Learning
Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
“Psychology has a long past but a short history”
German psychologist
Aimed to adapt Gustav T. Fechner’s psychophysical methods to the study of higher mental processes
Approach
influenced by British philosophers
empiricists & associationists
convinced that learning is based on association
conducted scientific investigations on:
how association is formed and
how association is retained
Accomplishments
Devised a word-completion test which is still used in present-day intelligence tests
Investigated color vision and mental capacity
Firsts:
1st to publish an article on measuring the intelligence of school children
1st to study memory experimentally
1st to study memory as it occurred
Procedure
Used self as subject
Careful controls
list of words; one per card
items kept in order
used watch (metronome) to set the pace (1 per sec)
when reached end of list, paused 15 seconds
At first, used terms of sounds
Later, used “nonsense words”
CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant)
CCC (consonant-consonant-consonant); e.g., BOK, BLV
Paradigm:
Day 1: Learn list (16 to 20 items) by repeating list 8, 16, 24, 32, 42, 53, or 64 times
Day 2: Wait 24 hours, then relearn list to perfect repetition
Main score was the number of trials taken to relearn the list on Day 2
Found: What people already knew
1. Difficulty increases with length of list
2. Frequent repetitions needed to learn word lists
3. Serial position effect
first & last better than middle
Found: New findings
1. Difficulty and amount learned are not related one-to-one
Learning is linearly related to the amount of time spent studying
2. Recall falls off rapidly, then more slowly
A very rapid forgetting in the first hour
Flattens out at about 30% for first 2 days
People forget 90% of what they learn within 30 days
month only slightly worse than 8 hrs
3. Distributed practice: recall better is learning if spaced out over small study times
Distributed practice is more efficient
Daily 1hour sessions took less hours
Daily 1-hour sessions best when tested later
Not necessarily perceived as fastest or best
Workers preferred 2 2-hr sessions
20 days vs 55 days
Summary
Most efficient schedule for most any learning is one 1-hour session per day
Diminished returned at 2-hours; better but not as much bang for the buck
Virtually flat beyond 4-hours
4. Associations in list help
adjacent associated words very helpful
nonadjacent associations helpful
5. The best strategy for limiting the decline in recall is to “over learn” the material
Complete memory = can say it correct once
Savings = effort saved
Total time hypothesis
Learn Facts Better
FACTS: Good Items
11. Positive
Bias to recall positive, forget negative
Susan Turk Charles (UCI)
Older adults recall fewer negative than positive images
The bias increased with age
Pollyanna Effect
12. Distinctive
1. Primary Distinctiveness
Von Restorff effect = isolation effect
unusual item in middle of list
divides the list into two list
incongruent in current context
2. Secondary Distinctiveness
incongruent with past experience
1st day in college
1st boyfriend-girlfriend
incongruent with past experience
unusual spellings (khaki, korn doggz)
3. Emotional Distinctiveness
humor
love
incompleteness = Zeigarnik Effect
interrupted tasks
remember words for lists that were interrupted
remember the plot of a novel while reading it
doesn’t allow closure
13. Meaningful
Faces, inkblots & snowflakes
14. Related to your experience
Ego-centric
Running times
Song titles
FACTS: Organizing
15. Most important first
Primacy effect
Remember first best
Fewest errors first
U-shaped curve
Serial recall
16. Most important last
Recency effect
Free recall
17. Put it in context
Context-dependency effect for recall
Divers remembered 40% less if not in same setting
Not for recognition
18. Blocking
Traffic
Weather
19. Categorize
Remember better if there are categories
Even if out of order
20. Reduction mnemonics
Condense material
Acronyms
RADAR
MASH
HOMES
FACE
21. Elaboration mnemonics
Add more until easier to remember
Acrostics
Every Good Boy Does Fine
On old Olympus towering top, a Finn and German viewed some hops
FACTS: Encoding
20. Reduction mnemonics
21. Elaboration mnemonics
22. Rehearse
naïve mnemonic
repetition to keep things in STM
repeat number on the way to the phone
23. Visualize
24. Associate items with yourself
Knuckles
25. Associate items with places & things
26. Teach self & others
Generate answers-examples
Self as teacher
Teach someone else
Convert incidental learning to semantic
27. Retrieve often
28. Retrieve in the same order every time
29. Cluster
Even if items aren’t clustered
Try to remember them by clusters
FACTS: When Don’t Remember
30. Recall from different perspectives
31. “Starts with the letter“
Tip of Tongue Phenomenon
“Nothing will come”
“Empty gap”
Often retrieve partial info
About once a week
Lexical retrieval = search for a desired word
Can’t find it by meaning
Try it alphabetically
32. “Sounds like”
Tip of the Ear?
Remember before the answer comes
I know I’ve heard that somewhere
33. Follow a script
Cognitive maps
Cultural rules
34. Ask for clues
35. Rest
Incubation = allowing a problem to “perk”
Why it might work:
Changes focus more details to more abstract representations
Memories consolidate over time
New stimuli may come along
Get more sleep
Practice effects; problem solving as skill
Learn Behaviors Better
10 Ways To Practice Behaviors
1. Control stimuli
Classical conditioning
Timing (1/2 sec)
Stimulus Generalization
2. Set clear cues
Avoidance/Escape
Discrimination
3. Guided movements
weaning, apprenticeship)
4. Shape
with successive approximations
5. Positive and negative reinforcement
6. Observe
7. Distributed practice
8. Mass practice
9. Self-feedback loop
10. Visualize (mentally practice)
