● So, the bottom line is, when you're learning something new, especially something that's a

little more difficult, your mind needs to be able to go back and forth between the two different
learning modes. That's what helps you learn effectively.
● to build neural structure, you need to do a little work every day, gradually allowing yourself to
grow a neuro-scaffold to hang your thinking on a little bit, every day, and that's the trick.
● we learned that analogies provide powerful techniques for learning.
● We learned about how the brain's two different thinking modes focused and diffuse, each
helps us learn but in very different ways.
● Finally, we learned that learning something difficult can take time. Your brain needs to
alternate it's ways of learning as it grapples with and assimilates the new material.
● The brain weighs 3 pounds but it consumes ten times more energy by weight than the rest of
the body, a very expensive organ
● we are not consciously aware of how our brains work. Brains evolved to help us navigate
complex environments, and most of the heavy lifting is done below our level of
consciousness.
● Psychologists who study the unconscious mind have found that influences include thought
processes, memory, emotions and motivation.
● Default mode network-the area of the brain most active in the resting state
● There are a million billion synapses in your brain where memories are stored.
● brain connectivity is dynamic and remains so even after it matures.
● This illustrates that, intriguingly, that you are not the same person you were after a night's
sleep or even a nap. It is if you went to bed with one brain and woke up with an upgrade.
This is a better deal than you can get from Microsoft. Shakespeare, the great English poet,
already knew this.
● Brainfacts.org
● What happens on the dendrites of neurons when you learn something new?
○ Many new synapses are formed on the dendrites
 Procrastination

● When you look at something that you really rather not do, it seems that you activate the
areas of your brain associated with pain. Your brain, naturally enough, looks for a way to
stop that negative stimulation by switching your attention to something else.
● Researchers discovered that not long after people might start actually working out what they
didn't like, that neurodiscomfort disappeared.
● When you procrastinate-
○ You observe that what you are about to do is causing a tiny bit of unease
○ You dont like it, you turn your attention AWAY from whatever caused the unease
○ Then you do something more pleasant and then you feel happier temporarily
● Pomodoro technique
○ You set time for 25 min, shut off all interruptions, and then focus
○ Give yourself a reward at the end
○ It is very effective
● t's important to practice with ideas and concepts your learning in math and science, just like
anything else you're learning. to help enhance and strengthen the neural connection your
making during the learning process.
● Neurons become linked together through repeated use.
● The more abstract something is, the more important it is to practice in order to bring those
ideas into reality for you
● When you first begin to understand something, for example, how to solve a problem, the
neural pattern from is there, but very weak. Kind of like the faint pattern at the top of our
pinball machine analogy here. When you solve the problem again fresh from the start,
without looking at the solution. You, if you begin deepening that neuron pattern, kind of like
the darker pattern you see here in the middle. And when you have the problem down cold,
so you can go over each step completely and concisely in your mind without even looking at
the solution, and you've even had practice on related problems, why then, the pattern is like
this dark firm pattern you can see towards the bottom of the pinball frame. Practice makes
permanent.
● When you're learning, what you want to do is study something. Study it hard by focusing
intently. Then take a break or at least change your focus to something different for awhile.
During this time of seeming relaxation, your brain's diffuse mode has a chance to work away
in the background and help you out with your conceptual understanding. Your, your neural
mortar in some sense has a chance to dry.

Introduction to Memory
● Working memory is the part of memory that has to do with what you're immediately and
consciously processing in your mind.
○ Your working memory is centered out of the prefrontal cortex although as we'll see
later, there are also connections to other parts of your brain so you can access long-
term memories.
○ Researchers used to think that our working memory could hold around seven items
or chunks, but now it's widely believed that the working memory holds only about
four chunks of information.
○ Repetitions needed so that your metabolic vampires that is natural dissipating
processes don't suck those memories away.
● long term memory is wide a storage warehouse, and just like a warehouse, it's distributed
over a big area
○ Research has shown that when you first try to put an item of information in long-term
memory, you need to revisit it at least a few times to increase the chances that you'll
be able to find it later when you might need it.
○ The long-term memory storage warehouse is immense, it's got room for billions of
items. In fact there can be so many items they can bury each other. So it can be
difficult for you to find the information you need unless you practice and repeat at
least a few times.
○ Long-term memory is important because it's where you store fundamental concepts
and techniques that are often involved in whatever you're learning about.
○ When you encounter something new, you often use your working memory to handle
it. If you want to move that information into your long-term memory, it often takes
time and practice.
○ To help with this process, use a technique called spaced repetition. This technique
involves repeating what you're trying to retain, but what you want to do is a space
this repetition out. Repeating a new vocabulary word or a problem solving technique
for example over a number of days.

