1-1 Introduction – About Mindshift

I'm Barbara Oakley. >> And I'm Terry Sejnowski. Welcome to Mindshift. >> We created the MOOC:
Learning How to Learn which to our surprise became the world's largest and most popular MOOC,
to give you the specifics about how to learn more effectively. In this MOOC, we're going to grow
things even bigger, so you can learn not only more effectively but more broadly. In other words,
we will help you to develop a learning lifestyle. >> Who you are today, is not the same person who
went to sleep last night. We now know, that your experiences during the day are integrated into
your brain circuits while you are asleep. So, that you wake up in the morning, your brain is
updated.

You can take advantage of this to become a different person than you were last week, or last
month, or last year because you brain is different and you can guide the process. >> To begin with,
I'm going to tell you about one of the worst things that's ever happened to me. Something that
cause one of my biggest most embarrassing failures. [SOUND]. Yes, everybody, including me, has
failures and false starts. Now, you may know that I basically flunked my way through elementary,
middle and High school Math and Science. When I was young, the only thing I thought I could do.
The only thing I was interested in was trying to learn a new language. Any new language since all I
spoke was English. If you speak English as an additional language you are so lucky. So, that's why I
enlisted in the army right out of High school, because the military would actually pay me to learn a
new language. Although, I wasn't of Russian heritage, I decided to learn Russian, and I did learn
Russian. The army even gave me a scholarship, and I got my first degree, a bachelors degree in
slavic languages and literature. I was all set, as a language expert I expected to go into military
intelligence. To use my skills, that was pretty much the only place my new language skills could be
used.

Didn't happen, it like. Really didn't happen, they only put me into the signal corps. That meant,
that I would be responsible for all sorts of electrical communication systems. From cables, and
telephones, to advanced electrical switching systems. I was horrified. And it wasn't like I was some
kind of brilliant, intellectual superstar who turned it all around and charged ahead to immediately
excel anyway. In fact, I graduated last in my class in signal officer training school. I didn't even
know what a volt was, much less than how a telephone worked. Here I was stalking a field I hated,
doing a job I couldn't really understand. I was so terrible at my job, that we all eventually agreed
that I should move into something far less technical. Those four years as a military officer were
very difficult. I was lonely, stationed thousands of miles from my home and family. And well, I was
a failure. What's funny about this, is that it's actually one of the best things that's ever happened
to me.

Believe it or not, I'm now a professor of engineering and I love my job. In this MOOC, we're going
to talk about what I learned on the path to my change in thinking, my mind shift. We're going to
talk not only about some of the changes I've experienced. And inspirational and insightful stories
of other people's growth and change. But, we're also going to be exploring what science is telling
us about how we can change.

This course is about how you can do and be much more than you ever might think. It's about how
you can grow from failure to success. It's about how you can broaden your horizons and be more
than you ever thought you could be, no matter what your age, or your past. It's about how you'll
feel better and be healthier because of a learning lifestyle. And, it's about how to look around you,
at what you're learning, in your place, in what's unfolding in the society around you. So you can be
what you want to be, given the real world constraints that life puts on us all. No, this isn't a course
based on magic, where we promise to somehow turn you into a genius and make all your wishes
for learning and careers come true. But you'll see, that by using certain mental tricks and insights
you can often learn more and do more. Far more than you might have ever dreamed, we'll talk
about what science tells us about how we learn and change. We'll build on what you already know
to take your life's learning fantastic new directions. You might think, well, I've taken aptitude tests.
The experts are telling me what I should be doing. And besides, I can feel inside what I'm good at.

But remember, all those aptitude tests and internal feelings are just reflections of what you're
good at right now. They don't give you a clue about how you can shift and shifting your thinking,
mind shift is what this course is all about. Are you ready? Lets get started.

1-2 The Value of Being a Slow Learner

Have you ever watched as the teacher would ask a question in class and then before you could
even understand what the question was about, some student already had their hand in the air
with the answer? Some people just plain seem to have race car brains. They get to the finish line,
they answer really, really fast. Other people like me have what you might call hiker brains. They
get to the finish line but because they're walking, they get there much, much more slowly. With
the race car driver, they do get to the finish line a lot faster, but everything goes by in a rush.
[NOISE] They're also on a set, smooth roadway. They know exactly where they're going. A hiker on
the other hand, moves slowly. But while they're hiking, they can reach out. They can touch the
leaves on the trees, smell the air, hear the birds. And they can easily veer off the expected path
into places where people don't normally go.

