Written by: Maya Lebowitz
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Can forgetting information help improve studying efficiency? Cognitive psychologist Yana Weinstein explained that when people study over a long period in small chunks, each time they go back to the information, they will forget some of what they learned and relearn it. While forgetting and having to relearn seems counterintuitive, it helps strengthen the memory by allowing people to remember and learn the facts again. Forgetting helps you study because it is much easier when information is encoded into our synapses over repeated small intervals. The Synapse, a junction between two neurons, consisting of a gap which impulses pass by diffusion of a neurotransmitter, is responsible for allowing us to remember things by connecting and strengthening pre-existing pathways in our brain. Studying throughout various sessions lets our minds engage in multiple sets of synapses.
Now the question becomes, what is the most effective way to study during those sessions? First, it is essential not to multitask while trying to get work done because focusing on multiple things at once stops people from being productive in a certain area. It is most effective to study in one-hour increments without any interruptions than it is to study in three-hour increments while multitasking (checking texts, social media, etc.).
Studies have shown that the following five techniques are useful for studying. The first is to pretest or benchmark, test on the information before even reviewing notes, to get a sense of how well one has already mastered the information. Pretesting allows the brain to create an outline of the information that will be studied. Pretesting also helps with fluency illusion, the belief that because things are easy to remember now, they will be easy to remember in the future. Pretesting reveals false notions and allows people to focus on the areas they are weaker in.
The second technique is spaced practice. As mentioned before, it is helpful to space out studying to prevent cramming at the last minute. For example, UC Irvine neurobiologists Christine Gall and Gary Lynch discovered that mice perform better on a memory test when training in small increments as opposed to one long training session. They found that there is a biological mechanism that contributes to the enhancing effect of the brain synapses when studying is done in small increments.
The third technique is self-quizzing instead of re-reading. Once someone has taken a pretest, studied for some time, and finally feels comfortable with the information, it is then good to test oneself on the information. This is a form of active retrieval practice. By coming up with possible questions about the information and testing oneself it is then easier to separate the known information from the content that still needs to be worked on based on how well one can answer the questions they came up with.
The fourth step is to take regular naps. While this might sound strange, it is proven to be effective. By studying preschool children, sleep researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that daytime naps enhance memory by studying preschool children. In fact, the children that took naps did better on visual-spatial tests than those that did not. By performing experiments on the children when they slept, the scientists were able to see a correlation between brainwave activity and memory consolidation during naps.
The final technique is to imagine teaching the information to someone else. Dr. John Nestojko, a psychology researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, published a study that found students who were told they would need to teach the material to other students after learning it performed better on tests than those who were not expected to teach the material to their peers. These students sought out key points and organized the material in a coherent structure, just like teachers, enabling them to understand the information better.
While the techniques mentioned above will not ensure success on any given test, following these proven tactics will ultimately lead to enhanced performance. So students: the next time you are studying for a test, try these tips to see an improvement in your studying efficiency.
Bibliography:
Kang, Edward. “5 Research-Backed Studying Techniques.” Edutopia. April 4, 2019. Accessed January 2, 2020.https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-research-backed-studying-techniques.
Fazzino, Emma. “How to study effectively, according to science-Scientific Scribbles.” The University of Melbourne. October 21, 2017. Accessed January 2, 2020.https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2017/10/21/how-to-study-effectively-according-to-science-emma-fazzino/.
Briggs, Saga. “10 Smart Study Tactics That Support How the Brain Actually Works” InformED. March 21, 2015. Accessed January 13, 2020.https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/how-does-the-brain-learn-best-10-smart-studying-strategies/.
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