The effort required to learn new information is often intense and involves study practices that are minimally effective. Students may spend hours using suboptimal learning strategies. Learning is important for everyone, not just students. If a behavior or thought isn’t innate, then it is dependent on learning and memory. Most of our behaviors are learned. In the context of this article, think of learning and memory as being connected—or you can think of learning as a relatively permanent change in thinking or behavior due to experience. This process of learning is a process of forming new memories.
Memory reflects the ability to acquire, store, and retrieve information. This information may be as simple as the routine details needed for everyday living and as complex as the abstract knowledge required for mathematics and science. Memory provides a coherent picture of the past and allows us to put current experiences into perspective. Memory influences thinking about the future because these thoughts are often based on what we experienced in the past. Most of your thoughts and actions are dependent to some degree on memory.
People Misunderstand Learning
It is common for people to believe that by reading something over and over again they will learn it. With this belief, it follows that if you expose yourself to something multiple times you will learn the information. However, repetition alone does not ensure learning. This comes as a surprise to many. In some reports, it has been found that this is the most popular way students attempt to learn. Some surveys reveal as many as 80 percent of college students report this is their preferred study method (Karpicke et al. 2010). Rereading to maximize learning has at least three negatives. It requires a lot of time, doesn’t build strong memory connections, and often leads to self-deception as growing familiarity with information is often mistaken for mastery. This is an illusion of knowledge; being familiar with something isn’t the same as remembering or understanding it. “The hours immersed in rereading can seem like due diligence, but the amount of study time is no measure of mastery” (Brown 2014). In short, mere exposure does not necessarily lead to better memory. It makes sense to reread a text once if it has been a reasonable amount of time since the first reading, but multiple readings in close succession leads to minimal benefits.
Don’t spend excessive time worrying about whether you will remember the information. Evidence suggests that intention to remember may not have a direct effect on memory (Varakin and Hale 2014). What matters most is the approach taken when trying to learn the material. Telling yourself you are going to remember information is not necessarily the optimal strategy for enhancing memory. There are better strategies for learning.
Experiments have been conducted that compare incidental learning conditions with intentional learning conditions. Incidental learning conditions consist of participants who are not aware that they will be given a memory test at some point during the experiment. The participants in the intentional learning conditions know they will take a memory test at some point during the experiment. Before the memory test, participants from both conditions perform the same cognitive task. It isn’t unusual for participants in the incidental group to perform as well as those in the intentional group. This suggests that intent to remember doesn’t directly enhance memory. This finding has been replicated in a range of studies. Intent to remember can have indirect positive effects on memory because it can lead to better attention. If it means better attention, then memory may be enhanced. That is, it may have an indirect effect on memory.
Massed practice, or “cramming,” should be avoided. Cramming doesn’t lead to the formation of long-term strong memories. Sometimes students can score high on a test after cramming, but this doesn’t mean they have formed strong memories or have learned the information deeply. When they learn the information deeply, they often show a strong understanding of the materials weeks after testing. I have seen many students who cram for tests perform well on a test, but they lack any type of memory for the material a few days after the test. Gains achieved during massed practice disappear quickly.
Should mnemonics be used to enhance learning? Mnemonics are efficient shortcuts used to enhance memory; they make learning easier. Mnemonics are useful in some circumstances but at other times should be avoided. They may take attention away from a deep understanding of the information you are trying to learn. Mnemonics often lead to fewer memory connections. When deeper learning is needed, mnemonics isn’t a good option.
Tips for Better Learning
The following tips apply to learning across different situations, and they can be used by everyone.
Focus on brain health. All learning and memory formation is heavily dependent on brain health. The foundations of brain health include exercise, nutrition, cognitively challenging activities, minimizing excessive stress, and cultivating positive social interactions.
Various types of exercise are beneficial for brain health. The exercise can vary from low to high intensity. Nutrition recommendations include eating a balanced diet (mixture of carbohydrates, protein, and fats). Cognitively challenging activities are activities that are challenging but not too far beyond your current level of skill or knowledge. Some stress is important, but excessive stress is detrimental and can have a negative impact on brain structure and function. Social interactions are good for brain health, but only when they are positive interactions. Positive social interactions can occur in a variety of situations, so if you are learning something and/or having positive emotions, you are doing your brain good.
Practice elaborative rehearsal. When trying to learn information, think about the meaning and how it is related to information you already have stored in memory. The more connections you can make to the memories you already have, the stronger the learning. The more connections often mean the easier you can retrieve the memory and the more likely it is to last for a long time. When information is elaborated upon, it is better learned.
Take advantage of the testing effect. The testing effect, sometimes referred to as the retrieval effect, occurs when learning is enhanced by quizzing or testing yourself. Quizzing/testing yourself on a regular basis tells you what you know and don’t know and therefore where to focus further study. Also, retrieving what you are learning helps strengthen connections to what you already know.
Space your learning/training sessions. Memory is best when you spread your studying or training across multiple sessions (spaced learning). For over a century, it has been known that learning and/or memory is strengthened when information is studied over time compared with the same amount of information studied in one or fewer cramming sessions (Sisti et al. 2007) Learning is a process, and that process is enhanced when it occurs over time. One of the key reasons that spaced learning increases memory is that each time you study, you may perceive the material from a different perspective. Seeing the material from different perspectives allows the creation of different connections that you didn’t see before.
Develop focused attention; it is a foundation of learning. Whether you are learning to play tennis or learning math, focused attention is a key requirement. Focused attention involves being attentive to desired sensory inputs while ignoring distraction. Focused attention requires you to keep in mind what is important to your current goal. Cognitive scientist Amishi Jha refers to attention as our human superpower (Jha 2021). Attention is a skill; it can be learned. Research indicates various forms of mindfulness, meditation, and other strategies can lead to improved attention.
References
Brown, P.C. 2014. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Jha, A. 2021. Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day. New York, NY: Harper One Publishers.
Karpicke, J.D., et al. 2010. Metacognitive strategies in student learning: Do students practice retrieval when they study on their own? Memory 17: 471–479.
Sisti., H.M., et al. 2007. Neurogenesis and the spacing effect: Learning over time enhances memory and the survival of new neurons. Learning & Memory 14: 368–375.
Varakin, D.A., and J. Hale. 2014. Intentional memory instructions direct attention, but do not enhance visual memory. Sage Open 1–8. Online at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244014553588.