How much do you really know about learning?

Parade Magazine recently had an informative back-to-school quiz  focused on learning facts.  Follow this link to see how much you really know. After you answer each question it will tell you the research behind the answer.  We'll give you a few clues because they are important to training:

Testing doesn't simply measure what you know-it reinforces what you know, says psychologist Henry Roediger III, Ph.D., of Washington University in St. Louis. Every time you summon facts from memory, you strengthen your brain's hold on the material. (Editor's Note: this is why, at The Training Doctor, we always say that the quiz is just the final part of the learning process.)

Research on what's known as the "spacing effect" shows that we form stronger and more lasting memories by exposing ourselves to information over time. Repeated cycles of learning, consolidating, and then re-encountering material fix it firmly in our minds.

It's much more effective to "interweave" different types of problems - mixing them up so you learn how to quickly identify which approach is needed to solve each one. For example, a study of baseball batters found that when different types of pitches - fastballs, curveballs, sinkers-were mixed up unpredictably during practice, the players became more adept at scoring a hit.