Learning Faster and Better

My mum would often tell me “all will be well in the morning.” For her, it was just experience and age-old wisdom.

All will be well in the morning

And things always were better in the morning.

Somehow, all the clutter and stress and worry, while, not gone altogether, was, at least more manageable.

As I slept, my brain was free to sort through the problem, process it entirely and put it in a suitable place close to a similar experience in memory. I had learned how to resolve whatever the issue was.

More often than not, it didn’t even need addressing anyway.

How taking a break improves future learning

emPowered by the Leadership AdvantEdge

Brought to you by Dr John Kenworthy  

Right-click to Download the MP3 | Open Player in New Window

It’s akin to my mum’s advice to “sleep on the problem” so that your memories can be reprocessed, consolidate and shaped for better (faster) retrieval.Taking a learning break gives your brain time and space to reprocess.

A paper published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest has evaluated ten techniques for improving learning, ranging from mnemonics to highlighting and shows that taking a break in learning (or ‘Distributed Practice’ to give a scientific title) is more effective thanany of the other nine techniques usually believed to be better.

And now there’s compelling new evidence from the University of Texas at Austin, recently published in the National Academy of Sciences: that supports the idea that study breaks improve later learning.

When we take a break from learning, our brain can process all the information.

But how much is the right amount for studying and how long for a break?

I’ve been researching this for some time now and unsurprisingly; the results are inconclusive. However, there does appear to be a general reduction in the active learning time for younger people.

Typically, I have found that Baby Boomers study well and learn well over a 25 minute period of almost continuous study. That is; they needed a learning consolidation break at 25 minutes. Needing a 15-minute break.

• Gen X’ers around 20 minutes. Needing an average 13-minute break)
• Gen Y drops to about 12 minutes with a 6-minute break and then:
• Gen iY (the iPad generation) around 4 minutes (yeap, just four minutes) with a 2-minute break.All of this in non-academic learning situations, by the way. Tested for learning retention 24 hours after the learning event and 21 days later.

All of this in non-academic learning situations, by the way. Tested for learning retention 24 hours after the learning event and 21 days later.

But within every group there was a range, and it would change for an individual dependent on the mode of learning. That is, was the learning in a form that they preferred (reading, video, audio, kinesthetic, etc.). Sadly (from an academic point of view) even so-called learning preferences wasn’t a statistically significant factor.

Our brain needs a break

When we take a break from learning, our brain can process all the information.

When we are learning anything, our pre-frontal cortex (PFC) is burning a lot of energy as we evaluate the information, process it and check it against working memory. Then the new information is processed, consolidated, and linked to appropriate other memories and emotions… but for this to be held in longer term memory, it appears that the PFC needs to be less active. Perhaps because the PFC is such an energy hog, and we simply need to switch our energy resources to consolidate memories (learn).

So can’t we just take a pill and learn better and faster?

To a certain extent, we can.

Glucose and oxygen – the fuel we need to burn to learn. (Caffeine can assist as well if recent research is correct.)So taking a moment, munching on candy, taking deep breaths and sipping that cup of coffee all help us learn… oh, I’ve just described a break

So taking a moment, munching on candy, taking deep breaths and sipping that cup of coffee all help us learn… oh, I’ve just described a break.

Better still, as my dear mum would say, “sleep on it, all will be better in the morning.”