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Post by larissa on Apr 19, 2016 17:57:55 GMT
Here's a fun little video I came across on. It deals with unlearning / relearning something and then going back to the original. The Backwards Brain BicycleWhat did you think of the video? Do you think this same "experiment" or concept can be applied to other things? Is it easier to unlearn/relearn an action rather than an idea? |
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Post by dchang on Apr 19, 2016 21:19:40 GMT
I really enjoyed watching this video and also learned a lot from it! I think that the speaker in the video proposes a very interesting point that we might not think of everyday. We usually believe that once we learn to do something, for example, riding a bike or driving, we can never forget it because our motor neurons learn the action and stores such an action in our memory. However, after watching the video, I found out that when you "unlearn" how to do something, in reality, you are simply "erasing" the previous memory of knowing how to so something by replacing it with another completely foreign method you have never learned before (in the case of the video, it would be riding a backwards bike). Thus, when you try to revert back to the original method, the pathway has already been replaced by the new method, which creates the affect of "unlearning". I think that using this concept, it is possible to "unlearn" other actions, as long as it is possible to find a new method to replace the old method with.
I also found the segment where the speaker tells his kid to ride the backwards bike especially interesting, as it demonstrates that children indeed have higher neural plasticity. Thus, it would be a lot easier for a child to learn/unlearn ideas and actions. I also think that unlearning/relearning an action would be harder than unlearning/relearning an idea, because it's like breaking a habit, which all of us know is really hard to change.
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Post by vannahyazon on Apr 20, 2016 5:09:51 GMT
Ok, i'm a bit biased because i actually forgot how to ride a bike *cough-cough* don't laugh at me, but I learned how to ride a bike maybe when i was 9-12 years old, and that's actually pretty late to learn how to ride a bike, so maybe because i was older my brain had less neural plasticity than if was was like 3-7 years old, which ultimately facilitated the unlearning. But, long story short, i tried to ride a bike again in 11th grade and failed miserably. So, this video really hit home. I think that this could be applied to other things. I think of one simple thing like, trying to write with you non-dominant hand for 2 years, if you stuck to it, you would eventually (i would hope) be able to write well with your left hand, if at the point you conquer it and swtich back to your right it will just feel wierd and take time to get used to it again. This is like trying to play a sport you havent for awhile. Like we learned, neural pathways that are unused die (or something like that lol).
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rkipp
New Member
Posts: 34 
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Post by rkipp on Apr 20, 2016 5:48:00 GMT
I also found this video extremely interesting. I personally think that it would be easier to relearn an action than an idea because one can keep physically practicing the action and thus facilitate muscle memory. It is much harder to keep studying an idea if you do not completely understand it, yet with actions, your body will eventually get used to the movement (hopefully). vannahyazon referenced the idea of learning to write with your non-dominant hand, which is relearning an action. Even in reference to the video, I believe if one practiced enough, they would be able to learn how to ride the new bicycle. |
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