Learning How to Learn

Memory consists of two key portions, the short term (temporary working) memory, and the long term memory.

The short term memory has been referred to as “the brain’s post-it note” 1 as it is used to hold temporary information such as numbers in an equation you are doing in your head, or remembering a phone number you saw on TV.

The long term memory is your storage warehouse. It’s where ideas, concepts and memories are stored for the long term. If you need to recall the location of a place you haven’t been to in a while, or you’d like to revisit a childhood memory, your long term memory is where that information is stored.

Whenever you recall a memory, it goes through reconsolidation, which is a potential change in what is actually remembered. This builds on your existing memories, either making them stronger, or adding erroneous recollections, which is especially dangerous when studying for tests.

So knowing that short term memories are only beneficial for a small

period of time, how do we actually commit information to our long

term memory?

There are a few ways…

With a cue card:

*2

Write a small reference or image on the front of a cue card, with more information about the topic on the back. Look at the image on the front and see if you can recall the information on the back. Use this technique briefly over a long period of time until you no longer need to flip the card over.Using handwriting will also help ingrain into your mind what you’ve written.

With a memorable mnemonic:

With a visual image representation:

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally(Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract)3

Take the first letter of the words you’re trying to remember and form a funny or

memorable phrase with them. In the example here, we’re trying to remember the order

of mathematical operations, so we’d keep the letters in order.

For example, in Chemistry, there are two types of

ions: cations and anions.

One is positively (+) charged, while the other is

negatively (-) charged.

One way of remembering which is which is to

remember a picture of a happy (positive) cat.

*4

Cations are positive!

Regardless of which methods you use to help you remember information, the best way to help lock it into your long term memory is to space out your study/learning periods. Go back to the material once a day, once a week, or a couple times a month until you’re confident you know your stuff.

Trying to learn something in one drawn out study period will leave your brain overwhelmed, and won’t actually aid in building the connections your mind needs to commit information to the long term memory.

*6

*5

So now that we’ve got some understanding of memory

and some of the things we can do to help commit things

to our long term memory, we actually need to learn

some new things so we can test out our new techniques.

First and foremost however, we need to tackle

procrastination. With procrastination in the way we

might never get around to learning new things. If we do

manage to squeeze some learning in at the last second,

we won’t be committing it to our long term memory as

best we could.

So how do we deal with

procrastination?

Well…

We look for cues:

When faced with a task you’d rather not do, your brain activates

the pain receptors in your Insular Cortex. This encourages you to

find something else to focus on in order to get rid of that painful

feeling. This is when we procrastinate.

A cue is something that triggers procrastination mode.

It doesn’t only have to be that unpleasant feeling, it

could also be a physical distraction (such as a friend

texting you, or someone playing drums in the same

room) that keeps you from focusing on the task at hand.

Finding out what is triggering us to procrastinate

is the first step to overcoming procrastination.

Once we know what is causing the problem, there

are quite a few things we can do to help ourselves.

That last slide was a little

difficult to read, wasn’t it?

We need to get those

distractions out of the way…

Lets try again.

We look for cues:

When faced with a task you’d rather not do, your brain activates

the pain receptors in your Insular Cortex. This encourages you to

find something else to focus on in order to get rid of that painful

feeling. This is when we procrastinate.

A cue is something that triggers procrastination mode.

It doesn’t only have to be that unpleasant feeling, it

could also be a physical distraction (such as a friend

texting you, or someone playing drums in the same

room) that keeps you from focusing on the task at hand.

Procrastination is a habit, so finding out what is

triggering us to procrastinate is the first step to

overcoming procrastination.

Once we know what is causing the problem, there

are quite a few things we can do to help ourselves.

Limiting distractions, and finding a good spot to learn or study in will

be instrumental in letting us focus on the task at hand.

Keeping a planner of the things you’d like to accomplish, and writing

your goals for the next day the night before will help your brain digest

what you’re looking to accomplish while you sleep.

Use a pomodoro to commit yourself to 25 minutes of work; after which,

take a small break and reward yourself with a few minutes of enjoyment.

This interspaced working period will give your brain more time to digest

what it’s learning without being overwhelmed.

Overcoming Procrastination

So now that we’ve covered procrastination and memory, can you recall

what was said on the cue card of the fourth slide? If not, going back and

revisiting it after a period of time has passed will help strengthen the

memory of what you read there.

This applies to all types of learning. If you’re trying to cram information in

a short period of time, your brain hasn’t had time to process it all and

convert it to your long term memory. Going back over material in spaced

out sessions will give your brain time to make the connections that will

help lock that material into your memory.

In order to make the best use of interspaced learning periods,

procrastination must be overcome. You won’t get much out of your

study/learning sessions if your brain is constantly yelling at you to do

something else.

Hopefully you can take some of

these techniques and use them to

make your study and learning

sessions more productive.

Get out there and learn

something new!

Just remember, don’t

procrastinate!

1. Luke Mastin (2010) http://www.human-memory.net/types_short.html

2. http://galleryhip.com/human-memory-clipart.html

3. LoveToKnow, Corp (1996-2014) http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-

mnemonics.html

4. Pushkin, http://www.clipart-box.com/cliparts/EUEAIA81gg4p/

5. http://www.hdwallpapersinn.com/mark-calendar-clip-art-free-wallpapers-2.html

6. Toon Vectors (2015) http://www.toonvectors.com/clip-art/cartoon-brain-overload/11705

All other images used were taken from PowerPoint 2007’s clipart collection.

All credit for the information portrayed in this powerpoint goes to UC San Diego’s Learning How to

Learn Coursera course. (2015) From Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski

References

Thanks for viewing!//Ali S.