Reading an article from the Japanese version of Lifehacker I found an ad for an I-Phone application that caught my attention: I暗記　(I Anki).

Basically, it is a digital flashcard application that uses some sort of psychological theory based algorithm to improve your learning experience.　(I暗記's twitter)

Up to this part, it sounded to me like a rip-off of our known Anki by Revolve. But, checking the site, it says that the application is based on research by the Japanese scientific Ikegaya Juuji (池谷裕二). Here you can check his personal website (in Japanese and English) and his twitter.

Have you ever heard of this application, or about Mr. Ikegaya's research?

Has anybody tried his I暗記? How does it differ from Anki? What's Ikegaya's algorithm like?

It's just like all the other crappy flashcard apps on the appstore - simple right/wrong answers and you have to use the online interface to manage cards.

池谷先生 researches neurochemistry and neurobiology - the algorithm can only be loosely based on his work. Complete waste of time IMO.

It is a bit weird given that he is actually a very accomplished, well respected researcher. His publications are all in high-impact journals and he's an associate professor at the most prestigious research University in Japan. Perhaps he just endorsed the project and it's made by his students.