The past few years has seen an abundance of research come out on how the brain works, how we can study more effectively and how to boost your memory.
All the accepted methods from yesteryear are being questioned, and more often than not proven to be wrong!
Let me give you a little example, how many of you are currently reading this out aloud? How many of you are running your finger along the line you are reading? - My guess is nobody! Now let me ask you another question - did you do this when you were young? My guess is - “Yes I did!”
One final question - why did you stop? My guess is you were told to.
Well here’s the rub - did you know that there’s a small part of your brain, located just above your left ear which is only activated when you speak out aloud? Did you know that all research suggests that voicing your thoughts helps your understanding and retention of them?
I bet the parents amongst you are like me. We see a rabbit - and we say to our 2 year olds “Look, what is that?” You know that they know it’s a rabbit but you still want them to SAY the word! Deep down you know that by vocalising the word, it will help them learn it quicker. Unfortunately for most of us that’s a skill we’ve now lost and we’ve adapted. The key here though - is to illustrate how often accepted techniques are fundamentally wrong and that there are far more efficient means of teaching out there.
I have been studying this neurological science for 10 years and it is fascinating. I teach accountancy for a living and I have adapted my methods immensely in line with latest research. The results, the feedback from the students, has been fantastic.
Often the techniques are blindingly simple. For example how many of you know your mother’s maiden name? Did you know that elderly people remember their old school friends names better than those they have met more recently? Why?
The answer is so simple. Re-caps. For the brain to move things into the longer term memory then recaps of material must be done. Research is ongoing as to when best to do these recaps but the picture is pretty clear now. The more often you use or see something the better you remember it. Obvious I know. Yet how many schools, universities, colleges etc actually build these into their courses?
Then there’s the recency and primacy effect. The last and first parts of lectures are remembered best. What is the ideal time for a lecture? What sort of material is best looked at in the morning? How important are goals? How rigidly should these be stuck to? What is the best study technique known to mankind?...
All these answers and much more besides are out there - for those willing to listen to scientific research. That is our gap in the market and we hope to plug it!
Incidentally - the finger under the line when reading - that can increase your speed reading by up to 30%. Also, remember the vocalising technique in helping us remember and understand things? Well here’s a little trick - want somebody to stick to an agreement? Get them to actually SAY “yes, I agree”. This simple technique has been proven to increase the effectiveness of such agreements by over 60%!
So, if you run a restaurant - and you want people to phone if they cant make it that night. Simply ask the customer - “will you call to tell me if you cant make it?”, rather than simply saying “please call if you can’t make it”. The former will force the customer to vocalise his agreement and the chances of him sticking to his end of the bargain are now far higher!
Best wishes and hope to see you soon (say “yes, ok Richard!”)
Richard
www.richardclarkeacademy.com
Comments