Transclude of Restate-an-idea-in-your-own-words-to-truly-learn-it.---Fork-My-Brain#^e29151
The generation effect is a phenomenon in cognitive psychology that states that producing our own material and Do your own thinking stimulates better understanding and retention of the material. It is sort of a bridge or a tool that helps for 5,1 Internalization of knowledge
It is basically the term/finding that explains why writing using your own words was promoted so vigorously in Zettelkasten and Knowledge management communities. It’s like when you are being taught something that is supposed to be effective, but you don’t know yet why? And then you encounter a concept that explains the reason.
In an episode of Huberman’s podcast with Cal Newport as a guest, they discussed Active Recall, Testing effect, Retrieval practice and Cal said:
Replicating the information from scratch as if teaching a class without looking at your notes. — Cal Newport
And although he was talking about Active recall, this actually applies and perfectly describes Generation effect. Supposedly they go along in a sense. Because GE involves retrieving, integrating it into Prior Knowledge and then replicating information using your own words.
Where X comes from? I first encounter the term Generation effect in a digital garden that belongs to Anne-Laure Le Cunff, the founder of NessLab. Then, watching Nick Milo’s I learned more about this concept.
It reminds me of Do your own thinking and Active Recall, Testing effect, Retrieval practice.
It is similar to Restate an idea in your own words to truly learn it. - Fork My Brain that states the same. Use your own words.
It is the opposite of just using copy-paste approach in The NoMa Method which is just pointless activity of collecting staff. In other words, Collector’s Fallacy.
It is relevant because it gives you an awareness of how to actually learn things, and not to be the victim of Illusion of Knowledge, The Illusion of busyness, Illusion of Competence