Your brain and learning, emotion, and how to care for it
In the last lesson we looked at what the brain is made of and how it works. This lesson is about using it better. Why repeated practice really does change the brain. Why cramming the night before a test does not work. Why switching between tasks slows you down. Where emotions come from in the brain. And what to do if someone in front of you has a seizure.
The more you use a path, the wider it gets
Every time we practice something over and over, the connections between nerve cells that fire together grow stronger, and the myelin sheath around the fibers we use often grows thicker. So the signal travels faster and more precisely. Neurologists call this ability neuroplasticity. Press the button a few times and watch how the pathway changes.
Experiment: does practice really make it faster?
In real life this change takes weeks to months, not a few minutes. And it shows up most clearly during the sleep after practice, not during the practice itself.
Why cramming the night before a test does not work
When we read something once, the memory drops very fast in the first few days. But if we review it again with gaps in between, the curve falls more slowly every time. Press the review button and watch the graph.
Go ahead and do the first review, then watch how the curve changes.
The review schedule research recommends
Short reviews on days 1, 3, 7 and 14 after you learn something add up to far less time than one long sitting, but you remember many times longer.
Underlining and plain rereading are the two methods students use most. They are also the two that work least well, according to the same research.
How much does switching back and forth slow you down?
The brain cannot really do two things at once. What actually happens is that it switches back and forth, and every switch costs time. Measure it on yourself in two rounds.
Experiment: one task at a time versus switching back and forth
Round one: type the numbers 1 to 9 in a row as fast as you can. Then round two: type numbers and letters alternating, 1a2b3c4d5e. Press start when you are ready.
Most people are about 40 to 100 percent slower in the second round, even though both tasks are very easy. This is the cost of task switching, and it is why doing homework while chatting always takes longer than you expect.
What happens in the brain when you are angry or afraid
The amygdala is the brain's alarm. It works very fast and fires before we have time to think. The front of the brain is the manager that judges whether this is really dangerous, but it is slower. The gap between those two is exactly when we blurt out or do something we regret later.
Breathe, and give the manager time to catch up
Breathing out longer than you breathe in switches on the rest side of the nervous system through the vagus nerve. Your heart slows and your body calms down within a few rounds. Follow this circle.
Emotions are not the enemy
Fear keeps us alert to danger. Anger tells us something is unfair. Sadness tells us we have lost something important. Every emotion has a job. The problem is not having emotions. It is acting on them straight away without thinking.
Naming an emotion really does help Research finds that when we tell ourselves what we are feeling, such as I am irritated right now because I am tired, the amygdala quiets down and the front of the brain works harder.
What helps in the long run is enough sleep, exercise, and someone you can talk to. These three have far stronger evidence behind them than any technique.
When we sleep, the brain does not shut down
Sleep comes in cycles of about 90 minutes, alternating between deep non-REM sleep and the stage where the eyes dart back and forth, which is when dreams are clearest. Each stage does a different job for memory. Drag through them one at a time.
What is the brain doing now?
What matters most for students is this: memories you learned during the day are moved from the hippocampus into permanent storage in the cortex during deep sleep. Studying all night without sleeping cuts out the very step that makes you remember.
Brain conditions kids your age should know about
Not to frighten you, but so you know what is happening and how to help. Tap to see them one at a time.
If someone has a seizure in front of you, do this
What really protects the brain, according to the evidence
Wear a helmet every time
The skull is hard, true, but the brain inside floats in fluid and can slam into the wall when the head stops suddenly. Helmets clearly reduce how severe a brain injury is, on a bicycle, on skates, and on a motorcycle. Repeated knocks close together are far more dangerous than a single one.
Exercise hard enough to get out of breath
Exercise sends more blood to the brain and raises the substances that help nerve cells connect better. Studies in children find that fitter kids score better on memory and attention tests on average.
Sleep enough, and at a steady time
8 to 10 hours a night at this age, and a steady bedtime matters just as much as the number of hours, because the brain runs on a body clock, not on a total of hours.
Talk to people and read books
Real conversation and reading use many parts of the brain at once: language, memory, and understanding what someone else is thinking. These two are the best brain training there is, and they cost nothing. As for the brain training apps you see advertised, the evidence so far only shows that you get better at that game, not smarter overall.
Test yourself
Fancy a game on this lesson?
Every question from this lesson is in the Body 101 arena. Race the clock, duel someone at home, play as a team, beat the bosses, or practise with no timer at all.