Memories of errors foster faster learning -- ScienceDaily Using a deceptively simple set of experiments, researchers at Johns Hopkins have learned why people learn an identical or similar task faster the second, third and subsequent time around. The reason: They are aided not only by memories of how to perform the task, but also by memories of the errors made the first time. "In learning a new motor task, there appear to be two processes happening at once," says Reza Shadmehr, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "One is the learning of the motor commands in the task, and the other is critiquing the learning, much the way a 'coach' behaves. Learning the next similar task goes faster, because the coach knows which errors are most worthy of attention. In effect, this second process leaves a memory of the errors that were experienced during the training, so the re-experience of those errors makes the learning go faster."
The 30 Second Habit That Can Have a Big Impact On Your Life There are no quick fixes. I know this as a social science junkie, who’s read endless books and blogs on the subject, and tried out much of the advice — mostly to no avail. So I do not entitle this post lightly. And I write it only having become convinced, after several months of experimentation, that one of the simplest pieces of advice I’ve heard is also one of the best. It is not from a bestselling book — indeed no publisher would want it: even the most eloquent management thinker would struggle to spin a whole book around it. The man in question, an eminience grise of the business world, is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. I met him first over a coffee in his apartment, to discuss the strategy for a highly political non-profit working in Africa. So when he shared some of the best advice he’d ever received, I was captivated. If you only do one thing, do this He did, and he was. I’ve been trying it out for a few months. Calling all HuffPost superfans!
What are some brain hacks that a neuroscientist or a psychologist knows that most people don't? - Quora The Interleaving Effect: Mixing It Up Boosts Learning We’ve all heard the adage: practice makes perfect! In other words, acquiring skills takes time and effort. But how exactly does one go about learning a complex subject such as tennis, calculus, or even how to play the violin? However another strategy promises improved results. Over the past four decades, a small but growing body of research has found that interleaving often outperforms blocking for a variety of subjects, including sports and category learning. The first signs of interleaving’s promise appeared in the domain of motor skills. Foreign language studies however suggest that the effectiveness of interleaving comes with an important caveat. Given interleaving’s promise, it is surprising then that few studies have investigated its utility in everyday applications. The three-month study involved teaching 7th graders slope and graph problems. These results are important for a host of reasons. Clearly interleaving does wonders for 7th grade math.
The complete guide to listening to music at work If you’re reading this article at work, there’s a decent chance you’re wearing headphones. It has never been easier to tune in to your own customized soundtrack—or more necessary to tune out your open-office coworkers, cubicle mates, and fellow coffee-shop denizens. But not all music is created equal, especially when there’s work to be done. How should you choose the best office soundtrack for a given task? Which songs will help you get energized, focused, or creative—or even just through a very long day? Let’s start with the basics. Listening to music affects your brain Putting on those headphones provides a direct pipeline from iTunes or Spotify into your auditory cortex. Some tasks are easier with music playing… Research shows that music goes best with repetitive tasks that require focus but little higher-level cognition. …and some are harder Don’t fool yourself: Listening to music means that you are multitasking. Find the right balance …and has a steady rhythm and mood
Like It or Not, “Smart Drugs” Are Coming to the Office You’ve managed the same team for the past five years — then one day you find out that your most successful employee uses cognitive-enhancing drugs on the job. This scenario may not be hypothetical for long. The unauthorized use of prescription drugs such as the ADHD medications Adderall and Ritalin and the narcolepsy drug Modafinil is now common among American university students. They use these drugs not to escape work and avoid responsibility but to be able to work more and better. Up to 20% of Ivy League college students have already tried “smart drugs,” so we can expect these pills to feature prominently in organizations (if they don’t already). And yet aside from anecdotal evidence, we know very little about the use of these drugs in professional settings. Meanwhile, the world of management remains stunningly silent. The Drugs First off, overwhelming evidence suggests that smart drugs actually work. It’s easy to imagine that these benefits would be welcomed in some organizations.
Les effets destructeurs du management à la cool - 9 août 2015 Pour comprendre la souffrance qui infuse dans les open spaces fleuris d’aujourd’hui, alors que jamais on ne s’est tant soucié de bien-être au travail, le nouveau livre de Danièle Linhart, « la Comédie humaine au travail» (sous-titré : «De la déshumanisation taylorienne à la sur-humanisation managériale»), est d’un recours précieux. Voilà une chercheuse du CNRS qui depuis trente ans observe les mutations sociales au travail. Pour mieux comprendre ses lois non écrites, ses faux semblants, elle se faufile dans les congrès de managers, avec le risque de s’y faire insulter. Danièle Linhart pourrait comme bien d’autres, sociologues ou journalistes qui font profession de décrire le réel, se retrancher derrière une prudente impartialité. Notre siècle croit dépassée l’image d’un Chaplin à califourchon sur la machine, aux heures féroces du taylorisme ? A ce stade, un retour vers le passé s’impose pour rappeler qui fut ce Taylor qui divise la postérité. La contradiction est flagrante.
