Mnemosyne (software)


Mnemosyne is a line of spaced repetition software developed from 2003 until the present. Spaced repetition is an evidence-based learning technique that has been shown to increase the rate of memorization.

Features

Each day, the software displays each card that is scheduled for repetition. The user then grades their recollection of the card's answer on a scale of 0–5. The software then schedules the next repetition of the card in accordance with the user's rating of that particular card and the database of cards as a whole. This produces an active, rather than passive, review process. The rationale behind this approach is that, over time, the number of repetitions done per day is reduced, increasing the rate of recall, with minimal time spent learning.

Software

Mnemosyne is written in Python, which allows for its use on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and. A client program for review on Android devices is also available but needs to be synchronized by the desktop program. Users of the software usually make their own database of cards, although pre-made Mnemosyne databases are available, and it is possible to import SuperMemo collections and text files. SQLite is used by the program to store files. Imports of flashcard databases from Anki, as well as databases from older versions of Mnemosyne are possible.

Research

Mnemosyne collects data from volunteering users, and is a research project on long-term memory.
An August 2009 version of the dataset was made available via BitTorrent; a January 2014 version is available for download. Otherwise, the latest version is available from the author, Peter Bienstman, upon request.