Dispelling the Myths of Learning

Human beings are gifted with the amazing ability potential of learning continuously new skills. This is the most important aspect which differentiates us from other living creatures. Every other creature comes in this world with some fixed set of abilities. But human beings are different, we can continuously develop our skill sets by learning new things. Instead of this amazing ability, most of us limit ourselves to one or two skills or some people even believe that we come with pre-defined skills from childhood and no longer can master any new skills. These fallacious beliefs come from people’s wrong mindset towards learning. If only we can develop the correct mindset towards learning and apply the most effective and efficient learning techniques, we can develop an amazing range of skills that can help us to broaden our potential and fulfill our life. Below are some of the most common myths about learning and the actual truth backed by scientific research-

1. ‘We cannot learn any new skills at our will. Human beings come with pre-defined skills. We can only learn about the subjects that we are gifted.’

Truth: A normal person (without any disability) can learn new skills if he/she is serious enough to learn. Although, some people are indeed gifted with some amazing abilities. Having said that it is also equally true that anyone can learn the skills they desire. We do not need to be gifted for learning anything new. All we need is the right mindset and correct approach towards learning.

2. ‘Concentrating intensely on a topic for a long time is the effective way of solving a problem’

Truth: Concentration while studying a topic is of course very important. But focusing intensely at a go on a problem that you are trying to solve for a long time remains fruitless most of the time. This is not the most intelligent thing to do. Our brain works differently towards different problems. Some problems we can solve using our focused mode of our brain (by thinking and focusing on the problem to find out a solution), but sometimes we need the diffused mode of our brain to solve some problems. To utilize this mode of the brain you need to completely cut-off yourself from the problem and do something entirely different you enjoy like reading something, exercising, talk with your friend, take a walk, etc. Your brain will present the solution to the problem in an unexpected manner. The diffused mode of your brain works to solve the problem even when you are not conscious of it. Many scientists discovered the most important discoveries of their life when they least expected by harnessing the potential of the diffused mode of the brain.

3. ‘Memorizing things again and again for hours is a great approach to learn something new’ 

Truth: Most of us have used to spend hours on memorization of facts, equations, in our school/college. In reality, this is not a good approach to learning. When you learn something new, our brain builds new neural structure in the brain. If that neural structure is built properly, we can retain and recall easily most of what we are trying to learn. However, if the neural structure is built messily, we won’t be able to get most of what we are trying to learn. Think of it like building a wall of a building. If the wall is built properly the overall building will be robust but if the wall is not built properly, there are high chances that building will fall apart quickly 

Solid brick wall (represents solid neural structures)    

Messy brick wall (represents improper neural structures) 

‘Spaced Repetition’ is very useful to build solid neural structures in the brain. In this approach, we learn something in multiple sessions instead of learning in just one or two sessions. Learning 20 minutes daily over 4 days is better than learning one hour just one day. Things we learn via this approach last lifetime and we can effectively retain whatever we wish to learn. Below is shown a ‘forgetting curve’ developed by Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist which shows how a piece of new information decays over time. (Source: “The Spacing Effect: How to Improve Learning and Maximize Retention.” Farnam Street, 18 Dec. 2018, https://fs.blog/2018/12/spacing-effect/.)

But when we apply ‘spaced repetition’ in our learning process, the curve changes like below-

4. ‘I have read the topic many times, I have mastered this’. Often looking at the solved problem one often say ‘I have understood this, now I can solve problems like this’. ‘I have highlighted all the important points of the book. Of course, I have understood concepts in the book’.

Truth: Rereading, solving the same type of problems time and again, excessive highlighting, looking at the solved problem and thinking you understood it, sleeping with the book. What do all of these in common?

These all are tricks which make you think that you know the material but in reality, you don’t. As discussed in the course, this is known as ‘Illusion of Competence’. To have a proper grasp over a subject we must overcome this ‘Illusion of Competence’ by self-testing ourselves. As in the Coursera course ‘Learning How to Learn’, Dr. Barbara Oakley said: "You must have the information persistent in your memory to do well on tests and think creatively with it." The best way to self-test is to close your book (or any source of information)/look away from the solution and try to recall and solve it on your own. This simple thing can make a huge difference in your learning process and will make you a true learner.

5. ‘We must learn one subject at a time. Learning multiple subjects together only creates confusion’

Truth: Research shows that learning just one topic at a time is not the most effective way to learn. Learning different subjects at a time (known as interleaving) can improve your learning abilities. Switching among subjects can also make you more creative as you can apply learnings of one subject to solve problems of another one. It’s no surprise that most influential people in this world are/were those who have/had knowledge and skills of various disciplines. Thus it is always a good idea to learn from various subjects and applying ‘interleaving’ while learning them (Source: Taylor, K., Rohrer, D. (2009). The effects of interleaved practice. Applied Cognitive Psychology. 24(6), 837-848, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1598)