Psychology in Action

Tag: memory

  • What’s in a font?

    How likely are you to remember this post tomorrow? The question above asks you to make a metacognitive judgment—that is, it asks you to evaluate your own thoughts. People use metacognitive judgments every day, whether it is to believe you know a route well enough to leave your GPS at home, decide that you know…

  • Desirable Difficulties in Math Teaching

    Continuing in the spirit of my last post, which overviewed the desirable difficulties literature, and Carole Yue’s recent post on how desirable difficulties can improve induction tasks, today I’m highlighting some recent research on applying such difficulties to math learning and practice.  As a quick recap, desirable difficulties are adjustments to teaching that slow down…

  • ADHD and Memory: Differences in What is Remembered

    Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD (formerly known also as ADD) are classically seen as the kids in class who have trouble staying in their seats and paying attention during long lessons. Underlying these problematic behaviors is a confluence of factors, with evidence pointing to genetics, neural function, and environmental factors (including parenting…

  • Desirable Difficulties and Inductive Learning

    Last month, Jeff Bye’s post on desirable difficulties in the classroom inspired some good discussion. One question that came up was, Do desirable difficulties only apply to rote memory tasks, or can we use them for other types of learning as well? I’m going to expand on that idea using inductive learning as an example.…

  • Desirable Difficulties in the Classroom

    Over the last couple of decades, learning and memory researchers have become increasingly interested in bringing scientific findings out of the lab and into the classroom, where they can be implemented into teaching methods to produce more efficient and effective learning.  In a nation mired in an educational crisis, there’s never been a better time…

  • Study tips: Going beyond your learning style

    It’s fall again, and we know what that means—football, freshly sharpened pencils, and a (temporary?) surge of interest in making the most out of learning this school year. Parents and teachers tout the same advice: set goals, do all the reading, find one place to study and sit there at the same time every day,…

  • Sound asleep – Learning while sleeping may indeed be a reality

    Okay, so this recent study from Northwestern isn’t saying you can learn anything you want by simply playing it while you’re asleep. Still, it seems to give hope that some learning enhancement can occur while we’re napping.