77 Brain Hacks to Learn Faster, Deeper, and Better Source: Online Education Database If someone granted you one wish, what do you imagine you would want out of life that you haven't gotten yet? For many people, it would be self-improvement and knowledge. New knowledge is the backbone of society's progress. Your quest for knowledge doesn't have to be as Earth-changing as Einstein's, but it can be an important part of your life, leading to a new job, better pay, a new hobby, or simply knowledge for knowledge's sake — whatever is important to you as an end goal. Life-changing knowledge does typically require advanced learning techniques. Here are 77 tips related to knowledge and learning to help you on your quest. 1. 2. 4. 5. Balance 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Recall Techniques 15. 16. 17. Visual Aids 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Verbal and Auditory Techniques 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. Kinesthetic Techniques 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. Self-Motivation Techniques 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. Supplemental Techniques 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53.
How to Lift Your Mood? Try Smiling My personal trainer sometimes gives me an odd piece of advice during workouts: "Relax your face." For a long time, I found this advice confusing. Isn't physical exertion supposed to be expressed in grimaces? I thought of the face as a pressure-relief valve that helps emit the pain the body is experiencing. I was skeptical until I read a paper in the January issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Psychological Association. In the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology paper, David Matsumoto of San Francisco State University and Bob Willingham of the Center for Psychological Studies in Berkeley, Calif., present the results of the first study ever conducted comparing the facial expressions of blind people with those of sighted people in a natural, nonlaboratory setting. Matsumoto conceived the paper to investigate one of the oldest dilemmas in the study of physiology. This question has occupied many scientists.
What is Mind Mapping? (and How to Get Started Immediately) A mind map is a graphical way to represent ideas and concepts. It is a visual thinking tool that helps structuring information, helping you to better analyze, comprehend, synthesize, recall and generate new ideas. Just as in every great idea, its power lies in its simplicity. In a mind map, as opposed to traditional note taking or a linear text, information is structured in a way that resembles much more closely how your brain actually works. So, how does a mind map look like? (click for larger image) This is a mind map about – conveniently enough – mind mapping itself. Benefits and Uses I think I already gave away the benefits of mind mapping and why mind maps work. But what can we use mind maps for? Note takingBrainstorming (individually or in groups)Problem solvingStudying and memorizationPlanningResearching and consolidating information from multiple sourcesPresenting informationGaining insight on complex subjectsJogging your creativity How to Draw a Mind Map Some more recommendations:
how to erase memory (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers working with mice have discovered that by removing a protein from the region of the brain responsible for recalling fear, they can permanently delete traumatic memories. Their report on a molecular means of erasing fear memories in rodents appears this week in Science Express. “When a traumatic event occurs, it creates a fearful memory that can last a lifetime and have a debilitating effect on a person’s life,” says Richard L. Huganir, Ph.D., professor and director of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Behavioral therapy built around “extinction training” in animal models has proven helpful in easing the depth of the emotional response to traumatic memories, but not in completely removing the memory itself, making relapse common. In further experiments, they found that removal of these proteins depends on the chemical modification of the GluA1 protein.
Remember Any Number With the Major Memory System Did you ever want to be able to recite pi up to 22,500 decimal digits? As for me, I never felt attracted to that sort of stuff. But remembering phone numbers, passwords, PINs, birthdays and all sorts of everyday numbers — that’s something I resonate with! Meet the Major memory system, one of the most powerful techniques around for memorizing numbers. How the Major Memory System Works Our brains are notoriously poor at memorizing numbers. And that’s what the Major system is about: converting abstract, dull numbers into vivid, striking images. The Major Memory System in 3 Steps 1. The heart of the Major system — and the key to convert numbers to images and vice-versa — is a 10-item mnemonic table. As an example, let’s take the (in)famous number 42. According to the mnemonic table, the digits in the number 42 translate to r and n respectively. 42 gets encoded as rain, then. Decoding from word to number is even more straightforward. There are just a couple more notes to bear in mind: 2. 3. 0.
5 Ways To Hack Your Brain Into Awesomeness Much of the brain is still mysterious to modern science, possibly because modern science itself is using brains to analyze it. There are probably secrets the brain simply doesn't want us to know. But by no means should that stop us from tinkering around in there, using somewhat questionable and possibly dangerous techniques to make our brains do what we want. We can't vouch for any of these, either their effectiveness or safety. #5. So you just picked up the night shift at your local McDonald's, you have class every morning at 8am and you have no idea how you're going to make it through the day without looking like a guy straight out of Dawn of the Dead, minus the blood... hopefully. "SLEEEEEEEEEP... uh... What if we told you there was a way to sleep for little more than two hours a day, and still feel more refreshed than taking a 12-hour siesta on a bed made entirely out of baby kitten fur? Holy Shit! We're pretty sure Kramer did this once on Seinfeld. How Does It Work? #4. #3. 1. 2. 3.
Develop Perfect Memory With the Memory Palace Technique The Memory Palace is one of the most powerful memory techniques I know. It’s not only effective, but also fun to use — and not hard to learn at all. The Memory Palace has been used since ancient Rome, and is responsible for some quite incredible memory feats. Eight-time world memory champion Dominic O’Brien, for instance, was able to memorize 54 decks of cards in sequence (that’s 2808 cards), viewing each card only once. And there are countless other similar achievements attributed to people using the Memory Palace technique or variations of it. Of course, most of us are not in Dominic’s memory championship line of business (or in Hannibal’s line of business for that matter). The Memory Palace The Memory Palace technique is based on the fact that we’re extremely good at remembering places we know. 5 Steps to Use the Memory Palace Technique 1. First and foremost, you’ll need to pick a place that you’re very familiar with. A good first choice could be your own home, for example. 2. 3. 4.
