Incremental reading Introduction Traditional linear reading is highly inefficient. This comes from the fact that various pieces of the text are of various importance. Some should be skipped. Others should be read in the first order of priority. Old-fashioned books are quickly being replaced with hypertext. What is incremental reading? Incremental reading is a learning technique that makes it possible to read thousands of articles at the same time without getting lost. Incremental reading converts electronic articles into durable knowledge in your memory. Input: electronic articles (e.g. collected from the net) Output: well-remembered knowledge (quizzed regularly in the form of questions and answers) In incremental reading, you read articles in small portions. Warning! Five basic skills of incremental reading Incremental reading requires skills that you will perfect only over months and years of use. Skill 1: Importing articles Five article import methods Here are the 5 main article import methods in SuperMemo:
Writing and Health Writing and Health: Some Practical Advice Writing about emotional upheavals in our lives can improve physical and mental health. Although the scientific research surrounding the value of expressive writing is still in the early phases, there are some approaches to writing that have been found to be helpful. Getting Ready to Write Find a time and place where you won’t be disturbed. Promise yourself that you will write for a minimum of 15 minutes a day for at least 3 or 4 consecutive days. Once you begin writing, write continuously. You can write longhand or you can type on a computer. You can write about the same thing on all 3-4 days of writing or you can write about something different each day. What to Write About Something that you are thinking or worrying about too much Something that you are dreaming about Something that you feel is affecting your life in an unhealthy way Something that you have been avoiding for days, weeks, or years What to do with your Writing Samples
The lesson you never got taught in school: How to learn! | Neurobonkers A paper published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest evaluated ten techniques for improving learning, ranging from mnemonics to highlighting and came to some surprising conclusions. The report is quite a heavy document so I’ve summarised the techniques below based on the conclusions of the report regarding effectiveness of each technique. Be aware that everyone thinks they have their own style of learning (they don't, according to the latest research), and the evidence suggests that just because a technique works or does not work for other people does not necessarily mean it will or won’t work well for you. If you want to know how to revise or learn most effectively you will still want to experiment on yourself a little with each technique before writing any of them off. Elaborative Interrogation (Rating = moderate) A method involving creating explanations for why stated facts are true. An example of elaborative interrogation for the above paragraph could be: Reference:
Coping with Boredom At Work Of all the motivational problems that people encounter at work, the biggest may simply be getting through the day. Psychologists have a great deal to say about the problem of boredom and offer useful clues about how to get through the day without boredom. We can begin with the experimental psychologist's best friend, the laboratory rat. The biggest cause of boredom is easily identified. It concerns how work is measured - in units of time, rather than in units of production, or accomplishment. When hungry rats are required to wait around for a fixed time until they can press a lever for food, they become fairly lethargic. Matters are very different for self-employed people who typically set some goal for themselves each day and stay pleasantly motivated until their objective is reached, at which time they might decide to go home. Boredom is partly due to insufficient stimulation and that problem is largely resolved by focusing on tasks rather than time. · Always show up on time.
Creating False Memories Elizabeth F. Loftus In 1986 Nadean Cool, a nurse's aide in Wisconsin, sought therapy from a psychiatrist to help her cope with her reaction to a traumatic event experienced by her daughter. During therapy, the psychiatrist used hypnosis and other suggestive techniques to dig out buried memories of abuse that Cool herself had allegedly experienced. When Cool finally realized that false memories had been planted, she sued the psychiatrist for malpractice. About a year earlier two juries returned verdicts against a Minnesota psychiatrist accused of planting false memories by former patients Vynnette Hamanne and Elizabeth Carlson, who under hypnosis and sodium amytal, and after being fed misinformation about the workings of memory, had come to remember horrific abuse by family members. In all four cases, the women developed memories about childhood abuse in therapy and then later denied their authenticity. False Childhood Memories My research associate, Jacqueline E. Imagination Inflation
5 No-BS Ways to Become Awesome in 5 Minutes You’re at college and working two jobs. You have a date in 15 minutes. You’re a single parent with a long commute and 5 hours of sleep per day. Or maybe you’re just not ready to make a huge time commitment. Whatever your situation, tools that can turbo-charge your life fast are handy. The bad news is, long-term change requires time and effort. The good news is, self-improvement techniques and exercises can be very time-efficient. 1. In a recent study, subjects who wrote down their goals were 42% more likely to achieve them than the ones who didn’t. That’s right: a pen, a piece of paper and a few minutes are all you need to near-double your chance of success. 2. Your innermost thoughts are a self-fulfilling prophecy; believing in yourself is crucial to success. Here’s how you can stay positive day in, day out. Get a notebook and write down 3 awesome things you did in the past 24 hours every evening. You’ll be amazed at how much better focusing on your positive achievements makes you feel!
