LHTL - Glossary of Terms Jun 16 2016

Learning
How to Learn – Glossary of Terms
Course video/s
back-‐up plan • Summing Up Procrastination

The action/s you will take if your first plan fails. For example, if your plan for
studying math involves a study group but you find the group is too often
distracted from working, your back-‐up plan might be to find just one other
student to work with, or to work independently on the problems and check your
answers against solutions provided by your teacher.
belief (habit) • Zombies Everywhere

The conviction that a habit is unavoidable behaviour. Changing a habit means • Harnessing Your Zombies to Help
changing this underlying belief. You
big picture • Introduction to the Focused and

Overall understanding of an entire situation or problem. Diffuse Modes
• How to Form a Chunk – Part 2
• The Value of a Library of Chunks
• Summary Week 2
• Creating Meaningful Groups and
the Memory Palace Technique
• The Value of Teamwork
• Final Helpful Hints for Tests
• Summary Week 4
blind spot • The Value of Teamwork

An area that you have a tendency to ignore or know little about.
chunk • Introduction to Chunking

A package of information, made up of separate items which you have united in • What is a Chunk?
your memory through association or meaning. For example, a musical chord on
the guitar can be a chunk—several chords can be combined together to become a
larger chunk. An individual dance movement might be one chunk—several
movements combined together to form a larger chunk. Ultimately, an entire well-‐
practiced dance can be conceived of as a chunk. In mathematics, one step in
solving a problem can be a chunk. Several such chunks can be combined into a
larger chunk which comprises the entire problem-‐solving strategy.
What we in LHTL refer to as a “neural chunk” is the neural pattern that
corresponds to given chunk of information. See the excellent research of
Alessandro Guida, Fernand Gobet and their colleagues, (for example, Guida, A, et
al. "Functional cerebral reorganization: a signature of expertise? Reexamining
Guida, Gobet, Tardieu, and Nicolas' (2012) two-‐stage framework." Frontiers in
Human Neuroscience 7 (2013): 590; and Guida, A, et al. "Functional cerebral
reorganization: a signature of expertise? Reexamining Guida, Gobet, Tardieu, and
Nicolas' (2012) two-‐stage framework." Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7 (2013):
590.) “Expert on expert” Anders Ericsson calls neural chunks “mental
representations.”
chunking • What is a Chunk?
Chunking is the act of grouping or organizing lists of information or concepts into • How to Form a Chunk -‐ Part 2
compact packages of information that are easier for your mind to access. See also • The Value of a Library of Chunks
chunk. • Summary (Week 2)
• Zombies Everywhere
• No Need for Genius Envy
• Wrap Up to the Course
consolidation (memory) • What is Long Term Memory?

The physical and psychological changes that take place as the brain organizes and
restructures information to make it a permanent part of memory.
(Definition from BrainFacts.org: Neuroscience Core Concepts, Glossary of Terms)
cramming • Practice Makes Permanent

Last-‐minute, intensive study sessions done just before a test or examination. • Summary Video for Module 1
• Tackling Procrastination: It’s
easier and more valuable than
you think
• Summing Up Procrastination
• What is Long Term Memory?
cue (habit) • A Procrastination Preview

The trigger that launches a habitual response. Triggers are usually a location, time • Illusions of Competence
of day, emotional state, a reaction to other people, or to something that just • Tackling Procrastination: It’s
happened. easier and more valuable than
you think
• Harnessing Your Zombies to Help
You
default-‐mode network • What is Learning?

The group of brain regions that increase in activity when your brain is in its resting
state, i.e. not focused on an external activity. See Raichle, ME. "The brain's default
mode network." Annu Rev Neurosci 38 (2015): 433-‐447.See also diffuse mode.
deliberate practice • Overlearning, Choking,

Deliberately focusing your studies on the more difficult material which you still Einstellung, and Interleaving
have to master, to balance the illusions of competence which can result from • No Need for Genius Envy
repeated practice of the things you’ve already mastered. (For a complete
discussion of this important concept by a key researcher in this area, see Ericsson,
KA, and R Pool. Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise: Eamon
Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2016.)
diffuse mode • Introduction to the Focused and

