He explained the matter in a very fluent and seemingly effortless manner. No wonder he's a cognitive scientist. English is my foreign language, so I had to do a Google search to see what G O A T stands for. ❤. Since I discovered this RUclips channel by accident, I have watched a lot of his videos although sometimes it takes many times to understand them properly. Luckily, his recent videos have English subtitles so I can read them.
One thing I noticed about study groups is that it's pretty common for one of the weaker students to get to the point during the study session where they are just barely able to solve a problem and then they leave immediately and don't worry about it again until the test. Even if the test is the next day, they really need to practice it until they have some margin for skill loss, otherwise they just can't quite do it on test day. Sometimes, that can be the difference between an easy pass and a complete fail.
So basically how you should encode information depends on how you will use it in the future. This makes so much sense, that's why it's useful to ask "Why am I learning this particular thing?" (not just for motivating you) and it makes the process of learning more efficient for the intended goal. Interesting channel, keep it up!
I find out this channel 2 weeks a go and i loved ❤. I'm learning too much and applying in my studies in Brazil as a self-taugh programmer. Sorry for my english if there are some mistakes. I'm still learning your language 😅
very nice video. very nice. For me the best way to learn is "active learning" and working with the material till I acquire "intuition" in addition to being able to apply the subject. I try to learn what you can and can't do. How things fit together practically. Later I try to make predictions and test if what I predicted actually works out. Only after that a "creative" process can come. Where you use what you learn to build/constructively apply. No need to say I'm a slow learner by the virtue of how I work, but those things I learn I can use as a basis.
I find fast learning useful if the test/practice deadline is close or I won't need to retain the information for the future. To me, learning slow overtime compounds best.
Another incredible video, Dr. Keep! Ever since I discovered your channel a couple months ago, I have learned so much about how to efficiently encode and retrieve information, interleaving, and deliberate practice, so I would like to thank you for your amazing work. You've earned my full support!
The use of the knowledge affecting how you study it is such good info. Take programming compared to language learning. Not being perfectly accurate with a language can be easily mitigated so long as the other party is willing to work with you to derive the meaning so studying for the deep meaning is more important than the details, but with programming, a computer is only going to work if you give it exactly what it can read. So understanding details first instead of randomly copying tutorials will help you understand WHY something is happening and be able to cement these functions in your head when you have to discover the connections of your “tools”.
Hey! I'm working on a self-improvement and learning channel for my community service. Your videos help a lot! I really admire how you structure the video, because it makes it a lot easier to watch than someone staring into a camera and talking ❤
Thanks for the video Benjamin. Can recalling be considered a skill? What I mean is, say I often practice recalling on all sorts of things I learn, would I generally become good at recalling? And in a sense, will recalling become "easier"? And from my understanding, good recalling is often accompanied by good encoding. So to ask another question in the same vein, if I often practice enconding on anything I learn, does encoding become "easier"?
These are fantastic questions. The answer to the first one is probably "no". There may be some general strategic recall skills that your brain engages in, but I suspect that what we might call "memory search" skills account for a small proportion of the probability of successful recall. Encoding is a little different. There are lots of different encoding practices and they have various benefits and trade-offs. Encoding and retrieval have a deep relationship, and people can learn to become more effective encoders. They can adapt their encoding strategies to the material they're learning; they can learn to use different encoding strategies in different situations; they can learn new encoding strategies. This, in turn, helps them to become better at recall. And one component of improving encoding is through recall - to get experience at what a particular encoding method is good for. So practicing the combination of both (and ample exploration of the "encoding space" - all of the different encoding practices) will lead to higher levels of skill at encoding + retrieval. There are other complications, too. Like learning a useful analogy can make encoding (and recalling) a subset of things easier. My next video will talk about some interesting research on the relationship of encoding and retrieval.
@@benjaminkeep Thanks for the response. I do have another topic discuss with regards to breaks, two things actually. 1. I am curious about relaxation techniques during breaks. Consider an individual who is a software engineer who works on mentally demanding tasks on a daily basis and they have to learn something new frequently. When it comes to memory consolidation, would they benefit more from reading books (on a different topic like history) or doing a physical activity during a break? Reading books can be intensive as well depending on the topic - so does it matter what type of books you read during breaks? 2. For someone who works mentally demanding tasks on a daily basis, social media is a terrible way to relax right? The reason I am asking is because I know people who work physically demanding tasks and they say social media/video games relaxes them.
You are videos so full of insights. I love the content you put out with years of research in a short videos laying the bedrock principles of learning and they all make so much sense to me! Thanks a lot for all the effort to put forth this high quality content.
Would you ever consider doing a video on the literature around second language learning? From a quick peruse it seemed to be rather light in substance but that's from a non-experts perspective.
I feel super validated re: "how to read textbooks" section. I do all the things that you mention - flipping back and forth, contextualizing, hypothesizing...but I may get too carried away with the latter*. With ADHD, it's easy to get distracted when something seemingly innocuous raises my hackles. I feel more confident now about my study strategy because, as you mentioned, I thought we're just supposed to linearly adsorb and understand the information presented. Thanks! *After reading Agile Practice Guide, I decided to write a blog post tearing it apart for how it leaves lots of space for discrimination, bullying and harassment to foster despite its alleged egalitarian "principles."
VERY interesting information, sir! Thank you. I always felt that my strategy for note taking never worked. All of this are basically the pillars that lacked throughout my ever floating building of knowledge/information. This probably explains why I mostly acquired frustration and why my "scale" is tilted towards the ADHD side. I hope that today's schools have this taught during the first years.
Great content. Can you suggest a book that is written in plain language to one who has no knowledge background in psychology on the science of learning? If i want to study psychology on my own, what are the concepts you will advice i focus on?
I usually recommend "Make It Stick" by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel. And "The ABCs of How We Learn" by Schwartz, Tsang, and Blair. Both are written by very experienced researchers in the field and aimed for a public audience. I have other recommendations here, which include some psychology books: www.benjaminkeep.com/recommended-reading/ With general psychology, kind of depends on what you want to focus on. If it's problem solving and decision-making, there's some good stuff in the recommended reading list linked above.
Looking forward to that "how to prepare for a lecture video", I have been thinking a lot about it lately but cant manage to find the right answer for me
Danm, i watch this channel about learning and i don't feel that i am being scammed. I did the course of barbara oakley learning how to learn and that really helped me to start study better, and that awakened a thing to study how to study more when i am in my free time, this help me to remeber key concepts and i think its fun, but damn, there is A LOT of channels that just say some vagues thing and promise that this would change your study forever, and a lot of that is the things that "learning how to learn" talk about, but worse. Thanks for the channel its really good
12:40 Thats why i dislike advices like Thomas Frank of BLOCK EVERYTHING ELSE (literally) AND WORK, NEVER, NEVER, PAUSE FOR SOMETHING ELSE. But some of my biggest epiphanies came when i stopped to imagine a situation, a scenario with what i was studying or more often remembered some anime scene and tried to make more connections with it, stopping to watch it or to listen a song from it and get into a mindset, or stopped to create a whole power system or combat based on that. I pay attention with the time if i have a limit but i found that a study where i only think on one thing in isolation dont reflect reality and i frustratingly forget easier. Ajin and Dr. Stone for example uses A LOT of concepts from physics and chemistry in their story and i never really gave a shit about them before but now here i am... losing my shit because of it and watching crash course physics for more than an hour to understand the anime better and use on all my life.
