Learn How Your Brain Learns: Why Practice Makes Improvement, According to Science
As a student, you likely learn a mountain of new and increasingly complex concepts on the daily. However, have you ever wondered how exactly the brain, a complex and dynamic organ containing billions of neutrons, learns? The brain’s ability to learn is fascinating, and it is a topic of study that many scientists in psychology and neuroscience have delved deep into. Thanks to the extensive research into how our brain works, we now can apply this knowledge to build better habits and study more effectively. Knowing how your brain learns could help you become a more efficient and stronger learner, and that is exactly what we will be looking at in this article!
So, what takes place in the brain as you learn? The brain has neuroplasticity, meaning that it has the ability to form new connections. You are able to learn because neurons, cells that send information through electrical impulses, have the ability to make new connections. These connections are made when the branching extensions of one neuron, called dendrites, come close to the axon terminal of another neuron. The long axon passes signals that are received by the receptor sites of the dendrite through a small gap called the synapse. However, to become an expert learner, you can’t just rely on your brain’s ability to make connections — you also have to put in the work to strengthen those connections and form long-term memories.
Practice Makes Improvement
Practice truly does lead to improvement, and it can be explained through how your brain works. While your brain has neuroplasticity and can form new connections, these connections can weaken over time. A really good analogy for the importance of practice is this: “Walking through a forest without a trail is difficult, because you have to … carve your way through. But the more you use the same trail, the easier and more practicable it becomes. Conversely, when you stop using the trail, the vegetation grows back, and the trail slowly disappears” (Sarrasin et al., 2020). Here’s what happens: when you practice something, a fatty layer of tissue insulating the axon thickens. This layer that is made of glial cells is called the myelin sheath. By providing insulation, the myelin sheath elevates neural efficiency and allows electrical signals to transmit even quicker. This explains why practice makes what you’re learning feel more familiar and natural to you. How can you apply this knowledge? Take some time to practice what you’re trying to learn something new. However, how you practice is also important. For example, if you are studying for subjects such as physics and chemistry, reviewing your notes is beneficial, but doing a lot of problems will help you build the connections for problem solving (which is heavily involved in such subjects). For a subject where there is a lot of memorization required (for example, biology), you might also try active recall (perhaps with a practice test, flashcards, or by teaching someone what you know) to strengthen connections.
Practice Positive Emotions
If you’ve ever sat at an exam, you might know the feeling of your palms getting sweaty, and your heart racing. Test anxiety is pretty common, and when it does happen, there is an increased amount of adrenaline produced in your body. This can, in some cases, lead to the dreaded phenomenon of “blanking out” and difficulty focusing on tests. However, through practice, you can manage stress by finding ways to produce neurotransmitters with a calming affect, such as endorphins. You can practice producing more endorphins by exercising, meditating, thinking positive thoughts, and making learning fun for yourself. Overcoming test anxiety is not easy, but you can, through practice, become better at managing the stress.
My final advice is: don’t forget to get a good night’s sleep! After all the practicing and learning, your brain needs a good rest. In the dream theories, the physiological reason why we sleep is that it is when the brain “restores and repairs” itself. The information-processing theory also says that sleep is time for memory consolidation. Getting the right amount of good quality sleep will boost brain function and your problem solving abilities.
Now that you know how your brain learns and how to use that to your advantage, start practicing!
https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2020.00054
