Whether it is to learn a foreign language, to memorize a speech or its lessons because the exam period is approaching, there are techniques which can help to learn quickly and well.
Learning to learn… Because, yes, certain behaviors help to make better use of one’s memory, and therefore to better retain information.
Be really careful
“If we do not pay attention to the information that we have to learn, it remains on the surface, at the level of the visual cortex, without interacting with the areas of the brain involved in understanding and memorizing ”, points out Jean -Philippe Lachaux, director of cognitive neuroscience research at Inserm.
What to do :
✓ No television or YouTube videos when you have to learn: “Because the incessant changes on the screen of movements, colors, sequences, moods, characters, activate the detectors located at the level of the visual cortex, keeping the brain in check. alert and distracting. “
✓ In order not to be distracted by calls, texts or emails, we set disconnection objectives: “Not too long, because the worry of missing something important activates an alert system in the brain, very distracting. Better to set 10 minutes of work, laptop and mailbox closed, interspersed with micropauses, just enough time to look at your messages to reassure yourself, and you only respond if it is really important. “
Make regular cuts
“Studies show that this allows the brain to ‘replay’ what it has just learned , and to reactivate the populations of neurons more easily thereafter.” At what rate? “When you feel that nothing more fits, it is better to stop for 5 or 10 minutes and go for a walk. “
Test yourself
“Rather than repeating a long and complex course over and over again, it is more effective to test yourself by asking yourself questions, or asking someone to question us,” advises Laurence Taconnat, professor of cognitive psychology at the university.
from Tours. Because not only the brain networks which contain this new information are reactivated more easily, but also because a correct answer means that one understands what one was learning, and one will memorize it better. “
Write what you want to remember
We memorize better what we write, observed Russian researchers during a study conducted on students and published in 2019.
No doubt, some neuroscientists suggest, because writing by hand mobilizes more areas of the brain, in particular those that allow you to plan and control movements to trace letters and identify the area to write.
Revise right before going to sleep
“During sleep, the neural networks involved in learning are reactivated, as if we were reviewing without our knowledge,” says Stéphanie Mazza, teacher researcher and neuropsychologist.
In addition, the brain processes information, consolidating the most important and erasing the others. In other words, by revising before going to bed, we save time and effort, and we gain in performance