Incorporate breaks into your study schedule to fundamentally improve learning outcomes. 0:27 Engage in physical activities, spend time outdoors, or socialize during breaks for brain health and memory consolidation. 0:57 Avoid studying in environments where you do leisure activities to create positive study associations. 2:04 Mix studying in the same place with occasional changes in location to enhance memory for material. 2:36 Implement a reliable pre-study routine to ease the transition into study mode. 3:09 Take notes selectively during classes, focusing on surprising or conflicting information, to boost engagement and retention. 3:45 Focus on deep processing of material rather than superficial details for more meaningful learning. 5:01 Apply transfer-appropriate processing by organizing study material based on how you will use it in future applications. 5:30 Keep study groups small (two to four people) and ensure everyone does individual work before discussing as a group to enhance understanding. 7:16 Use self-testing strategies to recall information, which leads to better learning outcomes and helps identify knowledge gaps. 11:10 Interact actively with textbooks, generating questions and explanations, to create knowledge rather than just consuming information. 12:17
Much appreciate your work Dr. Keep I have a deep interest in learning techniques and learning and brain-related research. I want to kindly ask you. I wonder what you think about g-factor iq and stuff(such as Richard Haier's work), and what kind of role this kind of learning related plays in the research aspect of intelligence. or at least what kind of understanding or mindset I should have between these concepts as a student.
I agree with almost everything except the deep procesing vs shallow processing part. Many time when I'm attending a lecture, when a subject is being taught, multiple lecturer use different wording to convey the same idea. It's really tough to separate between whether it's just a problem with each lecturer's wording style-which means I can ignore such details to focus on the deep processing part-or the wording actually matter and meaningfully affect the deeper meaning, which means you can't do deep processing without examining the wording details, which means you have to do shallow processing first.
Hi! I discovered your channel a month ago and have wactched every video you posted so far. It really helped with my learning method and deliberate practice. I also watched Justin Sung before you, and he's really big on mind maps. However, I still struggle with representing information neatly and visually. Can you maybe do a future video on how we can better organise our free recall to represent information more visually? You have said it's important, but I'm wondering how exactly we can do that.
Many thanks for the kind words! Personally, I don't use mind maps. But I think visualizations, of various sorts depending on what you're learning, can be quite helpful. I have a video coming up in the next couple of months on learning from a book that might be relevant.
Hello Dr Keep! Love your videos so far. Have ever looked you ever looked into how learning affects people with mental disablities, for example, ADHD-PI or ADD
Learning from a textbook is about creating knowledge through 12.17 interaction with the text. That means that you are not reading it linearly, necessarily. Making 12.24 sense of the material is priority number one and every single action flows from that. Sometimes, 12.30 you'll be flipping back to an earlier example to compare it with something that you're reading 12.35 about right now. Sometimes, you'll be pausing to imagine a hypothetical example. Sometimes, 12.39 you'll be asking questions or making predictions or generating explanations about what's going on.
People want the easy way out. That's why they mindlessly take notes. Also have you considered making a video on zettlekasten and linking knowledge? A software called Obsidian is kinda trending and it's used for zettlekasten
Summary : I. Introduction - Marty Lobdell's lecture is popular for studying advice - This video extends Lobdell's advice and answers common questions - Topics covered: breaks, study groups, recognition vs. recall, note-taking, deep processing, transfer-appropriate processing, effective reading of textbooks II. The Importance of Breaks - Breaks improve learning outcomes - Engage in physically active, outdoor, or social activities during breaks - Benefits of physical activity and being in natural environments - Avoid excessive screen time during breaks - Moments of doing nothing can aid memory consolidation III. Creating Positive Study Associations - Study in environments dedicated to studying - Balancing study in the same location vs. different locations - Building study habits and associating cues with study mode - Preparing mentally before studying IV. Note-Taking Strategies - Avoid mindlessly transcribing everything - Take notes on unexpected or surprising information - Highlight conflicts, analogies, examples, open questions, and references - Notes should serve a purpose and aid understanding V. Deep Processing and Transfer-Appropriate Processing - Shallow processing vs. deep processing - Deep processing focuses on the meaning of information - Transfer-appropriate processing depends on how information will be used - Realistic practice tests enhance learning and inform encoding strategies VI. Effective Study Groups - Ideal group size is 2-4 members - Individual work before group meetings - Establishing a suitable time and place for focused studying - Building trust and fostering constructive interactions - Addressing issues of unequal participation and dysfunctional group dynamics VII. Effective Reading of Textbooks - Reading textbooks requires active interaction with the material - Create knowledge through engagement, not passive absorption - Non-linear reading, comparing examples, asking questions, making predictions - Focus on making sense of the material and generating explanations VIII. Recognition vs. Recall - Many students confuse recognition with recollection - Rereading and highlighting are not effective strategies - Emphasize output-oriented strategies like self-testing and recall - Recalling information and applying it enhances learning and informs further study IX. Conclusion - Encourage active learning strategies for effective studying - Provide resources for further exploration of related topics - Recap the main points covered in the video Credit : ChatGPT
@@Chirpy-eo8jq No, I simply downloaded the SRT file of the video using an online tool, then copied and pasted the text document into ChatGPT, requesting a simplified outline summary. Another option is to use a Chrome extension for the same purpose.
just recalled, and learned something , TPN and DMN Task positive Network / Default Mode Network not sure if you might be interested to dive in deep, but after watching yours and Dr Justin''s videos over the period of this year , obsessively [ life's short '' ] incorprating with [ some Rian Doris flow , Some Jim Kwik ] , might free active recall , be more useful, with deliberate pre-TPN [ zen, meditation , obervation of surrounding, or even mental-voicing out what is being done ] and in-TPN , to [ write down ] with physical feel, on what , your DMN should try to : solve, think, consider, recall later, plan later ? this is also, im really just throwing out, the reason why [ creation learning, from one of your other videos] and [ Dr Justin's example of a puzzle to plug and group , via mind group mapping ? ] works only after , a while with time. scheduled interval , interlevering learning and recall / spaced repition ? this perhaps, may even solve, and start the dilemma of [ boring, non-goal/ task defined learning] since , the action of writing down, letting it know, to your subconcious known what it should try to [ auto sort and solve ] ? i apologize if i sound crazy or far off , just penning my thoughts here since ive a great [ reference ] vs Justin Sung's hung number of videos
As you become more knowledgeable (or more experienced) in a topic, the same thing that resulted in very high loads early would result in lower loads now. Cognitive load is partly a function of prior knowledge. There have been various attempts to increase things like working memory more generally, but I'm not aware of any that actually work (see the references in this vid for more: ruclips.net/video/WYl-nZyoEXs/видео.html). There's also some correlation between the standard working memory measures and what's called "elaborative encoding" - people who have higher working memories also tend to use more elaborative encoding techniques. I tend to think that training in the techniques is where you want to focus, rather than some generic thing that's going to increase your working memory. Neuroplasticity is just a thing that is. Our brains change all the time. We are always learning. WHAT we are learning, well... that depends.
