SuccessTypes And Effective Learning

John W. Pelley, PhD [email protected]

www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/success/ 1

Getting In Touch With Your Thalamus

Talk with a neighbor about how you do your best thinking: Talk it out first or, Think it through first 2

Insights Into Personality

 Talk it out – “low gain” thalamic activity; seeking more input  Extraversion  Think it through – “high gain” thalamic activity; reduce input  Introversion 3

What Is Personality?

 Consistent behavior  The way we think  The way we are wired 4

    From: Medical Education Research and Development [DR [email protected]] on behalf of Dr. Penny Grossman [[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 3:05 PM To: [email protected]

Subject: [DR-ED] Learning style assessment tool  Dear colleagues:  Does anyone know of a validated tool to assess learning styles that could be used to tailor educational interventions designed for residents?

 Thanks in advance,    Penny Grossman, Ed.D., M.P.H.

Assistant Dean for Educational Resources Associate Professor of Clinical Family & Social Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine 1300 Morris Park Avenue Belfer 206, Bronx, NY 10461 5

Myers-Briggs Personality Types As A “Learning Style”  Mental model for thinking process  “Type” influences how you learn  Self awareness; important first step  Affects academic performance  Also affects:  Communication skills  Choice of specialty 6

7

At-risk Syndrome Contained Clues

 Up until 2 am, reading and re-reading  Harder study

=

 Study effort  harder reading test performance  Knew more than others who did better  Test questions are tricky 8

9

Not Just For At-Risk Anymore

 Principles learned apply broadly  Physician – resident – med student – premed student  Emphasis on becoming “balanced” 10

Myers-Briggs Personality Type

 Mental Model: Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I)* Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N)* Thinking (T)* vs. Feeling (F) Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)* *Pelley’s type  Normal differences between people  Persistent tendencies (choices)  Do not change once established  e.g. Folding your arms, throwing a ball, writing your name  Comfort zone for thinking; requires less effort than the opposite  Use of opposite is a conscious effort (see appendix in handout) 11

Myers-Briggs Personality Type Common Misconceptions  Not a measure of intelligence or competence  Not a “limitation”  No negative aspects; no psychopathology  Not determined by what you do  Everyone adapts to their circumstances 12

Extraversion vs. Introversion  How do you do your

best

thinking?

 Extraverts think best by “talking it out.”  Ready-fire-aim!

 Talk to think  Introverts think best by “thinking it through.”  Ready-aim-aim!

 Think to talk  Everyone does both, but only

one

preferred.

is (page 1 in handout) 13

Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N)

 What information do you give the

most

attention to?

 Sensing types give attention to specifics  Intuitive types give attention to the big picture  Everyone does both, but only

one

preferred.

is 14

Consult Your Colleague

 Talk for a minute with your neighbor about what your preference might be:   Think better with “details and specifics” Think better with “big picture and connections”  Try to give an example 15

Test Taking Style

 N style   Rule out answer choices Don’t fit pattern  Big picture learning establishes patterns  S style  Seek answer that matches memorized knowledge  Re-read question to stimulate recall  Memorization learning requires recognition 16

Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)

 How do you react to new information?

 Thinking types consider the logical implications.

 Feeling types consider the impact on people.

 Everyone does both, but only

one

preferred.

is 17

Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)

 How do you manage your life?

 Judging types prefer to be planned, organized (joy of closure).

 Perceiving types prefer to be flexible, adaptive (joy of discovery).

 Everyone does both, but only

one

preferred.

is 18

An MBTI Thinking Sequence

19

Cautions With Personality Type

 Self report and vulnerable to bias  What you, or others, think you ought to be like  Development of the opposite skill  What you do vs. what you

prefer

to do  Type doesn’t “make” you do anything.

(see appendix in handout) 20

Phosphorylation – The Illusion Of Memory

 The brain is designed to forget.  Phosphorylation is the mechanism.

 Protein synthesis is the override.

21

Forgetting Can Be A Good Thing

   New information input → phosphorylation at the neuron synapse (“illusion of memory”) Two things can happen: 1.No further use of the information → decay of the signal → neuron “forgets” 2.Continued use of the information → sustained signal → gene activation → synthesis of new proteins → neuron “remembers” Neurologic protection: no cluttering with irrelevant information.

22

Molecules and Memory

e.g. glutamate receptors in the hippocampus (new memory) NEJM (2006) 355:25 23

24

Experiential Learning Model

Outside

Concrete experience (Kol b, 1 984, p.2 1)

Try out what you have learned Have an experience

Testing implications of concepts in new situations Observations and reflections

Learn from the experience

Formation of abstract concepts and generalizations

Reflect on the experience Inside

25

The Learning Cycle

Zull, 2002, The Art of Changing the Brain 26

Back To The Future

 Temporal (back) processing looks at  Facts, grouping, learned patterns  Frontal (future) processing looks at  “Discovered” grouping, new patterns, inferences, evaluation of options 27

Embryology Of Cortex

Zull, 2002, The Art of Changing the Brain 28

Have A Look At Your Motherboard Fasiculi 29

How Does Experience Make The Brain Grow?

 Anatomical changes at synaptic connections  Requires motor activity that uses new information  Leads to recycling as motor activity becomes concrete experience.

30

Memorization vs HOTS

 Memorization  Recall: remembering facts/details and their “organization” (list the symptoms of heart attack)  Preferred by sensing types  Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)  Grouping: “organizing” facts into patterns  Comparing: relationships between patterns (list the causes of chest pain)  Preferred by intuitive types 31

What Do Memorization Questions Look Like?

1.

What area is supplied with blood by the posterior inferior cerebellar artery?

A.

B.

Answer A Answer B, etc.

 Straightforward memorization question  Memorize areas supplied by cerebellar artery and look for them in the answer choices 32

What Do HOTS Questions Look Like?

 A 62-year-old man develops left-sided limb ataxia, Horner’s syndrome, nystagmus, and loss of appreciation of facial pain and temperature sensations. What artery is most likely to be occluded?

A. cerebellar artery B. distracter B C. distracter C, etc.

 Symptoms resulting from occlusion of artery  Not learned all in one place.  Several causes for nystagmus, Horner's syndrome  2-step or 3-step thinking required 33

Stimulating Integrative Learning

 Group study – sensing types adopt intuitive thinking when they

hear

it; intuitives develop their own thinking when they

use

it  Question analysis – shows how are topics tested and how you have to

think

them; (see “Survival Strategy” at about SuccessTypes website)  Concept maps – effective reading by seeking out

connections

(patterns, relationships) 34