Overlearning: what is it and what does it tell us about memory?

A type of learning based on consolidating memories and perfecting what has already been learned.

Learning is essential to evolve and improve, and in fact, even if we don't realize it, we learn new things every day. In the psychology of learning we find interesting concepts, such as overlearning.

Overlearning consists in the fact that each new skill acquired must be practiced beyond the initial practice or competence, in order to reach the automation of that skill or task.

Let's see what studies say about this concept, and how it relates to psychology and education.

Overlearning: what is it?

Overlearning consists of continuing to study or practice something after it has been acquired.It also involves the reinforcement or integration of the material or skill learned. It also implies the reinforcement or integration of the material or skill learned.

This is a pedagogical concept (and also a psychological one, as we shall see below), which holds that in the practice of a task beyond the point of mastery, overlearning allows us to combat or reduce forgetting and improve transfer..

In other words, overlearning allows the acquired knowledge to be extrapolated to other domains or contexts, beyond the academic domain, for example (at home, in the park, in personal life, etc.).

Research

According to some studies, overlearning is important for for successful retention of the lesson or material learned, as well as task performance.as well as task performance.

A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience showed how as study participants became more proficient at a task, the amount of energy used to perform the task decreased (by the end of the study, this energy had decreased by 20%). (by the end of the study, this energy had decreased by 20%).

On a physical level, it is known that repeating a task allows the "muscle memory" to perform the specific movement, which in turn allows it to reduce unnecessary movements and eliminate wasted energy. This can be extrapolated to learning processes, since according to some authors there is a mental correlation with "muscle memory".

Practical example

Let us think of a dancer who does the same movement an infinite number of times; in the end she will come to feel that she can do it perfectly even "in her sleep". She can repeat the movement as many times as she wants, and even transfer this learning to memory. This This will significantly reduce any possibility of error in each execution. in each execution.

Psychology of learning

In the psychology of learning, the concept of overlearning takes on a new meaning, and is related to memory and knowledge retention. The greater the learning (greater memorization in a task), the less forgetting is obtained from it.

This is related to the famous forgetting curve of Hermann EbbinghausGerman philosopher and psychologist. This author concluded that the more significant a memory is, the more it is retained over time. Perhaps we can even extrapolate this statement to less "academic" or theoretical memories, and more emotional (autobiographical experiences).

The Ebbinghaus oblivion curve

But let's go back to Ebbinghaus' findings. An interesting phenomenon appears as a result of applying standardized tests. in relation to memory; if I give a test, a task or a standardized test to a child, his score on that test or task will be normalized and at most altered according to the context (e.g. it is a good day for this child, the weather is appropriate, the noise is advisable, etc.).

But if I give the same type of task consecutively every day to this child, without varying the conditions in which it is performed (same place, same time, same scenario,...) after a while a phenomenon of sensitization to the task will occur.

That is to say, this child will mechanically and automatically, will successfully perform the task and its results will be above what would be expected under normal conditions.. In other words, there is an overlearning that favors the achievement of the test.

If we relate this to the forgetting curve, we would see that it has a very steep slope when little significant content is memorized, but that it is almost flat when the content is attractive or transcendental for the child.

Overlearning in the task

We can understand overlearning as something positive, since that which is reviewed and memorized over a long period of time is retained longer in the memory. For example, the multiplication tables; they are hard to forget, because since we are children we systematically review them through a series of "ditties" or with mnemonic rules that we learn without meaning, at the beginning.

On the other hand, there is the significance and transcendence of the content or learning. That is to say, memorizing is not the same as learningand in education we see this a lot.

It is important to emphasize that for good learning to take place (meaningful learning), the learner must should not only "memorize", but also understand what they are learning, as well as be able to put it into practice in their daily life in a successful and adaptive way and relate it to previous concepts.and be able to put it into practice in their daily lives in a successful and adaptive way and to relate it to previous concepts.

And how do we relate the latter to overlearning? In standardized tests, overlearning causes children to memorize without understanding the why of the content, without understanding its importance or relevance, and without connecting the knowledge to underlying prior bases.

Bibliographic references:

• Beach, T. (2013). What Is "Overlearning" and Why Is It So Important?. A + Test Prep & Tutoring.
• Sampascual, G. (2007). Psicología de la Educación. 2 Volumes. UNED. Madrid.
• Woolfolk, A. (1996). Psicología educativa. Mexico, Prentice-Hall Hispanoamericana SA, p. 316.