SuccessTypes And Effective Learning

1. SuccessTypes And Effective Learning John W. Pelley, PhD john.pelley@ttuhsc.edu www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/success/

2. 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

3. Insights Into Personality • Talk it out – “low gain” thalamic activity; seeking more input • Extraversion • Think it through – “high gain” thalamic activity; reduce input • Introversion

4. What Is Personality? • Consistent behavior • The way we think • The way we are wired

5. From: Medical Education Research and Development [DR-ED@LIST.MSU.EDU] on behalf of Dr. Penny Grossman [grossman@AECOM.YU.EDU] • Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 3:05 PM • To: DR-ED@LIST.MSU.EDU • 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

6. 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

8. At-risk Syndrome Contained Clues • Up until 2 am, reading and re-reading • Harder study = harder reading • Study effort  test performance • Knew more than others who did better • Test questions are tricky

9. Integrative Learners Linear Learners

10. Not Just For At-Risk Anymore • Principles learned apply broadly • Physician – resident – med student – premed student • Emphasis on becoming “balanced”

11. 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)

12. Myers-Briggs Personality TypeCommon 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

13. 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 is preferred. (page 1 in handout)

14. 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 is preferred.

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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 is preferred.

18. 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 is preferred.

19. An MBTI Thinking Sequence

20. 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)

21. Phosphorylation – The Illusion Of Memory • The brain is designed to forget. • Phosphorylation is the mechanism. • Protein synthesis is the override.

22. Forgetting Can Be A Good Thing • New information input → phosphorylation at the neuron synapse (“illusion of memory”) • Two things can happen: • No further use of the information → decay of the signal → neuron “forgets” • Continued use of the information → sustained signal → gene activation → synthesis of new proteins → neuron “remembers” • Neurologic protection: no cluttering with irrelevant information.

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

24. Learning Requires Activity!

25. Experiential Learning Model Outside Try out what you have learned Have an experience Reflect on the experience Learn from the experience Inside

26. The Learning Cycle Zull, 2002, The Art of Changing the Brain

27. 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

28. Embryology Of Cortex Zull, 2002, The Art of Changing the Brain

29. Have A Look At Your Motherboard Fasiculi

30. 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.

31. 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

32. What Do Memorization Questions Look Like? • What area is supplied with blood by the posterior inferior cerebellar artery? • Answer A • Answer B, etc. • Straightforward memorization question • Memorize areas supplied by cerebellar artery and look for them in the answer choices

33. 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 BC. 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

34. 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 about them; (see “Survival Strategy” at SuccessTypes website) • Concept maps – effective reading by seeking out connections (patterns, relationships)