Learning, a paradigm shift (no, really)

In his book ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ (Kuhn, 1962) Thomas Kuhn explains why scientists spend long periods of time believing the wrong things about the world – for example that the sun revolves around the earth, or Newtonian physics.

 In essence, once people have become attached to a theory, they fight tooth and nail to defend it – coming up with as much support for it as they can find, and turning a blind eye to contradictory evidence.

A new paradigm – even if it is a far better explanation – faces enormous obstacles; not only are people emotionally invested in the old world view – they actively avoid researching the alternatives. Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection were not confirmed experimentally until decades after they were first introduced.

Today, it’s easy to forget that Darwin spent decades batting away twits who believed he was saying that their grandparents were monkeys. Small wonder that progress is so slow. Nowhere is this more true today than in our understanding of human memory and cognition, which currently rests on a 'Knowledge Transfer' paradigm.

The best bet for a new paradigm is to focus on ‘outliers’ – things that existing theories can’t explain.

In describing the Affective Context Model I have sometimes said that it is the best theory of learning that we have today, as judged by its explanatory and predictive power. I am quite sure that to some people this sounds like an idle boast.

So here are just a few of the specific and general (testable) predictions that the Affective Context Model makes (with bits of relevant research that I'm aware of).

Have a look through them and ask yourself the questions: Do these predictions concur with your experience of learning? If so, do any other theories adequately explain why they are the case?

• Human beings will tend to share experiences in the form of stories (Schank & Abelson, 1995)
• Two people experiencing the same event will often remember different aspects of that event
• Where an experience is described as ‘boring’ (i.e. affectively insignificant) people remember relatively low level of detail
• Highly charged emotional experiences will tend to stay with people longer
• Highly charged emotional experiences will tend to be recalled in greater detail (Brown & Kulik, 1977)
• Human memory for events is inaccurate and shows evidence of reconstruction (Loftus & Palmer, 1974)
• Recollections of events can be influenced by affective contexts at the time of recall (Loftus & Palmer, 1974)
• Given a list of four letter words of varying affective significance (e.g. ‘stab’ vs ‘pave’) people are more likely to recall those with greater affective significance
• In an educational context, information which is related to affectively significant situations (e.g. real-life challenges) is more likely to be recalled (Chrestensen, 2007)
• Affectively aversive or rewarding consequences for learning improve recall (Roekel, Wichers, Oldehinkel, 2017)
• Errors in memory show evidence of affective substitution (i.e. where information with similar affective features is substituted)
• In the retelling of an event (e.g. as part of an oral tradition) the strongly affective features of the story are those most likely to be preserved (Bartlett, orig. 1932)
• In drawing comparisons between different ideas, their affective (as opposed to semantic) features may be used as the basis for these comparisons (e.g. ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’)
• In autobiographical memory, events with high affective significance (e.g. big accomplishments, deep embarrassments, major life events) are more likely to be recalled than those with low affective significance (e.g. brushing one’s teeth)
• Our memory may be influenced by our affective state (e.g. memory can be influenced by actual or imagined contexts) (Tulving, 1973)
• Information that is personally significant to us in some way is more likely to be recalled
• On average, we are more likely to remember affectively significant aspects of school (e.g. friends, school dinners, reprimands) than we are contenof lessons
• Music, which stirs the emotions, can have a powerful effect on memory
• Information with low affective significance is rapidly lost from memory (Ebbinghaus, 1885)
• Using techniques to attach affective significance to information with low significance significantly improves recall (Guardian, 2017)

When it comes to learning, it’s time to stop believing the world is flat.

References (honestly, I'm sure you could do a better job if you tried):

Kuhn, Thomas S. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (PDF) (1st ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780226458113.

Brown, R.; Kulik, J. (1977). "Flashbulb Memories". Cognition. 5 (1): 73–99. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(77)90018-X.

Schank, Roger C.; Robert P. Abelson (1995). Knowledge and Memory: The Real Story. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 1–85. ISBN 0-8058-1446-9.

Loftus, EF; Palmer JC (1974). "Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction : An Example of the Interaction Between Language and Memory" (pdf). Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior. 13 (5): 585–9. 

Chrestensen, Annikka, "Real-world context, interest, understanding, and retention", Master's report, Michigan Technological University, 2007. https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etds/536

Reward & Punishment learning in everyday life: A replication study. Eeske van Roekel, Marieke Wichers, Albertine J. Oldehinkel, Published: October 4, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0180753

Bartlett, Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology". Retrieved 29 October 2013.

"Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology -- Ebbinghaus (1885/1913)". Retrieved 2007-08-23."Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology -- Ebbinghaus (1885/1913)". Retrieved 2007-08-23.

Tulving, Endel; Donald Thomson (1973). "Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory". Psychological Review. 80 (5): 352–373. doi:10.1037/h0020071

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/08/ancient-technique-can-dramatically-improve-memory-research-suggests-memory-palace