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The effortless trick neuroscientists say will help you pick up any new skill a lot faster

It's a passive hack that works wonders.

via Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

A woman learning how to play guitar

Learning a new skill, such as playing an instrument, gardening or picking up a new language, takes a lot of time and practice, whether that means scale training, learning about native plants or using flashcards to memorize new words.

To improve through practice, you have to perform the task repeatedly while also receiving feedback so you know whether you’re doing it correctly or not. Is my pitch correct? Did my geraniums bloom? Is my pronunciation understandable?

However, a new study by researchers at the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon shows that you can speed up the processes by adding a third element to practice and feedback: passive exposure. The good news is that passive exposure requires minimal effort and is enjoyable.

"Active learning of a... task requires both expending effort to perform the task and having access to feedback about task performance," the study authors explained. "Passive exposure to sensory stimuli, on the other hand, is relatively effortless and does not require feedback about performance."

listening to music, learning a skill, woman in bedA woman listening to music in bedvia Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

So, if you’re learning to play the blues on guitar, listen to plenty of Howlin’ Wolf or Robert Johnson throughout the day. If you’re learning to cook, keep the Food Network on TV all day to absorb some great culinary advice. Learning to garden? Take the time to notice the flora and fauna in your neighborhood or make frequent trips to your local botanical garden.

If you’re learning a new language, watch plenty of TV and films in the tongue you are learning.

The scientists add that auditory learning is especially helpful, so listen to plenty of audiobooks or podcasts on the subject you’re learning about.

Researchers learned the tremendous benefits of passive exposure after conducting a study with a group of mice. They trained them to find water, using various sounds to give either positive or negative feedback, like playing a game of “hot or cold.” Some mice were passively exposed to these sounds when they weren't looking for water. Those who experienced this additional passive exposure and their active training learned to find the water reward faster.

gardening, learning a skill, nueroscienceA woman reading a book about house plants.via cottonbro studio/Pexels

“Our results suggest that, in mice and in humans, a given performance threshold can be achieved with relatively less effort by combining low-effort passive exposure with active training,” James Murray, a neuroscientist who led the study, told University of Oregon News. “This insight could be helpful for humans learning an instrument or a second language, though more work will be needed to better understand how this applies to more complex tasks and how to optimize training schedules that combine passive exposure with active training.”

The great news about the story is that in addition to giving people a new way to approach learning, it’s an excuse for us to enjoy the things we love even more. If you enjoy listening to blues music so much that you decided to learn for yourself, it’s another reason to make it an even more significant part of your life.


This article originally appeared last year.

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Health

Neuroscientist reveals perfect amount of time to spend on social media for your mental health

Over several weeks, the participants felt less loneliness, depression and anxiety.

@rachelle_summers/TikTok

Anyone can use this checklist.

There are pretty clear cut guidelines on how much screen time kids should have, but for adults…not so much. And perhaps it’s this lack of clarity that leaves people to go on full blown digital detoxes or get off social media entirely.

And while there is certainly a case to be made for that decision, for many of us, that isn’t quite feasible—especially in certain lines of work.

Luckily, according to neuroscientist Rachelle Summers, there is a way we can still be on social media, without being subjected to its negative side effects.

In a video posted to her TikTok and Instagram, Summers first cited a study which found that limiting social media use to 30 minutes per day lead to a "significant improvement in well-being” among participants.

Over several weeks, the participants felt less loneliness, depression, anxiety and FOMO—common symptoms of social media overuse.

Of course, 30 minutes might seem like an extremely short amount of time to be on social media (never mind if you’re actually posting something). In fact, according to one polling website, average person spends a little over 2 hours each day on social media, which is also drastically low in comparison to some of the comments to Summer’s video.

“Yikes. I’ve been doing 30 minutes every half an hour,” one person wrote.

Another added, “I’m on Instagram around 25 hours a week. Guess that’s a critical amount.”

Summers did however add that the study only measured the effects of limiting social media to 30 minutes, and noted that similar benefits could be found at a little more usage time.

So then, what if we want to spend more than a measly 30 minutes and still see benefits? Summers proposes going through this checklist of questions:

-Establish your baseline. How much time are you currently spending on social media?

-Are you sleeping poorly?

-How’s your attention span?Are you finding it difficult to concentrate on a task?

-How is your Mood? Are you experiencing any anxiety or depression?

-Are you noticing physical discomfort like eye strain or headaches?

-What does your engagement look like? Are you mostly looking at content that puts you in a negative headspace?

-Have you stopped or reduced how much time you’re investing in offline relationships and/or hobbies?

If you answered yes to two or more of these questions, Summers suggests going back to your original baseline and reducing social media consumption by 20% . Then check again in two weeks and continue reducing by 20% until you’ve only got one yes. Or, better yet, zero.

I don't know about you, but I answered yes to nearly all of these…along with tons of viewers.

“Brain fog is so frustrating and uncomfortable,” one person wrote.

“I spend a lot of time on subreddits that are laden with rage bait,” admitted another.

We all know we need to limit our social media use. But we don’t necessarily have a way of measuring how much we need to cut back. And while a weeklong vacation to a spot with zero internet service might be ideal, some real world, everyday tools can be just as helpful. And perhaps even more sustainable.

And while you’re using that daily allowance of social media, be sure to follow Summers on TikTok and Instagram for more cool tips.

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Science

You've heard of déjà vu, but what about jamais vu? Many have experienced it without even knowing.

The opposite sensation of déjà vu can be just as bizarre.

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Jamais vu is the opposite sensation of déjà vu.

Most of us have heard of déjà vu—that strange sensation that you have already experienced something as it’s happening in the present moment. A large portion of the population, 97% according to one study, can attest that they have felt a sense of déjà vu in their lifetime.

