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.”

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

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

We all remember very well when we or a member of our family face 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 must 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 the 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. Willpower is different than motivation. Willpower is a conscious mental process and mental force that we use to continue doing things, or to refuse it. Willpower 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 must be individualized. Because we are all genetically different, we have different IQs and different learning abilities. For example, I personally learn better from teachers whom I like. I learn better with positive enforcements, not criticisms. I learn better by seeing, not hearing, and by 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 people 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 giving myself pep talks. I erased all negative thoughts in my mind. I convince myself that I am perfectly capable to solve my patients’ problems. I took my time and carefully analyze their problems, thinking critically, and always trying to see whether or not there was 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 meant that I didn’t pay enough attention and I underearned my lesson.  

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

Human memory is a unique biological process that 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 that we face in our lives, by recalling several facts about our memory at once, using them as guides to think, and to try to solve the problem at hand.

Our memory selectively deposited in our memory bank, according to importance and the subject matters. Only 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.