The race car brain and the hiker brain, in other words have two completely different experiences.
And even though the hiker brain may move much more slowly sometimes, because of how it
works it can see more deeply. My hero in science is a man named Santiago Ramon y Cajal. Ramon
y Cajal won the Nobel Prize in 1906, for his pioneering work in helping us understand the structure
of the nervous system. Ramon y Cajal is considered the father of modern neuroscience. But here is
where it gets really interesting, Ramon y Cajal was not a genius. He said so himself and he wasn't
just being humble. However, Ramon y Cajal worked with geniuses. He found they often shared
similar problems. For example, these geniuses with their race car brains [NOISE] were used to
jumping ahead to speedy conclusions. And when they were incorrect, they weren't use to
changing their minds. So they keep charging ahead with the incorrect conclusion they jumped to,
their super fast brains could easily devise justification. Because they weren't really looking to
prove themselves wrong. Ramon y Cajal himself though had a persistent hiker type brain. He'd
come up with a hypothesis and then he'd persistently check it out in a way that would reveal
whether he was wrong. Instead of just trying to prove that he was right. If he was wrong, he
changed his mind and flexibly try again. So was his persistence and his flexibility in the face of
what the data was truly telling him that made him superstar researcher. It wasn't his genius. This
kind of phenomena is seen in many different fields. For example, super smart people don't make
very good hostage negotiators. Why? Because they go into the hostage situation with their own
preconceived notions, which are sometimes dead wrong. And then when critical information does
reveal itself, they can't flexibly change their mind and take advantage of that information. So if you
have a race car brain just be aware, one of your biggest assets can become your biggest liability if
you get too used to thinking you're always right, and that you're the smartest person around. And
if you have a hiker type brain rejoice, there's much for you to contribute in the world with your
slow, sometimes very unexpected way of approaching things.

1-3 From Passive to Active

The Fengjia Night Market in Taichung, Taiwan is really famous. They have just about everything
you could imagine. One evening, you could have also found me there. I ended up at the stall that
sold something called stinky tofu. I mean, stinky tofu is really stinky. The reality is, though, it tastes
pretty good, kind of like a strong cheese. The thing is, you watching me tell you about stinky tofu is
very different from you actually going to the famed Fengjia night market yourself and tasting
stinky tofu. It's only when you actively do something yourself that you're learning really sticks.
Trust me, I'll never forget about stinky tofu. You might think that taking an active approach to
learning is totally obvious. But not only do students often not get this. Even professional teachers
and professors themselves often don't get this, although it goes right to the heart of how we can
most effectively learn and change. It's easy even for someone like me who knows better to
sometimes take the easier path and avoid being active in what I'm trying to learn. Active learning
applies to any kind of learning, whether it's learning about stinky tofu, leaning how to speak
French, or learning to play the piano. It also applies to learning in math and science. This paper
right here gathered together the results of some 200 studies on active learning in science,
technology, engineering, and math programs. Turns out that one in three people drop out of these
kinds of courses if they are taught in the traditional way with the professor droning away in the
front of the classroom. But only one in five students drops from their course if it's taught with a
professor using active learning, where the students get to actively work the problems themselves.
In other words, the best teachers build breaks into their lectures so that students can actively
work with the materials. Now, if you're a professor or teacher, and you think well, there's just no
time for this just remember that speaking fast and covering a lot of material doesn't mean that the
students are actually learning the material. There are guidelines that can help you cover the
material even while your students are actively learning in your classroom.

I once had a student who was flunking my engineering statistics class. When I questioned him
about it, he said it was because his English was bad. He spoke English as an additional language.
But actually his English was great. It turned out that he just wasn't taking the time to actively work
through the problems himself. He was fooling himself. Looking at worked out solutions right in
front of him and thinking he knew how to solve them himself. He also wasn't working actively with
his team. Once we corrected that problem, and he started working actively with the problems
himself, checking them with others, he began to do much better. As one of the artists for this
MOOC told me, only watching tutorials and avoiding the actual practice is a big problem with art
students who are trying to teach themselves. As another example, let's look at how I helped to
construct the MOOC, Learning How to Learn. I'd never done any camera work or editing before. I
watched YouTube clips to learn how to edit videos and that helped me to get started. But it was
only when I started actively editing videos myself in conjunction with watching the YouTube
instructions, that it really began to stick. One trick I've learned as a teacher is to deliberately put
my hands behind my back when I'm trying to show something to students. It helps keep me from
reaching out and doing whatever I'm trying to ask the student to do. For example, it's always
tempting for me to write an equation or adjust the setting myself, because I already know it, and I
can do it much more quickly. I even do this hands-behind-the-back technique as a mom and as a
grandma. So as a learner, if someone tries to show you by writing or doing it themselves, try to
gently push them away so that you are doing it. More generally do your best to take charge of
whatever you're learning about to put a pen or pencil to paper to take quizzes, to do assignments,
get your hands on it. So you can actively master the material yourself. Be an active group member
in collaborative testing or any group project or assignment. In other words, test, test, test yourself
all the time on anything you really want to learn. If the book's just open there in front of you or
the video is just played right before you, you think you know it, but you don't. Only when you close
the book or turn away from the video and test yourself by seeing if you can do it yourself, do you
really know that you know it. Now, here comes the fade to white, you know what's coming.

Okay, that in video quiz question was totally easy. But we put it there just because it helps
reinforce a vital point and start an effective study habit in this MOOC. Actually, good quiz
questions can be super helpful for tamping down your knowledge, which is why it helps to take
quizzes. If you have one hour of studying versus one hour of taking a test, you'll actually learn far
more when taking the test, even if you don't get the answers to the test, and even if you fail the
test and don't know the answers. Well, at least then you know exactly what questions you want to
find the answers to the next time you sit down to study. You can't actively do everything in every
course all the time. From time to time, all of us especially me [SOUND] are distracted by our
wandering minds. [SOUND] But the more you make use of active learning about the key aspects of
a material, the better your ability to change your thinking to make a MindShift. It can take more
effort to learn actively, so do not be surprised if your brain sometimes finds excuses to shy away
from active learning. Incidentally, working with others is another way of grappling actively with the
material, so that's why it can be so helpful to interact on the discussion forms. In fact, talking with
others is probably more pleasant than any other kind of active learning. Anyway, all of this is what
is really important for you to actively work through the exercises we're suggesting. And sometimes
to interact with others to get the most out of this course, or to get the most of any subject you're
trying to master. Incidentally, MOOCs like this one can be better than just watching a television
show about what you're trying to learn. That's because MOOCs give you the opportunity to
actively practice with the material, and interact with others, as well as just listen to your professor.
So remember, in this course, and every subject or area where you really want to master the
material, keep yourself working actively. I'm Barbara Oakley. Happy MindShift.