@@benjaminkeep thank sir I have this question when Justin sung say that we can improve cognitive load ( I think that it's not really true) but you say that when we are more experienced Amount of load reduced . So I think that it's true in some way 🤔🤔
Hi, I would like to know what you think is the right balance between encoding and retrieval? I know that one should focus more on the output, which would argue for a higher emphasis on retrieval. But it can take a long time to understand a concept or problem in a textbook. At this point, there is not much to remember, because although the comprehension process takes a long time, the actual content is quite small. Is it better to shorten the encoding process and accept that the initial understanding will be worse, at least in terms of perception? In the hope that understanding will come via retrieval techniques (e.g. free recall) and more prior knowledge when going through it. Which from my understanding is about Justin Sung's approach. Or should one focus more on comprehension in the initial encoding even though this shifts the balance heavily to the input side? And then a question about breaks, is there a clear sign that it would be effective to take a break now and then a sign that it is effectiv to pick it up again. Because there is a lot of concrete time information on the internet, but they all contradict each other a bit, for example HubermannLab talks about 90 minute cycles, others say 60 minutes working 20 minutes break and then there's pomodore. Thank you for the many great videos, they are really very enriching!
i would somewhat agree with sung-there may be benefit to learn something wrong to speed up the process in general. as children we learnt not to eat certain things because they are BAD, POISON or i would die or get sick- i accepted that reality- while later we found out that it was just teaching shortcut to spare us complicated explanations like food A, may cause blaoting, fever, vomiting,bit actially you wont die because of this various reasons. And for sake of efficiancy "understanding" only needs a reasonable depth and should be in relation to the overall goal. my goal is now to learn about emotional psychology- im stuck on neurotransmitters-but to progress i just need to understand that those are chemicals of my nervous system (i will not suddenly read a whole book about the chemistry of them or a whole neurobiology book)-i could not even guarantee that it helps my overall goal
May I ask you, knowing that you have this kind of thinking dominated or at least more dominated than me (for sure) what kind of active recall would you do in a language learning path? Like, for instance, I understand that language learning is based on a few different type of skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking) so, what would it be a "real environment" for one to practice? What do you think! I listen to you! You're a genius!! Thank you for your content
Thanks for the kind words! The "real environment" for language learning depends on your level and what your goals are (and what you can access). I think, for most people, having an everyday conversation with someone else (involving coordinated listening and speaking) is the kind of environment that you would like to spend a lot of time in. One of the problems is that this is hard to come by and coordinate (although there are plenty of apps that try to provide this experience). And the level of the conversation would change over time as you became better (and you have to push the level of the conversation to become more advanced, using new vocabulary words and recently learned grammar in novel ways). Often it can be easier to read or listen to language that leverages your prior knowledge (comprehensible input). This is especially true when you first start out, because you can't engage in a live conversation right away.
Also, if I am learning a language, say Polish. How would I use free recall with this and doesn't this disagree with a lot of the language fad where comprehensible input is what matters for learning?
Great video. Dr. Keep it up! Also curious, how do you define learning? Or know when someone is learning? Often in American schools, it seems like students are just engaging in simple computation. Mainly that is just simple inputs and outputs. Inputs of concepts, ideas, general knowledge, and more and outputs of those through vocabulary, MC questions, fill in the blank, and much more. To me this is not learning. This is a necessary part of learning, because you need certain knowledge to make new knowledge but just recall information isn’t learning itself. Schools due to testing and standards mainly engage in this process of regurgitating knowledge rather than learning. I see learning as connection between things at a base level rather than isolated events. And as far as I understand it, you do not need to know every input and output before you can learn, that takes too long and is a waste of time. What is important is to make sense of data and knowledge to make new knowledge. It’s also more effective anyways if u wanted to learn a set of history civil war terms, doing so in which u have to form an argument allows you to memorize it better and actually learn.
I try not to define learning. 😁 Learning means too many things to speak about it precisely. It can mean just remembering a fact; it can mean a change in behavior; it can mean acquiring a flexible, deep, conceptual understanding; it can mean reaching a certain level of skill; it can involve significant conceptual change. Things like defining vocabulary and answering multiple-choice questions can be measures of learning - people have come up with some pretty clever ways of using multiple choice questions - but I'm in complete agreement that "higher-order" learning is where you want to spend most of your time. It's a serious mistake to keep students at "low-order" levels. And the evidence we have agrees with us too: Jensen, J. L., McDaniel, M. A., Woodard, S. M., & Kummer, T. A. (2014). Teaching to the test… or testing to teach: Exams requiring higher order thinking skills encourage greater conceptual understanding. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 307-329. link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-013-9248-9 Rowland, C. A. (2014). The effect of testing versus restudy on retention: a meta-analytic review of the testing effect. Psychological bulletin, 140(6), 1432. www.researchgate.net/publication/264988491_The_Effect_of_Testing_Versus_Restudy_on_Retention_A_Meta-Analytic_Review_of_the_Testing_Effect McDaniel, M. A., Anderson, J. L., Derbish, M. H., & Morrisette, N. (2007). Testing the testing effect in the classroom. European journal of cognitive psychology, 19(4-5), 494-513. www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Testing-the-testing-effect-in-the-classroom-McDaniel-Anderson/5890758fdccf8e4ea75571f7d8741940660ba38f?p2df Agarwal, P. K. (2019). Retrieval practice & Bloom’s taxonomy: Do students need fact knowledge before higher order learning?. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(2), 189. psycnet.apa.org/manuscript/2018-26228-001.pdf
Hi Dr. Keep. This was a great video! I was wondering if you have any recommendations regarding duration of studying per a day, especially when studying for a large exam eg GRE, LSAT, MCAT etc. Is there a certain number of hours of studying per a day after which there are diminishing returns?
I don't have a strict recommendation. Don't exhaust yourself. If you're absolutely not doing anything else, maybe 6 hours of focused work is a good target. If you've got jobs and other work to do, obviously that's not viable. Do what you can without sacrificing sleep and physical activity. The main thing is to plan ahead and start early.
I call memory that allows me to recognize something when prompted "recognition memory". This is in contrast with what I call "recall memory". When I have studied thoroughly, I should be able to free recall a list of prompts, and from those prompts I recall the target info. I purposefully memorize a list of acronyms, where each letter is a prompt for a piece of target data. I have sheets of paper full of acronym phrases, that I work on memorizing. As the sheets fill up during the course of a semester, I review the sheet at the beginning of every study session, until with very little effort I can free recall all the acronyms on all the sheets, without looking at the sheets. But the sheets are always available in case I need a refresher, especially when starting a study session. In this way, I avoid needing to reread highlighted text using recognition memory, because I study from my acronym sheets using free recall instead.
Hi! I’m new to your channel but watching a few of your videos has really helped me. Yet, there’s something I need to ask. Your free recall video really helped me a lot. I’ve always been struggling with mathematics. I don’t know how to study it. Free recall doesn’t help here (at least I think) since I remember all the formulas. I never really know how to apply them. I would love to get some advice on this topic. Thanks in advance.
First of all- thank you for another great video. Had a small doubt at 6:37 correct me if I am interpreting it wrong - I understand that person practicing cued recall will find it harder to do free recall but why would a person who has processed something deeply and grouped information find it harder during cueing, intuitively it seems it should be easier for that person. Could it be that learning words is somewhat memorisation heavy so the person finds cued recall harder but for declarative stuff which is based on concepts cued recall will be walk in the park for person has thought about material deeply and grouped it and made the knowledge personal by relating it to his/her own life. Really sorry for long winded question. Have never question on youtube before but couldn't stop myself so.. Thanks again.
Many researchers initially felt the same way you do - why should it be different? If you're in "deep vs shallow" world, then there's no good explanation for results like this. But if you think, "it's not just deep vs shallow, it's about 'information-in-use'; about how and when you're going to use that information again," then results like these start to make more sense. You could see the same thing with something like the memory palace technique. The way to retrieve the items in a memory palace is to walk through the memory palace. If you want to retrieve the items in a different way (triggered by a different context), then maybe you want to encode them in a different way, too.