A relaxed style/mode of thinking in which your thoughts are free to wander. You Diffuse Modes
are likely to be in diffuse mode when you’re taking a shower, or walking to the • Using the Focused & Diffuse
bus stop (while not deliberately thinking of something you are trying to learn or Modes – or, a little Dali will do
understand). Diffuse mode is a term we use in Learning How to Learn to • Practice Makes Permanent
encompass, not only the default mode network, but the many different neural • The Importance of Sleep in
resting states. (For a description of the the broader set of neural resting states, Learning
see Moussa, M, et al. "Consistency of network modules in resting-‐state fMRI • Summary Video for Module 1
connectome data." PLoS ONE 7, 8 (2012): e44428.) • What is a Chunk?
• Juggling Life and Learning
• Hard Start Jump to Easy
• Wrap Up to the Course by
Terrence Sejnowski and Barbara
Oakley
Einstellung • Overlearning, Choking,

Getting stuck on the wrong approach to a problem. This occurs when your Einstellung, and Interleaving
predisposition to solve a problem in a certain way prevents you from finding a • Create a Lively Visual Metaphor
better idea or solution, or keeps you from being flexible enough to accept new or of Analogy
better solutions. • No Need for Genius Envy
flashcard/s • Diving Deeper into Memory

A physical card (or ‘digital card’) that has a small amount of information on the
front with more detail related to that information on the back, used by students
or teachers to test recall.
focused mode • Introduction to the Focused and

Deliberately concentrating your attention on something you are trying to learn, Diffuse Modes
understand or work on. Use of “focused mode” essentially means you are using • Using the Focused & Diffuse
your working memory. Modes – or, a little Dali will do
• The Importance of Sleep in
Learning
• Summary Video for Module 1
• What is a Chunk?
• The Value of TeamWork
Oakley
Oakley
habit
An acquired behaviour pattern repeated until it becomes automatic or
involuntary. There are four parts of habit: cue, routine, reward and belief (see
separate entry for each).
highlighting • Summary Week 2

Using a fluorescent marker pen to overlay transparent colour on text. • Illusions of Competence
illusions of competence • Illusions of Competence
The mistaken belief that because the material to be learned is right in front of you • Summary (Week 2)
it’s also lodged firmly in your brain. For example, re-‐reading the highlighted parts
of a textbook or following a worked-‐out solution can lead you to believe you
know the material before you have done the work required to learn it. This is a
manifestation of the Dunning-‐Kruger effect. (See the work of Jeff Karpicke eg
Karpicke, JD, and PJ Grimaldi. "Retrieval-‐based learning: A perspective for
enhancing meaningful learning." Educational Psychology Review 24, 3 (2012):
401-‐418.)
imposter syndrome • No Need for Genius Envy

Persistent feelings of inadequacy experienced despite evidence of competence,
accompanied by a fear of being exposed as an imposter, or fraud. People feeling
this way often attribute their advancement and successes to luck or timing, or to
other people’s mistaken belief in the imposter’s abilities.
interleaving • Introduction to Chunking

Mixing up the types of problems or situations you are working on so that you • Overlearning, Choking,
need to switch between different techniques or strategies. (For detailed Einstellung, and Interleaving
explanation, refer to Spacing and Interleaving of Study and Practice, page 5.) • No Need for Genius Envy
Law of Serendipity • The Value of a Library of Chunks

This phrase isn’t a law at all, but an expression that means that when you attempt • Summary (Week 2)
something, lucky coincidences often help you accomplish it. For example, imagine • Juggling Life and Learning
you plan a trip to a foreign country where you don’t know the language. Luckily,
you meet someone in the airplane who speaks your language, and is going to the
same place.
long-‐term memory • Introduction to Memory

Long-‐term memory is the memory system that deals with the large number of • Summary Video for Module 1
permanent memories stored in the brain. You can think of it as a storage • What Motivates You?
warehouse for your memories. • Overlearning, Chunking,
Einstellung, and Interleaving
• Introduction to Procrastination
and Memory
• Diving Deeper into Memory
memorable sentence • Creating Meaningful Groups and

A mnemonic device that uses a sentence to help you remember a list of items. For the Memory Palace Technique
example, the order of planets can be remembered with “Mary Vine Eats • Summing Up Memory
Marmalade Jam Sometimes Under Newspaper” (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).
memory palace technique • Creating Meaningful Groups and

A mnemonic device that can help you group and remember things by using the the Memory Palace Technique
layout of a familiar place as a visual notepad, where you can deposit the concepts • Summing Up Memory
or images that you want to remember. For example, if you were studying
anatomy you might ‘deposit’ the bones of the human body around your
childhood home so that you can recall the bones by visualising the house.
metabolic toxins • The Importance of Sleep in