1-4 The Value of Your Past

Thomas Kuhn was a detective. He wasn't your ordinary detective. For one thing, he'd gotten his
doctorate in physics from Harvard University. For another, after he'd gotten his doctorate, he'd
done a major mind shift and morphed to become a historian of science. He held professorships at
the University of California, Berkeley, then at Princeton, and finally at MIT. Kuhn was interested in
the process of how science unfolds. Is it just a steady accumulation of bits and pieces that
gradually build our understanding of the real world? Or, is it more punctuated? A breakthrough
here, a breakthrough there? Interestingly, Kuhn found there's a lot of what's called normal
science. Normal science takes an idea or approach and fleshes it out to build our knowledge base.
Normal science is like pottering along with Isaac Newton's theories about how the universe works.
Or with the idea that stress causes gastric ulcers. An idea that virtually every scientist working in
the field took for granted. But every once in a while, what can be called a paradigm shift happens.
Basically someone takes the same information that everyone else sees, sort of like seeing a duck.
See the beak right here? And they interpret it, they see it in a completely different way. They
suddenly see, for example, that the duck can also be a rabbit. See how the rabbit ears point
upwards?

So as science unfolds, there are periods of normal science. Expanding the knowledge base using
normal methodology. Physicists might use Newton's laws to calculate the motion of the planets.
Scientists might work to have a better understanding of the acidic environment of the stomach.
Knowledge expands out in the usual way as scientists do their work. But, as science is marching
placidly along someone comes along who's able to see things in a brand new way. A paradigm
shift. For example, Einstein was able to see through the usual Newtonian physics, to view the
universe in a different, more relativistic way. And Nobel Prize winner Barry Marshall famously gave
himself an ulcer, along with some very bad breath, by drinking a concoction of the bacteria
Helicobacter pylori. So that he could convince his critics that it was bacteria, not stress, that was
the primary cause of ulcers. So indeed, the scientific process unfolds with punctuations. Periods of
normal science that are then interrupted by a paradigm shift which shapes how normal science
continues to unfold, until the next paradigm shift. And so on. Paradigm shifts allow us to have
enormous new gains in our creative understanding of the world. So what kind of people make
paradigm shifts? Those kinds of mind shifts that allowed them to see the world around them in
new ways? Kuhn found that there were two types of mind shifters. One type was young people,
people who hadn't yet been indoctrinated into seeing the world in the same way that everybody
else did. With their youthful eyes, they can see with fresh perspectives. Now, if you don't qualify
as a young person, you're probably thinking, that knocks me out then! I'm not in my teens or 20s,
so no breakthroughs for me. But hang on. There was a second group of people. People who were
older but who were just as innovative as those young people. These were people who had
switched disciplines or careers. It was the change in focus, the career switch, that allowed the
second older group to see with fresh eyes. Often, it allowed them to bring their seemingly
unrelated prior knowledge to the table in new ways that helped them to innovate. These insights
from science can also help us understand creativity and innovation in our everyday lives and
careers. Let's take me. In my late teens and early 20s, I learned Russian. Then in my late 20s, I
decided to start learning math and science. You might think that my time spent learning Russian
was a waste. It wouldn't help once I switched my focus to engineering. But that's actually not at all
true. Learning Russian gave me a lot of the insight about the learning process more generally. And
I found that learning insight that I'd gained, transferred to help me be better in learning math and
science. The same repetition, deliberate practice on the hard stuff, and flexible interleaving that
helped me to successfully learn Russian and helped me to be successful when I started to begin to
learn math and science. We see this phenomenon constantly in many fields. A background in
sports can come in handy in a marketing career. Insights from a former career as an event planner
can help you be a better software programmer. A hobby playing action-style video games can
actually sharpen your mind and even your eyesight. Head towards the discussion forum after this
video and tell others about the unexpected assets you've brought into your work from your past
seemingly unconnected knowledge. Feel free to also tell others how you've broken through initial
feelings of incompetence on your way to learning something new. As you post your own thoughts,
you'll be surprised to find the fantastic and inspirational stories of others. Old or young, you may
feel like you have a childlike incompetence when you're learning something new or you're
changing disciplines or careers. This is very typical. But keep in mind that the feelings of
incompetence will gradually pass. The creative power that you can bring to the table because of
your willingness to change can be invaluable. It might even lead you to start a paradigm shift of
your own. [MUSIC]

