Blocked periodization (learning)

Keywords
So how would periodized learning look like? First of all, we have to define some keywords.

Volume
Volume, in a learning-sense, would mean how much knowledge you are acquiring within a certain time period. Improvements in these components can be done by either spending more time learning ( i.e.  quantity) or increasing the quality of your learning, the latter which won’t be the main aim of this article. Instead, see these articles for more information on how to improve the quality of your learning:

Category: Metacognition

Intensity
Intensity would mean the quantity and quality of neural connections, myelin sheaths, etc. certain knowledge has in our brain. Improvements in these components can be done via concepts like synthesis, spaced repetition, and so on, which we will get to later on.

Technique
Technique would mean how well developed certain neural circuits are  i.e. your comprehension of things. Improvement in this component can be done via the Hebbian theory, which says that “Things that fire together wire together”, which we will also later on get to.

Lastly, intensity and technique somewhat look the same, but the main difference is that more neural connections doesn’t always lead to better performance and  vice versa.

Blocked periodized learning: the program
"Knowledge acquisition → synthesis → rest → genius"Here, each phase represents a block  e.g. “knowledge acquisition” is block 1, “synthesis” block 2, and so on. The word “block” will be interleaved with the word “phase”  e.g. phase 2, for conveniency reasons.

Now of course we are just playing with words here that aren’t official, so just name them however you think is comfortable and clear, during or later on. In my case, it are these words.

Periodized learning program block 1: knowledge acquisition
This is the first phase of the periodized learning program, where we build our basic knowledge base. This knowledge base will, at the end of this phase, consist of both relevant and irrelevant knowledge.

Why also irrelevant knowledge? Because we don’t know yet what knowledge is relevant and what is not, at least when you are learning something without the guidance of any mentor. Even with a mentor, however, not all things that person teaches you will be as relevant to you as it is to that person.

Jigsaw analogy*: You can imagine how there are all kinds of individual puzzle pieces on the floor, some which may belong to the jigsaw puzzle you want to solve ( i.e.  your goal), while others don’t seem to belong to the same “collection”.

The knowledge acquisition block is characterized by high volume.

Let’s take our definition of volume again:"Volume, in a learning-sense, would mean how much knowledge you are acquiring within a certain time period. Improvements in these components can be done by either spending more time learning or increasing the quality of your learning. Again, see the articles linked above explaining how to improve your quality of learning."Just like you will slowly lose your muscles after a workout if you don’t regularly go to the gym, so it is with learning. The formula for knowledge acquisition, then, is not only the quantity of new knowledge, but also the loss of recently acquired knowledge within the same time period ( i.e.  rate of forgetting):"Knowledge acquisition rate = quantity of new knowledge - rate of forgetting"So how can we keep that “rate of forgetting” as close as possible to zero? We apply what is called spaced repetition, click the link for more information. Spaced repetition simply means repeating already acquired knowledge while extending the “space” ( i.e.  time) between each repetition  e.g. repeating the word “desideratum” and its definition after 1 day, 2 days, 4 days, …, 32 days. In this example, you repeat something 6 times in a span of 63 days, but any other spaced repetition schedule that does the job for you would work too. Tools like Anki or SuperMemo can help in spaced repetition. In this phase, you want to remember as much information as possible, and maybe even sacrifice comprehension a bit. How do you know how much knowledge you are acquiring per X time? We can use the knowledge acquisition rate used by Supermemo:"AcquisitionRate = Memorized/(Days/365.25)/TimePerDay" E.g. if 20 minutes a day result in memorizing 10,000 items per year, the acquisition rate is 500 items/year/min (10,000/20=500).

A simple example of an “item” is learning a foreign word. A more complex example would be memorizing the definition of concepts such as mitochondria (yes I know that’s a meme).

Jigsaw analogy*: each “item” represents an individual puzzle piece. Some which may or may not look more complex than others.

It is important to invent general questions related to multiple items for later on in the other phases.