@@benjaminkeep Got it, sir! Thank you very much for taking out time to answer. So the takeaway for me is - active learning is one piece of the puzzle but do not overlook the other piece which is the Previous year's questions or practice test. Both complement each other in the sense that they make each other easier and more fruitful in this incredibly complex process which we call 'learning' which cant be reduced to shallow vs deep etc in my initial conception :). GOT it. Thanks again.
Hi, Love the videos Regarding taking breaks, is there any reserach on how stimulating/engaging the breaks can be before not being breaks anymore? Let's say you studied physics for 40 minutess, if you then spend the next 20 minutes deliberately practising free throws or watching a show in a language youre familiar with but not yet fluent, Would these count as breaks or not so much? Just wondering cause when you're working a full time job it can feel like a bit of a waste to spend 1/3 of your time being very passive.
That's a good question. There's some advantage from doing something completely different (even if it's something active). You break your "mental set," and create a little bit of spaced studying. But there's something to be said for "true breaks" as well. Like "do absolutely nothing" breaks. These, it seems, offer some of the same benefits that sleeping does for memory consolidation. So... yes, there's probably a limit to how many "stimulating" breaks you could take, but what exactly that limit is? Unclear.
Hey Benamin, love your videos! Could you make a video talking about self-regulated learning? There is a lot of info on how teachers can promote srl in their classroom, but I struggled to find information tailored towards students who want to learn how to apply srl strategies by themselves in case they don't have a teacher who is willing to guide them in the right path.
Thanks! Some of what I talk about here relates to self-regulated learning, and I have some videos in the works that will delve into judgments of knowing and meta-cognition. Just on a slow production schedule at the moment.
Thanks for the suggestion. Kind of working on something related to that (it's a history book, not a textbook). But my next one after that will be a science textbook.
Hello Dr Keep. Your video is awesome as usual. I do have a question about modular learning and how to learn effectively in that system in more scientific type of degree. How can a student best tackle this type of system?
2:00 Strangely, although I only have one workdesk, I can shift into "study mode" just by standing up, whereas the moment I sit down is when I become useless, so I don't think it's strictly just about location.
Another great video. I wondered if there is inhibition in learning - sometimes when i tackle a new topic i can process it very fast and recall it well for a few days - its just natural to say "Topic 1 happens because of Fact A, B, C" but when i dont stick to my revision schedule and try my recall later Fact A, B, C dont come naturally - even after Review, it actually seems harder to restudy something, which forces me to apply different encoding. But i may have ADHD- for topics that interest me i have vast amounts of short-term memory - maybe the interest is the emotional link that has been shown to make things more memorable and on the reviews the interest is less
Did some more reading - found another interesting aspect about a different topic - retrieval induced inhibition of not recalled material - (article "When does retrieval induce forgetting and when does it induce facilitation? Implications for retrieval inhibition, testing effect, and text processing" by chan) so i guess that means i should not be lazy with my recall practice with giving incomplete answer or i may forget somethings. So in this sense, if i do free recall and find the missing aspects i may need another repetition a few minutes later to consolidate - makes sense, as looking up answer would be more passive rereading So now i need to find out what rereading would do after some active recall sessions in my spaced repetition. (i really need some low energy/motivation learnign techniques :) )
Mr. Keep:-): I’m interested in your view about Mr. Lobdells idea of studying for (I think he mentions-) 6 hours in a day. As you say “the brain has to develop new neurons to be able to learn new things” (or something similar). Can I make a correct analogy from weight training? In regards to the concept of building muscle first occurs during rest AFTER work has been done? Wouldn’t it be better to sit down and work intensely for - let’s say - a couple of hours and then continue the day after? Rather than sitting for more hours and forgetting the first couple of hours of work? Thank you for your work Best:-)
I think breaks and rest are fundamentally important. But 6 hours a day (if you're a full time student) doesn't seem crazy to me. On the high end of intense focus, but possible, with breaks in the middle. That said, these are all just general guidelines. I think people should experiment a bit, too.
Hi I have a few questions regarding taking breaks. How long should a break be? Is it relative to time spent learning beforehand? Is it better to take multiple smaller breaks for a learning session or a few but longer ones? After how many minutes of learning should I take a break (I assume as you have explained in a previous video “how leaning feels” it can be derived from there?)
I don't believe there are precise answers to your questions. The implication from work on deliberate practice suggests something like 1.5 hrs of work before a break is the high ceiling. But that's for people working at the top of their game and exerting a lot of focus. My intuition on break length says something between 10 to 30 minutes. But I don't have any evidence to back that up. For multiple vs few, I can only say that when you start to have very long study sessions (more than 1.5+ hrs, say) you are almost certainly not working at your peak levels. And if you have breaks too frequently (after every 10 minutes of studying, you take a break) you're likely disrupting your focus. It takes time to "sink" into a topic and I suspect that frequent breaks can function like task-switching. I suggest experimenting a bit and seeing what you think works for you.
I was interested in this question too. While going though classical guitar examinations I experimented with 60-90 minutes sessions vs multiple 20 minute sessions on two different exam levels. I scored better using the “take a break after 20minute strategy” while also worker on harder material.
I think you should be required for professional development yearly so that you can get better data. I think when teachers are required to watch your videos is when the shift in education will reign supreme in the upcoming generations.
Hey it's me "Jazztin Jake Teves" you might not remember, but can you make more of this kind of video pls, it will be helpful for my studies, also I'm subscribed into 2 of my accounts 😊
Prefer your consice, clear explanation that's made in plain England, to those abstract and soul searching lengthy monologue made by other studying guru.
Thank you G.O.A.T of learning 🎉
He explained the matter in a very fluent and seemingly effortless manner. No wonder he's a cognitive scientist.
English is my foreign language, so I had to do a Google search to see what G O A T stands for. ❤. Since I discovered this RUclips channel by accident, I have watched a lot of his videos although sometimes it takes many times to understand them properly. Luckily, his recent videos have English subtitles so I can read them.
@@MsTranthihai71that’s great! where are you from?
prediction?@@sovereignknight9290
One thing I noticed about study groups is that it's pretty common for one of the weaker students to get to the point during the study session where they are just barely able to solve a problem and then they leave immediately and don't worry about it again until the test. Even if the test is the next day, they really need to practice it until they have some margin for skill loss, otherwise they just can't quite do it on test day. Sometimes, that can be the difference between an easy pass and a complete fail.
You and Justin sung= goat of learning
This channel is a huge blessing, thanks for all the effort you put into this.
100% true!
So basically how you should encode information depends on how you will use it in the future. This makes so much sense, that's why it's useful to ask "Why am I learning this particular thing?" (not just for motivating you) and it makes the process of learning more efficient for the intended goal. Interesting channel, keep it up!
The principle of specificity
This channel is pure gold, hopefully, more people will find it. Thanks for another amazing video doctor :)
I find out this channel 2 weeks a go and i loved ❤. I'm learning too much and applying in my studies in Brazil as a self-taugh programmer. Sorry for my english if there are some mistakes. I'm still learning your language 😅
very nice video. very nice. For me the best way to learn is "active learning" and working with the material till I acquire "intuition" in addition to being able to apply the subject. I try to learn what you can and can't do. How things fit together practically. Later I try to make predictions and test if what I predicted actually works out. Only after that a "creative" process can come. Where you use what you learn to build/constructively apply. No need to say I'm a slow learner by the virtue of how I work, but those things I learn I can use as a basis.
