Liftology 6: The role of elaboration

How do we get information into long-term memory? It’s not just about presenting information, it has to connect to something that’s already known for it to be able to be activated. That is, what’s known is activated by the current context, and we want that to activate the new information as well. That requires relating the two. And that is elaboration.

What we want to learn is new information, and apply that to develop new skills. And that takes time, because strengthening the relations between elements takes time. But we don’t learn new information in the abstract. It can’t be activated by anything we experience unless it’s connected to it! That is, an existing pattern needs to be activated that activates the new information. 

What this means is that we need to actively link new information to old information. And there are two ways to do this. One is to link to information we’ve already developed. Another is to link to information the person has that we are unlikely to know, but is useful. The former’s reliable, the latter is powerful. Ideally, we get both.

So, what we’re learning should be built on what we know already. In fact, good design has us work backwards from the desired new performance to where the learners are, and then develop learning from there. Thus, we’re building on prior information. We should be explicit about that. E.g. “you previously learned X, and now we’re adding in Y to take you to Z.” And, we need to reactivate that linkage over time. So, we can (and should) show situations that are recognizably ones that are relevant, and ask learners to extend and apply the new information.

We can also ask them to represent the information in a different way. That can be in alternate prose, or a visual representation such as a mindmap or sketchnote. There are two values to this. For one, it gets the learner processing the information again, i.e. reactivation. But it also creates a representation of their learning that can be used to diagnose any misunderstandings. In fact, re-representation is what’s termed ‘generative’ activity, and is increasingly recognized as valuable. 

Another possibility exists, however. We can ask learners what this new information means to them, personally. Does it explain something they wondered about before? Does it give them new predictive power? While not related to explicit prior material, this is connected to their experiences, and personal reactions are more powerful than abstract information. Thus, this, if possible, is valuable. 

Reactivating linked patterns, familiar and the new, over time is the key to acquiring new information and new abilities. While ultimately neural, they’re activated through our cognitive signs and signals, e.g. the information we present through text (or speech) and images. This is what we do, but the initial presentation only enables subsequent processing. And, getting it into long-term memory is only the first part. The second is yet to come.