Escape the Boredom Trap: The Neuroscience of Learning Part 2: Active Engagement
When is the best time to learn? When you release as much dopamine as a gambling addict. The more dopamine is released, the better you remember the facts.
This can happen best when you are immersed as you would be in a computer game.
You are eager to win! You want to find out what’s behind the next corner and which quest will follow the current one.
“The degree of craving for knowledge controls the strength of memory.”
- from ‘How We Learn’ by Stanislas Dehaene
That must be good for something, right?
Forget Boring Lectures
Lectures are the exact opposite. Most of them bore you to death. I’d rather look at a blank wall sometimes. But why? The lecture is predictable. No story, no plot twists, no jokes. Just mundane talk.
But we want to be excited, we want to know how it ends! I want to be excited about the courses I attend at university!
Your Decision
So instead look for funny and exciting talks on YouTube or search for exciting books on your topic. This way, you not only learn more but also enjoy it. Look for the dopamine kick in the topic you need to learn.
Only go to the lectures where you have enthusiastic professors.
Laughing while learning increases curiosity and therefore makes learning more effective.
Do you want to torture your eyes for hours in a boring lecture OR immerse yourself in a topic so much that you completely forget about time? That’s entirely up to you.
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The more deeply you think about words, the better you remember them. In a study, two groups were instructed with different learning approaches. The first group was told to learn words by rhyming them with other words to aid in memory retention, similar to how we learned in school. The second group remembered the words by considering their meaning and function.
So, which group performed better?
The ones thinking about the meaning and function of the word remembered the words much better.
Deep Processing
Deeper processing leads to activation in the prefrontal cortex (associated with rational thinking), the hippocampus (involved in memory storage), and neighboring regions of the parahippocampal cortex (related to spatial memory and navigation).
Active interaction with the subject improves learning to a great extent.
So traditional lectures at universities are ineffective since students remain passive. Teachers and lecturers should interrupt the class and ask difficult questions that require students to think about the subject matter.
If possible, experiments and real-life examples should be included to provide a deeper understanding of the subject.
Questions start to arise when you begin to think more deeply about a subject. “Wait, I didn’t understand this bit.” During lectures, aim to write down any questions you do not have the answer to. This ensures that you are actively engaged in the subject.
Are you still taking Notes in Lectures?
Come on, don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re actually learning something.
You dedicate more time to check whether you copied the board correctly rather than engaging with the content.
Writing down what’s on the board is pretending to be productive while missing out on the juicy details the lecturer is spilling. It’s like trying to catch a fish with a fork.
Instead, let your imagination run wild. Create mental images, connect with the content, and who knows, maybe you’ll even come up with an interesting question.
The only things worth writing down are questions and a couple of important hints.
Let’s face it, most lecture slides are online anyway, so you might as well just stay in bed and do some self-study which is way more efficient than lectures.
But if you actually follow the lecturer and it still bores you to death, you might just join the snore club or leave anyway.
Leave before it’s too boring!
Do not fool yourself to be productive only by visiting a lecture. You never know when the lecture is going to turn into a snore-fest. Trust me, I’ve been there.
Something Better than Listening
Discuss the topic with your friends. Form groups in classes to learn together. Engage actively in the topic.
Try to answer the questions you wrote down during the lecture. It helps to understand and therefore memorise what has been taught.
In general, your time is spent much wiser learning in groups rather than attending a lecture.
The Failure of Discovery-based Teaching
There is no such thing as an auditory or visual learner. We all share the same learning algorithm. There is no evidence that different learning strategies are better for some students but not for others.
The key is to use the right combination of all learning techniques.
In general, humans tend to be better visual learners than auditory learners.
However, as long as you are actively engaged with the content, you can learn in several ways.
Combining different techniques is even more effective.
But I’m Really Not Interested!
So what should you do if you find yourself struggling with a particular subject? First, ask yourself if it’s even the right subject for you. Look for other courses that you’re truly interested in.
There’s no point in trying to force yourself to learn something you’re not passionate about. Instead, find something that excites you and pursue that instead.
I firmly believe that everyone can find joy in their studies or job, but we need to actively seek it out.
Of course, there may still be some less thrilling courses you need to get through, but it’s worth it to explore new subjects and find what really sparks your interest.
Boredom
Boredom causes us to turn away from information that we already know or have no interest in, as it saves energy for more important tasks.
What is already known becomes boring.
To achieve something short-term boring, you can set modest small goals or have long-term goals that you must be reminded of regularly.
Learning needs to be in the “Goldilocks zone” — neither too simple nor too complex.
- from ‘How We Learn’ by Stanislas Dehaene
How can you handle boring subjects and turn them into a game? In upcoming articles, we will discuss how to deal with uninteresting topics and how to learn effectively. One tip we can give you now is to focus on error feedback and spaced repetition.
If you want to dive deeper in the neuroscience of learning, I highly recommend the book “How We Learn” by Stanislas Dehaene.
Upcoming
That’s it for “Part 2: Active Engagement”.
See you in the next article, “Part 3: Error Feedback”!
- Attention
2. Active Engagement
3. Error Feedback
4. Consolidation