However, we can also have the exact opposite sensation, though very few people know the name for it.

Jamais vu—which in French means “never seen,” again opposite to déjà vu meaning “already seen”—occurs when something familiar suddenly feels completely, utterly unfamiliar.

“It is the feeling that something is unreal or unusual, whilst at the same time knowing it is something you are very familiar with,” Dr. Chris Moulin, a jamais vu researcher, told “Medical News Today.”

Think about when a word you regularly use abruptly has you wondering whether or not it’s spelled correctly. Or you see a co-worker you’ve known for years that, without notice, now feels like someone you’ve never met. That uncanny “recall without recognition” sensation, when pathways in the brain become unsynced and can’t make sense between what’s new and what’s familiar, is jamais vu.

While more rare than déjà vu, jamais vu holds a lot of similarities with its more famous counterpart.

For one thing, like déjà vu, the exact causes for jamais vu are unknown. There are, however, a few theories. Some experts attribute it to chronic stress or lack of sleep, others believe it happens as the mind’s way of protecting itself from trauma, or when a person becomes distracted while trying to process information.
deja vu, jamais vu, neurology

Déjà vu and jamais vu might be opposites, but they have a lot in common.

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While more rare than déjà vu, jamais vu holds a lot of similarities with its more famous counterpart.

For one thing, like déjà vu, the exact causes for jamais vu are unknown. There are, however, a few theories. Some experts attribute it to chronic stress or lack of sleep, others believe it happens as the mind’s way of protecting itself from trauma, or when a person becomes distracted while trying to process information.

For those of us who were spared of this disciplinary action in our formative years, the concept is well reflected in a small study from 2021, where six participants were given words to stare at for three minutes. After only one minute, the participants began noticing that certain letters looked “peculiar.” By the time the three minutes was up, they noted that the word stopped being a word at all, only “a collection of letters.”

jamais vu, psychology

Study participants reported letters looking peculiar are staring at them for 60 seconds.

Canva

Lastly, both déjà vu and jamais vu can happen at any time, but only last for a couple of minutes. This last part is important to note, as jamais vu can often be mistaken for dissociation or delusions. Some psychiatrists even hypothesize that there may be an overlap between the three, especially when it comes to disorienting out-of-body experiences caused by psychedelics.

But overall, jamais vu is typically a brief, temporary moment that simply washes over us and then we go about our day. If this is an everyday occurrence, however, it’s best to get a doctor’s evaluation. Otherwise, it might leave you wondering if the Matrix is real after all, but nothing more harmful than that.

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Motivation expert warns that you should never, ever hit the snooze button

It actually makes you feel more tired.

via Miriam Alonso/Pexels and Mel Robbins/TikTok

The science of the snooze button.

Mornings can be a challenge for a lot of folks. Our beds feel incredibly cozy, and after the alarm sounds, the allure of "just five more minutes" seems irresistible. The snooze button promises a brief escape to the warmth of dreams, a little respite before facing the day. It's a small comfort, a momentary delay from the bustle ahead.

But five minutes becomes 10 minutes and then 15 minutes, until we find ourselves racing against the clock to get to work on time. The snooze button can create a terrible cycle that feels like an addiction.

If you’re a snoozeaholic, a one-minute video by Melanie Robbins may break your dependence. Robbins is a podcast host, author, motivational speaker and former lawyer. She is known for her TEDx talk, "How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over," and her books, “The 5 Second Rule” and “The High 5 Habit,” as well as for hosting The Mel Robbins Podcast.

In a TikTok video taken from her podcast, Robbins explains the neuroscience behind why hitting the snooze button is a terrible idea.

@melrobbins

Stop hitting the snooze button on your life and TAKE CONTROL! 🚀 Sign up for my new, FREE 3-part training, Take Control with Mel Robbins. It’s designed specifically to to help you step back into excellence, take ACTION, and create the life you deserve! 🔗 in bio #melrobbins #dailyinspiration #mindsetmotivation #tapintopotential #takecontrol #reinventyourlife #snoozebutton #wakeup #wakeupcall

“Let me hit you with some neuroscience here. Two words: sleep inertia,” Robbins begins the clip. “When you hit the snooze button, you're awake, and as the alarm turns off, your brain then drifts back into sleep."

“Here's the thing that researchers have figured out—when you drift back to sleep after you've woken up, your brain starts a sleep cycle. Sleep cycles take 75 to 90 minutes to complete,” she continued. “So, when that alarm goes off again in nine minutes and you're like ‘oh my God’—have you ever noticed you're in deep sleep when you drift back to sleep?”

Robbins reasons that because you’ve entered a new sleep cycle, you will feel even more exhausted than if you woke up when the alarm first went off, and the feeling can last for a good part of the day.

“That's because you're nine minutes into a 75-minute sleep cycle." That groggy, exhausted feeling that you have, that's not a function of how well you slept. "It takes your brain about four hours to get through that groggy-a** feeling," Robbins says.

If you’re looking for a scientific take on the same issue, Steven Bender, a clinical assistant professor at Texas A&M University, agrees with Robbins. “Delaying getting out of bed for nine minutes by hitting the snooze is simply not going to give us any more restorative sleep. In fact, it may serve to confuse the brain into starting the process of secreting more neurochemicals that cause sleep to occur, according to some hypotheses,” Bender wrote in an article published by Popular Science.

Ultimately, it’s all about feeling our best in the morning to have a productive day. Most people snooze because they want a few extra minutes of sleep to feel even more energized. But, unfortunately, the truth is that it makes you feel worse. So, hopefully, all those snoozers out there will break their habits and get up when the alarm sounds so they can feel their best.

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