{"id":1085,"date":"2018-10-22T15:06:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T15:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/?post_type=project&#038;p=1085"},"modified":"2026-08-07T18:54:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:54:48","slug":"training-your-brain-flashcard-apps","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/project\/training-your-brain-flashcard-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"Training Your Brain &#8211; Flashcard Apps!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>I have recently fallen in love with flash card apps. After reading Fluent Forever, which has a fantastic run down of the science behind spaced repetition systems, I immediately started using a SRS style flash card app for my language studies and the result had been nothing short of life changing. You see, reviewing the same thing day after day is boring and that makes me loose interest. It also keeps concepts in my working memory rather than moving them to long term storage. So ultimately, I don&#8217;t really learn. But spaced repetition systems have you review concepts on a timeline that has you refreshing just before you are about to forget. It keeps it interesting, efficient, and most importantly, triggers your brain to physically move those concepts to long term permanent storage in your outer grey matter.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So it occurred to me that SRSs are perfect for anything and everything that you want to remember forever by practicing or reviewing as little as possible. Now I am using my SRS flash card app for:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Learning 9 languages (8 new ones) at once<\/li>\n<li>Learning Latin dances: Bachata, Salsa and Tango<\/li>\n<li>Remembering every song in my gig repertoire (covers and originals alike)<\/li>\n<li>Practicing guitar chords, scales, and vocal skills<\/li>\n<li>And remembering the basics of my life philosophy\/principles that I need to keep top of mind<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I practice dance or music, or review language or life philosophy whenever the app tells me it is time, rather than every day. I don&#8217;t get bored, and it all stays much more effectively in my long term memory.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In the age of technology, we would be fools to not use this approach for anything and everything that we want to learn and lock in to our brains for the long run. Think of anything you have a hard time remembering &#8211; put it in an SRS app and practice when it tells you to. You will never forget it again.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>There are a ton of SRS flash card apps out there. My personal favorite is Studies because I can have flash cards with just one side (to remind me which song or dance move to practice), or I can have cards with 9 sides (for language learning). It is a free app but you can make a donation to the author who certainly deserves it.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>What would you like to have locked into your memory?<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A personal recommendation of spaced-repetition flashcard apps for long-term learning, describing how the author uses them to study languages, music, dance, and life philosophy, and why spaced review outperforms daily rote practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[1886,1888,31],"project_tag":[220,278,180,418,282,817,816,821,281,119,245,246,810,818,221,69,555,809,814,808,197,285,284,819,813,812,811,815,820],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1085","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-57challenges","project_category-consciousness","project_category-observations","project_tag-brain","project_tag-color-study","project_tag-connection","project_tag-dance","project_tag-development","project_tag-flashcard-app","project_tag-flashcards","project_tag-grey-matter","project_tag-human","project_tag-knowing","project_tag-language","project_tag-learning","project_tag-life-rules","project_tag-long-term-memory","project_tag-mind","project_tag-music","project_tag-neurons","project_tag-philosophy","project_tag-remember-forever","project_tag-remembering","project_tag-self-discovery","project_tag-self-growth","project_tag-self-development","project_tag-short-term-memory","project_tag-spaced-repetition","project_tag-spaced-repetition-systems","project_tag-srs","project_tag-studies-app","project_tag-working-memory"],"acf":{"recommend_blurb":"For lifelong learners who want to actually retain what they study, languages, music, skills, or ideas. A practical, enthusiastic case for spaced-repetition flashcard apps and how to apply them to almost anything.","citation_snippet":"Dr. Kathryn Messegee (Kathryn Colleen), \"Training Your Brain - Flashcard Apps!,\" https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/project\/training-your-brain-flashcard-apps\/","topics":["mind","tech"],"related_book":"","buy_url":""},"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Elephant.png","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/CCA57320-6DC3-4284-BC27-49E433028503.jpeg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/on-life-being-human\/id1360368906","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2nq6d35q9nFAFlanaJc2Do","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/feed\/podcast\/on-life-being-human","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"mW4Q8stuUG\"><a href=\"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/project\/training-your-brain-flashcard-apps\/\">Training Your Brain &#8211; Flashcard Apps!<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/project\/training-your-brain-flashcard-apps\/embed\/#?secret=mW4Q8stuUG\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Training Your Brain &#8211; Flashcard Apps!&#8221; &#8212; Dr. Kathryn Colleen, PhD\" data-secret=\"mW4Q8stuUG\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! 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