Learn from your mistakes

People make mistakes – it is all part of being human. Some may make the same mistake twice, while others learn from their gaffes.

Canadian researchers have discovered older people’s brains benefit more from making mistakes using trial and error learning rather than if the correct answer is automatically fed to them.

The study, conducted at a Toronto-based research centre, reveals seniors learn better from their mistakes.

Scientific literature has traditionally embraced errorless learning for older adults. Past studies have shown making mistakes while learning information hurts memory performance in older adults; but the new Canadian research dispels this myth.

“Older adults can also benefit from making mistakes and it can help them learn the correct information later on,” lead investigator, Andree-Ann Cyr, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Toronto, says.

“Our study has shown if older adults are learning material that is very conceptual, where they can make a meaningful relationship between their errors and the correct information that they are supposed to remember, in those cases the errors can actually be quite beneficial for the learning process,” Dr Cyr says.

Researchers compared the memory benefits of trial-and-error learning (TEL) with errorless learning (EL) in memory exercises with groups of healthy young adults aged in their 20s and older healthy adults with an average age of 70 years.

Trial-and-error is a general method of problem solving, fixing things, or for obtaining knowledge.

This type of learning takes more effort in what is called a cognitive encoding process where the brain has to scaffold its way to making richer associations and linkages in order to reach the correct target information.

“Making a lot of effort or being very active when you’re trying to remember something is better than being passive and just hearing the information,” Dr Cyr says.

Dr Cyr believes this may be because of the reduced memory abilities in older people. She claims mistakes and errors make a bigger impression on the memory than “some random theory”.

According to Dr Cyr, the findings have important implications for how information is taught to older adults in the classroom, and for rehabilitation procedures aimed at delaying cognitive decline.

“We recommend older adults be encouraged to make errors when learning and not just passively giving them the correct information. Learning from your mistakes can in fact, improve your memory,” Dr Cyr claims.

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