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I'd argue that association is what drives memory. I can review something a million times and still forget it.

It's when I sit down, focus, and "feel" the meaning of the thing that I remember it thereafter.

It is incredibly difficult to remember something that you don't understand. In fact, your memory often elides things that you don't understand to the point where you will swear that something never happened when, in fact, it did. Statistically speaking, repetition is required for learning, but understanding is at least as important. In fact, sometimes if you can find no meaning for something, it helps to make up a meaning (for example the use of mnemonics).

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