The importance of sleep in learning

 ● Turns out that when you sleep, your brain cells shrink. This causes an increase in the space
between your brain cells. It's like unblocking a stream.
● Taking a test without getting enough sleep means you're operating with a brain that got little
metabolic toxins floating around in it, poisons, and make it so you can't think very clearly.
● Too little sleep over too long of a time can also be associated with all sorts of nasty
conditions including headaches, depression, heart disease, diabetes and just plain dying
earlier
● It seems that during sleep, your brain tidies up ideas and concepts you're thinking about and
learning. It erases the less important parts of memories and simultaneously strengthens
areas that you need or want to remember.
● During sleep, your brain also rehearses some of the tougher parts of whatever you're trying
to learn, going over and over neural patterns to deepen and strengthen them.
● Sleep has also been shown to make a remarkable difference in your ability to figure out
difficult problems and to understand what you're trying to learn.
● you must also plant the seed for your diffuse mode by first doing focused mode work. If
you're going over what you're learning right before you take a nap or going to sleep for the
evening, you have an increased chance of dreaming about it.
● If you go even further and set it in mind that you want to dream about the material it seems to
improve your chances of dreaming about it, still further. Dreaming about what you're studying
can substantially enhance your ability to understand. It somehow consolidate your memories
into easier to grasp chunks, and now, time for a little sleep.

●
●
●
●
●
Extra readings on lesson 1
Worthwhile Additional Popular Works
Access Notes: The New York Times has limited (5) free articles per email address. Mind Tools and
The New Yorker are paid (firewall) services.

Scott Young, "I was wrong about speed reading: Here are the facts," January 2015. This
excellent blog post nicely summarizes what is known in relation to speed reading.

John Dunlosky, "Strengthening the Student Toolbox: Study Strategies to Boost Learning,"
American Educator, Fall, 2013. This excellent, comprehensive article is written by one of the
top researchers in learning.

Michael Friedman, "Note-taking tools and tips," (October 15, 2014), Harvard Initiative for
Learning and Teaching. This article, and an article embedded within it, ("Notes on Note-
Taking: Review of Research and Insights for Students and Instructors"), have very useful
insights into how to improve your note taking.

Maria Konnikova. (January 11, 2014), "Goodnight. Sleep Clean," The New York Times.

John Hamilton. (October 17, 2013). "Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During
Sleep."NPR All Things Considered.

Mind Tools, "The Pomodoro Technique® Staying Focused Throughout the Day."

Anne Trafton. (July 21, 2014), "Try, try again? Study says no: Trying harder makes it more
difficult to learn some aspects of language, neuroscientists find." Science Daily.

Richard C. Mohs. "How Human Memory Works." How Stuff Works. Notice that what Dr.
Mohs calls "short term memory" in his excellent article is almost the same as "working
memory." Also, Dr. Mohs retains the "seven slots" theory of working memory--researchers
still differ in their perspectives about this.

Dan Rockmore, (Nov 7, 2019) "The Myth and Magic of Generating New Ideas," The New
Yorker.

Gretchen Reynolds. (April 30, 2014). "Want to be More Creative? Take a Walk."The New
York Times.

Ferris Jabr, (September 3, 2014). "Why Walking Helps Us Think."The New Yorker.

Brigid Schulte, (May 16, 2014). "For a more productive life, daydream."CNN Opinion.
 Robert Wright, (April 21, 2012). "How to Break the Procrastination Habit"The Atlantic.
(Charles Duhigg's book,The Power of Habit, which is mentioned in the article, is also great!)

