While recently browsing the blogosphere in search of cognitive-science-related tips for improving your learning and memory, I came across a blog called – well – Improve Your Learning and Memory! Written by Bill Klemm (a.k.a. Dr. Bill, “Memory Medic”), a neuroscience professor from Texas A&M University and author of Thank You, Brain, For All You Remember. What You Forgot Was My Fault., this blog blew me away with its scientifically based tips and tricks for maximizing the brain’s potential. Here at Brainscape, that stuff is right up our alley. Anyway, without further ado, check out Dr. Bill’s very first post to learn how he got into this stuff to begin with. I plan to reference him a lot in the future, so I think all you fellow cognitive psych geeks out there will appreciate this handy little introduction to his work. Stay tuned for more! (more…)
Meet Dr. Bill, “Memory Medic”
5 Reasons Why You Should Be Following Brainscape on Twitter
Every company selfishly wants you to follow them on Twitter so they can bombard your feed with sponsored ads and product announcements. Brainscape is different. When you follow us, you are getting plugged into a real network of learning enthusiasts that will feed your brain with much more useful stuff: (more…)Take a Break! – The Science Behind the Study Break
Do you ever think about how little you actually remember from school, regardless how much you may have studied and how well you may have done? I know I certainly can’t recite the periodic table of elements or Lady Macbeth’s famous monologue like I used to. So what’s the deal? Well, let’s back up a few years to when we actually did the studying. Surely we’re all familiar with the stereotypical procrastinator who can’t seem to buckle down and study for a big test until the last possible second. Wouldn’t it make sense to study the material right before the test, so that it’s fresh in your memory?
Well, as is often the case in cognitive psychology, and as our friends over at Cognitive Daily and We’re Only Human have blogged about in the past, the results are mixed. (more…)
Why Subscribing to a “Word of the Day” is NOT an Effective Vocab Builder
If you’re like most people, you’ve probably used a word-a-day gift calendar or web subscription at some point in your life. You’ve probably even begun such a subscription with high hopes that you would somehow emerge from the experience with a renewed, brilliantly stronger vocabulary. If that sounds like you, I have some sad news for you: Your “word of the day” barely makes a dent in your actual vocab skills.
The problem with “word-a-day” gimmicks is twofold. (more…)
Which Foreign Language Should I Learn?
Guest post by Dorothy Feng:
These days, even in the English-dominant United States, remaining monolingual is essentially a commitment to stunt your educational development, to restrict your communication and thinking abilities, and to deny yourself the ability to fully appreciate and understand the world. Most educators agree that learning another language will open up new opportunities and give you perspectives that you might never have encountered otherwise.
The question for most native English speakers, therefore, is not whether to learn a foreign language, but which one we should learn. When we decide to learn a foreign language, there are several aspects we have to consider: (more…)
The Zone of Proximal Development: An Educational Application
Ever since my first week at Brainscape, when I first read and helped to edit the company’s white papers about confidence-based repetition and intelligent cumulative exposure, I have been struck by how well our learning products seem to fall in line with the idea of scaffolding within a zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Vygotsky, 1978). The ZPD is a topic that I have come to know quite well after years of studying cognitive science and working as an academic researcher.
For those of you who are not familiar with Lev Vygotsky’s theory, I’ll give you a much-abbreviated version of it here. Vygotsky believed that in between what we can do independently and what we can do with some help lies in the ZPD; he argued that the best educational experiences are those within the learner’s ZPD. (more…)
Having a strong vocabulary actually lets you use fewer words
English is the language with the largest number of words in the world. Ironically, it is also one of the languages with which you can express yourself the most concisely. The bigger your mental grab-bag of words, the better your chances of finding a pithier way to convey an idea.
Consider the sentence “I didn’t mean to seem prone to giving unwanted advice, but you shouldn’t use so many words when you speak.” Although that’s not a particularly bad sentence, it could have been much shorter if we could have simply said “I didn’t mean to seem officious, but you shouldn’t be so verbose.” Knowing those two extra words allowed us to express the same idea in less time. (more…)
The Joy of Being a User of Your Own iPhone App
Like any mobile entrepreneur, I have obviously been passionate about my iPhone app idea since the day I created the first prototype over four years ago. But now that the Brainscape platform has been developed and refined, and now that my experimentation with the app(s) has progressed from mere “testing” to actual usage, my enthusiasm for my company’s product has been taken to a whole new level.
I currently have Brainscape apps on my iPhone to help me learn more about food, booze, vocabulary, geography, and Italian phrases. This last category has been the most significant for me so far since I had the opportunity to improve my language skills during my trip to Italy this past week. (more…)
How to REALLY Improve Your Vocabulary
“Contumacious” means “stubbornly rebellious or willfully disobedient.”
The importance of a good vocabulary–in life, work, or for standardized tests–is inarguable. Still, few of us make consistent vocabulary enrichment part of our busy lives. Why? In my opinion, it’s because the subject too rarely fits either of our two primary learning modalities. Did you say: “too boring?” (more…)
New iPhone App Uses Cognitive Science Techniques to Help You Learn about – Booze?
Brainscape’s “Bartender Crash Course“ drills you on all that stuff about beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails that you were supposed to know but never learned.Amid hundreds of “reference” apps on iTunes for buying wines, mixing drinks, or tasting beers, one app has been designed to actually help you learn all those key concepts. Brainscape’s intelligent flashcard algorithm presents you a carefully spaced knowledge feed that repeats booze concepts in just the right interval for your brain’s maximum memory retention. (more…)
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