Metabolic toxins are by-‐products of your body’s metabolism, undesirable Learning
substances that are washed out of your brain during sleep.
metabolic vampires • Introduction to Memory

The brain’s natural processes that cause the neural patterns of memories to • Diving Deeper into Memory
gradually disappear or become inaccessible if those patterns are not revisited.
metaphor
A relatively simple image or idea that conveys essential characteristics of a more
complex idea.
mini test (or self test) • Summary Week 2

A quick test of recall or understanding that students can do as they study, to • Illusions of Competence
check whether they are actually learning the material. • A Test Checklist
neural mortar or mortar • Practice Makes Permanent

A metaphor that associates building a wall from bricks and mortar with the neural • Introduction to Memory
changes in the brain that are required to firmly lodge new learning in your
memory. In this metaphor, new learning is the bricks and synaptic connections
are the mortar that holds them in your memory. It takes time for new synaptic
connections to form-‐-‐just as it takes time for mortar to dry. If learning takes place
through cramming, a poor neural structure is formed, just as if a wall is built
rapidly, without time for the mortar to dry, it can become a jumble.
neuro-‐scaffold • Using the Focused & Diffuse

A neural “framework” of synaptic and other connections—basically, the physical Modes – or, a little Dali will do
architecture and structure of learning in the brain. Neural patterns (frameworks) • Summing Up Procrastination
related to cognition, memory, and learning can be strengthened through use.
neuro-‐structure • Using the Focused & Diffuse

The neural (nervous) system in the brain. Modes – or, a little Dali will do
octopus of attention • What is a Chunk?

A metaphor that associates an octopus with the way you can, using your working • How to Form a Chunk – Part 2
memory in focused mode, link together separate pieces of information or ideas.
In this metaphor, the tentacles of the octopus reach in through the four slots of
your working memory to make connections.
overlearning • Introduction to Chunking

Continuing to study or practice the same material after you have mastered what • Overlearning, Choking,
you can in a given session or timeframe. Einstellung, and Interleaving
Pomodoro • A Procrastination Preview

‘Pomodoro’ is Italian for tomato! In this course, ‘pomodoro’ is used as the name • Practice Makes Permanent
for a carefully timed, focused session of study or work. See Pomodoro • Summary Video for Module 1
Technique®. • Introduction to Procrastination
and Memory
you think
• Surf’s Up: Process versus Product
You
Oakley
Pomodoro Technique® • A Procrastination Preview

The Pomodoro Technique® is a time-‐management method developed by • Practice Makes Permanent
Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s. The technique uses a timer (originally a tomato-‐ • Summary Video for Module 1
shaped kitchen timer) to break work into 25-‐minute intervals of focused work, • Introduction to Procrastination
each interval followed by a short break. and Memory
you think
You
Oakley
process • Surf’s Up: Process versus Product

The passage of time and the actions that are to occur during that period. For • Juggling Life and Learning
example, “I'm going to spend 20 minutes working on algebra.” In LHTL, we
emphasize the importance of process versus product.
procrastination
Procrastination is putting off or delaying of a task which you should be giving
immediate attention. Procrastination usually involves doing more pleasurable
things (e.g. checking social media) in place of less pleasurable ones (e.g.
homework), or carrying out less urgent tasks instead of more urgent ones.
product • Surf’s Up: Process versus Product

An outcome, usually tangible. For example, a homework assignment that you • Juggling Life and Learning
need to finish.
reality check (to catch nonsensical results) • The Value of Teamwork
Assessment of whether an outcome is consistent with real life and facts.
reconsolidation (memory) • What is Long Term Memory?

The neurological process by which change occurs in memories as they are recalled
and then consolidated (memories can change each time they are accessed).
reward (habit) • A Procrastination Preview

The positive reward, or immediate little feeling of pleasure experienced on • What Motivates You?
performing the routine that encourages you to repeat it. Rewards can be tangible • Zombies Everywhere
or intangible. • Harnessing Your Zombies to Help
You
routine (habit) • Tackling Procrastination: It’s

The reaction to a cue: the habitual response your brain is used to falling into easier and more valuable than
when it receives a particular cue. For example, your alarm clock triggering a ‘get you think
out of bed’ response!or sometimes a ‘hit snooze’ response :) • Zombies Everywhere
You
slots (memory) • Introduction to Memory

You can think of your working memory as metaphorically having roughly four • Summary Video for Module 1
memory spaces or slots, each slot able to hold one chunk or small thought, for • What is a Chunk?
example, a number at a time. • How to Form a Chunk – Part 2
• Illusions of Competence
spaced repetition • Introduction to Memory

