Why We Don't Always Learn From Our Mistakes
April 2, 2008
If you are struggling to retrieve a word that you are certain is on the tip of
your tongue, or trying to perfect a slapshot that will send your puck flying
into a hockey net, or if you keep stumbling over the same sequence of notes on
the piano, be warned: you might be unconsciously creating a pattern of failure,
a new study reveals.
The research appears in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Karin Humphreys, assistant professor in McMaster University's Faculty of
Science, and Amy Beth Warriner, an undergraduate student in the Department of
Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, suggest that most errors are repeated
because the very act of making a mistake, despite receiving correction,
constitutes the learning of that mistake.
Humphreys says the research came about as a result of her own experiences of
repeatedly getting into a tip-of-the-tongue (or TOT) state on particular words.
"This can be incredibly frustrating - you know you know the word, but you
just can't quite get it," she said. "And once you have it, it is such
a relief that you can't imagine ever forgetting it again. But then you do. So we
began thinking about the mechanisms that might underlie this phenomenon. We
realized that it might not be a case of everyone having certain words that are
difficult for them to remember, but that by getting into a tip-of-the-tongue
state on a particular word once, they actually learn to go into that incorrect
state when they try to retrieve the same word again."
Humphreys and Warriner tested 30 students to see if their subjects could
retrieve words after being given a definition. e.g. "What do you call an
instrument for performing calculations by sliding beads along rods or
grooves" (Answer: abacus). They then had to say whether they knew the
answer, didn't know it, or were in a TOT. If they were in a TOT, they were
randomly assigned to spend either 10 or 30 seconds trying to retrieve the answer
before finally being shown it. Two days later, subjects were tested on those
same words again. One would assume that having been shown the correct word on
Day 1 the subject would still remember it on Day 2. Not so. The subjects tended
to TOT on the same words as before, and were especially more likely to do so if
they had spent a longer time trying to retrieve them The longer time in the
error state appears to reinforce that incorrect pattern of brain activation that
caused the error.
"It's akin to spinning one's tires in the snow: despite your perseverance
you're only digging yourself a deeper rut," the researchers explained.
There might be a strategy to solve the recurrence of tip-of-the-tongue
situations, which is what Warriner is currently working on for her honours
thesis.
"If you can find out what the word is as soon as possible - by looking it
up, or asking someone - you should actually say it to yourself," says
Humphreys. "It doesn't need to be out loud, but you should at least say it
to yourself. By laying down another procedural memory you can help ameliorate
the effects of the error. However, what the research shows is that if you just
can't figure it out, stop trying: you're just digging yourself in deeper."
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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McMaster University, a world-renowned, research-intensive university, fosters a
culture of innovation, and a commitment to discovery and learning in teaching,
research and scholarship. Based in Hamilton, the University, one of only four
Canadian universities to be listed on the Top 100 universities in the world, has
a student population of more than 23,000, and an alumni population of more than
131,000 in 128 countries.
Source: Jane Christmas
McMaster
University
Medical News Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
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