This semester has tested my problem-solving abilities. I returned to college after a twenty-five plus year absence and I am dealing with an immediate family crisis as well as assisting my in-law who recently entered hospice.

Returning to college has led to mental “gymnastics” with my “little grey cells” as Hercules Poirot says when dealing with a good mystery. I have had to learn how to study again, apply the material to my life experience, and process that learning is more than memorization. I identified a fixation issue with a tendency to focus on a specific part of a problem impeding me from finding a solution. (Goldstein, 2014, p. 338) When I am given a question that challenges my perspective in a new way, I focus on that question, especially on quizzes and midterms. I am trying to train myself to complete the other questions before coming back to answer the question that disrupted my process. I have been researching ways to address this hyper focus; but so far, I’ve not found a resolution.

Another issue for me has been my mindset: a preconceived notion about how to approach a problem based on successful past experiences. (Goldstein, 2014, p. 340) In the past, I was instructed to read and re-read a chapter, make flashcards to learn the definitions, and to work on the general concepts. College has shown me that re-reading a chapter only makes the writing more familiar, but it does not equate to increased understanding or retention. It is the same with flashcards. I realize I need to create a second set of cards to help me understand and comprehend the terms. There are also new recommended study techniques that are different from the last time I went to college.

The first conflict during this school year was a personal crisis that threw me into a tailspin, disrupting my study schedule. This crisis is on-going. I have been trying to figure out how to rework my schedule to an adaptable one that works for me. The problem is time management; I keep brainstorming: a technique that encourages people to freely express ideas that might be useful in solving a problem. (Goldstein, 2014, p. 360) I find it hard to concentrate like I did before the crisis; my mind often focuses on my worries for this person. I find it twice as hard to finish things and to process the material in my classes. Unfortunately, I have not been the best at balancing this crisis with college.

The second conflict comes from helping an in-law who has been placed in hospice. The first hospice company was not a good fit and we switched to another company that has been much more compatible. Now, I take my computer to work on school assignments while I help out the in-laws. It’s not a perfect answer but it has improved my time management and gotten me back to almost meeting my deadlines.

This whole semester has taught me more about myself, how to study better to understand, and apply the information I have been learning to my everyday life. I also recognize that I’m stuck in a rut with problem-solving, but I hope to work on it by looking at how the brain forms long-term and short-term memories. I plan on brainstorming and thinking through the problem-solving process of Basadur that made sense to me. (Goldstein, 2014, p. 359) I also have realized that no semester is going to be easy and that I need to be better at preparing for crises that are going to come up during the semester.

References:

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience (4th Edition). In E. B. Goldstein, Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience (4th Edition). (p. 338, 340, 359, 360). Cengage Limited.

Studying techniques have changed over the years from when I went to school.  I will be discussing how I was taught to study when I was in school, a long time ago, and what I’ve discovered as the right ways to study now. There are changes and scientific data to support what I was taught wasn’t the right way.

I was taught to write information down, then copy it again, and again. I did lots of flash cards growing up, going over the same words repeatedly. I was told to highlight important information in my readings. Then re-read the information till I “got it”. These are examples of maintenance rehearsal which is being repetitive without thinking of the meaning or making links to other information. (Goldstein, 2014)

Now I know these are not the best ways to study. Re-reading gives the illusion of learning due to the information becoming more fluent and familiar. This doesn’t mean that you know the material. Highlighting the first time through starts to become automatic and not elaborative processing due to not making links to prior knowledge. Sarah Peterson did a survey in 1992, comparing students who highlighted and those that did not highlight. Ms. Peterson’s survey found no difference between the two groups on tested information. (Goldstein, 2014)

Then I read about elaboration, generate and test, organize, and take breaks as a better way to study. Elaboration or elaborative rehearsal involves processing information of material to be remembered by making links between information and prior knowledge. Generate and test is active involvement with the information, making up test questions and thinking of the questions or what the answers are to questions as you read the information. Organize is to take the information then put it into “trees” or use chunking to help maintain the information. Then there is taking breaks, which is very hard for me to do, but spacing effect has been proven to help with retaining the information by having short study sessions with breaks.  (Goldstein, 2014)