The benefits of meditation Studies have shown that meditating regularly can help relieve symptoms in people who suffer from chronic pain, but the neural mechanisms underlying the relief were unclear. Now, MIT and Harvard researchers have found a possible explanation for this phenomenon. In a study published online April 21 in the journal Brain Research Bulletin, the researchers found that people trained to meditate over an eight-week period were better able to control a specific type of brain waves called alpha rhythms. “These activity patterns are thought to minimize distractions, to diminish the likelihood stimuli will grab your attention,” says Christopher Moore, an MIT neuroscientist and senior author of the paper. There are several different types of brain waves that help regulate the flow of information between brain cells, similar to the way that radio stations broadcast at specific frequencies. For this study, the researchers recruited 12 subjects who had never meditated before.
Printable Flash Cards for Vocabulary Words-with Photographs Sluggish Sluggish audio/easy/sluggish.mp3 adjective lacking energy; inactive Our cat is sluggish during the day. sluggish.jpg Gush Gush audio/easy/gush.mp3 verb to flow out forcefully, often in large amounts Water gushed down the waterfall. gush.jpg Predicament Predicament audio/easy/predicament.mp3 noun a difficult situation The animal was left in a predicament. predicament.jpg Weary Weary physically or mentally exhausted The programmer was so weary that he fell asleep on the job. weary.jpg Ruffle Ruffle audio/easy/ruffle.mp3 to raise (feathers) The macaw ruffled its feathers. ruffle.jpg Expedition Expedition audio/easy/expedition.mp3 a journey or voyage made for a specific purpose The scientists made an expedition to Alaska to study wildlife. expedition.jpg Wrath Wrath fierce anger I was the victim of his wrath. wrath.jpg Grove Grove audio/easy/grove.mp3 a group of trees without undergrowth We came across a small grove. grove.jpg Hulking Hulking audio/easy/hulking.mp3 so large as to appear clumsy A hulking rhino stood before me. Immerse
Critical Thinking By Example 1.1 Two Conventions for Standardizing To standardize an argument is to break it down into its components in a manner that shows the logical relationships between the parts. An argument, in our technical sense, is a reason or reasons offered in support of a conclusion. The conclusion is "he is tall", and the reason to believe the conclusion is "John is over 2 meters tall". If all arguments were as elementary as example 1.1, there would be little call to develop standardization conventions, but arguments can be quite complex, and so we need to develop some notation to keep track of everything. The premise, 'P1', is offered in support of the conclusion, 'C'. The associated diagram is given in 1.4: 1.2 Five Argument Types The arguments we will discuss in this work are either one of the five types given in example 1.5, or a combination of two or more of these five argument types. We have seen a simple argument above (example 1.1).
6 Daily Rituals It’s Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. Two San Francisco entrepreneurs are pitching their ventures to potential investors today. They’d both agree that this is one of the most important days of their lives. This is the story of Jane and Joe... Jane was up until 4 a.m. putting the final touches on her deck. In fact, she spent the entire weekend fixed in her apartment, preparing the presentation. Joe, on the other hand, went to sleep last night at 11 p.m., as he does most nights of the week. Which entrepreneur would you bet on? And, which entrepreneur most closely resembles you? Jane and Joe are fictional characters but having been immersed in the world of startups in both New York and San Francisco, I see a lot of Janes. This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak with my friend Mike Del Ponte, who resembles the character of Joe. "Every day I need physical energy, mental clarity, and emotional balance to tackle everything that comes my way," Mike said. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
11 Goal Hacks: How to Achieve Anything Goal-setting research on fantasising, visualisation, goal commitment, procrastination, the dark side of goal-setting and more… We’re all familiar with the nuts and bolts of goal-setting. We should set specific, challenging goals, use rewards, record progress and make public commitments (if you’re not familiar with these then check out this article on how to reach life goals). So how come we still fail? This psychological research suggests why and what mindsets should help us reach our goals. 1. The biggest enemy of any goal is excessive positive fantasising. 2. The reason we don’t achieve our goals is lack of commitment. One powerful psychological technique to increase commitment is mental contrasting. 3. You can use the Zeigarnik effect to drag you on towards your goal. What the Zeigarnik effect teaches is that one weapon for beating procrastination is starting somewhere…anywhere. 4. 5. When we miss our target, we can fall foul of the what-the-hell-effect. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
List of 100 The List of 100 is a powerful technique you can use to generate ideas, clarify your thoughts, uncover hidden problems or get solutions to any specific questions you’re interested in. The technique is very simple in principle: state your issue or question in the top of a blank sheet of paper and come up with a list of one hundred answers or solutions about it. “100 Ways to Generate Income”, “100 Ways to be More Creative” or “100 Ways to Improve my Relationships” are some examples. “One hundred entries? Isn’t that way too many?” Bear with me: it’s exactly this exaggeration that makes the technique powerful. When starting your list you may believe that there’s no way to get it done. Unlike the related Idea Quota tool — whose primary goal is to acquire the habit of coming up with ideas — the goal of a List of 100 is to take your mind by surprise. Ground Rules There are only two simple principles to keep in mind when making Lists of 100: 1. 2. The Dynamics of Making Lists of 100 1. 2. 3.