Learn continuously, use spaced repetition to form memories, and keep practicing.
overall, the thought of people learning so fast compared to other species is crazy. Learning also takes time so you may not learn something right away but if you really carve that path you'll get there.
Practice makes permanent.
I like this saying better than practice makes perfect because nothing can be perfect
If you really want to learn something, you must repeatedly expose yourself to the information
So in this case what study methods would be bad to use? Notecards, because it is cramming information?
However, if you are exposed to that word again, the connections will strengthen. If you repeatedly use that word, the connections will become so strong that the word will become part of your long-term memory.2 “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” –Henry David ThoreauThoreau was really onto something. The best metaphor for understanding neuroplasticity, as it relates to learning and forgetting, is to imagine creating a path through the forest. If no one has ever walked there, there will be no path to follow. The first walk will be very difficult: It will be unclear which way you should go, and there will be bushwhacking. This is the struggle of learning something new, the struggle of being a beginner.Bushwhacking:If the path is walked repeatedly, the brush gets cleared, and a visible trail through the forest begins to appear. The path becomes easier to follow. You may still get lost sometimes, but at least you’re done bushwhacking. This is what it’s like to have a basic understanding of a new idea. This is what it’s like to be an intermediate.
I like this comparison about the brush and the path. It really gives us that imagery that helps us understand what learning does to our brains.
They are very thin, weak connections. If you never use the word again, you’ll forget it, because weak connections don’t last.
This reminds me of elementary school spelling/definition tests because you are constantly learning new words and the ones you study the least the less likely you are to remember
Changing your brain as an adult is harder than it is as a child, but there’s no doubt at all that it can be done.2
Why?
Anytime you learn anything, you’re changing the structure of your brain.1
I find this interesting because even if you barely learn something, you are still changing the structure of your brain.
The human brain is a machine built to handle change.
I wonder if there are any other species with similar brains like ours. Monkeys maybe?
We rely on cleverness
I find it interesting that humans can learn things so fast compared to other species like training a dog or other animal.