Lastly, just like you can overtrain yourself in the gym, so you can overlearn. Overlearning can be defined in many ways, but I like these two definitions:

Overlearning is characterized by low return on investment (ROI). An example of when applying this definition is solving the same type of math problems over and over again within a short relative time period.

What do we mean by “relative”? If you are new at math or a certain branch of math, “relative” in an overlearning- and time-sense could mean solving the same type of math problems within an hour (they can differ, but still belong to the same “type” or “branch” in math). As one becomes better at the same branch of math, however, “relative” in terms of time and overlearning becomes longer i.e. that hour now “becomes” a week. It is similar, and caused by, the spaced repetition effect.

So if you learned how to solve the problem 1+1 a day ago, it is less likely that solving the same “type” of problem such as 3+2 two days later will constitute as overlearning, than if you solve similar problems one day later. Leaving too much time between each repetition, however, and you will forget more than you are learning, and may end up not being able to solve the same math problems anymore. So the art is finding the right timings: not too less, not too much.

Second, overlearning is characterized by a very short forgetting curve, because of massed repetition.

If you forget 50% of the recently acquired knowledge within 1 week, then one can imagine how you will forget a lot more “items” if you learn 200 (foreign) words in an hour as opposed to only 100 words.

Lastly, how long does phase 1 typically last? It depends, of course, but according to my experience, this phase usually lasts 1 month (e.g. when reading a book).

In short, this is the phase where we collect the individual puzzle pieces (i.e. items), and memorize how they look:

Periodized learning program block 2: synthesis
This is the phase where we lower our knowledge acquisition rate in order to spend that time on synthesis. We will also stop applying spaced repetition in order to let knowledge Darwinism weed out the irrelevant knowledge.

Again, we are reducing the volume, and increasing both our intensity and technique  i.e. creating more neural connections and developing our neural circuits.

We will apply the Hebbian theory, which says that “Things that fire together wire together.”

Synthesis, then, means that we are going to try to make combinations between concepts, in order to develop and grow those neural circuits. How can we easily make these combinations? By grabbing the questions we created in phase 1.

Jigsaw analogy*: One can see “synthesis” as putting the individual puzzle pieces together.

Alternatively, you can also apply free recall (recalling without any aid) on the items you have learned in phase 1 and create the questions at hand.

As we progress through the phases, the aim is to become more independent from cues that helped us find answers, such as those provided by whatever system you used to apply spaced repetition, even if they were not intentional.

So let’s say we are learning about how we, as humans, filter information and “decide” what information gets allowed to reach consciousness. In phase 1, we learned all the names, terminologies, different theories and models, and repeated them until we remembered them well enough.

In phase 2, we will ask and answer questions such as “What are the differences between the models?” or “How would things be if I removed a component from a model?” or “What are the similarities between the models?”

Questions like these require us to pick up the appropriate words and concepts ( i.e.  items), while putting them together which, again, follows the Hebbian theory. This way, we are fulfilling one of the two goals of this phase, namely placing more emphasis on intensity  i.e. neural connections.

Jigsaw analogy*: If we imagine these questions as putting a jigsaw puzzle together, we can imagine how we, sometimes randomly, try to pick up two puzzle pieces and see whether they fit. Same thing with the questions of this phase.

They also allow us to place each concept appropriately under the main concept called “filtering information”. In this sense, we are not only creating new neural connections, but also developing our neural circuits  i.e. fulfilling the component called technique.

Lastly, this phase, in my experience, usually lasts shorter than a week, because all knowledge is compressed and irrelevant knowledge is (mostly) removed.

To summarize, in phase 1 we collected and memorized the individual puzzle pieces, and in phase 2 we put them together to give form to the complete jigsaw puzzle:

Periodized learning program block 3: rest
Just like there are two ways to have a “deload week” in your training program i.e. light workouts versus no workouts, so it is with this phase in learning. I personally like and recommend to keep learning new things for like 1 to 2 hours a day.