1-5 Mastery Learning

I started to try to take physics in my Senior year of high school, but I was flunking so badly, they
finally took me out of the class. I stayed away from science and math as much as I possibly could.
Why would I punish myself by trying to study subjects I obviously had no talent for? Of course, the
fact that I'm now a professor of engineering tells you I was dead wrong about what I could develop
a talent for. Some people do find some subjects easier to learn than others. But say, if your
brother seems naturally smarter than you at math, this doesn't mean you can't learn the subject
yourself. In fact, you may actually sometimes be even more creative than your brother with math,
because you're using a different set of neural circuits than he is. When we go through school, we
tend to focus on areas that we're thought to be good at. If we happen to find math easy and
English more difficult, for example, we'll tend to take more math courses, if we can, and take
fewer English courses. After all, taking English could hurt our grade point average. And if we're
better at English, and not so good at math, we'll focus on English courses and skip the math. This
means we tend to get more practice at what we're already kind of good at, so we get even better
at it. But the flip side is, we don't get as much practice in other areas and so we tend to lag behind
in them. And if we do go to college, where we have to pick a major, this tendency is sharpened
even further. All this relates to a concept called mastery learning. In old-fashioned instruction, the
kind you've probably experienced in school, all the students in a class are given the same amount
of instruction time to learn the material. In mastery learning, on the other hand, it's understood
that different students may need different amounts of instruction time and different amounts of
practice in order to master the material, even though they all eventually do master the material. In
fact, research is showing the value of mastery learning, where you can retake quiz variants over
and over again, until you feel comfortable with the material. You can re-watch lectures if you need
to, or even get different explanations of the material. This approach, as researchers are
discovering, is one of the best methods for helping people to gain expertise, even with material
they never thought they could learn before. There's all sorts of evidence of how, once you begin
practicing in some area, your brain starts to develop the new neural architecture that supports
your learning. I once met a taxi driver in London who'd been a complete failure in high school. But
he'd spent several years studying for the London taxi driver's examination, which is a very intense
test where thousands of different routes must be internalized.
After he passed, he began realizing that his brain seemed different. He could focus and
concentrate more effectively. And indeed, research has shown that by studying for the London taxi
driver test and then actually practicing his spatial abilities as a driver, this fellow was able to
fundamentally change his brain, increasing the size of his hippocampus, an important area in
learning. What's great is that these new forms of online learning, such as MOOCs like this one,
allow for mastery learning. In fact, you can actually even flunk classes completely and still turn out
to be a successful learner. Pat Bowden, for example, is a retired bank officer from Queensland,
Australia. Her husband mentioned MOOC-taking as a hobby for her retirement. Pat saw it as a
chance to learn about and master subjects she hadn't been able to study when she was younger.
>> I've always been interested in astronomy, so I decided to do an astronomy MOOC. Soon we
were into forces, gravity, and sending rockets to Mars. By week two, I was lost. I hadn't done any
physics for 40 years and failed the course. But it didn't stop me. Instead of complex calculations, I
let the heavy physics flow right past as I chose which videos to watch purely for interest.

It was enlightening to realize I didn't have to pass the course. I could still learn something from it.

Later I tried another astronomy course, and then another, and yes, finally I passed. Sometimes, I
take a MOOC more than once to consolidate my knowledge. Completing a course is very fulfilling,
but no one else needs to know if you give up on one.

Taking notes really helps me understand and get more out of a course. So far, I've completed 71
MOOCs, and failed or not finished about 15 more. >> And Do Edmond Sanou is a third-year
statistics student from Burkina Faso. >> Online classes are both interesting and relaxing. I choose
when I want to take classes. I can also replay videos until I understand the key ideas. I can't do that
with my teachers in a regular class. Online is the best way I found to learn new skills. >> Overall,
then, it helps to remember that any kind of learning is a little bit like learning to drive a car. You
may not have the abilities of Ayrton Senna, the brilliant Brazilian race car driver who, after a lot of
practice, became one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time. But that certainly doesn't
mean that you can't or shouldn't learn to drive if you have the opportunity. Some people may take
longer to learn to drive than others. But most people, including me, can learn to drive.

And you can use those driving skills to drive to some wonderful places. Learning is for everyone,
and online learning makes some of the best approaches to learning, like mastery learning, much
easier. [MUSIC]

