Relearning something is easier than learning something due to structural changes in the brain.

"Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology have been able to show that new cell contacts established during a learning process stay put, even when they are no longer required."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...110834.htm

Get those cards in the box quickly!

Did we really need scientific analysis to tell us that?

Lol, those crazy humans

Thanks for the article; interesting read.

kazelee Wrote:Did we really need scientific analysis to tell us that?

I don't think you read the article.

Quote:Many of the appendages that develop between nerve cells are thus maintained and facilitate later relearning. This insight is crucial to our understanding of the fundamental processes of learning and memory.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology have been able to show that new cell contacts established during a learning process stay put, even when they are no longer required. The reactivation of this temporarily inactivated "stock of contacts" enables a faster learning of things forgotten.

That wasn't so trivial to me either

That was my philosophy when learning kanji. Getting the cards into anki was first priority. Decent stories were a distant second. Worked out pretty well, as I still maintain 90% retention over a month after 50 a day.

That's also my philosophy with sentences. Add first, think later. I'd rather have a hundred sentences in that I don't remember very well than 10 sentences I know very well.

radical_tyro Wrote:Thanks for the article; interesting read.

kazelee Wrote:Did we really need scientific analysis to tell us that?

I don't think you read the article.

Quote:Many of the appendages that develop between nerve cells are thus maintained and facilitate later relearning. This insight is crucial to our understanding of the fundamental processes of learning and memory.

I was a joking silly...

An article from Phauna's linked page about how multitasking adversely affects one's ability to learn new stuff. [Edit: We actually use a different type of memory and different part of the brain!

"Even if you learn while multi-tasking, that learning is less flexible and more specialized, so you cannot retrieve the information as easily. Our study shows that to the degree you can learn while multi-tasking, you will use different brain systems."]

Thora Wrote:An article from Phauna's linked page about how multitasking adversely affects one's ability to learn new stuff.

"The best thing you can do to improve your memory is to pay attention to the things you want to remember," Poldrack added. "Our data support that. When distractions force you to pay less attention to what you are doing, you don't learn as well as if you had paid full attention."

Awesome.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...072204.htm

Here's one about the link between early language learning and adult acquisition.

"People have always thought that the human capacity to learn language simply disappears as the brain ages," she said. "Our research shows that when the young brain learns language, it develops a lifelong capacity to learn language. When the young brain does not experience language, this language learning capacity does not fully develop."

This idea could also possibly be supporting the idea that bilingual kids become better language learners later on.

phauna Wrote:This idea could also possibly be supporting the idea that bilingual kids become better language learners later on.

That, and the fact that the unknown is scary. People that only know 1 language will have an innate fear of learning a second one, simply because they have no experience in it. Overcoming that fear is part of learning a second language. (Some have to fight it harder than others, of course.) Someone who already knows 2 languages -knows- that it's possible on an emotional level (instead of just intellectual) and has a leg-up on a third language since they understand about rules changing and whatnot.

Simply put: No single thing makes them better at language learning.

phauna Wrote:Relearning something is easier than learning something due to structural changes in the brain.

"Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology have been able to show that new cell contacts established during a learning process stay put, even when they are no longer required."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...110834.htm

Get those cards in the box quickly!

Thats my former secondary school!
Max Plank Schule Russelsheim.
Good times. :D

http://www.physorg.com/news146761238.html

Quote:First, they taught 20 English-speaking college students lists of Chinese words spelled with two characters - such as sister, mother, maid. Then half the students took a nap, being monitored to be sure they didn't move from slow-wave sleep into the REM stage.

Upon awakening, they took a multiple-choice test of Chinese words they'd never seen before. The nappers did much better at automatically learning that the first of the two-pair characters in the words they'd memorized earlier always meant the same thing - female, for example. So they also were more likely than non-nappers to choose that a new word containing that character meant "princess" and not "ape."