Trial and error are the best learning method

• April 26, 2024

Contrary to what previous scientific work indicated, about what to make mistakes during the learning harms the performance of the memory in older adults , and that passive learning is better suited to brains Older, one study proved the opposite.

The online magazine Psychology and Aging, published that Canadian researchers found the first evidence that brains Older people remember the information better if it is learned by trial and error instead of passively.

According to information from the agencyAFP , "learning in the most difficult way turned out to be the best way," said the study's lead researcher, Andree-Ann Cyr . The brain It makes associations and links better when the information is encoded if you have to make an effort to find the answers, while the passive learning or without errors is less demanding for the brain , because the correct answer is simply given.

The study consisted in performing two different tests. For this, the scientists of Toronto Rotman Baycrest Research Institute compared the results of memory exercises performed by 45 adults in their twenties with those of 45 senior citizens with an average age of 70 years.

In both tests, especially in older adults, the participants better remembered the context of the keywords if they had learned them by trial and error . This is due, according to Cyr, to "the older adults tend to experience a decrease in memory related to age, so they get to remember more from learning to create memories richer than those young adults that are not experiencing problems of memory ”.

Given the loss of memory, it is important to take the patient to his doctor so that he can formulate a diagnosis and give him the appropriate treatment.

Video Medicine: trial and error theory of learning (April 2024).