MindCraft Challenges

How do we remember to do something in the future? Planning a future action and then remembering to actually do it is known as prospective memory. Peter Gollwitzer’s solution to the problem of prospective memory failure is implementation intentions: choosing a future cue and linking it to an intended action.

Challenge: Think of a common prospective memory failure you face (where you intended to do something but failed to do it when the moment arrived). Create an implementation intention for that prospective memory:

If I ________________, I will ________________.

Write down the implementation intention and place it somewhere you will see it every morning. Say it out loud to yourself when you see it. Did you avoid prospective memory failure?

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The Psychology of Planning
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-021524-110536
Cues and implementation intentions
https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2014.975816
An early description of implementation intentions
https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.7.493

Bob and Elizabeth Bjork refer to the types of effective learning techniques that challenge students as desirable difficulties. These techniques make studying more difficult in helpful ways so that performance on tests is less difficult.

Challenge: Choose one or more of the study techniques in green or yellow from the charts in class today to implement (I recommend practice testing if you have a class that requires learning facts or patterns). Use your change in study techniques to study for a relatively low-stakes test (for example, a quiz instead of a mid-term test). Pay attention to what study feels like and your performance on the test—our intuitions about study often lead to the incorrect belief that difficult study means that learning isn’t happening.

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Learning in College
https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616645770
Intuitions about spaced practice are reversed
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02127.x