Learning How to Learn, Part 1

Along with a course on happiness, I am following a few more courses on www.coursera.org, including one on mathematics, meditation, public speaking, as well as a recently completed physics course. Another import course I've started is about learning how to learn: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn,

Why I joined this course

I recently got a new software development job, but in a totally different subject matter, which is geology and 3D modelling. I find it fascinating, but there is a lot to learn about the Earth, how it was formed, how minerals are formed and how the can be found and extracted. I need a lot of understanding of the Earth geology, but also physics, mathematics and 3D modelling. So I am learning a lot every day.

Apart from that I have a life-long interest in mathematics, foreign languages, history and a ton of other subjects. But time is limited, so I need to make the most efficient use of my time while learning these things and pursuing my interests. I hope this course will help me do exactly this! I hope to master new learning techniques and strategies to be a more effective learner!

I am also thinking of organizing a knowledge sharing session on this topic at home with friends and at work with colleagues.

Week 1

Focused and diffused modes of thinking

The first week starts with an introduction into the topic of focused and diffuse modes of thinking. We typically use the focused mode when we, as the name suggests, are focused on executing a certain task, or focusing intently on something we are trying to learn and understand. It typically uses the already present pretty strong neural connections in the brain to link new learning to the already familiar patterns, strengthening already present synaptic connections. We use it, for example, when making complex number computations using familiar arithmetic rules. We may not know exactly ho to do a task, but we have a pretty good idea in what direction to go and which familiar techniques to use. It's like using a familiar road to arrive at a new destination.

A less know mode of thinking, the diffuse mode, is more relaxed and is related to neural rest states. It is typically invoked when we are faced with totally new concepts that we never thought of before. We do not only know which road to take, but we do not even know where to start and what thought pattern to use. In this mode of thinking, we can look at things broadly, using a big-picture perspective, travelling along new pathways. It's not about going into the details of the problem at hand, but finding a starting point. According to latest research, it's impossible to be in both modes at the same time.

I feel that I can easily go into the focused mode, I have an eye for details and can focus well. However, I often lack the big picture, a relaxed state of mind to examine things from a different, broader point of view. This seems to be exactly what the diffuse mode is all about! When faced with an unfamiliar problem, I tend to go into details too quickly, without sufficiently grasping the big picture or giving my mind the time and room to examine it from a broader perspective.

So the diffuse mode of thinking is definitely something I need to master.

Salvador Dali and Thomas Edison both used specific techniques to get into the diffuse mode by balancing between being awake and being asleep. The would relax in a chair and led their minds go free while contemplating a certain problem, and they would wake up just before falling asleep by dropping an object they would hold in their hand. Doing so, they were able to register thoughts and ideas otherwise not readily available to them. They would then take those ideas back into the focused mode.

It's important to be able to go back and forth between the focused and diffuse modes of thinking.

Summary:

1. Metaphors and analogies provide powerful learning techniques
2. It's important and be able to use and to switch between the focused and diffuse modes of learning
3. Learning difficult things takes time

Introduction into how the brain works

A good resource to learn about how the brain works is http://www.brainfacts.org

Still very little is known about all the activity going on in the brain. Scientists rely on brain imaging techniques to study the brain.

There are a million billion synapses (connections between neurons) in your brain where memories are stored. Brain connectivity is dynamic and remains so even when the brain matures.

Introduction into procrastination

Everybody has issues with procrastination, because when you are working on something, it means that you are not working on something else.

When we think of something we'd rather not do, it seems that you activate the areas of your brain associated with pain. The brain tries to escape this pain by switching your attention to something else. 

But researchers discovered that not long after one starts working on what they don't like, that neural discomfort disappears.

This is how procrastination seems to work:

1. First we observe something that causes us a tiny bit of unease
2. We don't like it, so we turn our attention to something more pleasant
3. We feel happier temporarily

The pomodoro technique is a simple tool to handle procrastination:

- Set up a timer for 25 minutes, get rid of any distractions, and focus! Then give yourself a little reward for a couple of minutes.

The distractions that I often drown into are reading (or watching) news and other (Coursera) courses. I've been using the pomodoro technique, and it really helps!

Practice makes perfect

The more abstract something is, the more important it is to practice in order to bring those ideas into reality for you. Even if the ideas are abstract, the corresponding thought patterns are concrete. When we first begin to understand something, the neural patter is very weak. Every time we practice this concept, the pattern is deepened in the brain, until it becomes permanent.

When studying something:

1. Study it hard by focusing intently

2. Take a break or change your focus to something else. During this time your brain's diffuse mode will work in the background and you with your conceptual understanding. If you don't do it (like when cramming), you'll become very confused, but will learn little.

Introduction to memory

We have two types of memory:
- Short-term operational memory (analogy with computer RAM)
- Long-term storage memory (analogy with computer HD)