Then there Is my favorite study technique flash cards, the best way to utilize them is to have a second set of cards with questions like “Give a real-life example of this concept.” Which takes the cards to an elaborate rehearsal making the information easier to retain. (Adragna, 2016)

The last studying tip I’ve employed to help with tests, is to spend up to ten minutes writing down my thoughts, feelings and doubts about the test I am about to take. Worrying impairs performance on tests due to being a distraction as it increases the load on working memory. (Goldstein, 2014)

Now that I am in college, using these new study skills explained to me by cognitive psychology, I am seeing positive results. Many of the ideas are new to me but implementing the study techniques has been easier than I expected. I still have issues with taking breaks but I am working on that daily.

References

Adragna, R. (2016, 02 20). Be Your Own Teacher: How to Study with Flashcards. Retrieved from learningscientists: https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/2/20-1?rq=flashcards

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience (4th Edition). In E. B. Goldstein, Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience (4th Edition). (pp. 146, 180, 201-203). Cengage Limited

Cognitive psychology gave me perspective on a friend’s horrendous car accident and brain injury when we were seventeen. “Anna” was an honor student at a private school and a talented dancer who aspired to be a doctor. At the time of the accident, she was driving with the green light when an 18-wheeler ran a red light slamming into her car. She was airlifted to Shock Trauma, a nationally recognized trauma center, where they ran a non-invasive CT scan using X-Rays and a computer to generate images of her brain. Anna’s CT scan showed swelling in multiple places as well as bruising from the impact of the accident and movement of the brain in her skull. (Anna, 2021)

Anna’s accident put her in a coma that lasted just over two months. Comas are deep states of unconsciousness; the patient will not respond to external stimuli such as light, sound, and pain in this state. The quicker a person comes out of a coma usually reflects a more positive outcome and recovery for that person. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to confirm that Anna had damage to her frontal lobe, parietal lobe, cerebrum, occipital lobe, and the amygdala. (Brazier, 2017)

I now understand the functions of those areas of the brain and what they process due to cognitive psychology. The frontal lobe (lies at the front of the brain) contains the motor cortex which controls fine motor skills and voluntary movements, the premotor cortex aids in movements, and the prefrontal cortex aids in making decisions, using strategies, and stopping inappropriate behaviors. (Anna would strip naked if not watched for a time during her recovery.) The parietal lobe sits in front of the occipital lobe (lobe at the back of the brain primarily used for visual information) and above the temporal lobe (located in front of the occipital lobe and located by our ears); contains the primary area for sensory information from the skin, some visual information plus it also helps to direct your attention. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and primarily starts and coordinates movement, aids in speech, judgement, thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, emotions, learning and helps with the senses. Anna’s occipital lobe was damaged and she had issues with spatial awareness, location of objects in relation to her and each other. Lastly, her amygdala injuries resulted in Anna’s inappropriate responses such as laughing when receiving bad news and swearing when she gets mad.  (Goldstein, 2014)

A neuropsychologist who studies brain damage would be interested in Anna’s accident. I did not recognize until taking cognitive psychology how remarkable her recovery was with the amount of damage she sustained in the accident. Behaviors and motor skills became manageable and seemed to heal with time. It was once believed the brain did not heal after trauma. Neuroplasticity is the ability for neurons to make adaptive network changes in the brain with structural and functional, molecular, synaptic and cellular changes. I believe her brain was able to utilize this neuroplasticity to aid in her recovery. For example, as Anna recovered, she accessed ASL she had studied before the accident. At first the nurses thought it was merely movement until one of them said something and she corrected them by signing the answer. (Laskowitz & Grant, 2016)

Anna went on to attend Penn State, earn a degree, get married, and have two children. Today she is still a good student, no longer a dancer, and she has a business degree instead of a medical one. Cognitive psychology has given me a new perspective on her accident and the remarkable brain. (Anna, 2021)

Works Cited

Anna. (2021, September 6). Remembering the Recovery. (L. L. Michalek, Interviewer)

Brazier, Y. (2017). What You Need To Know About Coma. Medical News Today, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/173655.

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Laskowitz, D., & Grant, G. (2016). Translational Research in Traumatic Brain Injury. Boca Raton: CRC Press/Taylor and Francis Group.