"Practice, practice, practice" - no matter whether you learn an instrument or a language - there is no way around it. “Repetitio est mater studiorum” (“Repetition is the mother of learning”), the Latins already knew. But when is it enough? Stopping when you have mastered what you have learned might be a little early - as the experiments by the researchers led by Kazuhisa Shibata from Brown University suggest. At least in some cases.
Not too close together
The training program was about learning visual skills. The subjects had to decide which of the two pictures shows a sensible pattern. After eight rounds of training (20 minutes in total), the volunteers seemed to have mastered the task. After a short break, one group completed eight more laps with the same task. The other trained a new but similar skill for eight rounds.
The study
Overlearning hyperstabilizes a skill by rapidly making neurochemical processing inhibitory-dominant ", Nature Neuroscience, January 30, 2017
When testing the next day, the first group was significantly stronger on the first task. The "over-learning" apparently led to a spiritual consolidation of what was learned first. On the other hand, if you learn two similar things in quick succession, the researchers say that there will be interference that will have a negative effect on the first skill. These disturbances can only be prevented if enough time passes between two tasks, as another experiment showed. In this, the test subjects were allowed to pause for three and a half hours between the two learning tasks.
Neurochemical differences
At the next training session, the researchers found out what differentiates the processes, during which brain activity was also recorded using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The differences were shown in the ratio of two brain messenger substances that control the plasticity - that is, the malleability - of the brain.
As long as what is learned can be shaped, it remains vulnerable - especially if new input follows immediately. On the other hand, when “over-learning” occurs, the concentration of the messenger substances changes and the knowledge is physically fixed in the brain relatively quickly. "Apparently, a short phase of 'learning" is enough to stabilize the unstable state, "said co-author Takeo Watanabe in a broadcast. Stabilization usually happens unconsciously and usually takes time.
Learning tips
Watanabe is convinced that the trick helps in learning mental and motor skills. He also gives specific tips on how learning can be optimized based on his findings.
"Over-learning" helps so that what has just been learned is really memorized. But be careful if you want to or should learn something similar immediately afterward!
Apart from “over-learning”, you should never learn two similar things in quick succession.
If you have enough time, it is best to pause several hours between two learning tasks.
"Over-learning" is ideal when you have to learn something really important. You increase the chance not to forget it.
Eva Obermüller, science.ORF.at
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