Visualization, memory, reading and research skills
We have powerful computers, why do we still do mental math? Part of it has to do with building intuition and checking for errors, part of it has to do with the speed of decision making, some of it is a great brain practice and yet a bit of it is a magic. Whatever the …
Read about Trachtenberg system for mental math. Now choose a random number. Start with 5 digits, with time try to upgrade to longer numbers. Do mental computations. Expected effects: faster and better working memory access, improvement of mathematical tasks. No program or tools required: everything can be done in your head. Beginner level Multiply by …
We ask similar questions after each time we preread or read the text. The questions can be divided into questions building our curiosity so we can focus on the text and questions we asked in order to ensure we understood the text properly. This post mainly deals with questions of the second kind. If we …
Occasionally you will need to make a marker dictionary. This method is typically required for medical and legal students, because the terms they use may be so abstract and complex that no reasonable markers can be created spontaneously. To some extent, a large quantity of number memorization (via major system/PAO) or memorization of foreign words …
If you learnt how to generate visual markers and how to increase and control your visual eye span, your reading speed could easily be around 800 wpm. If you want to read vaster and understand more, perhaps you need some other sort of training. This training is advanced and it is not a part of …
Long term memory is closely related to sleep. When we sleep our short term memory is basically copied into our long term memory. If somebody is not sleeping enough trying to prepare for exam, this a huge mistake. After several days everything will be forgotten and days of practice lost. There are ways of improving …
There is a reason we do not talk much about physiology of memory. We simply do not have enough information that does not spark controversy. Below are some examples. Is there a limit on chunking and working memory? Working memory is the basis of our memorization. It is studied via various cognitive tasks performed by …
There is a popular belief that if you ask “why” five times you will get to the root cause of any problem. Here is a cool article about it. The method was developed by engineers, and not by scientists, so we do not really know how well it works. It does show an interesting tendency …
This is a short post about mnemonic songs. I read this cool song avout periodic table and decided to write a post. The main question: when do we generate mnemonic songs? During the course we put a special emphasis on visualization and visual markers. The reason is very simple: the main emphasis of the course …
To which extent are we able to evaluate our knowledge? Apparently we are not that good. There are several biases of the cognition that make us more comfortable with ourselves than we should be. Take for example confirmation bias. We assume some line of thought. Now everything new we see makes us more sure in …
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