How We Learn : The Surprising Truth - Benedict Carey I Summarized Books

How We Learn : The Surprising Truth About When, Where, And Why It Happens

The human brain is the platform on which information, memories, and experiences are developed

The human memory remains the most essential and vital part of the body. It is where information gets processed and distributed to different parts of the body for different uses. The brain is structured such that different parts are responsible for separate actions. Through the study of some patients, scientists were able to explain how the brain works. In this book, the brain is divided into three simple parts:
• The Entorhinal cortex, which is responsible for filtering incoming information;
• The Hippocampus, where memory formation begins;
• The Neocortex, where conscious memories are stored once they are flagged as keepers.

Memories exist in the brain as a network of linked cells. These cells work together to fire signals called neurons. The neurons flash signals when a previously stored memory is being called upon by the brain for output. When you try to remember or recall a memory, these neuron flashes that occur within numerous cells are known as synapses, and they thicken with repeated use.

In 2008, scientists captured brain formation and retrieval by examining 13 epileptic patients who were awaiting surgery. Each patient watched very short video clips of popular shows like Seinfeld and The Simpsons. The scientists observed their neuron flashes while they were watching the clips, and when the patients were asked to recall what they had watched, the flashes were very similar in intensity to when the patients initially watched the clips.

The brain has different types of memories that have different functions.

Episodic memory: This is a collection of past experiences, memories, and events that happened at a particular place and time.

Semantic memory: Semantic memory is required to remember studied numbers, concepts, and words.

Motor learning memory: This deals with constant practice to aid learning.

Forgetting is not failure; rather, it's an uncommon technique that aids learning

There's a common misconception from people about learning and forgetting. People tend to attribute forgetting something to failure, but this is not entirely true — it's almost the opposite. For example, in Spelling Bee competitions, it's quite common for contestants to miss the correct spelling for a word that they are familiar with. This situation makes it look like the winners are special and extraordinary, while the others just don't cut it. Some even go as far as believing that these winners have some “photographic ability” that makes them picture words and objects. While it is true that some people have genetics that makes​ learning easier, there's no such thing as a “photographic ability” in the brain. The brain will function at a high capacity if it is trained very well to do so.

Research has revealed that forgetting something is a form of filter that helps the brain process the right information. If humans didn’t forget things, there would be too much irrelevant information stored in the brain. If those Spelling Bee contestants are assembled again and asked hypothetical questions like “Who's the President of The United States?,” “What's your Gmail password?” etc., they'll most likely draw a blank. This is because their brain has been so focused on remembering the correct spellings, that they block out any other information. What you think you forgot is indeed part of a process that helps you to remember things in the long run.

The information and memory that comes into the brain are most times uncontrollable. In forgetting what you have previously remembered, you also run the risk of remembering what you have once forgotten. The brain sometimes filters relevant information and memory with irrelevant ones. The New Theory of Disuse (also known as Forget to Learn Theory) states that “Memories evaporate entirely from the brain over time if they are not used.”

The human memory has storage and retrieval strengths, which means that no memory is truly lost; it has just been pushed down by lack of retrieval strength.

Good Habits Ensures Effective Learning

Studies have shown that developing a habit is essential to the way you learn. Learning is about knowing the context of whatever you're studying. Creating a habit through places or objects helps you to retrieve information quickly.

Reinforcement of consistent behavior is one of the most effective ways of learning. The information must be consistently revised using some methods that have been incorporated in the “Study Aid.” Some of these methods are:
• Choose an area that is quiet and free from distractions
• Develop a study ritual to use each time you study
• Use earplugs or a headset to block out noise
• Say no to those who want to alter your study time.

Your study aid might be different from that of other people. Study aids come in various forms. Some people, through consistency, have developed a study aid that revolves around drinking coffee, eating chocolates, or smoking cigarettes.

Distractions also aid learning in a way. Getting distracted when learning might form a strong mental image that can be easy to recollect. Since what you've learned is attached to that event, you're able to remember what you've learned through that event.

When you establish a habit to help you learn better, you'll discover that it makes learning easy because you can recollect memories better and faster.

Learning becomes easier when studying is spaced out over different periods

Distributed learning, also known as the spacing effect, is the act of spacing out studying into small time frames instead of studying all at once. It is when you distribute your study time rather than fully concentrate on it. This technique helps you to learn a considerable amount of information, and retain it longer.

