Flash Cards as Cognitive Test

Flash cards are index cards with a question on one side and answers on opposite, used to help memorization. Though there exist computer apps that automate the process, no one thoroughly analyzed the data they record. Tracking cognitive ability is an important part of health tracking. I expected the success or failure of remembering a card to be usable as a cognitive test so I started a project to analyze that data. Turns out the project also teaches users about learning and allows users to experiment with and optimize their own learning process. In addition, the project encourages learning by illustrating success in more detail, similar to gamification.

Everyone should track their cognitive capability as much as health-conscious people track their heartrate and exercise. Formal cognitive testing takes too much time, and relevance to user's productivity goals is often questionable. An alternative that solves both is skill trainers like typing tutors. I have found very few types of skill trainers. None of them analyze user data enough.

Anki is an app that uses flashcards and spaced repetition to help user memorize vocabulary. Anki is popular and stores lots of data from every session, so I decided to analyze my own data made with Anki. Similar projects exist but they are too simple. Though the project is not finished, I am almost certain that flashcards can be used as cognitive test because there is lots of data and it yields multiple potential tests.

Perhaps more importantly, the project teaches users about learning. The project also allows users to experiment with and optimize their own learning process. In addition, the project encourages learning by illustrating success in detail, similar to gamification.

Project Infobox
Self researcher(s)	User:DG
Related tools	Anki, Spaced Repetition
Related topics	Tools for Cognitive Testing
Builds on project(s)	Spaced Listening, Spaced Repetition: A Cognitive QS Method for Knowledge Acquisition
Has inspired	Projects (0)