David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
The psychology of study
By Emil Whitis, Independent Collegian
12/1/08
Psychologist offers study solutions and concentration tips
Despite the many tricks and techniques used by college students during exam week, there is no way around spending hours and hours studying, said Stephen Christman, a psychology professor at UT.
"It's kind of like those late-night infomercials that claim, 'Buy our book and we'll teach you how to walk into a room and memorize 100 people's different names,'" he said. "There are no magic bullets; there are no shortcuts ... the only way to learn lots of stuff is to spend a lot of time concentrating and focusing."
Christman said there are many ways to help facilitate the study process, and the students' arousal level is the first aspect that must be considered when dealing with concentration.
"[An] important aspect of concentration is your overall arousal level," he said. "Sitting in a quiet room tediously concentrating on boring stuff can cause you to get sleepy, bored and [have a] low arousal."
Christman recommended moderate levels of exercise, such as walking and performing jumping jacks, before and during the study session to achieve an optimum level of stimulation.
"Studies have shown that modest amounts of exercise have a calming effect... [it] adds some of those endorphins ... that can calm you," he said.
Christman said students, through exercise, can avoid anxiety arising from thoughts about an overwhelming workload or pessimistic thoughts about doing poorly on the exam.
"Those kinds of worries are another distraction that could become a self-fulfilling prophecy," he said.
In addition to exercise, stimulants can also have a positive effect on overall arousal levels, Christman said.
"Officially, I really recommend that stimulants are good, but I would stick with caffeine, the time-honored stimulant," he said.
Danielle Thomas, a sophomore majoring in nursing, unknowingly heeds Christman's advice. She said she doesn't like coffee but instead drinks cappuccino and pop to facilitate her studying.
After arousal, the environment is the next major factor in attaining optimum concentration.
"The best way to achieve perfect concentration, or at least optimize it, is to get yourself into a distraction-free environment," Christman said.
While studying in public places such as a coffee house, other people's conversations can be distracting, and studying at home may result in distractions from personal possessions or roommates, Christman said.
Instead of the two previous environments, Christman said he recommends the library as a relatively distraction-free place.
Even when a student is alert and in the library, there is still a problem, he said.
"People's minds tend to wander," he said. "Even if you're in a perfectly silent room with no outside distracters, there's still going to be an internal distracter. Thoughts pop up - the party this weekend, or how you're going to do in this class."
Much of Christman's research deals with the differences between the right and left hemispheres of the brain.
"The left hemisphere seems to be the best at generating sustained attention, aka concentration. The right side is in charge of the complementary attentional role, which is attending to novel things in your environment, like fire alarms and people calling your name," Christman said.
Understanding this split between the right and left hemispheres is essential to solving the problem of the wandering mind, he said.
"If I'm doing a task that's very left hemisphere ... that means my right hemisphere doesn't have much to do and it gets bored," Christman said. "I find that if I have music going in the background while my left hemisphere is consciously concentrating on the work I'm doing, my right hemisphere can just kind of enjoy itself by listening to the music."
Londyn Jackson, a freshman majoring in political science, agrees music is the gateway to concentration.
"It's all music," Jackson said. "Without music, I couldn't concentrate."
Although he recommends music as a way to entertain the right hemisphere and keep it from wandering, Christman was careful to point out not all music is suitable for studying.
"I would recommend not listening to music that is overly engaging - stuff that is in your face like 'Oh, listen to me; I'm really complicated and interesting,'" he said. "The music they play in shopping malls and restaurants [is ideal]."
Christman said students should save their favorite songs for times when they can give their full, undivided attention. Christman said he would never listen to the songs on his work playlist while he was at home.
The type of music may also have different effects. Jackson said he only listens to slow songs when he studies.
"If I listen to anything fast, I'll get up and dance," he said.
Christman specifically recommended instrumental music as the most conducive to studying.
"If the music I was listening to had words, it was really distracting because the same part of my brain that was reading, writing and crunching numbers is the same part of my brain that likes to listen to the words in a song," he said.
Justin Foster, a freshman majoring in business, said he uses the "white noise" generated from the television instead of music to keep the right side of his brain occupied.
"I usually turn the TV on to ESPN and just start doing homework," he said.
Once a student has found a way to achieve an optimum level of concentration, he or she must learn how to use this state of mind most effectively, Christman said. Many students will study the same subject for hours in the process known as "cramming" for an exam. This study habit is called massed learning, Christman said.
"Numerous studies have shown that distributed learning is much more effective and efficient than massed learning," he said.
Distributed learning is like spending an hour on Spanish, an hour on math, another hour on Spanish and another hour on math, in that order. The study strategy cuts out proactive interference, a problem that occurs "when you keep experiencing similar episodes [and they] blur together," Christman said.
"As you keep studying and focusing and concentrating on the same topic, it becomes less and less fresh, and the material you're studying now starts getting confused and blurred with the stuff you were studying 10 minutes ago and an hour ago," he said.
Christman said a constant shifting of subjects keeps a student mentally fresh, but it is up to students to find the switch rate that is most beneficial for them.
"People have been looking for magical tricks in the realm of memory retention since the birth of psychology and long before that, and they don't exist," he said.
The only trick Christman suggests is to find or, if necessary, create meaning or relations between what you are learning and yourself.
"Human learning is best when we find the material meaningful and relevant to ourselves," he said.
