1.Which way will be more useful in learning a phone number? ... learning.
2.When someone is distracted, which way of learning will play the main role? ...
3.What is harmful for kids in learning new concepts and information? ...
Your parents were right; don’t study with the TV on. Multitasking may be a necessity in today’s fast-paced world, but new research shows distractions affect the way people learn, making the knowledge they gain harder to use later on. That could affect a lot of young people. As Poldrack explains it, the brain learns in two different ways. One, called declarative learning, deals with learning active facts that can be recalled and used with great flexibility. The second is called habit learning. For instance, in learning a phone number you can simply memorize it by using declarative learning, and can then recall it whenever needed. A second way to learn is by habit. Punch it in 1,000 times. Then even if you don’t remember it consciously, you can go to the phone and punch it in. Memorizing is a lot more useful, for if you use the habit system, you have to be at a phone to recreate the movements. The problem is that the two types of learning seem to be competing with each other, and when someone is distracted, habit learning seems to take over from declarative learning. We have to multitask in today’s world, but you have to be aware of this: when a kid is trying to learn new concepts and new information, distraction is going to be bad, and it’s going to impair their ability to learn. That doesn’t mean Poldrack thinks a silent environment is essential — music can help in learning because it can make the individual happier. But in general, distraction is almost always a bad thing.
