Spaced repetition is an evidence-based learning technique that has been shown to increase the rate of memorization.

The user then grades their recollection of the card's answer on a scale of 0–5.

The rationale behind this approach is that (because of the spacing effect), over time, the number of repetitions done per day is reduced, increasing the rate of recall (when compared to passive learning techniques), with minimal time spent learning.

Mnemosyne is written in Python, which allows its use on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Mnemosyne collects data from volunteering users and is a research project[clarification needed] on long-term memory.