Rhythms of the Brain
8th June 2023
Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!
Book of the Month
Rhythms of the Brain, by Gyorgy Buzsaki. Ever wondered about the various rhythms—alpha, theta, gamma, and more—and how they play a role in our thinking? Wonder no more, as this in-depth scientific expose walks you through why the brain’s rhythms are so important, and how those rhythms are thought to arise. Buzsaki’s first chapters cover the speed of neural signals and how this matters in large and small mammals. The book then moves on to describe the different types of oscillators, and how the pulsating signals of individual neurons can aggregate to sinusoidal-appearing waves. One might wonder how neurons can remain in sync even without direct connections—Buzsaki reveals how the brain’s rhythms can synchronize spatially separated areas, rather like a handful of corks rising and falling together on waves of water. In some sense, the brain’s rhythmic waves can serve as the forward “ticks” of a clock. Theta waves in particular seem to serve as discrete channels that hold higher frequency gamma wave information within them. As Buzsaki notes: “Linear time is a major feature of our Western cultural world-view, and the experience of time flowing between past, present, and future is intricately tied to everyday logic, predictions, and linear causation… What I am proposing in this volume is that neuronal oscillations are essential for these deepest and most general functions.”
This is a seminal, not-to-be-missed book in neuroscientific literature.
Barb in Santiago, Chile for ResearchEd, October 21, 2023
We feel ResearchEd is the most forward-looking, fact-based education conference around. If you are a Spanish-speaker, don’t miss this superb conference, which will feature Spanish translations of all key activities. Barb will be giving the opening keynote, and the conference will also feature superstars Natalie Wexler, Kate Jones and Katharine Birbalsingh. More information here, and you can register here.
Do your students’ minds go blank during an in-class retrieval practice activity?
As cognitive psychologist Pooja Agarwal, co-author of our favorite teaching-related book, Powerful Teaching, observes: “You’ve probably had at least one student who was frustrated and said, “But I can’t retrieve anything!” Keep reading for 4 steps you can take to help your students retrieve something.” This is a wonderfully simple, yet insightful, article!
IDoRecall has brilliant new redaction feature!
You’ve probably had to learn parts of a visual image, but may have struggled in the past about how to create sophisticated flashcards that test you gradually on parts of the image. Struggle no more! iDoRecall has a fantastic new redaction feature that allows you to cover up and test yourself on only parts of an image. This three-minute video explains how easy this is.
Flashcards beat mnemonics
This deceptively simple essay, by the ever-informative Scott Young (author of Ultralearning), is one of the best essays we’ve seen on internalizing new material–especially when learning languages.
Seeing your learning on Anki
We met Jonas Grincius in Vilnius, Lithuania. After reading A Mind for Numbers three years ago he became inspired to begin using Anki. Take a look at his inspiring set of Anki statistics—just for the year 2022. Now that’s a cool way to monitor your learning!
A list of best ChatGPT courses to take right now
The always helpful MOOC analysis website Class Central has a not-to-be-missed article by Elham Nazif on the best ChatGPT courses to help you understand this paradigm-shifting new technology.
Classical Music for the Next Generation
Barb and her Hero Husband Phil were lucky enough to have the best dinner we’ve had in all of Europe at the restaurant Fabrikėlis in the Lithuanian forest with concert pianist Monika Lozinskienė, learning more about current trends in classical music.
As Monika told us, over the generations, a continuing stream of people begin to turn to classical music in their forties. Except that in this generation, those in their forties are not turning to classical music. Why? Well, classical performances not nearly as flashy as, say, an ABBA hologram performance, or Beyoncé live or on video. In fact, while we may know a great deal about Beyoncé’s life, the back story of classical music is often hard to come by. We typically know nothing about, for example, great Finnish classical composer Sibelius, whose synesthesia allowed him to “hear” notes arising from certain colors (the green ceramic stove in his living room was dubbed the “F-major”).
Monika with her husband Robertas Lozinskis are setting out to help excite and educate the next generation about classical music. And what an exciting approach they’re taking! Take a look at these wonderful duo battling out Paganini Variations for Two Pianos. Notice that you can feel the tones by seeing them, just as a synesthete might do! Look at the incredible number of notes they are able to hit per second, and their heart rate. Compare Monika and Robert’s different methods and different feelings as they tackle their play. Learn about the history of the composer as you listen. Incidentally, Robert comes from a world of being a top-notch video gamer—he used this knowledge to underpin their creative approach to letting us enjoy classical music in a whole new way. Don’t miss this performance!
If this whets your appetite, you can hear even more with this Pride and Prejudice soundtrack.
That’s all for now. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!
Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team
- Uncommon Sense Teaching—the book and Coursera Specialization!
- Mindshift—the book and MOOC
- Learn Like a Pro—the book and MOOC
- The LHTL recommended text, A Mind for Numbers
- For kids and parents: Learning How to Learn—the book and MOOC. Pro tip—watch the videos and read the book together with your child. Learning how to learn at an early age will change their life!