By Emil Whitis, Independent Collegian
12/1/08
Psychologist offers study solutions and concentration tips
Despite the many tricks and techniques used by college students during exam week, there is no way around spending hours and hours studying, said Stephen Christman, a psychology professor at UT.
"It's kind of like those late-night infomercials that claim, 'Buy our book and we'll teach you how to walk into a room and memorize 100 people's different names,'" he said. "There are no magic bullets; there are no shortcuts ... the only way to learn lots of stuff is to spend a lot of time concentrating and focusing."
Christman said there are many ways to help facilitate the study process, and the students' arousal level is the first aspect that must be considered when dealing with concentration.
"[An] important aspect of concentration is your overall arousal level," he said. "Sitting in a quiet room tediously concentrating on boring stuff can cause you to get sleepy, bored and [have a] low arousal."
Christman recommended moderate levels of exercise, such as walking and performing jumping jacks, before and during the study session to achieve an optimum level of stimulation.
"Studies have shown that modest amounts of exercise have a calming effect... [it] adds some of those endorphins ... that can calm you," he said.
Christman said students, through exercise, can avoid anxiety arising from thoughts about an overwhelming workload or pessimistic thoughts about doing poorly on the exam.
"Those kinds of worries are another distraction that could become a self-fulfilling prophecy," he said.
In addition to exercise, stimulants can also have a positive effect on overall arousal levels, Christman said.
"Officially, I really recommend that stimulants are good, but I would stick with caffeine, the time-honored stimulant," he said.
Danielle Thomas, a sophomore majoring in nursing, unknowingly heeds Christman's advice. She said she doesn't like coffee but instead drinks cappuccino and pop to facilitate her studying.
After arousal, the environment is the next major factor in attaining optimum concentration.
"The best way to achieve perfect concentration, or at least optimize it, is to get yourself into a distraction-free environment," Christman said.
While studying in public places such as a coffee house, other people's conversations can be distracting, and studying at home may result in distractions from personal possessions or roommates, Christman said.
Instead of the two previous environments, Christman said he recommends the library as a relatively distraction-free place.
Even when a student is alert and in the library, there is still a problem, he said.
"People's minds tend to wander," he said. "Even if you're in a perfectly silent room with no outside distracters, there's still going to be an internal distracter. Thoughts pop up - the party this weekend, or how you're going to do in this class."
Much of Christman's research deals with the differences between the right and left hemispheres of the brain.
"The left hemisphere seems to be the best at generating sustained attention, aka concentration. The right side is in charge of the complementary attentional role, which is attending to novel things in your environment, like fire alarms and people calling your name," Christman said.
Understanding this split between the right and left hemispheres is essential to solving the problem of the wandering mind, he said.
"If I'm doing a task that's very left hemisphere ... that means my right hemisphere doesn't have much to do and it gets bored," Christman said. "I find that if I have music going in the background while my left hemisphere is consciously concentrating on the work I'm doing, my right hemisphere can just kind of enjoy itself by listening to the music."
Londyn Jackson, a freshman majoring in political science, agrees music is the gateway to concentration.
"It's all music," Jackson said. "Without music, I couldn't concentrate."
Although he recommends music as a way to entertain the right hemisphere and keep it from wandering, Christman was careful to point out not all music is suitable for studying.
"I would recommend not listening to music that is overly engaging - stuff that is in your face like 'Oh, listen to me; I'm really complicated and interesting,'" he said. "The music they play in shopping malls and restaurants [is ideal]."
Christman said students should save their favorite songs for times when they can give their full, undivided attention. Christman said he would never listen to the songs on his work playlist while he was at home.
The type of music may also have different effects. Jackson said he only listens to slow songs when he studies.
"If I listen to anything fast, I'll get up and dance," he said.
Christman specifically recommended instrumental music as the most conducive to studying.
"If the music I was listening to had words, it was really distracting because the same part of my brain that was reading, writing and crunching numbers is the same part of my brain that likes to listen to the words in a song," he said.
Justin Foster, a freshman majoring in business, said he uses the "white noise" generated from the television instead of music to keep the right side of his brain occupied.
"I usually turn the TV on to ESPN and just start doing homework," he said.
Once a student has found a way to achieve an optimum level of concentration, he or she must learn how to use this state of mind most effectively, Christman said. Many students will study the same subject for hours in the process known as "cramming" for an exam. This study habit is called massed learning, Christman said.
"Numerous studies have shown that distributed learning is much more effective and efficient than massed learning," he said.
Distributed learning is like spending an hour on Spanish, an hour on math, another hour on Spanish and another hour on math, in that order. The study strategy cuts out proactive interference, a problem that occurs "when you keep experiencing similar episodes [and they] blur together," Christman said.
"As you keep studying and focusing and concentrating on the same topic, it becomes less and less fresh, and the material you're studying now starts getting confused and blurred with the stuff you were studying 10 minutes ago and an hour ago," he said.
Christman said a constant shifting of subjects keeps a student mentally fresh, but it is up to students to find the switch rate that is most beneficial for them.
"People have been looking for magical tricks in the realm of memory retention since the birth of psychology and long before that, and they don't exist," he said.
The only trick Christman suggests is to find or, if necessary, create meaning or relations between what you are learning and yourself.
"Human learning is best when we find the material meaningful and relevant to ourselves," he said.
