Optimal Protocols for Studying & Learning

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  Learning is mostly a matter of offsetting forgetting

  Huberman's central frame: we forget most of what we encounter each day, which is a good thing. People with rare clinical conditions in which they remember everything struggle in work and relationships. Studying well means deliberately guarding chosen information against that natural forgetting. The research doesn't support doing it by matching your 'learning style'. What works is engaging the memory systems that offset forgetting.

• 02

  Plasticity works by rewiring existing connections

  New neurons are added in the hippocampus's dentate gyrus, but that isn't the main route to adult learning. Learning comes from strengthening, weakening or forming connections between existing neurons. Weakening isn't necessarily forgetting. Brain development from infancy to adolescence is largely the removal of connections, while the remaining ones become more robust. That's why a toddler eating spaghetti is clumsier than a teenager.

• 03

  Strain during learning is the signal to change

  The agitation you feel forcing focus reflects release of epinephrine (adrenaline) and other neuromodulators that flag circuits to change later. Hydration, enough caffeine to be alert but not jittery, and, for diagnosed ADHD, a conversation with a doctor about medication can all help. Huberman also cites Wendy Suzuki's NYU work: 5–10 minutes a day of mindfulness meditation, returning attention to the breath, improves focus and memory. Missing a day doesn't matter.

• 04

  The rewiring happens during sleep and NSDR

  Connections are actually reordered during deep sleep and sleep-like states, not while you're studying. Because of the 'first-night effect', most of what you learn that day is consolidated the following night. A poor night doesn't erase it, but late caffeine and all-nighters work against learning. Huberman recommends 10–20 minutes of non-sleep deep rest (NSDR, related to yoga nidra) at any time of day, and adds that more data on it are emerging.

• 05

  What top students do

  In a self-report study of nearly 700 medical students, the best performers scheduled study time, put their phones away, told friends and family they'd be unreachable, studied alone, studied 3–4 hours a day in two or three sessions at least five days a week, and taught peers. Huberman flags that the data are correlational. The top students also held a broad, aspirational sense of how their studies would change their lives and families.

• 06

  Testing is a learning tool, not just evaluation

  Research on this goes back more than 100 years. In a 1917 study, schoolchildren who read a biography once and then repeatedly recalled it in their heads 'vastly outperformed' children who reread it the same number of times, in both the amount and the accuracy of what they recalled. Even scoring 40–50% on a test right after studying beats rereading, as long as you then learn the correct answers.

• 07

  Rereading creates false confidence

  Students exposed to material four times predict they'll do best. Those who studied once and were tested three times feel less confident, but they perform far better. Huberman calls this the difference between familiarity (recognizing something) and recollection (bringing it to mind and using it). He cites a review in the journal Hippocampus.

• 08

  Timing matters: test soon after first exposure

  Comparing three schedules, the best results came from studying, testing the same day or next day, then a long delay before the final exam. Spacing tests evenly was in the middle. Waiting until just before the exam to test was worst. So spend a few seconds or minutes recalling the material as you leave class, before reaching for your phone.

• 09

  Use open-ended questions

  Short-answer or long-answer questions with minimal prompts force recollection. Standard multiple choice can be answered on familiarity, except for 'trick' formats like the GRE, LSAT or MCAT, where distractors demand mastery. Announcing that there will be frequent quizzes beats pop quizzes, which students resent.

• 10

  Emotion strengthens memory

  Epinephrine and norepinephrine can produce one-trial learning, as with witnessing a car accident, and also underlie PTSD, which is treated with exposure therapy, EMDR or medication. Excitement or story in material helps it stick. With a monotone source, you have to generate that intensity yourself. Caffeine raises epinephrine modestly and 'probably' helps a little.