Spaced repetition involves repeating what you're trying to learn or retain in • Illusions of Competence
memory, with relatively large time periods elapsing between each repetition, i.e.
spacing out the repetition. For example, practising a new vocabulary word or
problem-‐solving technique over a number of days, instead of multiple times in the
same day.
spatial memory • Diving Deeper into Memory

The form of memory that stores ‘where things are,’ a mental account of an item’s • Summing Up Memory
location or position.
transfer • The Value of a Library of Chunks

The idea that a chunk, or package of information, that you have mastered in one • Summary (Week 2)
subject can be relevant and helpful to your learning in another subject. For
example, problem-‐solving techniques learned in physics might be applicable in a
related subject such as anatomy, as well as in a dissimilar context such as finance.
visual memory • Diving Deeper into Memory

The form of memory that stores ‘how things look’ in mental images. • Summing Up Memory
visual metaphor/analogy • Introduction to the Focused and

An image used to represent a person, place or thing in place of another, to Diffused Mode
suggest a similarity or association. Often used to link the new with the familiar, • Summary Video (Week 1)
for example describing fractions as slices of a pizza. • Create a Lively Visual Metaphor
of Analogy
• Summary Week 4
working memory • Introduction to Memory

Working memory, or short-‐term memory, is the part of memory that deals with • Summary Video for Module 1
what you're immediately and consciously processing in your mind, and is limited • What is a Chunk?
to holding four items. You can think of it as a blackboard with space for just a few • How to Form a Chunk – Part 2
words, which must be rubbed out before new words can be entered. We use • Illusions of Competence
“working memory” in a sense that is similar to “short term memory” although • Summary Week 2
there are subtle differences (see Baddeley, A, et al. Memory. NY: Psychology • Juggling Life and Learning
Press, 2009.) • Diving Deeper into Memory
• Creating Meaningful Groups and
the Memory Palace Technique
• Summing Up Memory
• No Need for Genius Envy
zombies • Tackling Procrastination: It’s
Your habits: the routine responses that your brain falls into as a result of specific easier and more valuable than
cues. you think
You

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Learning

How to Learn – Glossary of Terms

back-­‐up plan • Summing Up Procrastination

belief (habit) • Zombies Everywhere

big picture • Introduction to the Focused and

blind spot • The Value of Teamwork

chunk • Introduction to Chunking

consolidation (memory) • What is Long Term Memory?

cramming • Practice Makes Permanent

cue (habit) • A Procrastination Preview

default-­‐mode network • What is Learning?

deliberate practice • Overlearning, Choking,

diffuse mode • Introduction to the Focused and

Einstellung • Overlearning, Choking,

flashcard/s • Diving Deeper into Memory

focused mode • Introduction to the Focused and

highlighting • Summary Week 2

imposter syndrome • No Need for Genius Envy

interleaving • Introduction to Chunking

Law of Serendipity • The Value of a Library of Chunks

long-­‐term memory • Introduction to Memory

memorable sentence • Creating Meaningful Groups and

memory palace technique • Creating Meaningful Groups and

metabolic toxins • The Importance of Sleep in

metabolic vampires • Introduction to Memory

mini test (or self test) • Summary Week 2

neural mortar or mortar • Practice Makes Permanent

neuro-­‐scaffold • Using the Focused & Diffuse

neuro-­‐structure • Using the Focused & Diffuse

octopus of attention • What is a Chunk?

overlearning • Introduction to Chunking

Pomodoro • A Procrastination Preview

Pomodoro Technique® • A Procrastination Preview

process • Surf’s Up: Process versus Product

product • Surf’s Up: Process versus Product

reconsolidation (memory) • What is Long Term Memory?

reward (habit) • A Procrastination Preview

routine (habit) • Tackling Procrastination: It’s

slots (memory) • Introduction to Memory

spaced repetition • Introduction to Memory

spatial memory • Diving Deeper into Memory

transfer • The Value of a Library of Chunks

visual memory • Diving Deeper into Memory

visual metaphor/analogy • Introduction to the Focused and

working memory • Introduction to Memory

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back-‐up plan • Summing Up Procrastination

default-‐mode network • What is Learning?

long-‐term memory • Introduction to Memory

neuro-‐scaffold • Using the Focused & Diffuse

neuro-‐structure • Using the Focused & Diffuse