Conversations in Milan, Rome, or Madrid seem ever so much more animated and exciting than those polite chats over a tea cozy in Oxford, London, or Wetwang (Yorkshire). At least in part, this may reflect the greater physical rigor that denizens of the Mediterranean exhibit during their speech. As the New York Times put it: […]
Learning and Memory
When we were first married, my husband and I frequented a local BBQ restaurant. He ordered the fried chicken – all drumsticks – and I loved the brisket sandwich. One weekend, we both developed tummy troubles the morning after we ate there, and automatically thought “It must have been the BBQ food!” My husband and […]
Old Faithful but not El Capitan: multiple-choice pretesting helps learning about cronartium ribicola
Old Faithful…. Hayden Valley…. Mammoth Hot springs. Clearly I am talking about the natural wonders of Yellowstone National Park. Now try and answer the following question: What state does the majority of the park reside in? The choices are: (a) Idaho; (b)South Dakota; (c) Wyoming; (d) Montana. If you correctly picked Wyoming, you clearly know too […]
For many people, a trip to the beach is the highlight of the summer. The salty air, lounging on the sand, the sound of waves, swimming, drying off in the sun, the smell of sunscreen, a stack of beach reads. But first, it’s time to pack those suitcases… Where are the swimming suits again? How […]
Generating the angular velocities of planetary and annular gears: When self-generating explanations helps learning Tell me, how does a differential work? Can you explain it to me? All of us who drive or ride in cars rely on a differential to get us around corners under power, and yet not all of us know that […]
We are all part of a culture: certain behaviors and practices are deeply ingrained in our society and, by implication, in all of us. For example, one strongly normative behavior in the United Kingdom is to queue politely for the bus or the checkout in the supermarket. (Apparently this norm is so strong that disproportionately […]
We forget. Whether we trade the name of a fish for the name of a student, or whether we eventually forget the name of the U.S. President, the loss of information from memory is nearly always unavoidable. The reasons that underlie forgetting are, however, still debated. One putative mechanism that has attracted considerable attention is the idea […]
Think about many of the decisions you make. Often, people can articulate reasons why they made a particular choice. Why are you voting for that presidential candidate? Why did you order chicken instead of fish? Why do you like soccer better than football? Not only could you describe why you made each of these decisions, […]
A variety of things can influence memory, and we frequently find that existing knowledge can impact the learning of new information. For example, some people (including me) find it hard to learn to drive an automatic car because of their pre-existing knowledge of driving a stick shift (standard) car. For example, early during the transition, […]
A few days ago I saw this video of Cycle Ball and thought what thousands of others thought, “how is this possible?!” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yEaZDGJt-c] The answer is, as the old joke goes, “Practice!” But practice what? I have been biking regularly for far longer than many of the players in the video and I am no closer […]