E P I S T E M O L O G Y Part 3

BETTER LEARNING, BETTER LONG TERM MEMORY FORMATION, BETTER RECALL

When there’s no will, there’s no way.

The previous articles about epistemology made it quite clear to us that for better learning, better long – term memory formation and better recall, we have to know how to increase the intensity and desire of our learning signals. In addition, we have to repeatedly recall and use the knowledge we have learned in order to form a strong long-term memory of it. Because recall is also relearned, that makes long-term memory stronger.

But then, we must ask an important question here, “how do we increase the intensity of our learning signals?”

We all remember when we or a member of our family faced a medical problem, and we are reading a medical article about it, how motivated and intense we become. We pay full attention. We question every detail as to why and how, we reread it many times over if necessary. We think about it, ask questions, until we completely understood and comprehend it.

I believe we have to approach our learning activities with the same intensity, focused attention and motivation. Thus, motivational psychology, learning to pay full attention, and learning how to have a strong willpower are prerequisites for effective learning.

Psychologists define motivation as a mental process of an intense desire to do things to attain a goal. Motivation shares its root with emotional desires. Sometimes, it could be out of control. Is will power different than motivation? Will power is a conscious mental process and mental force that we use to continue doing things or refusing to it.  Will power could have positive or negative effects on our motivation.

Motivational theories and arguments are beyond the scope of this article.  Many books have been written about them. I shall try give a short summary of my experience and thoughts about learning, memory and recall.

I believe that learning activities have to be individualized. We are all genetically different, we have different IQ and different learning abilities. For example, I personally learned better from the teachers whom I like. I learned better with positive enforcements, not criticisms. I learned better by seeing, not hearing, and personally doing things by myself. I can’t memorize things, if I don’t completely understand it.

We all know that there are always smarter kids than us in the classroom. They learn easier and faster than us. This never deterred me. I studied slower, smarter and longer than them, to learn as much, sometimes even better than them. 

I approached my medical learning activities from my patients’ medical problems. First, I start motivating myself by self-pep-talks. I erase all negative thoughts in my mind. I convince myself that I am perfectly capable to solve my patient’s problems.  I take my time and carefully analyze my patients’ problems, think critically, and always try to see whether or not, there is amicability of the problems and solutions with the nature’s laws of cause-and-effect and action-and-reaction relationships.

If I didn’t remember what I learned, it means to me that I did not pay enough attention and I underlearned my lesson. I try to relearn it.

Learning a new and difficult subject is a long process that takes a long time and repetitions in order to move the information from short-term to long-term memory. Only a strong long-term memory makes recall easier.

Human memory is a unique biological process and can’t be compared to machine learning and machine memory.  Human memory is not single sided like machine memory, it is an ability to acquire knowledge with every detail like time, people, places, experience, feelings and outcomes. Our memory helps us to solve problems we face in our lives, by recalling several facts about our memory at once, using them as guides to thinking and trying to solve the problem at hand.

Our memory is selectively deposited in our memory bank, according to importance and the subject matters. Only the right questions and right thinking could indicate to recall related memory. Machine memory can’t do that. Machines can’t think and spill out the entire programmed memory at once. Machines are not alive. Even though advanced machines with AI are capable of self-leaning, their memory is simple, dry, artificial, without any emotions and other accompanying details of human memories.

Our memories make us who we are. Thank God, we are more than just a simple memory chip.