How to Memorize - Learn to memorize and increase memory If you are visiting from StumbleUpon and like this article and tool, please consider giving it a thumbs up. Thanks! Memorizing does not have to be as hard as most people make it. In this article we are going to focus on a technique that will let you easily: Memorize a speechMemorize the BibleMemorize linesMemorize Scripture At the end of this article is a Javascript tool that makes it easy to implement this method. Synapses and Neurons and How to Memorize In the simplified model of the brain in this discussion, we’ll be looking at neurons and synapses. When you remember something neurons fire signals down particular synapse pathways to other neurons which in turn fire signals to other neurons. Strong Pathways Synapses appear to exhibit plasticity. For example, consider remembering your home telephone number. Now consider a number that you will have trouble remembering. How to Memorize – Practice Recalling not Repeating This is the crucial concept of any type of memorization.
Surgeon's Checklist Saves Lives By Steven ReinbergHealthDay Reporter WEDNESDAY, Jan. 14 (HealthDay News) -- A simple checklist that ensures everyone in the operating room is on the same page reduces complications and saves lives, researchers report. The need for improving safety in surgery is vital since there are some 230 million major operations worldwide each year, 60 million of them in the United States. In fact, the average American undergoes nine surgical procedures in their lifetime. "Using a surgery checklist designed for safety cut the complication and death rate by a more than a third," said lead researcher Dr. To aid in reducing surgical complications and deaths, Gawande's team developed a one-page checklist that can be read aloud like a pilot's checklist before take off and landing. While each surgery is different, there are common safety points for all procedures, Gawande said. The report is published in the Jan. 14 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. More information
How to Learn (Almost) Anything This is a guest post by Glen Allsopp of PluginID. Have you ever read an informative book, only to later remember just a few main points — if anything at all? The problem might be that you’re using one of the least efficient ways of learning available. The Cone of Learning I remember back about 7 years ago when I was taking music lessons at school, there was a poster on the wall that really grabbed my attention. Image Credit After doing some research, I found that the contents of that poster were based upon the work of Edgar Dale back in 1969. Today, many of you may know this as the Cone of Learning, but beware: although the cone is in fact based upon the results of Dale’s research, the percentage figures were never actually cited by Dale, and added by others after the initial investigation. Based on the research we can see that: The Cone of Learning suggests why you are more likely to remember parts of a movie than you are from a book on the same topic. Learning Almost Anything
How To Take Control of Your Next Job Interview At the end of every job interview, you'll encounter the inevitable question, "Do you have any questions for me?" While it's an oh-so-predictable event, many job candidates aren't prepared to shine when they reach this final test in the interview. Failing to ask any questions or asking the wrong questions can send the wrong signals. Stephanie Daniel, senior vice president of career management company Keystone Associates, spoke with us about her thoughts on how job interviewees can take control of their next job interview by asking the right questions. Read on for her thoughts on what to ask and which questions to avoid when it's your turn to interrogate. Asking the Right Questions When the interviewer gives you the opportunity to ask your own questions, be prepared. "Too many job seekers respond to this standard interview question with the standard 'safe' responses," says Daniel. So, what types of questions should you ask? Could you describe your ideal candidate for this job?