Learn Like A Pro (Memory) Flashcards
How is memory stored from working memory to long term memory
When you first learn something, new neural patterns are created in your working memory (in pre-frontal cortex). Then within a few minutes these patters start to fade. At which point hippocampus comes in takes a look at the neural pattern and replicates it as best as it can in the long term memory. Hence, you don’t remember every single thing you learned in the class. But you remember some of it. Then as you retrieve it. It is pulled from long term memory and brought to working memory. The more you retrieve it, stronger the neural pattern becomes in your long term memory.
How many things on average a working memory can keep jugling at the same time
Four things generally.
Three effective of Memorization Techniques
1) Retrieval Practice -
2) Spacing -
3) Interleaving -
Declarative vs. Procedural Technique
Where you first learn something it goes into the back of your brain with the help of hippocampus. This is declarative learning. But as you keep learning it over and over, it starts to put it on the top part of your brain using basal ganglia. This is called procedural learning. Procedural learning is what creates a habit or learning to ride a bike. Declarative is slow. But once it gets into your procedural learning, it is very fast. It feels intuitional. You don’t think of every pedal and balance afterwards. You just ride the bike.
How to increase your working memory?
Break things down into smaller chunks. And once those chunks are in your long term memory, when a new chunk comes in, your brain pulls in on the old chunk and connects the new one to it. And hence it will feel like you learned the new thing really fast. So for example, you have put the process of addition in your long term memory, so now when you learn multiplication, your brain can pull in addition quickly from your long term memory and it will appear as if you have a great working memory.
What are the 5 mental tricks to remember things?
1) Create an acronym
2) Create a sentence
3) Find a similar metaphor
4) Create a visual like moon with 69 on it like ying yang to remember that the year of moon landing was 1969.
5) Memory Palace - Place visuals of things you want to remember all around the place you are already familiar with such as your house, your office, etc.
How to best read a chapter?
Skim through the sections and key points of the chapter to get an overview of the chapter. Getting the overall big picture of the material will speed up the understanding when you read the details in the chapter.
Why does underlining or highlighting important lines doesnt necessarily mean you remember it?
This is because, to highlightinh or underlining the material requires a part of brain that deals with movement of hand and not learning.
What is Interleaving? How to best practice it? What to avoid?
Interleaving is when you vary the concepts you are trying to retrieve practice. When you do block learning which is learning the same thing over and over, you are just retrieving the information thats already in your working memory (prefrontal cortex). But when you interleave, each time your brain has to go to the long term memory (neocortex) and pull the neural link from there, and thereby solidifying the neural links in your long term memory.
So instead of studing all monet paintings, then all dega paintings, etc. Mix various paintings of monet and other artists. So that your brain can start learning different pattern differences between them.
Best way to interleave is to do interleave concepts that are similar to each other. So that you can recognize subtle pattern differences between the two. So interleaving arts of different artists of impressionism is better than interleaving
Do not try to interleave before you have properly understood the concept through declarative learning. Interleaving various concepts you have not even properly learned through declarative learning is not going to make anything stick.
Why is Spaced Repetition good?
1) If you just repeat something over and over, you are just pulling it from your working memory. But when you do a spaced repitition like trying to retrieve it two or three days later, you are retrieving it from your long term memory which makes the neural links for that information stronger.
2) When you first learn something, the neural pathways are somewhat all over the place. But as you do spaced repetition, the brain consolidates the neural pathways and makes the pathway more effiecient and streamlined.
