Understanding how the mind works can help us learn faster, remember more information, and enjoy ourselves more when engaged in intellectual activities. In this post I will give you principles from cognitive psychology to help you understand how your mind works along with practices to help you learn more effectively.

Cognitive Psychology Principles for Better Learning

One of the first models in cognitive psychology came from Herman Ebbinghaus in the 1880s. Ebbinghaus measured how well test subjects could recall information over time and found that while at the time of learning memory was completely accurate, it could drop by as much as 50% in only one day!Practices such as spaced repetition and mnemonic techniques can help reduce the amount of information forgotten over time.

Principle: The Forgetting Curve

If you try and learn everything you need to know in one study session, then the effects of the forgetting curve will cause you to forget most of that information quickly. Instead, what you can do is space out the information you need to learn over time. Reviewing the information over a period of days or weeks allows the brain to form and strengthen connections so that the forgetting curve becomes less steep.The best way to do spaced repetition these days is with software. Some of the best apps for this are Anki, Brainscape, and Quizlet. Check them out!

Practice: Spaced Repetition

While spaced repetition controls the process of forgetting, mnemonic techniques allow us to control the process of remembering. When learning new information, your brain will store it more effectively if it can assimilate the new information into existing structures.Most people know about mnemonics from making acronyms in school. For example, “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge” is a popular way to remember that the lines of the treble clef are EGBDF. Mnemonics aren’t just about acronyms though, any technique that allows you to incorporate new information into existing structure is a mnemonic.

Practice: Mnemonic Devices

The method of loci is one of the most ancient mnemonic techniques, and is sometimes known as a “memory palace.” If you need to remember a lot of new information, say, the names of the U.S. presidents, then you can imagine putting each of them somewhere in your childhood home. I might imagine walking into my kitchen to be greeted by George Washington, then finding Andrew Jackson in the crawl space. Give it a try!The reason that the method of loci can be so effective is that it allows your brain to associate factual information with spatial information.

Practice: Method of Loci

One of the most famous papers in cognitive psychology is George Miller’s <a href="http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Miller/">The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two</a>.In the paper, we learn that the number of items most people can hold in working memory is seven, plus or minus two. Working memory is incredibly important because it is the type of memory that we rely on when we are reasoning and making decisions. The amount of information we can hold in working memory thus influences how well we can think on our feet. The key to mastering working memory is to understand what exactly Miller meant by item.

Principle: Working Memory

We can hold five to nine items in working memory at a time, but what is an “item?”Miller defined an item as a unit of meaningful information. What makes a unit of information meaningful depends on our mind, so we can combine bits of information into meaningful chunks in whatever way makes sense to us. For example, when trying to remember a phone number, do you remember it more easily if the area code is your own area code or not? Obviously it is easier to remember a phone number if it has the same area code. This is because you have chunked the area code into one unit of meaningful information

Principle: Chunking

Fortunately, we have control over how we chunk information. We can use this skill when we are learning new information by taking the new information, breaking it into pieces, making associations between the pieces, and then remembering the groups of information put together. This is how musicians can read complicated sheet music, for instance. They are able to chunk the arpeggios and chords and melodies into chunks of information like “G major arpeggio” instead of trying to remember “G, B, D, G” every time they read the sheet music.

Practice: Making Chunks

Here are some principles of learning and memory from cognitive psychology to help you master your mind! I will add more later. 

Learning and Memory

The way we read a book, article, or paper changes depending on our goals and our skills. It’s useful to think about how we are reading in order to make sure we spend our time and energy in the most effective way. In How to Read a Book, the philosopher Mortimer Adler gives us 4 types of reading to consider.

Types of Reading

The most basic level of reading is called elementary reading. As you might guess, this is the sort of reading that we learn in elementary school. Although we learn the basics of reading in elementary school, this is the most fundamental sort of reading and sometimes we have to add to our skill in it throughout life. This stage of reading involves recognizing letters, understanding grammar, and knowing the meanings of words.

Elementary Reading

The next stage of reading is called inspectional reading. At this point, we are reading through a book in order to see what it is and judge whether or not we should spend more time with it. There are two types of inspectional reading:<ul><li>Systematic skimming</li><li>Superficial reading</li></ul>During systematic skimming, we check the parts of the book such as the table of contents or the index to see what material the book covers. This gives us a superficial understanding of what the author is trying to accomplish.During superficial reading, we might read straight through the book without critical assessment.

Inspectional Reading

Once we know the basics about some reading material, we might judge that we need to spend more time with it in order to understand it better. This stage of reading is called analytical reading. During the analytical reading stage, we might assess the author’s arguments, study the narrative, or assess the aesthetic value of the writing. Different types of reading material require different approaches. During analytical reading, we are trying to understand the reading material at the nuts and bolts level.

Analytical Reading

Syntopical reading is the most demanding level of reading, where we might examine multiple books on a subject in order to compare and contrast them. While the goal of analytical reading is about understanding one particular book, syntopical reading is about understanding the breadth of a field or subject area. This stage of reading involves identifying relevant sections of different books, understanding the questions the authors are asking, and critically assessing the views and arguments and how they relate to each other.

Syntopical Reading

By understanding the different sorts of reading, you can be a more demanding reader and acquire more knowledge in less time. Mortimer Adler asks that you keep four questions in mind in order to be a demanding reader:<ul><li class="ql-align-center">What is this book about?</li><li class="ql-align-center">What exactly is being said, and how?</li><li class="ql-align-center">Is this book true in whole or in part?</li><li class="ql-align-center">Why does it matter?</li></ul>

Goals of reading. Understanding inspectional, analytical and syntopical reading.

books

Books

problemsolving

Problem Solving

communication

Communication

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

How to properly read a book

Hi Deepstash. I want to see how this app works, so here are the levels of reading I learned about in Mortimer Adler’s book, ‘How to Read a Book’.

With half a million copies in print, How to Read a Book is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader, completely rewritten and updated with new material. A CNN Book of the Week: “Explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It's masterfully done.” –Farheed Zakaria Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Readers will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text. Also included is instruction in the different techniques that work best for reading particular genres, such as practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science works. Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests you can use measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension, and speed.

philosophy

Philosophy

education

Learning & Education

With half a million copies in print, How to Read a Book is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader, completely rewritten and updated with new material. A CNN Book of the Week: “Explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It's masterfully done.” –Farheed Zakaria Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Readers will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text. Also included is instruction in the different techniques that work best for reading particular genres, such as practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science works. Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests you can use measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension, and speed.

Mortimer J. Adler is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Mortimer J. Adler has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Mortimer J. Adler's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Mortimer J. Adler

Charles Van Doren is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Charles Van Doren has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Charles Van Doren's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Learning and Memory

How to Read a Book

Ethan Hamilton