Learning

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MindWeavers' training products enable learning to take place as quickly as the brain is capable - at the 'Edge of Competence'. The brain learns by building up connections between nerve cells. During training ('practice'), this occurs best when three things coincide: the learner is paying attention, is well motivated, and is working hard.
Training is the task or activity undertaken that leads to acquiring a skill or knowledge - it is what is actually done in order to learn.
Learning is the cognitive process of acquiring skill or knowledge - it is what happens in the brain.

MindWeavers' research identifies which activities or tasks are the best ones to train in order to achieve the highest level of performance, in the shortest possible time, in the abilities we wish to learn.

MindWeavers then researches and develops complex adaptive learning algorithms to control the training to keep it where it is most effective - working hard, at the 'Edge of Competence'.

MindWeavers uses its knowledge and know-how to design accelerated-learning computer games that train users as quickly as their brain is capable of learning, resulting in dramatic increases in pace and quality when compared with conventional learning. back to top

Different Types Of Learning

The learning of skills contributes to the development of many important abilities - for example languages and manual dexterity. MindWeavers specialises in training that develops sensory (hearing, seeing, touching) and physical ('motor') skills. The terms 'training' and 'learning' are often interchanged, but training suggests a more active and practical form of behaviour shaping. MindWeavers design products by first breaking down the training regime into several steps:

1. Defining what it is best to train, to learn the desired skill most effectively
2. Presenting a task for the learner to train - for example, distinguishing between two sounds
3. Measuring the learner's response - how well did they do on the task?
4. Providing feedback to the learner - to motivate them and keep their attention
5. Modifying the signals - and measuring to see if performance changes

Sensory Training

A main goal of this type of training is to improve performance of key abilities (e.g. listening, speaking, reading) - 'life skills' that are dependent on the best possible functioning of our senses. A sensory training task is designed to improve the brain mechanisms underlying the perception of audio, visual or tactile signals. It is important, when choosing the task, to bear in mind the goals of the training. For example, is the training designed to improve one aspect of speech perception (e.g. native speakers of Japanese distinguishing between the sounds 'r' and 'l'), or to improve the whole spectrum of language perception by children learning their 'mother tongue'?

Similarly, the training task must be structured so that it can be delivered in an appropriate format suitable for the age and interests of the learner (computer games can be ideal for this). Usually, two, three (or more) signals are delivered and the task for the learner is to decide which signal has a particular property (e.g. louder), or which signals match one another. A computer program measures the response. If the response is correct, the task is made more difficult, if incorrect, it is made easier. As the training continues, difficulty begins to track the user's ability, so the training is automatically suited to the individual. The details of this type of learning experience are shaped by research to produce optimised learning. Scientific experiments have found that providing feedback to the user (i.e. whether the last response was correct or incorrect) also aids learning, especially where this is provided in an interesting way.

Motor Training

Everyone is familiar with the benefits of sports and fitness training, but very little is conducted in a truly scientific way. Motor training is actually much more complicated than purely sensory training. All self-controlled movements depend on muscle position sense (also called proprioception), and most forms of skilled movement depend critically on at least two senses (e.g. in driving a car, vision and muscle position). So it is not clear how much of motor training is really sensory training, and how much is learning to control our muscles.

The procedures for motor training are essentially the same as those for sensory training. One big difference, however, is that measuring the response is usually more complicated. In sensory training, we can choose the required response, such as using a mouse click or tapping a computer key, to make measurement simple. The task may be difficult - such as deciding which of two sounds had the higher pitch - but measuring the response is a simple 'one' or 'two'. In motor tasks, the response is an action, and we must measure that appropriately. This can be done either by measuring the action itself, (such as putting sensors on a limb that will indicate its position, which could be useful in training isometric exercises such as gymnastics), or by measuring the consequences of the action (e.g. did a kicked football hit a target?).

Measuring Training

Monitoring the performance on one occurrence of a task is only one aspect of measuring training. We want to know how performance changes over time and with repeated practice. To do this, we first measure the limits of ability. This means making the task more and more difficult until performance becomes unreliable. Everyone has their own performance limit, but this usually changes with time, either as a result of training or of some other factor (e.g. ageing). To measure a training effect, we therefore monitor the performance limit over several sessions. In sensory and motor training of the type used at MindWeavers, performance level is monitored constantly, since we are always training at the 'edge of competence'.

Basis Of Research

By varying the way in which training is delivered, our research identifies how best to achieve the highest level of training in the shortest time. In other words, we optimise the efficiency of training. Our experiments have tested many ideas about how to optimise training. For example, a very important issue is how well the training 'transfers' or 'generalises' to other, untrained tasks. If we wish to improve our ability to listen to speech, is it better to train with real speech signals, with modified speech, or with some other, simpler sound?
Research suggests that training with real speech is not particularly efficient, since the training tends then to be specific for the particular speech pattern trained. If we train with modified speech, or with other sounds, we need to be sure that the training transfers or generalises to real speech since, after all, that is what we are trying to improve.

'Edge Of Competence' Learning

To optimise training, MindWeavers uses programming algorithms that change the nature of the task, in a systematic, step-wise fashion, through many experiments. Performance is measured scientifically, results are compared with MindWeavers' performance database, the algorithm is modified, and the experiment is repeated on an untrained group of listeners.

In this way, MindWeavers develops algorithms that cleverly control its products, responding to the performance of the user to keep them working at their 'Edge of Competence' - where research shows pace and quality of learning dramatically improve.