4 ms·

Just a hunch, but do you find that you perform substantially better if you are an environment where you can talk to yourself out loud as you work through a math

Just a hunch, but do you find that you perform substantially better if you are an environment where you can talk to yourself out loud as you work through a math or physics problem? If so, this is very much indicative of the phenomenon I'm describing, because what's happening is you're recruiting your audio memory as a compensatory short-term workspace, being able to loop some 2 or 3 additional elements of information in this extra area essentially acts as an extension of your working store. And guess what behavior students are typically prohibited or highly discouraged from doing during an exam? I further suspect that this is also the mechanism responsible for some people's apparent tendency to do all the talking in a conversation, rather than allow a balanced share of time between conversants. The quick decay of short-term information requires constant refreshing, and talking is one means of augmenting this.

a_wild_dandan 3y ago
That's really interesting! Do you know any other techniques to hijack our brains for performance boosts? I'm reminded of the classic Feynman story about discovering the different mental models that he/his coworkers used, and how those models affected thinking: https://youtu.be/Si6NbKqYEd8?t=105 https://youtu.be/Si6NbKqYEd8?t=105
- pchangr 3y ago
  I write. It’s like having an internal monologue slowly repeating you whatever you’re thinking so it let’s the brain re-structure knowledge. It’s super helpful to force myself to pay attention. I rarely read what I wrote but because I did, there’s a higher chance I remembered.
Solvency 3y ago
Actually for me I perform best when I can hear my inner monologue. If I'm in a social setting learning math it's not ideal at all, because I can't "listen" to myself think: I think through things entirely in my head when I can reason through and almost dictate to myself. But not verbally! It's almost like the moment I try to verbalize anything it gets muddied by whatever weird social/colloquial construct I've made to communicate with others.

a_wild_dandan 3y ago

That's really interesting! Do you know any other techniques to hijack our brains for performance boosts? I'm reminded of the classic Feynman story about discovering the different mental models that he/his coworkers used, and how those models affected thinking: https://youtu.be/Si6NbKqYEd8?t=105 https://youtu.be/Si6NbKqYEd8?t=105

pchangr 3y ago
I write. It’s like having an internal monologue slowly repeating you whatever you’re thinking so it let’s the brain re-structure knowledge. It’s super helpful to force myself to pay attention. I rarely read what I wrote but because I did, there’s a higher chance I remembered.

Solvency 3y ago

Actually for me I perform best when I can hear my inner monologue. If I'm in a social setting learning math it's not ideal at all, because I can't "listen" to myself think: I think through things entirely in my head when I can reason through and almost dictate to myself. But not verbally! It's almost like the moment I try to verbalize anything it gets muddied by whatever weird social/colloquial construct I've made to communicate with others.