End of nations: Is there an alternative to countries? Map: Norman Kirby; Photograph: Tatsuro Nishimura By Debora MacKenzie Try, for a moment, to envisage a world without countries. Those coloured patches on the map may be democracies, dictatorships or too chaotic to be either, but virtually all claim to be one thing: a nation state, the sovereign territory of a “people” or nation who are entitled to self-determination within a self-governing state. And more and more peoples want their own state, from Scots voting for independence to jihadis declaring a new state in the Middle East. Even as our economies globalise, nation states remain the planet’s premier political institution. Yet there is a growing feeling among economists, political scientists and even national governments that the nation state is not necessarily the best scale on which to run our affairs.
Handwriting vs typing: is the pen still mightier than the keyboard? | Science In the past few days you may well have scribbled out a shopping list on the back of an envelope or stuck a Post-it on your desk. Perhaps you added a comment to your child’s report book or made a few quick notes during a meeting. But when did you last draft a long text by hand? How long ago did you write your last “proper” letter, using a pen and a sheet of writing paper? Are you among the increasing number of people, at work, who are switching completely from writing to typing? No one can say precisely how much handwriting has declined, but in June a British survey of 2,000 people gave some idea of the extent of the damage. In the United States they have already made allowance for this state of affairs. This reform prompted lively controversy. Some states, such as Indiana, have decided to go on teaching cursive writing in school. This minor revolution is causing quite a stir but it is by no means the first of its kind. Furthermore pens and keyboards use very different media.
Political correctness: how the right invented a phantom enemy | Moira Weigel | US news Three weeks ago, around a quarter of the American population elected a demagogue with no prior experience in public service to the presidency. In the eyes of many of his supporters, this lack of preparation was not a liability, but a strength. Donald Trump had run as a candidate whose primary qualification was that he was not “a politician”. Depicting yourself as a “maverick” or an “outsider” crusading against a corrupt Washington establishment is the oldest trick in American politics – but Trump took things further. He broke countless unspoken rules regarding what public figures can or cannot do and say. Every demagogue needs an enemy. Trump claimed that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were willing to let ordinary Americans suffer because their first priority was political correctness. Throughout an erratic campaign, Trump consistently blasted political correctness, blaming it for an extraordinary range of ills and using the phrase to deflect any and every criticism.
Sorry I Murdered Everyone. I'm An Introvert. Sorry I murdered everyone at your party, but as an introvert, I prefer one-on-one interactions to group gatherings. I’m really sorry that everyone is dead. I prefer animals to people. Sorry I killed everybody! I just really need my alone time. Sorry that everyone is dead. Sorry I butchered all of your friends in front of you. Some famous introverts include Albert Einstein, Audrey Hepburn, Alfred Hitchcock, and all of your friends are dead. I apologize for coming to your house and killing everyone. I realize you didn’t expect me to subdue and strangle more than two dozen innocent partygoers, but you should never underestimate the power of an introvert. Before they died, a lot of people at your party told me that I was a really good listener. I shouldn’t have killed them, but at the same time, it’s not wrong for me to need space to reflect and recharge before I’m ready to interact with people. Making new friends is really hard for me. I’m so sorry I killed your friends. Sorry everybody’s dead!
Pourquoi le blues du dimanche soir ? INTERVIEW - Tout le monde n’a pas la même vie et pourtant à peu près la moitié des gens en font l’expérience... Un psychiatre s’est penché sur les raisons plurielles de cette «mélancolie» dominicale. Avec quelques solutions à la clé. Languissant et maussade ou délicatement oisif, trop empli des procrastinations de la semaine ou délicieusement trépidant, déjà pesant de la semaine à venir ou lourd de la fin d’un joli week-end... Le dimanche, brèche dans la marche de notre temps, ne fait pas toujours notre bonheur. Dans Vaincre le blues du dimanche soir (Hachette santé), le Dr Florian Ferreri, psychiatre, et Gautier Bouchaud, professeur des écoles, nous proposent leurs solutions contre ce vague à l’âme chronique. LE FIGARO. - Comment vous est venue l’idée de cet ouvrage? Dr Florian FERRERI. - Au départ, c’était un peu une boutade. Vous-même, êtes-vous sujet au blues du dimanche? Quelles sont les causes de cette «mélancolie» dominicale? Y a-t-il des solutions?
Sleeping 8 Hours Straight Isn't How Your Ancestors Did It by Natalie Shoemaker We didn't always sleep how we do today--a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Several centuries ago, doctors prescribed a far different sleep regimen. But the advent of the light bulb changed all that. Lynn Stuart Parramore of Alternet found this lost history of sleep while trying to remedy her own sleep issues. People did not evolve to sleep soundly the entire night. When street lighting and the industrial revolution came about, historian Craig Koslofsky notes that health authorities of the 19th century recommended a single sleep—one uninterrupted night. “Since our collective memory has been erased, anxiety about nighttime wakefulness has kept us up even longer, and our eight-hour sleep mandate may have made us more prone to stress. Before you rush to your doctor to get an prescription for Ambien, consider that your anxiety may be misplaced and you should use your middle of the night disruption as a natural course of your sleep cycle. Read more at Salon