The information should be light enough that you can apply synthesis to them  i.e. the new information reminds you of already acquired knowledge in from the previous phases.

Spending too much time and energy on acquiring new knowledge, and you won’t have enough time and energy left to think about the knowledge acquired in phase 1 and 2 in a free recall manner.

So why do we want a momentary pause in our learning? Again, because of the concept called overlearning, which is characterized by low ROI and a short forgetting curve. An example of overlearning is solving the same type of math problems over and over again, within a short relative time period.

Again, what do we mean by “relative”? If you are new at math or a certain branch of math, “relative” in an overlearning- and time-sense could mean solving the same type of math problems within an hour (they can differ, but still belong to the same “type” or “branch” in math). As one becomes better at the same branch of math, however, “relative” in terms of time and overlearning becomes longer  i.e. that hour now “becomes” a week. It is similar, and caused by, the spaced repetition effect.

The longer you have applied spaced repetition, the longer the time needs to be between two “learning moments” in order to avoid overlearning.

Second, there is this so-called Einstellung effect, which says that we can get “stuck” at using the same methods of solution, that may or may not work, but are less efficient. See the Luchins water jar experiment for an example of the Einstellung effect.

So how do we avoid the Einstellung effect? By backing off, letting our subconscious take over, and allowing more room for (new) neural circuits to form that are more efficient.

Jigsaw analogy*: In phase 2, you put the jigsaw puzzle together. If we were to do that process again within a relatively short time period, we would probably start with the same puzzle pieces as we did in phase 2 as well as end with the same puzzle pieces. The thing is, there may be more efficient ways in terms of time and energy in putting the same jigsaw puzzle together.

So again, by resting for a week, we still very well know how the complete jigsaw puzzle looks like, but we have forgotten how we put that jigsaw puzzle together. In other words, we forgot the process, but not the product nor the components of the product.

Same thing with solving math problems, running your business more efficiently,  etc.

Again, a week of “rest” is usually enough, but this all depends on how long your phase 1 and 2 were.

Periodized learning program block 4: genius
The last phase of our periodized learning program is where we try to “peak” in our comprehension of things.

So we are returning to our jigsaw puzzle that is now all over the floor, and we try to put it together again. Hopefully, by now, you are able to see all kinds of new ways to solve that jigsaw puzzle.

This is not the end however. After you have put that jigsaw puzzle together, the final aim is now to try to combine two different jigsaw puzzles together i.e. two different concepts. An example is, of course, me trying to combine the concept of periodized strength training with learning. Just pick two concepts and see whether they fit. If you need help, I would suggest this Wikipedia article: Lateral thinking ( i.e.  outside-the-box thinking).

Then, after having picked up two different concepts, you put them together by writing about them.

I invite you to read this article showing you the power of combinatorics:

Combinatorial thinking

An example of the “power” of combinatorics is the Latin alphabet: A, B … Z. Or how about DNA? Same thing with learning.

Lastly, this phase usually lasts a couple hours to a couple days.

Summary of the essentials

 * 1) Building a bigger and bigger jigsaw puzzle  i.e.  growing neural circuits (Hebbian theory);
 * 2) Becoming more efficient in building (new) jigsaw puzzles  i.e.  developing neural circuits;
 * 3) Avoiding overlearning and Einstellung effect;
 * 4) Applying spaced repetition.

Practice questions

 * 1) If the 4 phases looked like solving a jigsaw puzzle, how would that look like?
 * 2) How do the 4 phases look like in terms of volume, intensity, and technique?
 * 3) How can you calculate your knowledge acquisition rate?
 * 4) What are the benefits of spaced repetition?
 * 5) What are the two definitions of overlearning? Or can you imagine one yourself?
 * 6) What does the Hebbian theory say?
 * 7) What is the Einstellung effect and how can you avoid it? And what causes the Einstellung effect?