Ever since Pavlov trained dogs to salivate for meat powder at the sound of a bell, psychologists have used the principles of conditioning to study how humans learn.
Now a team of English researchers have taken this further.
Like Pavlov's dogs, the subjects in the study were conditioned to associate a neutral stimulus - computer screen images - with food. One image was paired with the smell of peanut butter, wafted to the subjects' noses through a tube. Another image was paired with the smell of vanilla.
The subjects quickly associated the images with the food smells. They reacted faster to the images paired with the food odors than to other images that had no pleasant associations.
At the same time, their brains surged into action, with areas known to be involved in motivation and emotional processing, the amygdala, lighting up on a brain scan.
Then the subjects were fed either a peanut butter sandwich or a bowl of vanilla ice cream, and suddenly the images associated with that food no longer drew as strong a response. Yet, for those eating peanut butter still reacted as strongly to vanilla and vice-versa.
Psychologists refer to this as ''selective satiation'' or ''the restaurant phenomenon.''
You know the scenario, beautiful dinner at Peppino’s and you cant eat another thing. That is until they bring along the deserts and well maybe you can just manage a little something!
Whatever its label the effect reflects the fact that learning is a tool designed by evolution for survival and as such, is infinitely flexible.
So I am often asked whether I feel you can study 2 or more ACCA subjects at the same time. My answer invariably is yes. Pair subjects which are different to each other. Then your motivation for studying will not tire so quickly. Also, try and mix up your study sessions - a bit of one subject, a bit of another etc. It’s all about keeping up that motivation. Pavlov, well his dog, is on your side...and we are too.
Best wishes
Richard
www.richardclarkeacademy.com
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