Obsidian Sync 2024-11-18 16:36:00

content/daily-notes/2024-11-18.md

@@ -19,4 +19,12 @@ Yet another lovely read from Chris Arnade. Yet another antidote to the Japan slo
 #### Pretesting
 [The ‘secret strategy’ that could boost your ability to learn | Psyche Ideas](https://psyche.co/ideas/the-secret-strategy-that-could-boost-your-ability-to-learn) #learning #hacks
 
-> Imagine you are planning to learn about the solar system but, before you start, your teacher gives you a multiple-choice quiz on the topic. You haven’t learned a single fact about the solar system yet, so the questions, such as ‘Which of our dwarf planets is not a plutoid?’ or ‘Which planet is the least dense in the solar system?’, leave you staring blankly. Naturally, you are bound to make mistakes. You might understandably feel that this guessing in the dark is a complete waste of time. In fact, it’s not – a growing body of research shows this early test can significantly enhance your later learning.
+> Imagine you are planning to learn about the solar system but, before you start, your teacher gives you a multiple-choice quiz on the topic. You haven’t learned a single fact about the solar system yet, so the questions, such as ‘Which of our dwarf planets is not a plutoid?’ or ‘Which planet is the least dense in the solar system?’, leave you staring blankly. Naturally, you are bound to make mistakes. You might understandably feel that this guessing in the dark is a complete waste of time. In fact, it’s not – a growing body of research shows this early test can significantly enhance your later learning.
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+> Researchers believe pretesting is beneficial because it improves the way that we process the to-be-learned material…
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+> …
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+> Increased [attention](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/00346543043001083?icid=int.sj-abstract.citing-articles.154) to the to-be-learned material could be another factor. Pan and his colleagues have [observed](https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1016%2Fj.jarmac.2020.07.004) reduced mind-wandering after pretesting, and other researchers have [shown](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0163853X.2012.662801) that participants’ eyes focus more on sentences related to the questions they received in advance. Other potential mechanisms include an [improved](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3631699/) motivation to learn and that pretesting [acts](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-15804-016) as a metacognitive ‘reality check’, highlighting what you do and do not know and encouraging you to fill in knowledge gaps.
+> 
+> Whatever the mechanism is, when you later need that information, you’re more likely to recall it after a pretest than if you had simply read it.