Mindshift, a course on learning - part 2
Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential
by McMaster University on Coursera
Part 2
Advantage of poor memory
Because there are roughly 4 working memory slots in the brain and 4 memory/thought neural chunks can be held there at any given moment, pulling in or losing active chunks from working memory activates diffuse mode and results in more creative solutions to problems.
Meditation types and brain moded
focus meditation (sound, mantra, chakra)
diffuse state - through open monitoring meditation (vipassana, mindfulness)
in pomodoro technique - distracting thought should be let go and attention gently guided back to the point of focus (work) - just like meditation
pomodoro:
- eliminate distractions
- 25 minute work time
- focus
- reward after
25 minutes is just longer than the normal time (20 minutes) of brain’s “looking for distractions” before getting into flow. It’s absolutely fine to work longer than 25 minutes.
pomodoro sessions can be broken by time as short as 3-5 minutes or longer (dpends, on schedule etc.)
Reward should take the brain off the work, let the part of the brain engaged in focus previously, some downtime (mental focus > physical reward - movement)
But: downtime (diffuse), is needed to consolidate and make sense of the material
Gamification helps to create a pomodoro habit (tracking no. of session per subject learned)
procrastination
can be productive when it’s information gathering: building knowledge/experience base (before drawing conclusion) https://alexvermeer.com/getmotivated/ The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steele
balance
of conceptual understanding and practice repetition (to memorize) is the way to create neural chunks (from focused to diffuse) that can later be easily accessed in the 4 slots of working memory.
mental tricks
label and reframe
labeling feeling takes them from amygdala into prefrontal cortex CBT cognitive distortions first mention “The New Mood Therapy " Dr. David Burns
- all or nothing thinking
- magnification
- overgeneralization
- mental filter
- discounting the positive
- jumping to conclusions
- mind reading
- emotional reasoning
- “should” thinking
- using pejoratives on yourself
- personalization and blaming
longer list with explanations: https://positivepsychology.com/cognitive-distortions/
“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it”
Daniel Kahneman, Focusing Illusion (take a look at the link, Edge.org/ The Reality Club/ Third Culture is worth your time)
learning styles
Beth Rogowsky’s research disproves visual/auditory preferences In fact getting confined in one style weakens the ability to learn using other senses
we’re all all-inclusive learners
seems that best results are achieved when every person combines visual, auditory, kinesthetic - reading/listening/seeing and working through (just as taking notes)
psychological safety
Google’s Project Aristotle revealed that one factor that makes successful teams is the comfort to take risks and fail: have psychological trust and respect, feeling comfortable being themselves, and having empathy
serotonin (serenity)
increases positive social behaviours low levels of serotonin can trigger violent behaviours. Inmates for violent crimes have lowest serotonin levels across population