1-6 Focused Versus Diffuse – Furthering Your Understanding

In our previous MOOC, Learning How to Learn, we described the two very different modes of
operation of the brain, focused and diffuse. Focused, if you'll remember, is when you're
concentrating. Diffuse is when you're not thinking about anything at all in particular. We used a
pinball machine metaphor to explain these two different modes. In the focused mode, the rubber
bumpers of the brain were closer together, while in the diffuse mode, they were farther apart.
Your thoughts could bounce further, by analogy, this is why when you're focusing hard on a
problem, you sometimes get stuck within the tight spaces of the bumpers. And you can't see
another, better way to approach the problem.
We also described the importance of developing a library of neural chunks. Well practiced, mental
patterns, that you can easily draw into your mind. This is all part of the process of gaining expertise
in a subject. Metaphors and analogies can make learning super simple. Remember, these
metaphors and analogies often just serve to give us a sense of key ideas. Whenever we've reached
the limits of an analogy for helping us to understand something, we can always just throw that
analogy away and pick up a new one. Of course, there's often many different analogies that we
can use to explain any concept. So let's review, while having a little fun by describing the focus and
diffuse modes using some different analogies. It turns out that your brain puts its energy, for the
most part, into either the focused mode or the diffuse mode. It can't be in both modes at same
time, not unless you're ingesting certain forms of mushrooms and we're certainly not suggesting
you do that. Focused mode is what happens when you concentrate, it turns on virtually instantly.
Diffuse mode, on the other hand, is when you're not concentrating on anything. Instead, it's when
your thoughts are moving randomly, like when you're sitting on a bus, standing in a shower or
going for a walk. Diffuse mode kind of sneaks up on you, you're often not aware of having fallen
into the diffuse mode. So, let's look a little more closely at what's going on in the focused versus
the diffuse modes. Here's a top scale view looking down onto your brain, you can see the little ears
right here, and the nose is on the top. And we know that the brain is kind of like a set of networks,
this is the focused mode network. Look how small those little meshes are, these are sometimes
called task positive networks. Because different parts of the networks are activated depending on
what task you're working on. Multiplication say, versus conjugating a verb in Spanish or kicking a
soccer ball. What we call the diffuse mode is like a different set of networks, with much bigger
meshes. Diffuse mode is actually a catchall term that we use to signify any of the neural resting
states. The most prominent resting state, incidentally, is called the default mode network. The
thing about the diffuse mode, is that it helps us to make these intuitive leaps, connections
between new ideas you didn't realize were connected. The diffuse mode has another purpose as
well, it's the mode we fall into when we're trying to consolidate and understand new information.
We'll get to that in just a minute, the diffuse mode only turns on when you aren't thinking about
anything in particular. So you can't just concentrate and turn it on like you can with the focused
mode. But the relaxed, diffuse mode, is the mode that often does that background processing that
helps us solve difficult problems and understand difficult concepts. This is why, when you're
concentrating intently on something, and you find yourself getting really frustrated, the best thing
you can do is often to get your concentration off what you're trying to understand. Getting your
attention off the topic helps open up the very different diffuse mode networks, and lets your brain
find new paths for thinking about what you're trying to understand. Then, when you later return
to focusing, you'll find yourself in a better place, mentally. The problem or the concept will
suddenly start to make sense. Incidentally, the habit of writing down a problem that you're trying
to solve before going to bed will help you calm your mind and let your nighttime brain think of a
solution. There's actually another, very different way, to think about focused and diffuse modes
and that's using something called an excavator. When you focus on something, your mind is in
receiving mode, information is pouring in. When you're in diffuse mode, on the other hand, your
brain is turning around, so to speak, and placing that new information in other parts of your brain.
Organizing and making sense of the new material, you can only be in one mode at the same time.
The inputting focused mode or the organizing, diffuse mode, where the brain is consolidating that
information. This is why it's really important to take little study breaks, and give yourself time
where you're not focusing on the material at hand. The little break is what helps the brain
consolidate the new information so it can later think more creatively about it. Go ahead, take a
little break now, try to move around a little while you do it. You'll be surprised at how much it
refreshes you. [MUSIC]

1-7 Should You Listen to Music When You're Studying?

[MUSIC] What would you like research to tell you? Would you like it to say it's okay to listen to
music when you're studying? Or would you rather that research would find that it's better not to
listen to music when you're studying?

Let's pause for a moment to take a survey and see what you think.

I have a little insight for you. Whatever you wanted that research to tell you, whether it was to
listen to music or not to listen to music, you can find research that will back you up. Here's what
we do know. If the music is fast and loud, it disrupts reading comprehension,

in part because you use some of the same areas of the brain to process music as you do to process
language. Also, music with lyrics is more distracting than music without lyrics. On the other hand,
researchers have found that if you're listening to a favorite style of music it could enhance your
studies. Or if it's something you don't like it could detract. In the final analysis, all this means that
when it comes to music you should use commonsense and discover what works best for you.

1-8 Learning Something Hard? The Coffee Shop Trick

When we're studying we often drink caffeine, which enhances focus by diminishing the day
dreaming alpha waves in our brain.

This effect is strongest for about an hour after drinking a cup of coffee or tea. Although the
energizing can persist about eight hours, which is why it's sometimes better to avoid that evening
cup of coffee. But when you're doing something that is cognitively difficult, coffee isn't the only
booster. You're often subconsciously using other tricks to increase your focus. For example, if
you're trying to remember something, you tend to avert your gaze. Which avoids overloading your
working memory with unnecessary extra visual information from your environment. Even just
closing your eyes can help you ignore distractors when you're trying to bring something to mind.
Let's be honest here. Memorizing comes more easily for some people than others. Researchers
still aren't quite sure why, although there's some evidence that having the right genes helps. But
believe it or not, being a good memorizer can cause problems. In medical schools for example,
when there's a big anatomy test, ordinary medical students spend weeks preparing. They will
practice over and over again to memorize thousands of terms in their related functions. Gifted
memorizers, on the other hand, can procrastinate until just a few days before the test, spend a
few hours glancing over the material, and they can still do well. However, when these same
memorizing aces are faced with a different type of medical school exam, for example a test related
to how the heart functions, they find that just a few hours of last minute cramming just don't cut
it. Medical school advisors can sometimes be startled to find these seemingly star students
flunking certain sections of the curriculum. It seems that quickly memorizing anatomical terms
related to the heart doesn't allow you to understand and answer questions about the heart's
complex function. This is a reminder that simple focused concentration in memorization often isn't
enough when we're trying to understand a complicated issue. It takes time to understand
complicated systems. Whether we're trying to understand how to put together a new lighting rig,
[LAUGH] figuring out a pumping system of a human heart, or analyzing the multifaceted causes of
World War II. To untangle such complicated subjects, we often need to alternate a tight focus on
the issue at hand with steps back to look at the bigger picture. Our need for occasional distraction
during any given learning session may arise from these competing type focus versus big picture
kinds of needs. Basically, it's focused versus diffuse modes. The focus mode is primarily centered in
the prefrontal cortex, the front part of the brain. The diffuse mode, on the other hand, involves a
network connecting more wide spread areas of the brain. The more extensive nature of diffused
thinking is why it's often related to the unexpected connections that lie at the heart of creativity.
Activities involving the diffuse mode like walking, or riding a bus, relaxing, or falling asleep, are
more likely to lead you to creative ideas that can seem to arise from nowhere. If we're in a very
quiet environment, that quietness can hype up the focused mode attention circuits while
simultaneously deactivating the diffuse mode. This is why quiet environments are ideal when
we're doing something that demands full concentrated attention, like doing our taxes or working
on a difficult problem on a test. But sometimes we're trying to understand bigger picture sorts of
issues like cardiac function or computer network connectivity. In that case, a little sporadic noise,
like a snippet of conversation with or the clatter of dishes in the back round of a coffee shop can
help. This is because that bit of noise temporarily allows the longer range diffuse network to pop
up. So, we briefly get a new perspective. This is so effective that there are even apps with coffee
shop sounds. In the discussion forum, you might want to describe some of your favorite ideas for
places to study and unexpected apps that have helped your learning. Of course, there can come a
point when there's just too much noise, which can keep you from concentrating at all. Finding a
good learning environment can take a bit of exploration. But that's good because it keeps you
from getting too accustomed to any one study place, which can make your learning more effective.
[MUSIC]