I find fast learning useful if the test/practice deadline is close or I won't need to retain the information for the future. To me, learning slow overtime compounds best.
Another incredible video, Dr. Keep! Ever since I discovered your channel a couple months ago, I have learned so much about how to efficiently encode and retrieve information, interleaving, and deliberate practice, so I would like to thank you for your amazing work. You've earned my full support!
Which videos are the best ones for all of the above strategies?
Following thanks
Came as fast as possible. I haven't seen the video but keep it going!!
The use of the knowledge affecting how you study it is such good info. Take programming compared to language learning. Not being perfectly accurate with a language can be easily mitigated so long as the other party is willing to work with you to derive the meaning so studying for the deep meaning is more important than the details, but with programming, a computer is only going to work if you give it exactly what it can read. So understanding details first instead of randomly copying tutorials will help you understand WHY something is happening and be able to cement these functions in your head when you have to discover the connections of your “tools”.
Hey! I'm working on a self-improvement and learning channel for my community service. Your videos help a lot! I really admire how you structure the video, because it makes it a lot easier to watch than someone staring into a camera and talking ❤
Thanks for the video Benjamin. Can recalling be considered a skill? What I mean is, say I often practice recalling on all sorts of things I learn, would I generally become good at recalling? And in a sense, will recalling become "easier"?
And from my understanding, good recalling is often accompanied by good encoding. So to ask another question in the same vein, if I often practice enconding on anything I learn, does encoding become "easier"?
These are fantastic questions.
The answer to the first one is probably "no". There may be some general strategic recall skills that your brain engages in, but I suspect that what we might call "memory search" skills account for a small proportion of the probability of successful recall. Encoding is a little different. There are lots of different encoding practices and they have various benefits and trade-offs.
Encoding and retrieval have a deep relationship, and people can learn to become more effective encoders. They can adapt their encoding strategies to the material they're learning; they can learn to use different encoding strategies in different situations; they can learn new encoding strategies. This, in turn, helps them to become better at recall. And one component of improving encoding is through recall - to get experience at what a particular encoding method is good for. So practicing the combination of both (and ample exploration of the "encoding space" - all of the different encoding practices) will lead to higher levels of skill at encoding + retrieval.
There are other complications, too. Like learning a useful analogy can make encoding (and recalling) a subset of things easier. My next video will talk about some interesting research on the relationship of encoding and retrieval.
@@benjaminkeep Thanks for the response. I do have another topic discuss with regards to breaks, two things actually.
1. I am curious about relaxation techniques during breaks. Consider an individual who is a software engineer who works on mentally demanding tasks on a daily basis and they have to learn something new frequently.
When it comes to memory consolidation, would they benefit more from reading books (on a different topic like history) or doing a physical activity during a break? Reading books can be intensive as well depending on the topic - so does it matter what type of books you read during breaks?
2. For someone who works mentally demanding tasks on a daily basis, social media is a terrible way to relax right? The reason I am asking is because I know people who work physically demanding tasks and they say social media/video games relaxes them.
You are videos so full of insights. I love the content you put out with years of research in a short videos laying the bedrock principles of learning and they all make so much sense to me! Thanks a lot for all the effort to put forth this high quality content.
Would you ever consider doing a video on the literature around second language learning? From a quick peruse it seemed to be rather light in substance but that's from a non-experts perspective.
I feel super validated re: "how to read textbooks" section. I do all the things that you mention - flipping back and forth, contextualizing, hypothesizing...but I may get too carried away with the latter*. With ADHD, it's easy to get distracted when something seemingly innocuous raises my hackles. I feel more confident now about my study strategy because, as you mentioned, I thought we're just supposed to linearly adsorb and understand the information presented. Thanks!
*After reading Agile Practice Guide, I decided to write a blog post tearing it apart for how it leaves lots of space for discrimination, bullying and harassment to foster despite its alleged egalitarian "principles."
VERY interesting information, sir! Thank you. I always felt that my strategy for note taking never worked. All of this are basically the pillars that lacked throughout my ever floating building of knowledge/information. This probably explains why I mostly acquired frustration and why my "scale" is tilted towards the ADHD side. I hope that today's schools have this taught during the first years.
This is PURE GOLD. Thank you very much Benjamin for all the effort you put in!!
Great content. Can you suggest a book that is written in plain language to one who has no knowledge background in psychology on the science of learning?
If i want to study psychology on my own, what are the concepts you will advice i focus on?
I usually recommend "Make It Stick" by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel. And "The ABCs of How We Learn" by Schwartz, Tsang, and Blair. Both are written by very experienced researchers in the field and aimed for a public audience. I have other recommendations here, which include some psychology books: www.benjaminkeep.com/recommended-reading/
With general psychology, kind of depends on what you want to focus on. If it's problem solving and decision-making, there's some good stuff in the recommended reading list linked above.
@@benjaminkeep You and Dr Justin are my inspiration. I want to know about the science of learning
Looking forward to that "how to prepare for a lecture video", I have been thinking a lot about it lately but cant manage to find the right answer for me
Danm, i watch this channel about learning and i don't feel that i am being scammed. I did the course of barbara oakley learning how to learn and that really helped me to start study better, and that awakened a thing to study how to study more when i am in my free time, this help me to remeber key concepts and i think its fun, but damn, there is A LOT of channels that just say some vagues thing and promise that this would change your study forever, and a lot of that is the things that "learning how to learn" talk about, but worse.
Thanks for the channel its really good
12:40 Thats why i dislike advices like Thomas Frank of BLOCK EVERYTHING ELSE (literally) AND WORK, NEVER, NEVER, PAUSE FOR SOMETHING ELSE. But some of my biggest epiphanies came when i stopped to imagine a situation, a scenario with what i was studying or more often remembered some anime scene and tried to make more connections with it, stopping to watch it or to listen a song from it and get into a mindset, or stopped to create a whole power system or combat based on that. I pay attention with the time if i have a limit but i found that a study where i only think on one thing in isolation dont reflect reality and i frustratingly forget easier.
Ajin and Dr. Stone for example uses A LOT of concepts from physics and chemistry in their story and i never really gave a shit about them before but now here i am... losing my shit because of it and watching crash course physics for more than an hour to understand the anime better and use on all my life.
Very good stuff that you do Mr Benjamin! I'm going to try to make an effort in applying the knowledge that you give us, the viewers.
Incorporate breaks into your study schedule to fundamentally improve learning outcomes. 0:27
Engage in physical activities, spend time outdoors, or socialize during breaks for brain health and memory consolidation. 0:57
Avoid studying in environments where you do leisure activities to create positive study associations. 2:04
Mix studying in the same place with occasional changes in location to enhance memory for material. 2:36
Implement a reliable pre-study routine to ease the transition into study mode. 3:09
Take notes selectively during classes, focusing on surprising or conflicting information, to boost engagement and retention. 3:45
Focus on deep processing of material rather than superficial details for more meaningful learning. 5:01
Apply transfer-appropriate processing by organizing study material based on how you will use it in future applications. 5:30
Keep study groups small (two to four people) and ensure everyone does individual work before discussing as a group to enhance understanding. 7:16
Use self-testing strategies to recall information, which leads to better learning outcomes and helps identify knowledge gaps. 11:10
Interact actively with textbooks, generating questions and explanations, to create knowledge rather than just consuming information. 12:17
Thank you. Always a great watch.