Daniel J. Levitin, (August 9, 2014), "Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain," The New York
Times.

Charlie Tyson, (August 14, 2014), "Failure to Replicate," Inside Higher Ed. This is a very
interesting overview article about the state of affairs in education research.

Pam Harrison, (September 8, 2014), "Sleep on It: Sleep Consolidates Memory of New Motor
Task," Medscape. Although this article deals with motor tasks, there are obvious implications
related to the importance of sleep in consolidating other areas in learning. (You'll need to join
to read the article, but it's free.)

○ National Numeracy. A website by an independent charity that is devoted to helping

every person in the UK to reach a level of numeracy skills that allow them to meet
their full potential.
● More Recent Research
○ Boyce, Richard et al. "Causal evidence for the role of REM sleep theta rhythm in
contextual memory consolidation." Science 352, 6287 (2016): 812-816.
● Heavier-Duty References (as mentioned in this week's
videos)
● Video: Introduction to the Focused and Diffuse Modes
○ Andrews-Hanna, J.R. "The Brain's Default Network and Its Adaptive Role in Internal
Mentation." Neuroscientist 18, no. 3 (Jun 2012): 251-70.
○ Immordino-Yang, M. H., J. A. Christodoulou, and V. Singh. "Rest Is Not Idleness:
Implications of the Brain's Default Mode for Human Development and Education."
Perspectives on Psychological Science 7, no. 4 (2012): 352-64.
○ Moussa MN, Steen MR, Laurienti PJ, Hayasaka S (2012) “Consistency of Network
Modules in Resting-State fMRI Connectome Data.” PLoS ONE 7(8): e44428.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044428.
○ Raichle, Marcus E, and Abraham Z Snyder. "A Default Mode of Brain Function: A
Brief History of an Evolving Idea." NeuroImage 37, no. 4 (2007): 1083-90.
● Video: Using the Focused and Diffuse Modes: (Or, a little Dalí will do ya)
○ Dali, Salvador. Fifty Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship. Dover, 1948 (reprint 1992).
○ Root-Bernstein, Robert S., and Michelle M. Root-Bernstein. Sparks of Genius. NY:
Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
○ Takeuchi, H., Y. Taki, H. Hashizume, Y. Sassa, T. Nagase, R. Nouchi, and R.
Kawashima. "The Association between Resting Functional Connectivity and
Creativity." Cerebral Cortex 22, no. 12 (Jan 10 2012): 2921-29.
● Video: What is Learning?
○ Michael D. Fox and Michael Greicius, Clinical applications of resting state functional
connectivity , Front. Syst. Neurosci., 16 June 2010.
○ Fox, M. D., Corbetta, M., Snyder, A. Z., Vincent, J. L., and Raichle, M. E. (2006a).
Spontaneous neuronal activity distinguishes human dorsal and ventral attention
 systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A.103, 10046–
10051.
○ Fox M. D., Snyder A. Z., Vincent J. L., Corbetta M., Van Essen D. C., Raichle M. E.
(2005). The human brain is intrinsically organized into dynamic, anticorrelated
functional networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 102,
9673–967810.1073/pnas.0504136102.
○ Guang Yang et al. Sleep promotes branch-specific formation of dendritic spines after
learning, Science 344, 1173 (2014).
● Video: A Procrastination Preview
○ Boice, Robert. Procrastination and Blocking. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996.
○ Lyons, I.M., and S.L. Beilock. "When Math Hurts: Math Anxiety Predicts Pain
Network Activation in Anticipation of Doing Math." PLoS ONE 7, no. 10 (2012):
e48076.
○ Steel, Piers. The Procrastination Equation. NY: Random House, 2010.
○ Steel, Piers. "The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review
of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure." Psychological Bulletin 133, no. 1 (Jan
2007): 65-94.
○ Tuckman, Bruce W., and Henri C. Schouwenburg. "Behavioral Interventions for