Unlike cramming, distributed learning doesn't make you forget things easily. Cramming is a short-term solution that doesn't really improve your memory. Students who cram for a particular semester always end up forgetting all they crammed when they resume the second semester. According to Henry Roediger III, a psychologist at Washington University, St. Louis, “It's like they never took the class.”

Breaking studying time helps in numerous ways. It allows your brain to capture memories in bits, rather than capture it all at once. Also, the fact that you are distributing your learning means you're not overworking your brain; your brain works best when you're relaxed. Spacing takes smart planning. If you have a test in a week, you can space your studying into two days, if it's a month, then you can study per week. If you have a test in three months, study every two weeks; six months, every three weeks; one year, every month.

There are times where you end up missing the mark or failing a test even though you were sure you studied well. In most cases, what you're suffering from is the illusion of fluency. Fluency illusion is when you misjudge the depth of what you know. These illusions trick your subconscious mind into making poor judgments and inadequate assumptions.

To tackle the fluency illusion, you need to adopt the theory of Francis Bacon, a philosopher, who in 1620 mentioned that “if you read a piece of text through twenty times, you will not learn it by heart so easily as if you read it ten times while attempting to recite it from time to time, and consulting the text when your memory fails.”

This means that you should space your studying, and recite what you've just studied until you can recite it very well without consulting the text.

Testing, also called “retrieval practice,” is a learning technique that has been frowned upon by a lot of teachers and researchers over time. According to Robert Bjork, a UCLA psychologist, “When teachers hear the word ‘testing,’ because of negative connotations, all this baggage, they say, ‘We don't need more tests, we need less.’”

Testing helps your retrieval strength when you're learning. By answering multiple-choice questions, especially the ones where you get the correct answers immediately, failure to get the correct answer isn't something to be negative about; failing a question means you get to know the correct answer afterward. You should see tests as a way of checking how well you have learned something, and if your study aids and learning techniques work.

Distraction becomes a valuable tool in learning once you know how to think outside the box

In 2011, during a middle school presentation in the outskirts of New York City, Carey decided to put the students to test with various puzzles. First, he drew six pencils on b​oard and asked the students to form four equilateral triangles, with one person forming the side of each triangle. He then gave them another one that required completing a sequence without using a particular letter. By the time he got to the sixth puzzle, the students were still unable to answer the first puzzle. Later on, a boy from the back row signified that he had it figured out — he simply illustrated the number "4" by placing the pencils to form the shape, and he then added one triangle to it. Using this method, he had used the six pencils to answer the puzzle in his own way. His answer wasn't what Carey had in mind, but it was correct nonetheless. Thinking out of the box sometimes works in solving problems. Distractions are valuable tools that can help you learn fast. When you're distracted, your brain still holds on to the question or puzzle that you're unable to solve.

There are four ways to solve the​ problem. They are:
• Preparation. It doesn't have a specific period or time-frame. The preparation process is where you battle with the context and details of the problem.
• Incubation. Incubation is when you take your mind off the problem and push into your subconscious mind. Your mind works around the problem even if you're not aware of it, picking up the pieces together from the information you're seeing, and the ones stored in your memory.
• Illumination. This is the moment you figure it out, where you finally find the solution.
• Verification. Verification is the stage where you examine if your solution works or not.

Percolation is the best roadmap to achieving a creative solution

As effective as incubation is, it doesn't work for all tests or problems that need solutions. There are some situations where taking a break doesn't bring the solution to you. Rather, it brings you bits of ideas that you can piece together. You need a longer break than the little interval you take during incubation. This longer break is called percolation. Percolation is common, especially among creative writers. Percolation, by logic, is for building something that does not exist yet. A lot of creative writers take long breaks before or in between writing once they encounter a writer's block.

According to the Zeigarnik effect, when it comes to goals, the in-built instincts of the mind does two things.

1. The first is that the act of starting work on an assignment often gives the job the psychological weight of a goal, even if it's meaningless.
2. Interrupting yourself when absorbed in an assignment extends its life in memory and pushes it to the top of your mental to-do list.