Much appreciate your work Dr. Keep I have a deep interest in learning techniques and learning and brain-related research.
I want to kindly ask you.
I wonder what you think about g-factor iq and stuff(such as Richard Haier's work), and what kind of role this kind of learning related plays in the research aspect of intelligence.
or at least what kind of understanding or mindset I should have between these concepts as a student.
Working on a video on IQ - probably won't be out until summer. Thanks for the support!
I agree with almost everything except the deep procesing vs shallow processing part. Many time when I'm attending a lecture, when a subject is being taught, multiple lecturer use different wording to convey the same idea. It's really tough to separate between whether it's just a problem with each lecturer's wording style-which means I can ignore such details to focus on the deep processing part-or the wording actually matter and meaningfully affect the deeper meaning, which means you can't do deep processing without examining the wording details, which means you have to do shallow processing first.
It's a good example. Trying to figure out whether different words mean the same thing or something different is the essence of deep processing.
Hi! I discovered your channel a month ago and have wactched every video you posted so far. It really helped with my learning method and deliberate practice. I also watched Justin Sung before you, and he's really big on mind maps. However, I still struggle with representing information neatly and visually. Can you maybe do a future video on how we can better organise our free recall to represent information more visually? You have said it's important, but I'm wondering how exactly we can do that.
Many thanks for the kind words!
Personally, I don't use mind maps. But I think visualizations, of various sorts depending on what you're learning, can be quite helpful. I have a video coming up in the next couple of months on learning from a book that might be relevant.
Thank you @@benjaminkeep
Hello Dr Keep! Love your videos so far. Have ever looked you ever looked into how learning affects people with mental disablities, for example, ADHD-PI or ADD
This is an area that I'd like to read more about, but I don't know much about it right now.
I'm just like..."wooow". this video is just like...✨wooow✨. that's all I can articulate, at the moment.
also: thank you
Great video, informative and pleasant to watch.
Great watch!
Can you create more vids on improving reasoning/intuition/deduction skills?
Would love your take on it
Thanks! Yes, I plan on getting there... have an upcoming video on problem solving which involves some of what you're looking for I think.
Learning from a textbook is about creating knowledge through
12.17
interaction with the text. That means that you are not reading it linearly, necessarily. Making
12.24
sense of the material is priority number one and every single action flows from that. Sometimes,
12.30
you'll be flipping back to an earlier example to compare it with something that you're reading
12.35
about right now. Sometimes, you'll be pausing to imagine a hypothetical example. Sometimes,
12.39
you'll be asking questions or making predictions or generating explanations about what's going on.
11:16
People want the easy way out. That's why they mindlessly take notes. Also have you considered making a video on zettlekasten and linking knowledge? A software called Obsidian is kinda trending and it's used for zettlekasten
Summary :
I. Introduction
- Marty Lobdell's lecture is popular for studying advice
- This video extends Lobdell's advice and answers common questions
- Topics covered: breaks, study groups, recognition vs. recall, note-taking, deep processing, transfer-appropriate processing, effective reading of textbooks
II. The Importance of Breaks
- Breaks improve learning outcomes
- Engage in physically active, outdoor, or social activities during breaks
- Benefits of physical activity and being in natural environments
- Avoid excessive screen time during breaks
- Moments of doing nothing can aid memory consolidation
III. Creating Positive Study Associations
- Study in environments dedicated to studying
- Balancing study in the same location vs. different locations
- Building study habits and associating cues with study mode
- Preparing mentally before studying
IV. Note-Taking Strategies
- Avoid mindlessly transcribing everything
- Take notes on unexpected or surprising information
- Highlight conflicts, analogies, examples, open questions, and references
- Notes should serve a purpose and aid understanding
V. Deep Processing and Transfer-Appropriate Processing
- Shallow processing vs. deep processing
- Deep processing focuses on the meaning of information
- Transfer-appropriate processing depends on how information will be used
- Realistic practice tests enhance learning and inform encoding strategies
VI. Effective Study Groups
- Ideal group size is 2-4 members
- Individual work before group meetings
- Establishing a suitable time and place for focused studying
- Building trust and fostering constructive interactions
- Addressing issues of unequal participation and dysfunctional group dynamics
VII. Effective Reading of Textbooks
- Reading textbooks requires active interaction with the material
- Create knowledge through engagement, not passive absorption
- Non-linear reading, comparing examples, asking questions, making predictions
- Focus on making sense of the material and generating explanations
VIII. Recognition vs. Recall
- Many students confuse recognition with recollection
- Rereading and highlighting are not effective strategies
- Emphasize output-oriented strategies like self-testing and recall
- Recalling information and applying it enhances learning and informs further study
IX. Conclusion
- Encourage active learning strategies for effective studying
- Provide resources for further exploration of related topics
- Recap the main points covered in the video
Credit : ChatGPT
awesome job!
Thanks
Did you just input the video and got this? Because it could be useful to compare to free recall notetaking to see what I’ve missed
@@Chirpy-eo8jq No, I simply downloaded the SRT file of the video using an online tool, then copied and pasted the text document into ChatGPT, requesting a simplified outline summary. Another option is to use a Chrome extension for the same purpose.
just recalled, and learned something ,
TPN and DMN
Task positive Network / Default Mode Network
not sure if you might be interested to dive in deep, but after watching yours and Dr Justin''s videos over the period of this year , obsessively [ life's short '' ]
incorprating with [ some Rian Doris flow , Some Jim Kwik ] ,
might free active recall , be more useful, with deliberate pre-TPN [ zen, meditation , obervation of surrounding, or even mental-voicing out what is being done ]
and in-TPN , to [ write down ] with physical feel, on what , your DMN should try to :
solve, think, consider, recall later, plan later ?
this is also, im really just throwing out, the reason why [ creation learning, from one of your other videos] and [ Dr Justin's example of a puzzle to plug and group , via mind group mapping ? ]
works only after , a while with time. scheduled interval , interlevering learning and recall / spaced repition ?
this perhaps, may even solve, and start the dilemma of [ boring, non-goal/ task defined learning] since ,
the action of writing down, letting it know, to your subconcious known what it should try to [ auto sort and solve ] ?
i apologize if i sound crazy or far off , just penning my thoughts here since ive a great [ reference ] vs Justin Sung's hung number of videos
I have a question 😅😅
Could our human improve cognitive load tolerance
I mean something kind of like Neroplasticity
As you become more knowledgeable (or more experienced) in a topic, the same thing that resulted in very high loads early would result in lower loads now. Cognitive load is partly a function of prior knowledge.
There have been various attempts to increase things like working memory more generally, but I'm not aware of any that actually work (see the references in this vid for more: ruclips.net/video/WYl-nZyoEXs/видео.html). There's also some correlation between the standard working memory measures and what's called "elaborative encoding" - people who have higher working memories also tend to use more elaborative encoding techniques. I tend to think that training in the techniques is where you want to focus, rather than some generic thing that's going to increase your working memory.
Neuroplasticity is just a thing that is. Our brains change all the time. We are always learning. WHAT we are learning, well... that depends.