Reducing Procrastination among University Students." In Counseling the
Procrastinator in Academic Settings, edited by H.C. Schouwenburg, CH Lay, TA
Pychyl and JR Ferrari Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2004.
● Video: Practice Makes Permanent
○ Brown, J.S., A. Collins, and P. Duguid."Situated Cognition and the Culture of
Learning." Educational Researcher 18, no. 1 (1989): 32-42.
○ Dunlosky, John, Katherine A Rawson, Elizabeth J Marsh, Mitchell J Nathan, and
Daniel T Willingham. "Improving Students’ Learning with Effective Learning
Techniques: Promising Directions from Cognitive and Educational Psychology."
Psychological Science in the Public Interest 14, no. 1 (2013): 4-58.
○ Ericsson, Karl Anders. Development of Professional Expertise. NY: Cambridge
University Press, 2009.
○ Geary, David C. The Origin of Mind. Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association, 2005.
○ Geary, David C, A Wade Boykin, Susan Embretson, Valerie Reyna, Robert Siegler,
Daniel B Berch, and J Graban. "Task Group Reports of the National Mathematics
Advisory Panel; Chapter 4: Report of the Task Group on Learning Processes." In,
(2008): 2008. http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/report/learning-
processes.pdf.
○ Guida, A., F. Gobet, H. Tardieu, and S. Nicolas. "How Chunks, Long-Term Working
Memory and Templates Offer a Cognitive Explanation for Neuroimaging Data on
Expertise Acquisition: A Two-Stage Framework." Brain and Cognition 79, no. 3 (Aug
2012): 221-44.
○ Karpicke, Jeffrey D. "Retrieval-Based Learning Active Retrieval Promotes Meaningful
Learning." Current Directions in Psychological Science 21, no. 3 (2012): 157-63.
○ Karpicke, Jeffrey D, and Phillip J Grimaldi. "Retrieval-Based Learning: A Perspective
for Enhancing Meaningful Learning." Educational Psychology Review 24, no. 3
(2012): 401-18.
○ Karpicke, Jeffrey D, and Henry L Roediger. "The Critical Importance of Retrieval for
Learning." Science 319, no. 5865 (2008): 966-68.
○ Karpicke, Jeffrey D, Andrew C Butler, and Henry L Roediger III. "Metacognitive
Strategies in Student Learning: Do Students Practice Retrieval When They Study on
Their Own?". Memory 17, no. 4 (2009): 471-79.
 ○ Karpicke, J. D., and J. R. Blunt. "Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning Than
Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping." Science 331, no. 6018 (Feb 11 2011):
772-5.
○ Karpicke, J.D., and J.R. Blunt. "Response to Comment on 'Retrieval Practice
Produces More Learning Than Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping'."
Science 334, no. 6055 (2011): 453-53.
○ Kornell, Nate, Matthew Jensen Hays, and Robert A Bjork. "Unsuccessful Retrieval
Attempts Enhance Subsequent Learning." Journal of Experimental Psychology:
Learning, Memory, and Cognition 35, no. 4 (2009): 989.
○ Kornell, N., A. D. Castel, T. S. Eich, and R. A. Bjork. "Spacing as the Friend of Both
Memory and Induction in Young and Older Adults." Psychology and Aging 25, no. 2
(Jun 2010): 498-503.
○ McDaniel, M. A., and A. A. Callender. "Cognition, Memory, and Education." In
Cognitive Psychology of Memory, Vol 2 of Learning and Memory, edited by Henry L
Roediger. 819-43. Oxford, UK: Elsevier, 2008.
○ Roediger, Henry L., and Mary A. Pyc. "Inexpensive Techniques to Improve
Education: Applying Cognitive Psychology to Enhance Educational Practice." Journal
of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition 1, no. 4 (2012): 242-48.
○ Roediger, Henry L, and Andrew C Butler. "The Critical Role of Retrieval Practice in
Long-Term Retention." Trends in Cognitive Sciences 15, no. 1 (2011): 20-27.
○ Roediger, Henry L, and Jeffrey D Karpicke. "The Power of Testing Memory: Basic
Research and Implications for Educational Practice." Perspectives on Psychological
Science 1, no. 3 (2006): 181-210.
