Overlearning, Choking, the Einstellung Effect and Interleaving

Question 1

What is over learning?

Answer 1

practicing a piece of information over and over during the same learning session even after you have mastered it - that is, to recall perfectly

Question 2

What is mastery?

Answer 2

the ability to recall perfectly

Question 3

What is one benefit of over learning?

Answer 3

leads to automaticity

Question 4

What is automaticity?

Answer 4

access and retrieval with perfect recall a chunk either isolated or connected - the act of creating muscle or mental memory

Question 5

When is automaticity a good thing?

Answer 5

1. For things like site words, math facts, foreign language vocabulary or
2. any in forming muscle memory for sports - hitting golf balls, throwing curve balls, etc
3. If you have a habit of choking, automaticity can significantly relieve stress/fear of that and help you perform much better
4. Excellent public speaking is greatly enhanced by using over learning and being an automatic mode of delivery

Question 6

Is over learning during a single session valuable?

Answer 6

Usually not; usually a waste of time

Question 7

What is spaced repetition?

Answer 7

repetitive practice at spaced intervals with correctness feedback

Question 8

What is deliberate Practice?

Answer 8

Deliberately focusing on what you find most difficult instead of what is easy - again that’s why feedback loop is so important

Question 9

What often makes a big difference between a good and great student?

Answer 9

The strategic use of spaced and deliberate practice sessions

Question 10

What is the Einstellung (Roadblock Installation) Effect?

Answer 10

the existence of already known information/processes and its neural pathways block the laying down (encoding) of n new, different and possibly better way/solution/process

Question 11

Where is the Einstellung Effect often seen?

Answer 11

1. Sports - develop a poor swing and then have to unlearn it

2. Math - learned how to solve a problem the wrong way and then have to unlearn it.

Question 12

What is the #1 cause of the Einstellung Effect?

Answer 12

Students just jumping in to learn something instead of using a process and strategies!

Question 13

Give examples of when the Einstellung Effect happens

Answer 13

1. jumping into a pool before you know how to swim may teach you to doggie paddle and then very hard to learn the right way to swim
2. running without first learning the proper format can lead to inefficient and poor habits and injuries
3. Starting with the homework without reading the text, going to lecture, viewing online lessons, etc - can create a sense of thinking you know the correct way when it’s wrong.

Question 14

What happens in the brain during the Einstellung Effect

Answer 14

1. The wrong pathways are created and re-activated during retrieval
2. The correct pathway competes with the wrong pathway causing confusion
3. Failure of the brain to lie down the correct pathway

Question 15

What are the 2 components of mastery

Answer 15

1. Learning and building the basic chunks and connections between chunks
2. Learning how to select and use the correct chunks at different times

Question 16

What is interleaving

Answer 16

A subject mastery strategy of learning that deliberately jumps back and forth between problems or situations within the same subject or piece of information that require different techniques or strategies to learn or recall or solve, etc.