Page 78 - (DK) How to be a GENIUS?

HOW WE

LEARN

Find wallet
Learning is vital to survival. We often think it is all about
skills like reading and writing, but it also involves developing
life skills such as safely crossing the street, dealing with
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other people, and managing money.
We learn these things through a
combination of conscious effort
and unconscious reactions, and
everything we learn becomes
part of our long-term memory.

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Conditioning
If an experience always follows a particularr
event, or does so only once but is very
upsetting, this can create such a
strong link in the brain that you react
Learning curve automatically to the event if it happens
again. So, for example, if you have
When we are young, we all have to learn a huge
been stung by a wasp, you get nervous
amount about the world in a short time. We learn
when you see another one—or any insect
basic skills like walking, eating, and avoiding harm.
with yellow and black stripes. This basic
We discover that everything we do makes other
form of learning is called conditioning.
things happen, and we learn how to predict this—
and maybe avoid it. We learn much more in our first
few years than we do in all of the rest of our lives.
Memory circuits
The basic “wiring” of the brain is formed at
birth, but whenever you learn something, Association
the wiring changes. A group of nerve You learn by making connections between
cells links together to form a network different experiences and skills, creating a
that lets you repeat the action web of associated ideas in your brain. When
whenever you want. But if you the rest. If you decide to buy a magazine, for
one part of the web is activated, it fires up
never use it again, the network
may eventually stop working. example, this idea triggers an association with
the store, the bicycle you will use to get there,
the route, the money you will need, and so on.
Association also allows you to link the abstract
ideas you learn in your classes at school.
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