1-9 Your environment affects who you are

What do you feel when you walk into a cathedral?

Light is streaming in through the stained glass. The ceiling soars above your head.

Cavernous echoes create a sense of a vast space.

It smells old. Compared to the world outside, your brain tells you that this space is sacred.

It makes you feel different. It elicits different thoughts. You are different person inside the
cathedral.

Now walk in to a stadium filled with 100,000 fans for a football game. The sights are brighter than
outside the stadium, and the sounds are much louder. >> [APPLAUSE] >> The crowd roars when a
goal is stored.
You are caught up in the emotional moment. This is why we still go to live sporting events, even
though the camera angles are much, much better on TV.

These experiences have an impact on your brain. Whether you immerse yourself in a quiet,
contemplative environment, or a hyper-stimulated one, you are changing your thought patterns,
and that changes your brain. Different emotional states, different memories, different brain. Is
your environment helping you to achieve our goals? Sometimes even small changes in your
environment can lead to big differences over time.

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies where I work is a special place. As you approach the Salk
Institute from outside, it looks like a concrete fortress. But as you enter the central courtyard,
there is a dramatic change. A broad expands of travertine stretches out to the Pacific Ocean with
towers rising along the sides, anchoring the other worldly space. The Salk Institute was designed
by Louis Khan, a famous architect working together with Jonas Salk, who invented the vaccine that
cured polio in the 1950s. The building is an architectural landmark. Jonas was a medical researcher
but he founded an institute whose mission was basic science. Our motto, cures begin here. Salk
reinvented himself as a visionary, and wanted his institute to inspire the researchers working there
to make important scientific breakthroughs, and we have.

I am inspired every day when I arrive for work. The entrance opens onto the tea room, the heart of
my lab. Students in my lab come from many countries and have diverse backgrounds. And they all
gather around the tea table every day at 3:30. Some of the most important scientific ideas from
my lab arose from tea time discussions.

The ceilings in my lab are 10 feet high. Studies have shown that people think and act differently in
environments with high ceilings. They think more freely and abstractly. People in a room with low
ceilings are more likely to focus on the specifics.

All of these factors are important for building a community of passionate and creative researchers.
Now let's walk into a hospital.

They are remarkably similar in their layout in every city and almost all countries. In 2004, I
attended a workshop in Woods Hole, Massachusetts sponsored by the Academy of Neuroscience
for Architecture that explored the design of health care facilities. The workshop was an eye
opener. Based on what we know about environments that promote health and healing, modern
hospitals could not be more badly designed. Look! First, let's look at the lighting.

Many studies have shown that lighting has a pervasive effect on physiology and behavior. Outdoor
light promotes arousal. Dark indoor lighting provokes inactivity. Large windows with views of
nature encourage healing. Rooms with small windows overlooking parking lots are depressing.

The sickest patients are sent to the intensive care unit, where there are no windows, and the light
is kept at the same level all day long.

We have a circadian clock that regulates awake and sleep cycles, which are entrained by bright
light.

When you travel to a distant time zone you feel disoriented for days until your circadian clock has
shifted.
Putting a patient into constant lighting untethers their brain, making it clueless about the time of
day.

Sound is also an important part of the healing environment. Alarms can go off any time of the day
or night in a hospital to alert the staff of an emergency.

This also alarms the brains of the sick people who have enough to worry about without a
menacing sound.

Good nutrition is essential to building a strong body and healthy brain.

I have eaten some of the worst food ever in hospitals, unhealthy choices, poorly prepared, go
figure. Finally and above all, it is stressful to live in an unpredictable environment. The privacy of
hospital patients can be invaded any time of the day or night for an examination, a teaching
moment, a blood draw, or even more invasive procedures. If you were worried about your health
before arriving at a hospital, the environment there will amplify your worries.

Look around you and notice your environment.

