Tag Archives: practice makes perfect

3 Learning Tips to Learn Faster and Improve Memory

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By Andre Auerbach

Every time you perform an activity you’ve done before… every time you think a thought that passed though your time before, you’re strengthening synapses in your brain.

These synapses create a cause-and-effect relationship between the neurons they linked. So that every time one neuron fires, the other will too. These synapses are like a bridge that connects two neurons so that signals between them may pass.

So what has this got to do with your learning and memory?

Well, these synapses are what’s responsible for your them. The more you learn the more synapses you grow and the stronger these synapses are, the better your memory is.

In this article, I will introduce you to three laws of building and strengthening synapses. Master and implement these laws and you’ll no doubt see a marked improvement in not just your learning and memory, but also overall brain function.

1. Law of association. When you learn, you learn through associations, building above what you have known to make sense of the unknown.

For example, when I explained the concept of synapses, I use the terms “relationships” and “bridge”. You’re, of course, familiar with these terms. Thus you use what are already familiar to make sense of the unknown.

Fundamentally, this is how we learn without going through an experience. This is how babies. Contrary to popular belief, we are born with certain skills and knowledge. We know how to cry when we face certain stimulus (such as hunger and discomfort), we know how to move, we know how to recognize faces. These are the basic knowledge that we all have and we build upon as we grow up.

Thus when you learn, it is often far easier to associate what you learn with what you’ve already known. You may have trouble remembering a phone number, but if you associate that number with a date and age, such as 04-08-2012 78 instead of 0408201278, then it is far easier for you to remember that number.

This is because when you remember obscure facts, memory is placed in your short-term memory. Only when intense attention is paid and constant reminder is acquired that it starts to be moved. By associating with current fats, you can almost immediately build off long term memory.


2. Law of repetition. Practice makes perfect. This is true for anything you want to learn and remember. This is because every time you practice, you’re strengthening the synapses between the neurons involved in that activity.

I can remember how clumsy I was when I first typed on a keyboard. Now I could type without looking at the keys. But if I were to change keyboards, again I would have to look at the keys and learn its distance.

This is the law of repetition at work. The good news is, only 2 hours of focused practice is required for you to maintain and remember a skill. In fact, if you spend long hours of practice only to stop later, the skills you’ve picked up at that time will fade as synapses break down.

If you want to remember what you learn, it is better that you take a more habitual approach.

3. Law of attention. Michael Merzenich, one of the world’s leading neuro-plasticity scientists observed through brain scans that neural network responsible for learning only grow when attention is paid onto the stimulus.

This is why multitasking is detrimental to learning. When you multitask, you cannot focus – thus you cannot learn. It amazes me how students attempt to study for exams while listening to music and have their chat browser open.

It is a biological impossibility.

At the same time, multitasking at work yields the same result. When you should be able to learn from an experience that you have, multitasking robs you of that opportunity.

Did you know that multitasking lowers IQ by 10 points (more than what smoking pot would) and increases stress (which in turn makes the brain release chemicals that kills brain cells)?

To learn and remember, all you have to do is focus on the stimulus, for a short period of time. 2 – 3 hours a day is normally sufficient.

If you would to learn more about brain fitness, simply visit Andre Auerbach’s website, “Brain Training Made Easy” for more articles on brain exercises, improving memory and learning.

How Your Brain Works and Why You Should Care

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By Andre Auerbach

Your every action… your every thought is controlled by your brain. Every time you do something and every time a thought passes through your mind, networks of neurons in your brain fires signals to different parts of your body. These neurons that fires at the same time create what is called “synapses” among each other.
These synapses are something like a relationship to keep these neurons firing together. For example, if every time you hear a bell ringing and food is served, pretty soon the neurons responsible for your hearing create a synapse with the neurons for the sighting of food. Thus the explanation for the Pavlov’s dog phenomenon.

These synapses are responsible for your learning. But it is also how you develop an addiction. Some people assume pornography to be harmless but the truth couldn’t be further. Pornography, as much as people in the industry would deny, is highly addictive. Every time you watch pornography, neurons responsible for perceiving the film/print are linked with neurons for pleasure.

As you repeat a behavior and get the same consequences, these synapses strengthens. Thus practice makes perfect. In the case of pornography, it makes an addiction. As these synapses strengthen, you build tolerance for the stimulus and to get the same amount of pleasure you once had, you need stronger stimulus.

It is through this process that people who are addicted to pornography often destroys their families, their social circle of friends and disappoints people who care for them.

The good news is, when a behavior no longer result in a certain consequences, synapses begin to break down. Thus when a student study for an exam, they often forget what they’ve learned within days after completing the exam – synapses they’ve built over the study period breaks down when they stop revising. In much of the same way, one can kick an addiction when these synapses breaks down or they were replaced by other synapses.

By learning how the brain works, there is now scientific proof that constant short periods of practice (perhaps 2 hours a day for a year) is far more beneficial for an individual for wishes to master a skill than a blitz approach (14 hours a day for 52 days then stop) such as the one most students undertake.


Because your brain requires synapses to learn, it makes sense that experience is often a better teacher than a book. Reading and listening allows the neurons responsible for facts and figures to link with neurons responsible for sight and/or hearing. By experiencing, for example, going to the forest instead of reading the textbook about it, neurons responsible for these facts can associate it with neurons responsible for sight, hearing, touch and smell.

Such broad network of synapses clearly beats the relatively small network of sight and hearing alone. Of course, the more you experience a particular circumstance, the stronger these synapses become. The more experiences you have, the more synapses and neurons you have.

These synapses is crucial in maintaining brain fitness in old age. At a time when synapses and neurons grow relatively slower, stimulation through experiences and learning is more crucial than ever. By preventing these synapses from breaking down, you’re essentially making sure that you avoid the common problems elderly often face: memory loss, inability to balance yourself, inability to learn (old dogs CAN learn new tricks) and even dementia.

In fact, some of the most successful people in history did not achieve their breakthrough till they reach a stage in life when others are urging them to quit. Some of these people include Benjamin Franklin (Inventor of bi-focals), Ray Kroc of McDonald’s, Colonel Sanders of KFC and Frank Lloyd Wright (Designer of Guggenheim Museum). In fact, research by Dr. George Valiant of Harvard involving 824 subjects, following them from their late teens through to old age, have concluded that older people are wiser, more socially adept and develop new skills.

Old age can be an advantage – so as long you’ve paid your dues in taking care of your brain.

If you would like learn more about stimulating your brain, maintaining brain fitness and reversing age-related decline, visit Andre Auerbach’s website, “Brain Training Made Easy” for more brain exercises that you can implement today.