Creativity is a tricky concept. Some would suggest its spontaneous nature sits outside traditional learning and that it can be nurtured through flexible forms of education. Others insist that in order to be creative we need to already have knowledge and facts stored in long-term memory. Both are legitimate proposals, yet as a predominately cognitiveContinue reading Where does creativity come from?
Video: The friday five #1
For the first of the Friday Fives, I look at 5 tips to help you learn better.
Why Learning Should Be Difficult
(But not too difficult) Whichever definition of learning we choose to adopt, the one thing they all have in common is the notion that it involves a relatively permanent change. Robert Gagné, for example, defines learning as ‘a change in human disposition or capability that persists over a period of time and is not simplyContinue reading Why Learning Should Be Difficult
Some interesting facts about sleep
Sleep comes in two varieties, slow-wave sleep (or NREM sleep) and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. REM sleep is the stage in which dreaming most often occurs. REM sleep is often called paradoxical sleep. This is because the brain waves of a sleeping brain are very similar to those of an awake brain. Our bodies areContinue reading Some interesting facts about sleep
Are you paying attention?
This is the first part of planned series on attention and its relationship to other cognitive processes. Many years ago I recall sitting in a room at Durham University, headphones piping into my brain words I can no longer recall. As the words were uttered I was repeating them out loud, as I had beenContinue reading Are you paying attention?
Making Memories
How does our brain go about making memories? And where are such memories kept for later retrieval?