Is it conducive to your goals? Is there a way that it can be changed? Sometimes, just changing your
walking route can brighten your surroundings. [MUSIC]

1-10 The Changing World – Matching Aspirations with Opportunity

Horses have been horses the way we know them today for hundreds of thousands of years. In
previous evolutionary times, people just ate them, along with buffalo and pretty much any other
big game they came across. But about 6,000 years ago, when people figured out that horses could
actually be ridden instead of just eaten, the human world started changing dramatically. Suddenly,
people could get from place to place a lot more easily, a lot more easily. And this had profound
effects on the development of human societies. For example, in the late Middle Ages, the Mongol
Empire grew to be one of the largest empires in history, in part because of the tough, scruffy
Mongolian horses they used in battle. This is why some argue that the simple idea of the stirrup on
a horse's saddle, which gave much greater stability for the rider, was as important an invention as
the printing press. We can see the power of the horse even in the recent centuries.

In the 1700s for example, in the Midwestern plains of the United States, an extraordinary people
came into prominence, the Native American group known as the Comanche. They commanded
vast swathes of land in what is now Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma. The Comanche
took the culture of the horse to one of the highest levels in human history. Their equine expertise
astonished all who knew them. They could outride pretty much anyone, hooking their legs across
their ponies' backs and firing arrows under their ponies' necks, keeping their enemies at bay, while
using their horse as a protective cover. In the 1700's in fact, all around the world, there were a
myriad of jobs that related to horses. Blacksmiths were needed for horses' shoes and to fashion
stirrups and bits. There was a demand for wagon, cart, buggy, plow, and harness makers, riders,
drivers, couriers, herders. Even if you weren't making or doing something directly related to
horses, you still needed to be able to handle a horse, whether you were a monarch, a mercenary
or a minister. Horses were an important part of almost everyone's lives, as important in some
ways as the computer or smartphone is today. But of course, eras and cultures change. From the
horse, we eventually transitioned to the automobile, and all sorts of technologies begin to arise
based on the internal combustion engine, from snowmobiles to bulldozers, to jet aircraft.
Communications began to play a powerful role too, with the emergence first of the telegraph,
then the telephone, and then television, satellites, and of course the Internet.

And electrical power and safe, clean sources for that power are still of prime importance. So we're
living nowadays in a world that's very unlike that of the 1700s. But what our development sense
then shows is that people's abilities to learn new things and to grapple with new ideas, to make
mindshifts, are the key element in producing vibrant and creative societies, and in helping people
to live to their full potential. It's important to be able to match your aspirations and passions with
the opportunities that surround you today, as well as the opportunities that will unfold in the days,
months and years to come. You want to look at yourself, your career, your knowledge base, with
the same sort of big picture perspective that we've just used to consider the development of
human societies over the last few centuries. One idea in particular is especially important, which is
that whatever skill set and knowledge base you may already have related to your career, your
family and children, or your hobbies, it's vital to keep in mind that we're living in a world where at
least some passing knowledge of computers, technology, math and science is as important as the
knowledge of horsemanship was in centuries gone by. Everyone needs passion in their lives, things
you like and enjoy and are good at, but an important part of what we'll be talking about in this
MOOC is broadening your passions. That is, we want to encourage you to explore new directions
in learning that might not have felt comfortable for you before. If you're a natural techie type, we
want to encourage you to broaden your passions and skill set into non-technical areas. Maybe
public speaking, or writing, or art. If you're a non-techie type, we'd like to encourage you to go the
other way, towards gathering some analytical and technical skills in your arsenal. Whatever your
age and whatever your previous training, you want to be able to be flexible and open, and to be
able to change and adapt in today's much more rapidly changing world. Mindshift is a MOOC
designed to provide a framework for your change, even as you remain true to yourself. [MUSIC]

1-11 Natural Passions, Career Choice, and Gender

We should take a few minutes here to touch on the differences between men and women when it
comes to natural passions. A biggie here is the hormone testosterone. Testosterone has lots of
effects, especially on guys, because guys have lots more of it. Testosterone makes for mustaches,
and maybe a bit more cocky behavior, and all sorts of guy things that I tend to kind of like. Even in
the womb, guys generally have lots more testosterone than gals. Okay, here I want to show a chart
that reveals how testosterone makes a difference in the development of boys and girls math
abilities.

Well, [LAUGH] obviously, there isn't really an effect. Where testosterone does have an effect, at
least early on, is in verbal abilities. As infants and children develop, it turns out that testosterone
can serve as a sort of developmental drag on verbal abilities. So little boys, who have more
testosterone, tend on average to get a bit delayed behind girls in their verbal development. This is
part of why girls, on average, are more verbally advanced than boys. Remember, boys and girls are
roughly equivalent on average in their math and science skills. But when you start to put things
together, on average, a girl can look within herself and her own abilities and say, hey, you know
what, I'm kind of better at verbal sorts of things. And it's true. A boy, on the other hand, can look
within himself, and say, hey, I'm a little better at math kind of things and that's true too. And all of
these happen even though girls and boys have roughly the same basic ability to do math.