@@benjaminkeep thank sir
I have this question when Justin sung say that we can improve cognitive load
( I think that it's not really true) but you say that when we are more experienced
Amount of load reduced . So I think that it's true in some way 🤔🤔
@@benjaminkeep what an epic response 😢 Dr Keep is legit
Hi, I would like to know what you think is the right balance between encoding and retrieval? I know that one should focus more on the output, which would argue for a higher emphasis on retrieval. But it can take a long time to understand a concept or problem in a textbook. At this point, there is not much to remember, because although the comprehension process takes a long time, the actual content is quite small. Is it better to shorten the encoding process and accept that the initial understanding will be worse, at least in terms of perception? In the hope that understanding will come via retrieval techniques (e.g. free recall) and more prior knowledge when going through it. Which from my understanding is about Justin Sung's approach. Or should one focus more on comprehension in the initial encoding even though this shifts the balance heavily to the input side?
And then a question about breaks, is there a clear sign that it would be effective to take a break now and then a sign that it is effectiv to pick it up again. Because there is a lot of concrete time information on the internet, but they all contradict each other a bit, for example HubermannLab talks about 90 minute cycles, others say 60 minutes working 20 minutes break and then there's pomodore.
Thank you for the many great videos, they are really very enriching!
i would somewhat agree with sung-there may be benefit to learn something wrong to speed up the process in general. as children we learnt not to eat certain things because they are BAD, POISON or i would die or get sick- i accepted that reality- while later we found out that it was just teaching shortcut to spare us complicated explanations like food A, may cause blaoting, fever, vomiting,bit actially you wont die because of this various reasons.
And for sake of efficiancy "understanding" only needs a reasonable depth and should be in relation to the overall goal. my goal is now to learn about emotional psychology- im stuck on neurotransmitters-but to progress i just need to understand that those are chemicals of my nervous system (i will not suddenly read a whole book about the chemistry of them or a whole neurobiology book)-i could not even guarantee that it helps my overall goal
May I ask you, knowing that you have this kind of thinking dominated or at least more dominated than me (for sure) what kind of active recall would you do in a language learning path? Like, for instance, I understand that language learning is based on a few different type of skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking) so, what would it be a "real environment" for one to practice?
What do you think! I listen to you! You're a genius!! Thank you for your content
Thanks for the kind words!
The "real environment" for language learning depends on your level and what your goals are (and what you can access). I think, for most people, having an everyday conversation with someone else (involving coordinated listening and speaking) is the kind of environment that you would like to spend a lot of time in. One of the problems is that this is hard to come by and coordinate (although there are plenty of apps that try to provide this experience). And the level of the conversation would change over time as you became better (and you have to push the level of the conversation to become more advanced, using new vocabulary words and recently learned grammar in novel ways).
Often it can be easier to read or listen to language that leverages your prior knowledge (comprehensible input). This is especially true when you first start out, because you can't engage in a live conversation right away.
Also, if I am learning a language, say Polish. How would I use free recall with this and doesn't this disagree with a lot of the language fad where comprehensible input is what matters for learning?
Golden content.
Great video. Dr. Keep it up!
Also curious, how do you define learning? Or know when someone is learning? Often in American schools, it seems like students are just engaging in simple computation. Mainly that is just simple inputs and outputs. Inputs of concepts, ideas, general knowledge, and more and outputs of those through vocabulary, MC questions, fill in the blank, and much more. To me this is not learning. This is a necessary part of learning, because you need certain knowledge to make new knowledge but just recall information isn’t learning itself. Schools due to testing and standards mainly engage in this process of regurgitating knowledge rather than learning. I see learning as connection between things at a base level
rather than isolated events. And as far as I understand it, you do not need to know every input and output before you can learn, that takes too long and is a waste of time. What is important is to make sense of data and knowledge to make new knowledge. It’s also more effective anyways if u wanted to learn a set of history civil war terms, doing so in which u have to form an argument allows you to memorize it better and actually learn.
I try not to define learning. 😁
Learning means too many things to speak about it precisely. It can mean just remembering a fact; it can mean a change in behavior; it can mean acquiring a flexible, deep, conceptual understanding; it can mean reaching a certain level of skill; it can involve significant conceptual change.
Things like defining vocabulary and answering multiple-choice questions can be measures of learning - people have come up with some pretty clever ways of using multiple choice questions - but I'm in complete agreement that "higher-order" learning is where you want to spend most of your time. It's a serious mistake to keep students at "low-order" levels. And the evidence we have agrees with us too:
Jensen, J. L., McDaniel, M. A., Woodard, S. M., & Kummer, T. A. (2014). Teaching to the test… or testing to teach: Exams requiring higher order thinking skills encourage greater conceptual understanding. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 307-329. link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-013-9248-9
Rowland, C. A. (2014). The effect of testing versus restudy on retention: a meta-analytic review of the testing effect. Psychological bulletin, 140(6), 1432. www.researchgate.net/publication/264988491_The_Effect_of_Testing_Versus_Restudy_on_Retention_A_Meta-Analytic_Review_of_the_Testing_Effect
McDaniel, M. A., Anderson, J. L., Derbish, M. H., & Morrisette, N. (2007). Testing the testing effect in the classroom. European journal of cognitive psychology, 19(4-5), 494-513. www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Testing-the-testing-effect-in-the-classroom-McDaniel-Anderson/5890758fdccf8e4ea75571f7d8741940660ba38f?p2df
Agarwal, P. K. (2019). Retrieval practice & Bloom’s taxonomy: Do students need fact knowledge before higher order learning?. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(2), 189. psycnet.apa.org/manuscript/2018-26228-001.pdf
Hi Dr. Keep. This was a great video! I was wondering if you have any recommendations regarding duration of studying per a day, especially when studying for a large exam eg GRE, LSAT, MCAT etc.
Is there a certain number of hours of studying per a day after which there are diminishing returns?
I don't have a strict recommendation. Don't exhaust yourself. If you're absolutely not doing anything else, maybe 6 hours of focused work is a good target. If you've got jobs and other work to do, obviously that's not viable. Do what you can without sacrificing sleep and physical activity.
The main thing is to plan ahead and start early.
I call memory that allows me to recognize something when prompted "recognition memory". This is in contrast with what I call "recall memory". When I have studied thoroughly, I should be able to free recall a list of prompts, and from those prompts I recall the target info. I purposefully memorize a list of acronyms, where each letter is a prompt for a piece of target data. I have sheets of paper full of acronym phrases, that I work on memorizing. As the sheets fill up during the course of a semester, I review the sheet at the beginning of every study session, until with very little effort I can free recall all the acronyms on all the sheets, without looking at the sheets. But the sheets are always available in case I need a refresher, especially when starting a study session. In this way, I avoid needing to reread highlighted text using recognition memory, because I study from my acronym sheets using free recall instead.
I'm a Spanish speaker, so I don't know if is different but is Y a vowel?
"A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y." It's working as a vowel in Platypus. Or at least, that's what my teacher said in grade school. : )
thank you very much
Hi! I’m new to your channel but watching a few of your videos has really helped me. Yet, there’s something I need to ask. Your free recall video really helped me a lot. I’ve always been struggling with mathematics. I don’t know how to study it. Free recall doesn’t help here (at least I think) since I remember all the formulas. I never really know how to apply them. I would love to get some advice on this topic. Thanks in advance.
Can you make a detailed video about how to take proper notes please
First of all- thank you for another great video. Had a small doubt at 6:37 correct me if I am interpreting it wrong - I understand that person practicing cued recall will find it harder to do free recall but why would a person who has processed something deeply and grouped information find it harder during cueing, intuitively it seems it should be easier for that person. Could it be that learning words is somewhat memorisation heavy so the person finds cued recall harder but for declarative stuff which is based on concepts cued recall will be walk in the park for person has thought about material deeply and grouped it and made the knowledge personal by relating it to his/her own life. Really sorry for long winded question. Have never question on youtube before but couldn't stop myself so.. Thanks again.