○ Rohrer, Doug, and Harold Pashler. "Increasing Retention without Increasing Study
Time." Current Directions in Psychological Science 16, no. 4 (2007): 183-86.
○ Taylor, Kelli, and Doug Rohrer. "The Effects of Interleaved Practice." Applied
Cognitive Psychology 24, no. 6 (2010): 837-48.
○ See also extensive endnote references and discussions in Chapters 2 and 3, A Mind
for Numbers, Barbara Oakley, Penguin, 2014.
● Video: Introduction to Memory
○ Baddeley, A., Eysenck, M. W., & Anderson, M. C. (2009). Memory. NY: Psychology
Press.
○ Carpenter, S. K., Cepeda, N. J., Rohrer, D., Kang, S. H. K., & Pashler, H. (2012).
Using spacing to enhance diverse forms of learning: Review of recent research and
implications for instruction. Educational Psychology Review, 24(3), 369-378. doi:
10.1007/s10648-012-9205-z
○ Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of
mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(1), 87-114.
○ Dudai, Y. (2004). The neurobiology of consolidations, or, how stable is the engram?
Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 51-86.
○ Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013).
Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions
from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public
Interest, 14(1), 4-58.
○ Guida, A., Gobet, F., Tardieu, H., & Nicolas, S. (2012). How chunks, long-term
working memory and templates offer a cognitive explanation for neuroimaging data
on expertise acquisition: A two-stage framework. Brain and Cognition, 79(3), 221-
244. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2012.01.010
○ Rawson, K. A., & Dunlosky, J. (2011). Optimizing schedules of retrieval practice for
durable and efficient learning: How much is enough? Journal of Experimental
Psychology: General, 140(3), 283.
 ○ Rohrer, Doug, Robert F. Dedrick, and Kaleena Burgess. "The Benefit of Interleaved
Mathematics Practice Is Not Limited to Superficially Similar Kinds of Problems."
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review in press (2013).
○ Rohrer, D., & Pashler, H. (2010). Recent research on human learning challenges
conventional instructional strategies. Educational Researcher, 39(5), 406-412.
● Video: The Importance of Sleep in Learning
○ Djonlagic, I., A. Rosenfeld, D. Shohamy, C. Myers, M. Gluck, and R. Stickgold.
"Sleep Enhances Category Learning." Learning & Memory 16, no. 12 (Dec 2009):
751-5.
○ Durrant, Simon J., Scott A. Cairney, and Penelope A. Lewis. "Overnight consolidation
aids the transfer of statistical knowledge from the medial temporal lobe to the
striatum." Cerebral Cortex 23.10 (2013): 2467-2478.
○ Eichenbaum, H. "To Sleep, Perchance to Integrate." PNAS, 104, no. 18 (May 1
2007): 7317-8.
○ Ellenbogen, J.M., P.T. Hu, J.D. Payne, D. Titone, and M.P. Walker. "Human
Relational Memory Requires Time and Sleep." PNAS, 104, no. 18 (2007): 7723-28.
○ Erlacher, Daniel, and Michael Schredl. "Practicing a Motor Task in a Lucid Dream
Enhances Subsequent Performance: A Pilot Study." The Sport Psychologist, 24, no.
2 (2010): 157-67.
○ Moss, R. The Secret History of Dreaming. Novato, CA: New World Library, 2008.
○ Scullin, M. K., and M. A. McDaniel. "Remembering to Execute a Goal: Sleep on It!"
Psychological Science 21, no. 7 (Jul 2010): 1028-35.
○ Stickgold, Robert, and Jeffrey M Ellenbogen. "Quiet! Sleeping Brain at Work."
Scientific American Mind 19, no. 4 (2008): 22-29.
○ Wamsley, Erin J., Matthew Tucker, Jessica D. Payne, Joseph A. Benavides, and
Robert Stickgold. "Dreaming of a Learning Task Is Associated with Enhanced Sleep-
Dependent Memory Consolidation." Current Biology,20, no. 9 (2010): 850-55.
○ Xie, Lulu, Hongyi Kang, Qiwu Xu, Michael J Chen, Yonghong Liao,
Meenakshisundaram Thiyagarajan, John O’Donnell, et al. "Sleep Drives Metabolite
Clearance from the Adult Brain." Science, 342, no. 6156 (2013): 373-77.