Learning and memory: 5 points to know

Article last edited on July 22, 2019 by Admin

Build on what you have already memorized. On what principles does memory work? How does it work ?

The associative nature of memory

Learning is the main activity of the brain, that is, constantly modifying its structure to better reflect the experiences encountered. Learning therefore means increasing the range of possible behavioral responses. This gain in knowledge, understanding or skill is made possible by the elements memorized following this learning.

Yet one of the most fundamental characteristics of memory is its associative character. This means that we retain better when we can link new information to knowledge already acquired and firmly anchored in our memory. These then constitute a kind of framework on which new knowledge can more easily be grafted.

Therefore, taking time to find what can link new information to old one pays off in the end.

This is why metaphors, pictorial stories, comparisons (it’s as if…) are effective in understanding new concepts of new ideas which can, at first glance, be a bit abstract and difficult to explain. .

Faced with an audience of disadvantaged students or students in a situation of school failure, it is necessary to change the angle of approach: the subject or the things to be taught and learned must be related to the context of the students who often have many gaps especially in matter knowledge of reading and general culture. For example, the approach to teaching in a class at a college in Zep (1) cannot be identical to that of a traditional college in a large city.

Need for meaning

For example, if you are introduced to several new people, it is easier to remember their name if we immediately associate something significant for us with each of them (Mary has a navy blue dress, Paul has a beard like my uncle Paul, Carmen has a long neck like a cormorant, etc.). The color navy blue, Uncle Paul or the cormorant are mental images already well engramed in our brain and their phonetic or symbolic link with the new names constitutes a well-known mnemonic trick.

Even though it may seem counter-intuitive to add more elements to many other new elements to learne, several studies show that the more the encoding is elaborated during the training, the more the new data will be retained easily. It is then a virtuous circle.

In neuronal terms, the new assemblies of neurons can thus use assemblies that are already well constituted to connect to them, and the routine activation of the old assembly makes it easier to activate the new one that has just associated with it.

To sum up, the more our brain knows and learns things, the more the memorization is facilitated. It is may be This is why some scientists indicate that the more cultured a person is, the easier it is to learn and memorize.

The same goes for foreign languages: the more foreign languages ​​you know, the easier it is to learn a new one.

Folder / Text: Bruno Dubuc The brain at all levels

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