Learning, Remembering, Believing : Enhancing Human Performance

Can such techniques as sleep learning and hypnosis improve performance? Do we sometimes confuse familiarity with mastery? Can we learn without making mistakes? These questions apply in the classroom, in the military, and on the assembly line. "Learning, Remembering, Believing" addresses these and other key issues in learning and performance. The volume presents leading-edge theories and findings from a wide range of research settings: from pilots learning to fly to children learning about physics by throwing beanbags. Common folklore is explored, and promising research directions are identified. The authors also continue themes from their first two volumes: "Enhancing Human Performance" (1988) and "In the Mind's Eye" (1991). The result is a thorough and readable review of "Learning and Remembering". The volume evaluates the effects of subjective experience on learning - why we often overestimate what we know, why we may not need a close match between training settings and real-world tasks, and why we experience such phenomena as illusory remembering and unconscious plagiarism. It talks about learning and performing in teams. The authors discuss cooperative learning in different age groups and contexts. Current views on team performance are presented, including how team-learning processes can be improved and whether team-building interventions are effective. It also discusses about the mental and emotional states. This is a critical review of the evidence that learning is affected by state of mind. Topics include hypnosis, meditation, sleep learning, restricted environmental stimulation, and self-confidence and the self-efficacy theory of learning. New directions. The volume looks at two new ideas for improving performance: emotions induced by another person - socially induced affect and strategies for controlling one's thoughts. The committee also considers factors inherent in organizations - workplaces, educational facilities, and the military - that affect whether and how they implement training programs. "Learning, Remembering, Believing" offers an understanding of human learning that will be useful to training specialists, psychologists, educators, managers, and individuals interested in all dimensions of human performance. This book is the third report of the Committee on Techniques for the Enhancement of Human Performance. Based on hundreds of research studies of learning and human performance as reported in the literature, the book consists of 11 chapters organized in five parts. The two chapters of the first part provide the background and summary of the committee's study. The first chapter describes the topics undertaken in this third phase of the study and the relationships between these topics and earlier work done by the committee. Chapter 2 summarizes key findings and conclusions for each chapter. The second part of the book considers a number of issues related to individual training. Chapter 3 focuses on the extent to which training should be provided in a situation similar to which performance occurs; chapter 4 addresses the illusions of comprehension that occur when people do not understand the reasons for the "right" answers to problems. The three chapters of part 3 consider learning and performing in teams. in chapter 5, research on cooperative learning, especially for adults, is reviewed. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on team performance and team training. In the fourth part, the implications of a person's emotional state for performance are discussed. In chapter 8, studies on achievement motivation, career development, health and exercise behavior, anxiety disorders, and sport and motor performance are discussed, with a concentration on perceptions of self-confidence. The following chapter focuses primarily on hypnosis, with side studies on restricted environmental stimulation and meditation and sleep learning. The last part of the book presents findings from two relatively new fields in the area of human performance. Chapter 10 considers socially induced affect, and thought suppression is the topic of the final chapter. Contains 1,190 references. (KC) Addresses issues in learning and performance. This book presents theories and findings from a range of research settings: from pilots learning to fly to children learning about physics by throwing beanbags. It also explores common folklore and identifies promising research directions. It evaluates the effects of subjective experience on learning.