Learning fast and effectively is everyone’s dream. Because who wouldn’t want to adapt to new information or skills as quickly as possible and store them in memory?
Scientists have done some research on memory and have given us some scientific results on this subject. So far, let’s put aside the memory techniques and see what happened at a meeting of scientists and people with degrees in memory at a university in London. Then we will see what to pay attention to in order to learn quickly and effectively .
Memory champions and scientists from University College London, shortly known as UCL, who came together, aimed to teach 80 new words in Lithuanian language in 1 hour . First, the memory masters who will do this were allowed to learn according to their own plans. However, it was seen that the techniques that the famous scientists made were not successful. When we pay attention, the result that emerged was that the classic Fast and effective learning strategies did not work in daily life.
But on the other hand, a new team has shown that they can be successful with the steps we will now write. How is memorization done? and What are the ways to memorize easily?
What should be considered to learn quickly and effectively?
Scientists have started to try a method in the form of 4 series in the memory technique. When 4 series of operations were performed as understanding and accepting mistakes, giving short breaks in memorization, grouping the words to be memorized, and making stories out of words, the results were very surprising.
1. Understanding and embracing mistakes
The memorization champion, who had never known the Lithuanian language before, was trying to guess the meaning of these words. But these guesses actually started to make memorization easier. In other words, if the person who was going to memorize accepted his ignorance on the subject and made his brain accept it, the mind opened its doors and went on to learn twice as fast.
In psychology, this was due to its similarity to the idea of ”desired difficulty”. If you make the task seem more difficult and focus more, you lay the foundation for a stronger memory. If you choose to embrace the mistakes made, if the mistake is understood and accepted, the mind develops in a positive way.
2. Taking short breaks in memorization
Taking a short break from memorization and going back to the beginning strengthened the mind. Especially Memories, a word memorization program, was based on this logic. When you learn words and then repeat them, even if you make a mistake, on the second or third try, that mistake is engraved in your mind as an additional one.
The research assistants would have the people who were memorizing watch a waterfall video at certain intervals and give them the opportunity to eat what they had memorized during that time. The second step would have positive results in the people and would actually show them how ineffective the uninterrupted study periods we often do are.
3. Grouping words to be memorized
The person who would memorize was allowed to divide these words into groups, and each person was allowed to determine the groups according to his own preference. Some memorization champions continued to make the words in a consecutive order, as if they were a number system.
Those who grouped and arranged the words they wanted in a series began to memorize faster than those who did other types of sequential memorization. In fact, it was more effective to separate the effects or associations that the words would have on the mind while memorizing, and to separate them easily with a series rule like in a computer program.
This rule, which can be applied in real life, was definitely seen as a different way to apply it. If you do not determine what the words to be memorized are, putting them in order and repeating them was seen as a slightly older way. In fact, in daily life, instead of preparing on a topic, it was more logical to study from different sources for short periods of time. In other words, you can think of the meals you eat when you are hungry, not in order, but starting with the one you want.
4. Making words into stories
It can actually be considered the newest of memorization techniques. Like calling the memorized word by describing it in an unusual story. Basically, making the word to be memorized take the form of a story with your imagination. Making sentences that evoke the meanings of the words. The aim here is for the clues to lead you to the word you imagined.
At the end of the competition, scientists believe that more ways will be found with such competitions. However, classical memorization methods do not seem to work anymore. Since we have more information at our fingertips, and the use of smart devices increases, it has become difficult to memorize easily. The best example of this is to turn off your phone and get a pen and paper. I wonder how many people’s numbers you can write in your phone book?