Percolation works best when you immerse yourself in a problem so that you can study it from within and find the best way to tackle it. Find out which percolation works for you, and let your subconscious mind work while you're taking the long​ break. Unfinished tasks stay longer in your mind than finished ones, which is why taking a longer break helps you to notice things that would help solve your problems.

Knowledge is best learned across various fields and different methods

The best way to learn is to learn across fields while employing various patterns and practices. Varied practice is more effective than the focused kind because it forces you to internalize general rules of adjustment. Subjecting yourself to the same practice over and over again might vastly improve your skills, but it's not on the same level as when you train yourself in different patterns. Mixed studies work better than fixed studies. The educational sector, for example, focuses more on fixed studying. Students are subjected to many problems that are very similar and are corrected with answers that follow a regular pattern. Like Rohrer put it, “If the homework says ‘The Quadratic Formula’ at the top of the page, you just use that blindly. There's no need to ask whether it's appropriate. You know it is before doing the problem.”

Learning requires that you try to look for more answers than is obvious.

Mixing of skills and concepts during practice (also called interleaving by scientists) helps achieve a clearer view of a problem, and helps enhance performance when it's required. Interleaving applies to every field of study because it prepares you adequately for a familiar scenario and an unfamiliar one. Psychologists believe that a better result is gained when one combines practices from familiar patterns with practices from unfamiliar ones. Interleaving helps develop strategies that can be used across fields, which is why scientists and psychologists have suggested that exams should have mixed problems so the students can decide on which strategy to use.

The difference between a master and a novice in the game of chess is simple; A master sees at a glance what a novice doesn't see at all. Merely looking at a chessboard, a master can rearrange the pieces in seconds and see moves that a novice doesn't even know exist. This form of learning is known as perpetual learning. It is common among masters of a game; whether chess, soccer or tennis. A great soccer player, for example, knows what to do when the ball gets to his feet without even thinking about it. He already has a subconscious sense that lets him make decisions within a second to get the better of his opponent. Perpetual learning is an automatic behavior that allows you to assimilate the details around you subconsciously.

Knowledge is about reinforcement. A novice can understand what a line of code is and even run the basic ones, but it takes an experienced programmer to write codes that would run big applications effectively. Perceptual learning is tapping into your subconscious to take in details that would speed up your decision-making abilities. Perceptual learning is active and self-correcting — it tunes itself.

Building perceptual learning is possible, and it has been made easier, thanks to computer technology and advancements. There's the Perceptual Learning Modules (PLMs), a computer designed to help build learning based on perception. PLMs mostly come in the form of simulators and are especially useful for pilots or astronauts.

PLMs can be applied to any field of study, particularly for doctors, surgeons, and teachers.

Sleep is very important to the brain, which is why good sleep brings good performances

There is no scientific explanation as to why sleep happens. No one knows why humans sleep at all. In trying to unravel the mystery behind sleeping, two theories have come up.
• Sleep is a time-management adaptation;
• Sleep is for memory consolidation.

The brain works while you sleep, bringing together pieces of information with a picture that's very clear and vivid. Some scientists have attested to the fact that they have been able to solve problems when they wake up from sleep. Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev, who encountered problems with forming a periodic table of elements had told a colleague that he saw “a table where all the elements fell into place” after nodding off.

Sleep is vital for memory consolidation. Research from various sources has shown that people perform much better in an examination or tests when they sleep well.

Sleep has five different stages in humans, stage I, REM (Red eye movement), stage II, stage III, stage IV, and stage V. Each of these stages is important in consolidating the brain. Lack of sleep is detrimental to the brain and can cause mild cases like lack of focus, concentration, and effective action or wild cases like dementia.

Sleep is a form of learning that is not yet obvious to people. Sleep is unconscious learning with the eyes closed. It improves performances and makes decision-making better.

Conclusion

There are various ways and methods to learn that are not known to a lot of people. Several aspects of life that seem negative are actually uncommon ways to learn. Learning is a transfer — it's the act of combining information from various sources to get an already known output or create a new one entirely. Learning has evolved over time, and the old ways are not suitable for the present world. Humans need new ways to learn, and some of the best patterns are contained in this bite-sized book.

Try this:
Break up your study time using the guidelines in this tidbit. Evaluate your position and see if the technique works for you or not