How studying really works

Learn (Verb): Gain or acquire knowledge or skills by study, experience, or being taught.

Just how do you retain information when studying?

You’re surrounded by miracles. Technology, medicine, structured societies, cohesive sub-cultures, complex languages, the virtual alchemy of recipes, the natural world – all of it, from the smallest ant to the sperm whale, this diverse, staggering domain we live in is enough to render even the most hardened travellers amazed. In our miracle spotting however, we seem to skip over our own biology, and more specifically, the human brain.

This is the same lump of flesh that allows you to retain information when studying, often without flinching; it gets you out of bed in the morning and protests the same movement; it remembers faces, words, loved moments and more; it can recall a boggling amount of data while working with the rest of your body to keep it running. Your brain is your very own super computer, so intricate and nuanced, we don’t know absolutely everything about it yet. But we do know how we learn – in five minutes you can too.

Memory

We all have RAM in our computers, some of you may even prefer to pick your own while building a new system. Human memory is the biological equivalent of an input/storage and retrieval process. Information assaults your sense, making an impact on a short or long term basis – the storage mode is reliant on a host of psychological components, including triggers, senses, associations and trauma or drama. Information at the beginning and end of an information ‘packet’ is most easily remembered. From there – with attention and motivation for this particular information – we may store it long term. Paying attention to what you are doing and minimising distractions will create a “sticky” study environment – meaning simply, you’ll be more likely to remember. Mnemonic devices can be useful – e.g.BODMAS is used to remember the order of operations (Brackets, Of, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction) when skirting around mathematics.

Insight

Insight is the recognition of relationships and patterns in information, which can lead to the generation of new ideas. As part of the study process, active engagement with new material involves not just memorising it, but recognising and assessing its significance. Snapping in new material with what you already know to create a bigger picture is essential to critical thinking. Some people liken it to building a structure (where does this piece belong?), or weaving a 3D creation (what happens if I incorporate this colour or texture?). Nurturing insight when studying is critical to forming a deeper understanding of a topic, compared to just being able to regurgitate facts.

Curiosity

Whether you believe it or not, curiosity is an important factor in learning. Curiosity causes changes in brain chemistry, which facilitates learning and retention of information. If you have a curious mind, it helps you to learn about things you may not even be interested in initially. Curiosity is associated with intrinsic motivation – the reward is the learning process itself.

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