How often have you added pictures or gifs to a PowerPoint presentation to spice it up? It turns out that these fun additions can actually negatively impact your audience's learning. This is especially important for educators and students…
Weekly Digest #123: Does Music Help You Study
When you sit down to study do you have a favorite playlist or genre? Does listening to music help you study or does it just lead to more distractions?
The Failed Spacing Effect 30 Years Later (Part 1)
Thirty years ago, Frank N. Demster wrote an article entitled “A Case Study in the Failure to Apply the Results of Psychological Research” (1). His case study was the spacing effect - the finding that studying information presented spaced out over time…
Weekly Digest #122: Spaced Practice in Different Subjects
We recently asked subscribers of our Facebook page what they would like to see more of. We were delighted to receive so many responses, and one theme that emerged was that readers would like to see subject-specific tips for how to integrate…
Learning in Dungeons and Dragons
Earlier this month one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition asked Twitter for some resources on how to improve communication for better information delivery. As a cognitive psychologist with a background in memory and linguistics who plays Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) I’ve thought about this question A LOT.
Weekly Digest #121: Organization and Productivity Apps
With the new school year just beginning, you may already be feeling overwhelmed and under-organized, so we thought that you might appreciate a list of a few applications that can be used on your phone or desktop to help you stay organized…