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I assume that the group that spends 100% of their time studying real analysis and 0% of their time doing n-back training will do best in any subsequent real analysis course. Cognitive skill acquisition does not generalise all that much (for a review see VanLehn, 1996). Transfer is often limited. I'm sceptical of any claims that short term training can lead ...

3

If you define mental disorder as any behavior not applying to (more or less arbitrary) social norms, then yes, the activity you describe would probably be considered mental disorder. However, the same would apply for example to: homosexualism most hobbies asceticism and religious devotion playing and listening to music The last may seem odd, but Plato ...

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I imagine this question is tricky for students for a several reasons. Question wording: The question may suggest to the student that it is possible to differentiate $x!$. Or they may assume from the wording that some meaning is meant where it is possible to differentiate. For example, alternatively, you could ask a set of questions, one for each ...

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If you pose the question only to students who have a perfect knowledge of high school calculus, without any knowledge gaps, then they should all give the correct answer. The "problem" is, that you can graduate from high school without having understood all the details about differentiation. Most students don't finish high school with the best mark in maths, ...

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Yes, you can train your memory to be better at certain tasks, such as remembering numbers. For example Ericcson et. al. (1980) describe a university student who practiced memorizing numbers several times per week for twenty months and could then memorize and recall more than 70 digits reliably. I would not recommend such however if you are looking for ...

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Let me begin by saying that the answer is nowhere near as simple as you or I would like it to be. There are several reasons for this, but the main reason is that there are myriad ways that students can struggle through the material. I became interested in this subject when I was a graduate teaching assistant in the Industrial Engineering program at Iowa ...

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There is a clear association between musical ability and mathematical ability, perhaps best recognised in savantism in people with developmental disabilities. There are limited domains in which savantism appears to occur, including mathematical calculations, reproducing music instantly, recalling specific facts, and perfect-perspective drawing. There are a ...

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Robert Bjork calls this desirable difficulties. That is, students seems to learn best when they are required to encode and retrieve information. Some examples of desirable difficulties include: testing, spacing/interleaving, generating information, changing studying environments, etc. In the long run, these seem to promote long term learning.

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I have an anecdotal answer with regard to learning Physics. I sat in on a colloquium where a Physics professor discussed his experience with a course that was taught completely through experimentation. Students had to derive their learning of Physics completely through semi-guided experiments, and no lecture. In the beginning of the course, the professor ...

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Retaining a large number Can you hold the number 7859385 in your head for an extended period without the image of the number becoming distorted at any point? Long term memory of a single long number: Obviously a large proportion of people remember a few phone numbers that are at least as long as the number you mention. So for long term recall there are ...

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