Keep in mind that this is just an average. Individuals can vary quite a bit. And while boys can catch
up later in their verbal development, by then, their self image has already begun to solidify. We
often develop passions about what we're really good at. As it turns out, it seems easier for girls to
get good at subjects requiring strong verbal skills. For boys, quantitative subjects can seem easier
than those involving verbal skills. Remember, again this is even though boys and girls have roughly
the same basic abilities to do math and science. Unfortunately, what all this does mean is that girls
frequent big advantage. Their more advanced verbal skills can inadvertently also serve as a
disadvantage. Because of their early verbal advantage, women can sometimes come to believe
that their passions lie in language-oriented areas which accounts for part of the reason that there
are a fewer women in the technical and scientific fields. Despite the fact that women, as well as
men, are strongly needed in those fields. Passions develop about what we're good at but some
things take longer for us to get good at. In fact, research has shown that if something seems hard
for us, we can actually learn it better than if it was straightforward and easy. All of this can have a
bearing on what career paths we tend to choose, especially when we hear advice like, follow your
passion which is often taken to mean, do what comes easiest for you. In the discussion forum,
describe what you've done or plan to do to broaden your passions in learning, going beyond what
you feel you're naturally good at. You can help inspire us all. I'm Barbara Oakley, happy Mindshift.
[MUSIC]

Optional Bonus Video: Nelson Dellis Memory Tips #1

Hello, how you doing? My name's Nelson Dellis. What I'm going to do is show you how to
memorize something you can use right now. Let's go. [MUSIC] All right, so what we're going to
learn today, I'm going to make you make you memorize ten seemingly pretty random things. Cool?
>> [SOUND] >> Cool. The first thing we're going to do is we're going to choose ten body parts.
We're going to start at the top of our head, that's going to be the first one. Then we're going to
come down to our ears, that's two. Our eyes, this area, three. The nose, four. The mouth, five. The
chin, six. The armpit, seven. Belly button chest area eight. The knees nine. And then down on the
floor on my feet will be ten. Very simple. So, first things first, we're at the top of our head. I want
you to picture some chopsticks. >> [NOISE] >> There's some chopsticks on the top of my head,
kind of picking out some sushi, whatever. There's two wooden sticks stuck in my hair. Okay, next,
we're down to the ears, all right. Delicious Indian curry dish.

Now really imagine you can taste it. It's overflowing, coming out of my ears. The actual sauce is
hot and smells delicious you want to eat it, it's coming out of my ears. >> [NOISE] >> Next we got a
hamburger. >> [NOISE] >> And that's going to go on the eyes. And imagine a burger is coming out
of your eyes or that there's a burger blocking your eye. The juices from the beef coming out of
your eye dripping down your cheek like a tear of beef sauce. All right, next, we're at the nose. We
have this person putting a palm into the dough. So I want you to remember in dough. >> [NOISE]
>> Into the dough, in dough. And so imagine that's happening on my nose, so you're going to
imagine someone pressing dough into my nose.

All right, the next one, on the mouth, we're going to picture a bra. >> [NOISE] >> I want you to
imagine a bra is just coming out of my mouth. I've got it deep down in my throat, I'm just like
pulling it out and there it is, a bra coming out of my mouth.

We move down to the chin. I want you to picture a pack of cards just resting on my chin. >>
[NOISE] >> And there's a dealer who wants to just deal these cards, these individual cards from the
pack off of my chin. So that goes right there. So we've done the whole face. The next thing I want
you to picture is that I lift my armpit, and splurting out of my armpit are a bunch of Cheerio type
cereal. Boom. >> [NOISE] >> Next, we're down at the bellybutton right. I want you to imagine that
out of my bellybutton is a gun just firing all sorts of lint and gross bellybutton stuff out at you. And
what sound does it make? Bang, right? Bang. >> [NOISE] >> Imagine that right here, bang. So down
here on the knees. Let's just imagine that we have a bunch of martini and vodka on the knees. >>
[NOISE] >> So this knee is the vodka and I pour it into this glass here, somehow like that. And now
down to the feet. I have boots on, why not, because that's memorable. Down on the floor is a pan.
>> [SOUND] >> It's cooking something off of the floor, and it smells delicious. You just imagine the
pan on the floor. You got all that? I hope so, and I want you to take a few minutes just to see if you
can remember, starting at my head, and down to my feet, what the ten things were. I'm going to
go do something while you do that. I'll be right back. [MUSIC] All right, that should've given you
enough time to review everything. Let's go over them one more time just to see if you got them.
First thing was the chopsticks on my head.

Out of my ear was the chicken curry the Indian dish. On my eye was a hamburger. Out of my nose
was some dough that I was pushing in. Out of my mouth was a very long and sexy bra.

Out of my chin there was a dealer dealing out cards from a pack of cards. Then we go to my
armpits. What was coming out of it? Cheerios. Out of my bellybutton, bang, like a gun. On my
knees, martini glass with vodka in it. And then finally, on the floor the pan cooking stuff by my
funky boots.

Now what on earth does any of that mean? What I had you memorize are the ten most populated
countries in the world. Here's how. What was on my head? Chopsticks, China. Curry dish, India.
Hamburger, America. Dough that you're pressing in, Indonesia.

The bra, Brazil.

Pack of cards, Pakistan. Cheerios, Nicheerio, Nigeria.

Bangladesh. Where else do you get vodka, but in Russia. And finally, Pan Japan. So without looking
at those pictures you can say, the ten most populated countries in the world. China, India, USA,
Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Nicheerio, Bangladesh, Russia, and Japan. Pretty easy, right?
Check you out on the next video. [MUSIC]