By Dennis Sale
Brain & mind-based barriers to good thinking and effective learning
For many years in Singapore, I researched the internal mental (cognitive and affective) processes that underpin human thinking and learning, especially the uniquely human capability for metacognition. The educational aim was to develop a sufficiently valid and practical model of human learning that could be infused into the school curriculum to enhance students’ thinking and learning competencies. There is little argument that good thinking is a very desirable educational outcome, essential for effective learning and well-being. As Paul (1993) summarised:
Thought is the key to knowledge. Knowledge is discovered by thinking, analysed by thinking, organized by thinking, transformed by thinking, assessed by thinking, and, most importantly, acquired by thinking.
Petty (2009) puts this in a practical context when he argued that:
It is no exaggeration to say that almost every aspect of private and public life is driven by our ability (or inability) to use thinking skills effectively, and to “think straight”.
Sadly, however, while good thinking may be beneficial in the learning stakes, there are those who do not see the human mind as particularly well developed for such activity, as Willingham (2009), a world-famous cognitive psychologist, concluded:
Humans don’t think very often because our brains are designed not for thought but for the avoidance of thought.
In this initial column on Hard Psychology, I look at the outcomes and illustrate four key brain-based features that create psychological barriers to good thinking, learning, and human action. Its applicability extends well beyond educational institutions, in fact to every aspect of human life. Yes, there are more than four – but let’s do this in manageable chunks.
1. Cognitive biases
Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from rational evidence-based judgment. A well-documented one is Confirmation Bias, where people simply go for information that confirms their preconceptions (existing beliefs about a subject). This severely hinders their ability to learn new or contradictory information. Another well-researched cognitive bias is the Dunning-Kruger Effect in which people with poor understanding or low skills over-exaggerate their capability, while those with high knowledge and skills underestimate themselves. How paradoxical is this!
2. Limitations of memory systems
Human memory has severe limitations in capacity, duration, and the accuracy of information stored and retrieved. Our working memory, which is where we process new information to be stored in long-term memory, can only cope with minimal information at any one time. The “magic” 7 (able to process around 7 ± bits of information at one go) was originally documented by Miller (1956), for what was then referred to as short-term memory. However, more recent research (e.g., Van Merrienboer & Sweller, 2005) suggests that in everyday situational use, this tends to be only 2-4 elements at a time. This limited capacity of working memory poses problems for learning, as it is here that conscious mental processing occurs. It’s what makes learning lots of information often a tedious and tiring process.
Even when information is transferred into long-term memory it is subject to decay and interference from similar memories, making accurate recall difficult and often significantly changed over time. This typically results in recalled events having decreasing accuracy over time.
3. Attentional limitations:
Attention is a crucial cognitive resource that can be easily depleted. Learners often face challenges in allocating their attention effectively due to distractions, multitasking, or divided attention, which can impede learning and retention of information. Attentional lapses can also result from fatigue or lack of interest, further impeding learning processes. As Sylwester (1998) pointed out:
It’s biologically impossible to learn anything that you’re not paying attention to; the attentional mechanism drives the whole learning and memory process.
The human attention span varies from person to person and situation to situation. However, I think we can assume that in most everyday or mundane contexts, it’s quite limited.
4. Lazy brain
Despite, the brain’s massive neural capability (around 86 billion neurons and each neuron having a capacity for connecting to many thousands of other neurons), it is far from a perfect information processing machine. The Nobel Memorial prize-winning author Kahneman (2012) provides a powerful insight here, which has extensive implications in educational contexts and how we teach and learn. He argues that thinking can be conceptualised in terms of two systems: System 1 and System 2. These are, of course, metaphors, but they convey something that instantly has strong face validity:
System 1 is a fast reflexive system that identifies the familiar, especially threatening elements in a situation and quickly activates automatic response patterns. This system is the most essential for survival and is the default system. It typically works well in familiar everyday life where most situations and problems are familiar, and we have long-established patterned responses to them. However, this system also results in rapid stereotypical/prejudicial judgments and action. It is the price we pay for this powerful survival system.
System 2 is a slow, analytic, reflective system that explores the more objective factual elements of a situation, compares them with previously learned elements, and then responds. This makes good thinking and the building of deep understanding possible.
However, System 2 thinking requires self-control, effort and time, which is essentially tiring. As Kahneman summarises: System 2 is capable of reasoning, but for some people, it is also lazy.
To add further “salt into the wound” – metaphorically speaking – Marcus (2009), from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, highlights how our belief systems further provide challenges to the brain functioning as a good “thinking machine”:
Our beliefs are contaminated by the tricks of memory, by emotion, and by the vagaries of a perceptual system that really ought to be fully separate – not to mention a logic and inference system that is as yet, in the early twenty-first century, far from fully hatched.
In subsequent columns, I examine the relationship between the brain and mind, the problem of consciousness, what this means for human action, and how we can enhance Good Thinking. That’s why I call this series Hard Psychology.
Dennis Sale worked in the Singapore education system for 25 years as advisor, researcher and examiner. He coached over 15,000 teaching professionals and provided 100+ consultancies in the Asian region. Dennis is author of the books Creative Teachers: Self-directed Learners (Springer 2020) and Creative Teaching: An Evidence-Based Approach (Springer, 2015). To contact Dennis, visit dennissale.com.
