Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

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german2k01
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Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

Postby german2k01 » Sun Apr 17, 2022 9:04 pm

Just today in the afternoon I observed something very interesting by chance while going through a vocabulary session in Anki.

What was different this time. I was listening to an audiobook of Putin's biography in German while going through the vocabulary session.

I just memorized a totally new word a couple of times in Anki almost a minute ago when I heard the same word again while listening to the audiobook. My question is, having done active recall to a totally new word a couple of times has heightened my subconscious mind awareness to notice it? It popped out at me like a sore thumb.

Had I not memorized that word at that instant, would that word have slipped by my subconscious mind's radar under a normal circumstance?

In other words, does active recall increase our subconscious mind awareness?

Thanks
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Re: Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Apr 17, 2022 9:47 pm

Short answer to your question - no.

You can learn vocabulary any way you want. Anki (or any software) is not necessary.

german2k01 wrote:I just memorized a totally new word a couple of times in Anki


Don't you mean reviewed?
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Re: Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

Postby german2k01 » Sun Apr 17, 2022 9:54 pm

Don't you mean reviewed?


Reviewed. I stand corrected.
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Re: Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

Postby luke » Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:12 pm

german2k01 wrote:In other words, does active recall increase our subconscious mind awareness?
german2k01 wrote:
jeff_lindqvist wrote:Don't you mean reviewed?


Reviewed. I stand corrected.

It gives you first-hand experience that the word will be seen in other sources. I've found that helpful. It's a happy moment.
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Re: Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

Postby Le Baron » Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:53 pm

german2k01 wrote:Just today in the afternoon I observed something very interesting by chance while going through a vocabulary session in Anki.

What was different this time. I was listening to an audiobook of Putin's biography in German while going through the vocabulary session.

I just memorized a totally new word a couple of times in Anki almost a minute ago when I heard the same word again while listening to the audiobook. My question is, having done active recall to a totally new word a couple of times has heightened my subconscious mind awareness to notice it? It popped out at me like a sore thumb.

Had I not memorized that word at that instant, would that word have slipped by my subconscious mind's radar under a normal circumstance?

In other words, does active recall increase our subconscious mind awareness?

Thanks

Didn't I once say something like this to you in one of my miserable tirades? 8-) I don't know about it being specifically Anki reviewing, but words popping out of a jumble after having just/recently focused on them feels like a happy Eureka moment, as Luke just noted. My question to myself would be if this is just something for the moment or something that creates a link for the long-term?

Vocabulary is a funny thing in that you can hit it actively again and again in the lists and on Anki as 'reps' and feel you're only learning some and not learning some others. I let Anki lie fallow quite a lot at times. I've been using it recently in the focused way I described in another thread, but when I imported some words lists and phrases this morning, which I last looked at perhaps three months ago, about 85% were able to be recalled.
There's a catch though...I recalled some of these in the context of Anki lists. I'm not entirely certain I'd recognise them in a book or spoken. And so Anki remains for me just a puzzle piece and useful tool.
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Re: Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

Postby t123 » Mon Apr 18, 2022 6:58 am

Maybe related?

Frequency illusion, also known as the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon or frequency bias, is a cognitive bias in which, after noticing something for the first time, there is a tendency to notice it more often, leading someone to believe that it has a high frequency of occurrence.[1][2][3] It occurs when increased awareness of something creates the illusion that it is appearing more often.[4] Put plainly, the frequency illusion is when "a concept or thing you just found out about suddenly seems to pop up everywhere."[5]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion
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Re: Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

Postby lingohot » Mon Apr 18, 2022 8:00 am

german2k01 wrote:My question is, having done active recall to a totally new word a couple of times has heightened my subconscious mind awareness to notice it? It popped out at me like a sore thumb.


Sure. Stuff I have memorized via Anki I notice when it pops up in "real life" (I remember that I've learnt it before and what it means, if that is the question). I have that all the time and I find it pretty cool, because it shows me quite clearly that reviewing via Anki is not in vain.
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Re: Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Mon Apr 18, 2022 10:29 am

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Re: Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

Postby german2k01 » Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:30 pm

Sure. Stuff I have memorized via Anki I notice when it pops up in "real life" (I remember that I've learnt it before and what it means, if that is the question). I have that all the time and I find it pretty cool, because it shows me quite clearly that reviewing via Anki is not in vain.


Why do you think you can recognize these words in real life? Why are only these words memorized via Anki? What process had taken place in the background, in your opinion? This is my question. Thanks
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Re: Is reviewing words via Anki a necessary Evil?

Postby Le Baron » Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:55 pm

german2k01 wrote:Why do you think you can recognize these words in real life? Why are only these words memorized via Anki? What process had taken place in the background, in your opinion? This is my question. Thanks

This is a puzzling question, or perhaps I don't understand how it is being posed. It seems obvious to me that if someone is going over certain words in a list again and again that in the period of doing some will be recognised. As in the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon Jeff posted. This goes for pretty much everything. Have you never had that experience when you develop a new hobby, let's say collecting old clocks, and then you suddenly find old clocks everywhere? Even in places where they seemingly weren't before?

With the Anki reviews (or any review of words) then encountering them in the field, you get them being reinforced which, if you're lucky, causes a loop of reinforcement. This is the point of engaging with content and people, to contextualise the input.
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