorter. A question you did not know while reading is in the next reminder email.
Can I change the time and day of the emails?
Yes, in your account’s settings. For the daily reminder you choose the time. For the weekly selection you choose the day, the time and how many questions it contains; the default is six questions on Wednesdays. The reminder comes at most once a day with up to six questions, and only when questions are due again.
When does psi-pulse pause?
If, seven days after a reminder email, you have not answered any question from the reminder emails, or if you have not finished any weekly selection for two weeks. psi-pulse then sends no emails for two weeks and tells you so by email. After that it resumes by itself. If you answer one of your questions before then, the pause ends at once.
How do I archive or delete a question?
In the web app, on the “Questions” page: select questions, then “Archive” or “Delete”. When answering from an email, “Archive” is also in the question’s menu. An archived question no longer comes by email, your progress is kept, and “Unarchive” brings it back. A deleted question is gone together with its progress.
Do I have to sign in?
No. The self-tests in the lecture notes work without signing in; your answers then stay in your browser only. You only need to sign in if you want the questions to come back by email. Your email address is enough: you receive a six-digit code that is valid for ten minutes; there is no password. You then stay signed in for 90 days in this browser. On another website with psi-pulse questions, you sign in once more.
How do I unsubscribe?
Via the link at the bottom of every email. “No more emails from psi-pulse” stops reminders and weekly selections, “No more weekly selections” only the weekly selection. In the settings you can switch both back on or delete your account with all your questions.
All the rules in detail are in the learning logic section of the developer page.
For teachers
Add questions to your own pages
psi-pulse questions can be added to web pages, for example to lecture notes you publish as HTML.
You write a question as plain HTML, and a small script turns it into a self-test. Without JavaScript, a collapsible answer remains; in print, question and answer both appear. The questions adopt the page’s fonts and colours, in hand-written pages as well as in sites built with generators such as Hugo.
psi-pulse is open to teachers at other universities as well. We run the service on a best-effort basis, without any commitment to availability or support. Please check with your university’s data protection office whether you may use it in your teaching. The source code is on GitHub (AGPL-3.0), so you can also run psi-pulse yourself. Questions are welcome at dh.psi@uni-bamberg.de.
<script defer
src="https://pulse.psi.uni-bamberg.de/embed/v2/pulse.min.js"></script>
<pulse-question key="crypto-signature">
<p>What does a digital signature guarantee?</p>
<details><summary>Answer</summary>
<p>Integrity and authenticity of the message.</p>
</details>
</pulse-question>Background
What psi-pulse builds on
The idea comes from Andy Matuschak and Michael Nielsen. That self-testing and spaced review work has been shown by learning psychology for decades.
The idea
Andy Matuschak, Michael Nielsen · 2019
How can we develop transformative tools for thought?
An essay on tools that extend thinking; introduces the term mnemonic medium.
Andy Matuschak, Michael Nielsen · 2019
An introduction to quantum computing with embedded questions that come back later by email.
Andy Matuschak, Michael Nielsen · 2020
Why books cannot accompany their readers over time, and how texts could learn to.
Andy Matuschak · 2019
A critique of the assumption that people learn simply by reading sentences.
Andy Matuschak · working notes
Working note on the principle: review questions embedded in narrative prose.
Andy Matuschak · working notes
Matuschak’s platform for texts with review questions, a research prototype.
Learning research
Hermann Ebbinghaus · 1885; Jaap Murre, Joeri Dros · 2015
Replication and analysis of Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve
Ebbinghaus was the first to measure the forgetting curve in 1885; Murre and Dros repeated the experiment.
Henry L. Roediger, Jeffrey D. Karpicke · 2006
Testing yourself leads to much better retention than studying again.
Nicholas J. Cepeda u. a. · 2006, 2008
Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks; Spacing effects in learning
Spaced practice works; the best gap grows with how long you want to remember.
John Dunlosky u. a. · 2013
Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques
Of ten study techniques, only practice testing and spaced practice are rated “high utility”.
psi-pulse was created in a project at the PSI chair (Florian Seida) and is developed further and run by the chair. The source code is on GitHub.