Many researchers initially felt the same way you do - why should it be different? If you're in "deep vs shallow" world, then there's no good explanation for results like this. But if you think, "it's not just deep vs shallow, it's about 'information-in-use'; about how and when you're going to use that information again," then results like these start to make more sense.
You could see the same thing with something like the memory palace technique. The way to retrieve the items in a memory palace is to walk through the memory palace. If you want to retrieve the items in a different way (triggered by a different context), then maybe you want to encode them in a different way, too.
@@benjaminkeep Got it, sir! Thank you very much for taking out time to answer. So the takeaway for me is - active learning is one piece of the puzzle but do not overlook the other piece which is the Previous year's questions or practice test. Both complement each other in the sense that they make each other easier and more fruitful in this incredibly complex process which we call 'learning' which cant be reduced to shallow vs deep etc in my initial conception :). GOT it. Thanks again.
This helped a lot :))
It remind to rewat.... No retrieve video in this . ( above mentioned)
Hi, Love the videos
Regarding taking breaks, is there any reserach on how stimulating/engaging the breaks can be before not being breaks anymore?
Let's say you studied physics for 40 minutess, if you then spend the next 20 minutes deliberately practising free throws or watching a show in a language youre familiar with but not yet fluent,
Would these count as breaks or not so much?
Just wondering cause when you're working a full time job it can feel like a bit of a waste to spend 1/3 of your time being very passive.
That's a good question. There's some advantage from doing something completely different (even if it's something active). You break your "mental set," and create a little bit of spaced studying. But there's something to be said for "true breaks" as well. Like "do absolutely nothing" breaks. These, it seems, offer some of the same benefits that sleeping does for memory consolidation.
So... yes, there's probably a limit to how many "stimulating" breaks you could take, but what exactly that limit is? Unclear.
Great stuff!
Hey Benamin, love your videos! Could you make a video talking about self-regulated learning? There is a lot of info on how teachers can promote srl in their classroom, but I struggled to find information tailored towards students who want to learn how to apply srl strategies by themselves in case they don't have a teacher who is willing to guide them in the right path.
Thanks! Some of what I talk about here relates to self-regulated learning, and I have some videos in the works that will delve into judgments of knowing and meta-cognition. Just on a slow production schedule at the moment.
Can you do a video on how to take notes on a text book?
Thanks for the suggestion. Kind of working on something related to that (it's a history book, not a textbook). But my next one after that will be a science textbook.
Great new video, thanks
Hello Dr Keep. Your video is awesome as usual. I do have a question about modular learning and how to learn effectively in that system in more scientific type of degree. How can a student best tackle this type of system?
What do you mean by modular learning?
@@benjaminkeep Its a system where you learn the entire subject or module in a week.
Good stuff
2:00 Strangely, although I only have one workdesk, I can shift into "study mode" just by standing up, whereas the moment I sit down is when I become useless, so I don't think it's strictly just about location.
Another great video.
I wondered if there is inhibition in learning - sometimes when i tackle a new topic i can process it very fast and recall it well for a few days - its just natural to say "Topic 1 happens because of Fact A, B, C" but when i dont stick to my revision schedule and try my recall later Fact A, B, C dont come naturally - even after Review, it actually seems harder to restudy something, which forces me to apply different encoding.
But i may have ADHD- for topics that interest me i have vast amounts of short-term memory - maybe the interest is the emotional link that has been shown to make things more memorable and on the reviews the interest is less
Did some more reading - found another interesting aspect about a different topic - retrieval induced inhibition of not recalled material -
(article "When does retrieval induce forgetting and when does it induce facilitation? Implications for retrieval inhibition, testing effect, and text processing" by chan)
so i guess that means i should not be lazy with my recall practice with giving incomplete answer or i may forget somethings.
So in this sense, if i do free recall and find the missing aspects i may need another repetition a few minutes later to consolidate - makes sense, as looking up answer would be more passive rereading
So now i need to find out what rereading would do after some active recall sessions in my spaced repetition. (i really need some low energy/motivation learnign techniques :) )
3:55 takeout - be a scanner not a printer
Mr. Keep:-):
I’m interested in your view about Mr. Lobdells idea of studying for (I think he mentions-) 6 hours in a day.
As you say “the brain has to develop new neurons to be able to learn new things” (or something similar).
Can I make a correct analogy from weight training? In regards to the concept of building muscle first occurs during rest AFTER work has been done?
Wouldn’t it be better to sit down and work intensely for - let’s say - a couple of hours and then continue the day after? Rather than sitting for more hours and forgetting the first couple of hours of work?
Thank you for your work
Best:-)
I think breaks and rest are fundamentally important. But 6 hours a day (if you're a full time student) doesn't seem crazy to me. On the high end of intense focus, but possible, with breaks in the middle.
That said, these are all just general guidelines. I think people should experiment a bit, too.
@@benjaminkeep
Arh yes. Thats a great answer. Always to take the individuality aspect into consideration. Thank you 👌🏼
Hi I have a few questions regarding taking breaks. How long should a break be? Is it relative to time spent learning beforehand? Is it better to take multiple smaller breaks for a learning session or a few but longer ones? After how many minutes of learning should I take a break (I assume as you have explained in a previous video “how leaning feels” it can be derived from there?)
I don't believe there are precise answers to your questions. The implication from work on deliberate practice suggests something like 1.5 hrs of work before a break is the high ceiling. But that's for people working at the top of their game and exerting a lot of focus.
My intuition on break length says something between 10 to 30 minutes. But I don't have any evidence to back that up.
For multiple vs few, I can only say that when you start to have very long study sessions (more than 1.5+ hrs, say) you are almost certainly not working at your peak levels. And if you have breaks too frequently (after every 10 minutes of studying, you take a break) you're likely disrupting your focus. It takes time to "sink" into a topic and I suspect that frequent breaks can function like task-switching. I suggest experimenting a bit and seeing what you think works for you.
@@benjaminkeep Hi, thanks for your answer. You're a great guy!
I was interested in this question too. While going though classical guitar examinations I experimented with 60-90 minutes sessions vs multiple 20 minute sessions on two different exam levels. I scored better using the “take a break after 20minute strategy” while also worker on harder material.
Thanks
Love the Monty Python cameo ("Nobody expects...")
Lot of things he did say are effective
But like with so many things it evolves over time
>What kinds of notes should you take?
What did Marty say?
The main thing was that it was really important to take notes during class. And, if I remember correctly, he said that verbatim notes were a bad idea.
I think you should be required for professional development yearly so that you can get better data. I think when teachers are required to watch your videos is when the shift in education will reign supreme in the upcoming generations.
I was the 1100th like.
Hey it's me "Jazztin Jake Teves" you might not remember, but can you make more of this kind of video pls, it will be helpful for my studies, also I'm subscribed into 2 of my accounts 😊
Maybe this is backtracking but could you do a video about free recall but do sort of study session, maybe by reading a textbook or something?
I've done this with podcasts, here: ruclips.net/video/2KICSMLL2_g/видео.html and will do more on text in the future.
Best actor award goes to : Turtle 🎉
Prefer your consice, clear explanation that's made in plain England, to those abstract and soul searching lengthy monologue made by other studying guru.
Nah I cant imagine newton having a study group.
Pin plz
@@wasifahsan2718 what
I think dopamine detix helepd me remember anything cuz it increased my damn interest
Thanks