[gregdetre]

I'd be totally fascinated to hear about this if you ever find it! I'm greg at memrise dot com.

There's lots of evidence to show that mnemonics boost recollection by a factor or three or so across a wide range of domains, abilities and time ranges. See e.g. http://www.unforgettablelanguages.com/studies.html

Re the intermediate mnemonic device, here's the way I picture things. The mnemonic provides training wheels for your brain, helping you get the answer right a few times. Then, after enough correct responses, mediated by this (hippocampal) mnemonic representation, you rely less and less on the training wheels, and your cortex has had a chance to form a longer-lasting and more direct semantic link.

Disclosure: I'm one of the co-founders of Memrise, so it's not too surprising that I think there's merit in this approach :) Drop me a line or reply here, and I can try and follow up in more detail. Maybe I should write a blog post...

[aidenn0]

Training wheels is actually a good metaphor, since whether or not one should use training wheels for learning to ride a bike is also fairly hotly debated.

[batista]

>since whether or not one should use training wheels for learning to ride a bike is also fairly hotly debated.

Really? By who? Because sure as hell training wheels worked wonders for millions of kids worldwide...