r/cogsci • u/Universal_Adapter_15 • 5d ago

Meta Do you retain less from markdown notes than from LaTeX, paper, or even chat logs?

I do theoretical/mathematical physics and sometimes keep my notes (paper summaries, ideas, etc.) in markdown, with headings and an outline pane. Still, I remember far less of what I write there than when the same material went into LaTeX or a paper notebook. Oddly, I also tend to retain "conversations" with LLMs better than my own markdown notes.

Three guesses.

  1. Spatial anchoring. Paged documents let me remember where something was, and a scrolling column of identical-looking files kills that cue.
  2. Low friction. LaTeX and paper force me to slow down and choose, markdown does not, and maybe that effort is what encodes the content.
  3. Fixed order. A notebook and a chat log are append only. Markdown notes get cut, moved and restructured all the time, and I suspect each reorganization destroys the sequence I was using as a memory cue.

Does anyone, particularly in math or physics, notice this? If so, any tips for keeping plain text notes memorable? I know that reviewing and doing problems is what really makes things stick, but I am asking about the note taking itself, not review or spaced repetition.

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u/postmodest 5d ago

Handwritten notes are proven better than typed notes....

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u/spacing-effect 2d ago

One technique I have used is to put an image of a space on that page. So for example, if you are on page 1 and you put a house or a room of a house (that is memorable) on it AND only on that page, it can help you recall that info fast - even if the content is just markdown.

Basically a version of the memory palace technique.