Learning Is Not Intuitive (53:44)

We are all continuously learning. Babies learn to crawl, walk, and talk. Students learn in school, adults learn new job skills, and everyone constantly learns how to adapt to new situations and take in information. With all the practice we get, it seems like learning should be intuitive. But when it comes to purposefully learning and retaining information, the methods we naturally turn to aren’t really the most effective ones. So if you want to stop being unpleasantly surprised by how little information you retain, you’ll have to adopt some new methods of learning. Dr. Anne Cleary is a professor in the Cognitive Learning Program at Colorado State University, where she studies memory. Her courses include a class on the science of learning.