It is obvious that:
- It is clearly quite energy-intensive to do something you don't know/learn something new, and that
- When we have practiced doing something, and thus learned it, we can do it without quite as much effort.
But how can that be?
This is because the brain favors connections that are already strong.
A lot of our behavior is automated and based on habits. That's why you get tired easily when you do something you haven't tried before, for example starting a new job or education.
In the untrained brain on the left, there are no connections specifically dedicated to playing Tetris. Therefore, the brain spends a lot of energy both decoding the situation and making decisions. If the brain gets practice playing Tetris, it will create and adjust connections that enable it to perform the same task in the future with less energy consumption.
One of the ways the brain saves energy is that, through repeated activity in a group of nerve cells, it can optimize so that what previously required many nerve cells to express can be "collected" in a few nerve cells. We know from experiments that when behavior becomes a habit, that is exactly what can be observed in the brain.
This can also be observed when reading words. Before one has learned to read, each word must be understood by spelling through each letter. Once one has had some practice, an entire word can be decoded without further ado.
I would like to subject you to a little experiment.
Try reading the following numbers.
2
4
1
2
2
0
0
4
Feel free to look at them a few times. Then look away and write them down. When you've done that, compare your answer with the numbers there - without cheating :-).
Now, I don't know about you, but most people – myself included – find it quite tiring and difficult to remember discrete pieces of information like these numbers. In fact, I would be inclined to cheat on this task myself.
Schedules
But how is it that we can't remember the numbers in the exercise above?
It is simply difficult to create coherence or meaning in the information because it is seemingly meaningless numbers, and therefore it obviously does not make much sense to remember them.
Psychologist George Miller wrote an article in 1956 that suggested that we could remember seven things plus/minus two (“The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two”). Later experiments have qualified this statement, but it is quite clear that the number of items we can handle at once is not very large.
Let's look at the numbers again.
2 4 1 2 2 0 0 4.
Can you see a pattern?
It's a date.
24/12 2004.
That is, Christmas Eve in the year 2004.
Now try to imagine that you have to remember several dates: Christmas Eve 2004, Christmas Eve 2010, and New Year's Eve 2017. Most people will be able to remember this.
If we write out the three dates in the same way as before, we get: 24122004, 24122010, 31122017.
If we were to try to remember each individual number, the 24 characters would typically be far too much information for us to remember. It becomes clear that our memory is greatly aided by the presence of a pattern or system in the information we are to remember. Therefore, most people will also try to look for a pattern in information as they receive it.
In addition to the fact that we humans are good at remembering things that are organized in patterns, we are also good at remembering things that we are emotionally connected to. For example, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and special days, such as September 11, 2001. In other words, it is easier for us to remember 12/31/1999, 12/24/2016 and 09/11/2001 than it is to remember March 3, 2007, June 17, 1997 and April 22, 2016.
The idea that the brain organizes information into patterns was first introduced by Frederic Bartlett, and later Jean Piaget came up with the idea of calling the patterns schemas or schemata .
In other words, a schema is a way of grouping information. Here are some examples of a schema: A date, an animal, a person, a family member, male gender, mammals. A schema can also be a behavior, such as playing Tetris, driving a car, that 7 times 7 equals 49 (if you know it by heart). It can also be a smell, a feeling, a sound or a melody, etc.
A schema can also be recognizing the word "horse" in a text. In fact, you could also say that every single word you can read is a schema in itself. This is because you don't have to spell every single letter, but immediately recognize the word.
Information can belong to several schemas. For example, 24/12 2004 in my brain will belong to the schemas: Date, day, public holidays, festival, days off, etc. And the schema will be part of a larger schema (consisting of other schemas) that is about Christmas with everything that goes with it (Christmas tree, gifts, roast duck, etc.). The more schemas that can be linked to something you have to learn, the easier it is for us to remember it. This is because we have several chains of associations that lead to the same information. That is why it is a good idea, for example, to link a melody to the alphabet when we are going to learn it.
So schemas are a concept from psychology that immediately aligns with the way we know the brain works.
Another thing we can deduce is that if we look at the image of the Tetris-playing brain, we can say that in the beginner image there were no schemas for playing Tetris, and that a lot of energy therefore had to be spent on handling the game.
Schemas help reduce the energy consumption of brain activity. And that's smart for several reasons. First, the organism (the person in this case) ultimately has to eat less to keep the brain running, and secondly, it ensures that the task is solved satisfactorily and more quickly. Imagine if it wasn't about playing Tetris, but about escaping a lion...
There is a - relatively new - concept called chunking . Chunking is similar to the idea of a schema, but chunking is used to explain how a teacher, or a learner, can actively group new information with known material so that it is easier to remember.
Do you want to? learn more?
If you want to know more about digital learning and e-learning, you can start with our E-learning FAQ
If you are interested in the brain and learning, you will probably like these articles.
- The brain and learning
- What happens in the brain when we learn?
- Brain function explained with Facebook
- Neuro for nerds: nerve cells, axons, dendrites and synapses
- Grandma neurons, Jennifer Aniston and Catwoman
- Neurons in an anesthetized cat
- The mental shotgun
- Bias in assessing one's own learning
If you are interested in reading more about motivation and learning, these articles may interest you.
- Self-determination theory. The most important theory you need to know about learning.
- Coercive design – how not to design e-learning .
- Which learning methods best support motivation for learning?
- Your brain is NOT a computer - Predictive Coding
- Flick 2 learn. Why Interactive elearning is NOT always exciting elearning
Are you looking for help with developing e-learning , or would you like a course on e-learning where you learn how to create e-learning yourself - we can also help you.