New Experiences Heighten Learning

New experiences heighten learning (Science Daily News)

This could have some implications for the classroom. Researchers were a little surprised to find, in one study, that learning (or memory at least) is actually enhanced when new information is packaged with more familiar information. But before you say, “duh,” let me clarify. The addition of new information enhances the memory of old information, which is rather counterintuitive. You might hypothesize that new information would supplant or otherwise "compete" with older information in the brain, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. Instead, the novelty of the new information stimulates the reward centers of the brain, which seems hard-wired to "seek out" new information about the world (excuse the teleology).

A region in the midbrain (substantia nigra/ventral tegmental), which is responsible for regulating our motivation and reward-processing, responds better to novelty than to the familiar. This system also regulates levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain, and could aid learning. This link between memory, novelty, motivation and reward could help patients with memory problems.

And here’s the important finding for our test-driven world:

Separate behavioural experiments were also conducted without the use of a scanner to test the subjects’ memory. Their memory of the novel, familiar and very familiar images they had studied was tested after 20 minutes and then a day later. Subjects performed best in these tests when new information was combined with familiar information during learning. After a 20 minute delay, subjects’ memory for slightly familiar information was boosted by 19 per cent if it had been mixed with new facts during learning sessions.

The immediate strategy that comes to mind is finding new examples to illustrate a concept, instead of constantly reviewing the same examples. I know I’ve always thought that by repeating these familiar examples the students would learn better and that too many examples would confuse them. Obviously one study doesn’t prove anything, still it’s something to consider and I plan to give it a try this year.