Situations / Learning and memory
Learning and memory
Studying, teaching, practising and remembering.
Traps you might be in
- No. 0233 Curse of KnowledgeYou write six clear steps for a new hire, then spend an hour explaining what you thought needed no explanation.
- No. 0295 Dunning-Kruger EffectYou finish your first practice exam feeling ready, then the answer key reveals mistakes you didn’t even know to check.
- No. 0484 Illusion of Explanatory DepthYou tell your child you know how a zipper works, then run out of words after the teeth come together.
- No. 0910 Self-Serving BiasWhen your presentation wins praise, you credit your preparation; when it falls flat, you blame the room’s lousy attention.
Tools to try
- No. 0125 CalibrationYou open your prediction log and find that only half the things you called 80% certain actually happened.
- No. 0147 Circle of CompetenceYou understand the rental property’s repairs, but the agent’s spreadsheet leaves you guessing about the investment.
- No. 0167 Commitment DeviceYou ask a friend to hold your game console until Friday, before the urge to play kicks in.
- No. 0239 Decision JournalSix months after a disappointing hire, you open your original notes and discover how certain you were that it would work.
- No. 0249 Deliberate PracticeYou stop replaying the whole song and spend ten minutes on the four bars where your fingers keep stumbling.
- No. 0351 Explore-Exploit Trade-OffYou order your usual lunch while a new place across the street posts a menu you haven’t tried.
- No. 0382 Feynman TechniqueYou can follow every sentence of the chapter, but your explanation stalls as soon as you close the book.
- No. 0495 Implementation IntentionsWhen you shut your laptop, you trade opening the fridge for putting on your walking shoes.
- No. 0961 Spacing EffectYou finish a two-hour study session feeling fluent, then blank on the same questions a week later.
- No. 1024 Temptation BundlingYou lace up your sneakers because the next chapter of your thriller is waiting at the gym.
- No. 1026 Testing EffectYou remember the answer you struggled to produce last week; you’ve forgotten the paragraph you read three times.